This Week with our Interactive Notebooks

This week our class was able to put together two pages of our Interactive Writing Notebooks. I created this notebook to get kids excited about writing. Kids enjoy writing when we give them the tools to become good writers. They also become more excited about writing when we free them of being perfect spellers. The number one question I hear while students are writing is, "How do you spell . . ?" I just tell them not to worry about it and just get your ideas out.

So this week we practiced using details to describe some animals. Often we read I saw _____ from our students. I figured, why not spruce it up with some detail. And so they did.

Now I know there's no writing for you to read. That's because, after taking ten pictures, these were the best ones. So many cute sentences. So many blurry pictures. 

The sentences said things like. . . I saw a green and red owl. Or I saw a stinky gray raccoon.

One of my favorite activities is Be Specific. A few years ago I told students they need to be specific in their writing without explaining what that meant. What was I thinking?! So after realizing I should probably explain that word, I told a little story.

It goes like this:

Sam wanted a dog, so he asked his mom for one. 

The next day Sam's mom brought home a big, white dog with floppy ears.

Sam said, "No mom. I wanted a small, white dog."

The next day his mom brought him a new dog. It was a small, white dog with floppy ears.

Sam said, "No mom. I wanted a small white dog with tiny ears.

The next day his mom brought home a small, white dog with tiny ears.

Sam said, "No mom. I wanted a small, white dog with tiny ears and brown spots."

At this point his mom was frustrated and she said, "You should have been more specific!"

This story might not be pet-friendly, but the kids love it. I have little pictures I show them. I explain to them that being specific, or exact, helps your reader understand your writing better.

Here are some of their specific dogs.

We'll do more activities, which include the kiddos being more specific so they can gain a deeper understanding of the word. This is just to get them started.

These activities can be found in my product at TpT. Your kids will love it!

Freebie Friday

Thanks for stopping by! 

Teaching young learners to work in cooperative groups and to share responsibilities can be a JOB! These cooperative group cards enable kids to take responsibility and to be a contributing member of the group. 

I start off teaching one job at a time, usually the group leader. I allow the students  to become familiar with the  responsibilities of the leader then I introduce another job.

Here you go! Hope you like it!

Monday Made It with Some Help

This week I'm giving a shout out to my kiddos. With their help, I have had a great couple of weeks. I have one Made-It and my sweetie pies have one they'd like to share.

It all begins with the simple sentence in 2nd grade, but quickly progresses into expanded sentence. Practice is important so after a week of writing simple sentences, I have set up the Write a Sentence Station. The kids can manipulate subjects, verbs, and adjectives to write simple sentences and expanded sentences.

My kiddos started their Interactive Writing Notebooks last week. This week we added our Juicy Details page, which helped them write expanded sentences using adjectives.

After making our notebook pages, we wrote expanded sentences about the foods we described. Lastly, we revised our class narrative by adding "Juicy Details." I love how things just fall into place!

First Week of 2nd Grade

It's back to school! Back to the rules and procedures and back to waking up REALLY early! 

Our first week was like most. We spent time discussing rules and procedures. We talked about manners and my favorite, tattling. OK tattling is definitely not my favorite, but talking about what tattling is and is not is my favorite. Why? Because once we talk about it, I rarely hear tattling. It's a miracle! I used this freebie by Kelly Witt from TpT. I highly recommend it.

On Tuesday I pulled out the base ten blocks. Of course kids look at them and want to play. So I give the kids time to play with them. Once we've played, they are no longer toys, but tools for learning. I'm so mean.

At the end of the day on Tuesday, we pulled out the magnets and went to work, or play. It's so funny to watch kids discover with magnets. They are probably the coolest thing ever!

 

We used The Recess Queen throughout the week to identify story structure and to discuss how to handle those not-so-nice kids on the playground.  

 

I used this writing unit to get students started. 

 

The kids worked with their groups to identify the characters. 

This is Mean Jean. I love it!

 The next day the kids worked to identify the setting.

I think it's pretty awesome this guy spelled too correctly.

We also got started on/reviewed how to write a complete sentence. The real plan was getting kids started on an activity that could be done for homework and for a station. I used the ideas from this TpT product.

The kids made flip books to write some silly sentences.

All in all it was a great week. I have some really cool kids. I love my job. Teaching is one of the most challenging jobs out there, but I wouldn't want to do anything else. And it takes a pretty awesome person to do it!

Zoo to You this Two for Tuesday

It's Two for Tuesday! I know you'll like what I have to offer and it is such a good deal

First item is a fun zoo unit!

Here's a description

Students get to use the information they have learned and engage in five activities about graphing while taking a survey about students' favorite animals, repeated addition while counting animal legs and making a zoo map, adding money while making a menu for the zoo snack bar, and presenting information about an animal at the zoo theater. These are 2nd grade C.C. standards, but can be a great review for 3rd graders.

Here is a sample activity:

 Classroom tested. Student approved.

This product for $5.00 $2.50

Next item is also filled with various activities.

Here is a description

In this unit students add dollar amounts while grocery shopping, identify the attributes of solid figures while making a sand castle, make an array with sea creatures, make a kite while identifying plane shapes, and writing a post card telling about the fun they had at their Day at the Beach.

Here is a sample activity:

These are also 2nd grade standards, but can be used as a fun way to review with 3rd graders.

This product for $5.00 $2.50

Also going on. . .

 

Happy Tuesday!