More for Moore & Buy One Get One FREE!

Thanks to Lisa for the graphic! :)  

My TPT store is on sale tomorrow TODAY (the 27th)! All of the proceeds will go directly to the Red Cross for Moore, OK. It's a perfect time to start stocking up for next year! Make sure to head on over to Math Coach's Corner to see who else is participating! 

Plus, I'm doing a buy one get one free deal! If you purchase something from my store tomorrow today, please email me and let me know which item you'd like for free!

soaringthroughsecond@yahoo.com 

Here are some the goodies you'll find: 

Guide word sets for 2nd & 3rd grade! 

Party Packs



EDITABLE Acceptable Use Policy Posters for iPads and iPods!


Literacy & Math Centers!

Math Racers!

And just uploaded today!!!


Have a safe and happy Memorial Day! 


Thank you to all of the men, women, and their families who have served, or are serving our country! We appreciate you more than you know! 

2

Whoooo Hooooo! It's Friday!

Yipeeeeeeeeee! It's Friday!!!! AND a three day weekend!!!!!

Here's what my week looked like!

We {FINALLY} finished our state testing this week! SIX days of testingtestingtesting! SO glad this is OVER!!!


First sign from Ladybug's Teacher Files, second sign from my awesome colleague! 

All I can say, is thank goodness for brain breaks!!! Kristin shared a great website with some super fun brain breaks. You can check them out {HERE}! Our favorite is #5!!!


And we've also been able to fit in some measurement fun! Michelle at Teach123 has some great measurement packs that saved my life this week! :) The kids LOVED them!



As if my kids haven't been tested enough, I thought I'd kick 'em while they're down and just keep on testing! I'm determined to get our end of the year assessments done ahead of time!!! And they've been troopers! 


To end the week, I found this adorable pin and thought it would be fun (and HERS turned out so cute!)!!!



 Although they didn't turn out exactly how I had hoped (and there was paint. Everywhere...)

Some of us nailed it-


And some of us NAILED IT! ;-) 



Make sure to link up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday! :)



And have a great weekend!!!!


(From one of my 2nd graders on our class blog :) 

5

Solid Shapes Solid Shapes Solid Shapes

Say that three times fast! :) 

We've been having so much fun this week working on solid shapes!!!!

We sorted food! 2D shapes and 3D shapes!


If you need a list of food, here's what we used: 

Square- saltine
Circle- Tostitos tortilla chip
Triangle- Dorito
Rectangle- stick of gum

Cone- Hershey Kiss
Cylinder- marshmallow & penne pasta
Sphere- Kix cereal
Rectangular prism- those (delicious) wafer cookies
Cube- you could use a caramel square but I chose not to do that for the sake of cavities & dentists everywhere ;) 

We created models of cubes and pyramids. (When the kids needed their supplies, they HAD to say "May I please have some edges" or "May I please have my vertices." If they said marshmallows or toothpicks I walked away. ;-) 


I got a great tip on Instagram too! Let the marshmallows dry out for a few days before the project and they won't fall over (like ours did!)! Thanks @angieolson777 !

And then we labeled both activities using my all time favorite app, Skitch.



Here are some great resources if you're looking for some solid shapes units!


and


You can also follow my 3D shapes Pinterest board {HERE}! (I'm really working on subcategorizing my boards from now on!)

Hope you're having a great week! We're off to celebrate Abby's 2 year anniversary of making it to our forever home! Two weeks ago today we randomly took a walk in the neighborhood and came home with this big fat pretty girl! To celebrate, we donated to our favorite charity CorgiPals, and she's getting a hot dog for dinner! (Am I the only one that celebrates stuff like this with their dogs!?!?! I can't be alone, right!?!?! ;-)



10

Adorable Mother's (or Father's!) Day Project

A quick and easy DIY gift for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, or even Father's Day! Printables included!

Today we worked on our Mother's Day gifts and I'm SO excited with how they turned out!!!

I made a poster (two pieces of butcher paper taped together): 


And set it up in our classroom:


Each kiddo had to finish the sentence "I love you because ______" for their moms or grandmas. They used the Big Words app on their iPads, and we took a picture...

They turned out ADORABLE! 




(I took the pictures with my iPad, then filtered them using the Camera + app.) 

I'm having them printed out, and we'll make a card with the pictures for their mom's tomorrow! 

If you'd like the "I love you because" letters, you can grab them {HERE!
(The font is from Miss Tiina!) Love! 

And this was just about the sweetest thing ever... 
One of my kids posted this on our class blog today about him mom! So. Stinkin'. Sweet!!!


55

Which Pet Should We Get?? An Opinion Writing Pack!!!

Always a fun question to ask 24 second graders: 

Which pet should we get???

I have been doing this writing prompt with my class for the past two years, and every year it is by far the most fun we have writing! You can read about our adventures with this project {HERE} and {HERE} and {HERE}! Last year our class ended up getting a hermit crab, and this year I was brave enough to let them have a hamster.

