Adjectives and Marshmallow Math

We have been having fun this first month of school.

In Social Studies, we always start out the year learning about the regions and rivers. Here is our rap song on the Georgia Regions:



Once again, we are learning about adjectives. My kids had so much fun using Abby's Let's Get Pop Rockin' pack to teach about adjectives. The kids were very creative!

We also did a little Marshmallow math from my Place Value Fun Unit.  The kids always have so much fun learning with food! They caught on very quickly.

  

This school year has gotten off to a good start. I think my kids are finally starting to understand my expectations. I am looking forward to a great school year!

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New classroom

I have changed my classroom up a bit! It took a while but I think it turned out pretty cute :)

phonics board

My mousepad redo :)

I think I'm going to hang student work here… just haven't completely finished it yet

Used an old end table sitting in our garage to make this chalkboard table with leftover paint from another project! Love it!

Made  this pocket chart stand and used ribbon to hold the rings since I couldn't find any other rings that were big enough. Turned out cute :)

This was fun, but definitely a lot of work! Excited for a new year with my 2nd grade babies!

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Skinnybones Unit and GIVEAWAY!!!

Hey friends! If you are looking for a Skinnybones Novel Unit, go check out my new unit that I just uploaded to Teachers Pay Teachers! It is packed full (80 pages) of EVERYTHING that you need for this unit. It goes along with the CCGPS units for GA, but if you are just wanting a full unit on a novel for 2nd or 3rd grade, then this is great for you too.

THE FIRST 2 PEOPLE TO COMMENT ON THIS POST WILL WIN THIS UNIT!!! (please make sure to leave your email in the comment so that I can send it to you)

Click on the picture below to take you straight to the unit. I hope you enjoy!

Y'all have a wonderful Tuesday!!!

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Math Facts Fluency

Every year we work on getting our 2nd graders to fluently add and subtract math facts from 1-10. Well, this year I decided that since it was such an important standard for 2nd graders, that it would be incorporated in their homework.

I know that in the past I have sent home flashcards and told my students to study throughout the week and then we would test over their facts on Fridays. But I felt that they just weren't mastering their facts fast enough. I assume that they weren't really practicing their facts. Or maybe they were, but they might've been doing them alone.

So I REVAMPED how I do fluency homework. I decided that I would create a homework sheet for addition facts first and start sending it home for my students to practice being timed NIGHTLY. The parents were to time their child for 1 minute each night (can't argue with 1 minute right!?!?) and write down the number of problems that their child got RIGHT and then initial saying that they attest that THEY timed their child. I thought that if parents were able to actually watch what their child would be doing in my classroom each Friday, they would understand a little more and be able to help their child study if they needed it.

My results from using the timed math facts each night:
My students QUICKLY mastered their addition facts (most of them were getting 18/20 problems in a minute correct by the end of the 1st 9 weeks). It's the middle of our 3rd marking period and most of my students are getting at least 16/20 math facts in a minute ever single week. I also have 5 students who moved on to multiplication (3rd grade standard) after the 2nd 9 weeks. I have never had more than 2 or 3 students working on multiplication even at the END of the school year. I really think that the nightly homework has helped my students TREMENDOUSLY!!!

If you would like to use a copy of my nightly homework, I have created homework sheets for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. You can find them at my Tpt store by clicking the image below. I hope you find success with using the homework like I have!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Math-Fluency-Homework-1120834

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Fractions With Skittles

Today we used skittles to talk about fractions of a set. First the students had to count the skittles to find their WHOLE, then they had to separate the skittles based on their colors. They could then write down the fraction of each color.

They had so much fun making fractions and eating them too!

You can find my "Fractions with Skittles" worksheet at my Tpt store by clicking the image below:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fractions-with-Skittles-1118823

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Valentine's Day 2014 Parent Gifts

So, tomorrow is Valentine's day and of couse I was "Pinteresting" it up and found some really cute ideas for parent gifts from the kids. Here is what we came up with:

The front of the card we wrote "I love you to Pieces" and tore pieces of paper up into small pieces and pasted them in the heart.

The back was even cuter! The kids wrote Happy Valentine's Day on a speech bubble, I took a picture of them like they were saying it, and then we pasted it onto the back of the card.

The kids had so much fun making a card for their parents.

I even told them that they had to be EXTRA sneaky tonight when they go home, to hide the card, then put it somewhere their parents would see it in the morning when they got up. I can't wait to hear their stories tomorrow morning about how surprised their parents were! haha!

Here are some of the actual pictures with their speech bubbles:

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

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Shape Monsters

The last few weeks we have been learning about plane shapes and solid shapes. Yesterday I let the kids create their own shape monsters using my little "Shape Monsters" file that you can find on Teachers Pay Teachers. Click on the image below if you would like to download a copy of your own.

The kids had SO.MUCH.FUN!!! They love it when they can get creative and do whatever they want with their project. I kept getting "Can I make mine a girl?", "Can my monster have more than 2 eyes?", "Can I use 4 different colors?". It was so funny because they are so used to having everything done a specific way. But their little minds went to work and we had some WONDERFUL creations.

After they completed their monsters, they had to fill out the sheet telling how many of each shape they used to create their monster. Then they wrote some really cute stories about their monsters too. It was a great activity for my class.

What a fun day of learning! :)

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