Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Butterflies!!
I love spring and all its wonders. My friend created a cute butterfly book today and shared with me. Since she isn't part of bloggy world, I asked if I could share!
Butterfly BookIf you are in the middle of life cycles then I have a cute little pack perfect for organizing student observations! I've used this file for several years! The excitement never gets old!
I featured a few additional activities in the pack above. Just click the first image to link to the unit!
In addition to our journals, we create a pasta life cycle! This seems to be the kids favorite project! The kids are amazed by the simplest things!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Spring is Hatching
Several weeks ago, I noticed a nest being created in my flower pot. No bird, No eggs, Just a Nest! Then...
A week ago, I noticed EGGS!!!
I checked back and captured the mother sitting on her eggs.
ANDDDD
Yesterday, we had five squawking CHICKS!!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
10 Things I've Learned from Teaching
1. Create an Ouch Pouch. Unless it's a gusher, kids realize they really DON'T want to write about their ouch before receiving a band-aid. FYI, They don't have to ask, they just write and receive!
2. Tell kids what you think you might forget. They WILL remind you at least 100 times before the end of the day!
3. On the flip side, DON'T inform the kiddos about the things you CAN'T follow through with. They WILL remind you at least 100 times each day of the week until the end of the school year!
4. Rubrics Change Everything! Embrace, Create, and Teach THEM. Results will follow!!!
5. Learn the Flamingo when wearing open toed shoes. It will save you from having your metatarsals from being smashed! Bless our kidlets little loving hearts!
6. Students will cut, poke, tear, or misplace their eraser. I now cut the pink erasers in half at the start of the school year.
7. Allow students to take ownership of their learning and make decisions on what or how they learn. The rewards will exceed your expectations.
8. Hand a student a camera or video recorder and allow your students to capture their classroom from their perspective. It will teach you a thing or two and GUARANTEE a GIGGLE.
9. Art is soothing to ALL. Add more projects to your curriculum.
10. Anticipate 20 minutes but Plan for 30!! Murphy's Law...
Experience is not what happens to a man, it is what a man does with what happens to him. ~Aldous Leonar
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Death Crawl
Ok, we now need an inspiring clip. This was shared prior to school opening by my principal. We face many challenges as teachers. We sometimes feel as though we can't but WE CAN! This clip comes from the movie, Facing the Giants. It's only 6 minutes and worth a watch!!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Sqworl
Have you heard about sqwol groups? I now have a group organized for my students. To ensure student independence, I uploaded the link to the homepage of our classroom computers. I have another group of password protected sites required by our county on the computer lab homepage for student use. Although my class has become pros at working the computer, its nice to have a one stop shop and remove all the url sentence strips on my cabinets. Here is my sqworl group for kid friendly websites. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Do you have other sites you recommend?
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Interview Project
Diving into content standards, I recently offered kids in my second grade class an opportunity to conduct an interview of an inspirational individual from our community. Students were given a rubric for presentation and shared their projects with the class. I received permission from this darling's mom to post her interview. It is adorable!
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| Really Good Stuff |
Little Background
The date of the interview was March 13, 2011. Kalise interviewed Mrs. Maude of Mrs. Maude's School House Museum. She was born on February 27, 1942. This retired teacher and civil rights worker has touched the lives of many children. Truly an inspirational educator!
Habitat Food Chains
We completed our Habitats Unit! For this activity, students had to decide which habitat they'd like to illustrate and then determined the order of their chain. The kids were asked to write a sentence explaining each stage of the chain. After completion, we linked the chains with yarn and attached to a sun from our ceiling. I'm thrilled with the cascading look!!!
Brady wrote...
The mouse eats the grass seed.
The snake eats the mouse.
The hawk eats the snake.
A coyote eats the hawk.
The mouse eats the grass seed.
The snake eats the mouse.
The hawk eats the snake.
A coyote eats the hawk.
Tyler wrote...
The plant absorbs the sun.
The crab eats the plant.
The fish eats the crab.
The big fish eats the little fish.
The plant absorbs the sun.
The crab eats the plant.
The fish eats the crab.
The big fish eats the little fish.
Devin wrote...
The carrot might think its not going to get eaten but it is.
Crunch! The rabbit ate the carrot.
The rabbit might think its not going to get eaten but it is.
Yum! The snake ate the rabbit.
Now, the eagle won the round!
{Eek, isn't this sooo very cute}
The carrot might think its not going to get eaten but it is.
Crunch! The rabbit ate the carrot.
The rabbit might think its not going to get eaten but it is.
Yum! The snake ate the rabbit.
Now, the eagle won the round!
{Eek, isn't this sooo very cute}
Zemira wrote...
The kelp absorbs the sun.
The sea urchin eats the kelp.
The sea gull eats the sea urchin.
The orca ate the sea gull.
{Ohmiword! I'm beaming with excitement over the vocab!}
The kelp absorbs the sun.
The sea urchin eats the kelp.
The sea gull eats the sea urchin.
The orca ate the sea gull.
{Ohmiword! I'm beaming with excitement over the vocab!}
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