Having a class pet has been one of the best things I've done. It has taught my kids responsibility (because they are the ones that have to stay after school to clean the cage- they even have this fancy schedule figured out), they are the ones that have to figure out who's taking him home on vacations and three day weekends (because I'm NOT), and they are the ones that have grown to love him (I kinda like him too...). Plus, they're the ones that have to console each other when he bites them and draws blood (because I don't- I say, "You're the ones that wanted a hamster...I wanted a fish...")

We researched each pet, learned about opinions, we gathered information, organized the information, pre wrote, drafted, and then did a final copy to try and "persuade" me to let them get a pet. Talk about authentic writing- even my reluctant writers were in this 100% from the very beginning because they were so motivated to let me get a pet. We had some great conversations about the difference between "I want a hamster cuz they are cool" and "In my opinion, I think we should get a hermit crab because they won't distract us while we're doing out work since they are such quiet creatures." 

Plus, opinion writing is one of the Common Core text types!  

Anyways, my fabulous teaching partner even created a video to share with our district about this unit. You check out the video {HERE}.

Well, after this video got out we got a TON of emails about the resources and QR codes and websites used for the project.

And I was finally able to get my act together to put it all together in one place to share! Here it is!!!



 (Don't worry- if you don't have devices to scan the QR codes. This unit can be completed successfully without the use of the QR codes since all of the internet resources are included!)


 and
Everything you'll need to do this writing project successfully with your class!!! Just click on the pictures to take you to TPT

In celebration of Cinco de Mayo, I'll give this unit away to FIVE friends that leave a comment with your favorite writing prompt you've used with your students. :) I'll use the random number generator thingy tonight when I get home! 

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!!! 

And don't forget about the TPT sale coming up this week for teacher appreciation!!!!

Thanks for the cute graphic Beth
8

My Daily 5-ish

I'm so excited to share a quick overview of my version of Daily 5{ish} with you today! It's taken me awhile because {I think} I've finally figured out (and it's only the end of the year, right), what works for me and my kids {right now!}. It's been an ever changing system, as I tweaked and figured out with the kids what works best, what keeps the flow going, and is simple for us all to manage! So here it is...



I start our reading block off with a fluency read. You can read more about that {HERE}. Then I do a quick mini lesson, depending on what our story is and what we're working on that week. (I should tell you- we use HM- it's as old as dirt as far as I'm concerned...So I do my best to squeeze other texts and stories and nonfiction in!) 

Then we head off to our rotations... 

The green stars on the chart have music linked to them- one song plays when it's time to clean up, and the other is for when it's time to "Move It" to the next station. 

The red and blue names are because we only have three seats in our classroom library, so the kids rotate so it's fair.


I should also tell you, I don't (usually) see all of the groups in one day. That means the kids go to 3-ish (4 on a good day) rotations. We just pick up where we left off the next day. And continue on as the week progresses. 


Each station has "Must Dos" and "May Dos". I use picture frames from the Dollar Store to manage these! So, there's an assignment the kids "Must Do" before they can move to their "May Dos."




The teacher table is where our guided reading groups happen. We use our iPads to access Raz Kids (which means there's no printing or copying or assembling any guided reading books for me! This has saved me a tremendous amount of time!!! Love!) We also do technology projects here, as well as lots of reading response and comprehension activities. I'll post more on what my guided reading groups look like- soon-ish. ;-) 

Read together is where (YOU GUESSED IT!!!)- the kids read together! The kids are supposed TO sit side by side on the crates I made over the summer! The "Must Do" is usually always to read the story from our basal (HM) reader that we're working on that week. ***This is the station that I've had the MOST trouble with. I'm constantly reminding kids what they need to be doing. To trouble shoot for next year, I'll spend even more time going over procedures, and I've been stocking up on books in doubles from Scholastic.***


(I made them pose for this picture- that's what it should look like. Usually they're either picking their noses, arguing, or rolling around on the floor...) 

Read to self is where the kids get to read independently. Kids are allowed to read on their iPads in iBooks, or regular books from the library. I've found they love to do both!


   
Listen & word word are combined because I just couldn't fit it all in. All of the groups do word work, and once they've all done the word work "May Do", we switch to listening. The listening "Must Do" is usually to listen to the story we're working on that week. The kids favorite "Must Do" for word work is always a scoot for whatever we're working- they love being out of their seats and moving around the classroom with their clip boards as often as possible, and I find they are most on task doing these type of activities! 

(Using iPads for listening!) 

And finally, on the computer we use Raz Kids or BrainPop Jr., again depending on what we're focusing on that particular week. 


The timer in the middle keeps all of us on track and accountable for the time I spend with my guided reading groups. We usually spend between 15-20 minutes at each station. 

Here's a picture of us ALL on task! (A rare moment indeed ;) 




I should mention I don't include a writing rotation, because we do a writing block for an hour before we begin our Daily 5 each day! :) 


Like I said, this has been a work in progress as this is my first year attempting to implement Daily 5-ish. I have to say, the kids love it, and I love it because I've seen SO much progress in my kiddos and their reading!!!! Our guided reading groups are one of my favorite parts of our day!   



I'd love to hear about your reading block! Do you Daily 5-ish? :) 


20