Sleeping Beauty Ballet Field Trip

We went on our first field trip today to the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center to see the ballet Sleeping Beauty. This is a free field trip put on by our county so we do not have chaperones. It’s an easy enough field trip because we ride the bus, sit down to watch the ballet, and ride back to school.

It was a hectic day! Our buses came to school late so we were late to the ballet. After walking up about seven flights of stairs to the top of the theatre we had to quietly sit down. The usher split up my class, so half of my class was sitting with me and the other half was on the other side of the theatre with another teacher. My students were very well behaved during the performance and I enjoyed watching the ballet as well once I stopped worrying about the other half of my class. It just panicked me to be separated even though I knew they were with another teacher and just watching the ballet. #crazyteacherproblems #mamabear

After the ballet we had to wait for everyone else in the theatre to exit first since we were at the top. My kids waited as patiently as second graders can wait. Then we got back on the bus to go back to school. It was a 20 minute drive but one of the buses got lost and it took them an hour to get back! 

Back at school we rushed off to a later lunch at 12:30. Then we had recess and took a math test. I know it seems mean to have a math test on a day of a field trip but that is just how the dates fell on the calendar. Taking the test tomorrow would just be a hot mess!

Now I’m off to kick up my feet and relax before another crazy day of school tomorrow! I'm so thankful for classroom volunteers tomorrow!

Highlights from my week

This past week we had a jammed pack short week at school. Friday was a teacher workday but if you finished report cards then you could take the day off. I of course finished my report cards and took the day off.

On Monday my team and I planned for the 2^nd quarter of the school year. We had a half-day with our kids and have a sub the other half of the day. It was nice to be able to plan with my team and get lesson plans done. My substitute loved my class and said she would come back anytime. This is awesome considering last year I couldn't use the same person twice since my class was such a handful! It's also great knowing my class this year is so well behaved for others. It puts my mind at ease when I'll be out for maternity leave.

We had our Fun Run on Thursday to raise money for a new playground for our school. The kids love participating in this fundraiser every year. Even if they don’t raise any money they still learn about healthy lifestyle choices, being a team player, and running around a track.

We made a flag for our class. Our team name was Hyland’s Highfliers. Here are some pictures from our Fun Run.

After the Fun Run we took it pretty easy and I let them make these adorable monsters from Miss Kindergarten Love. I am going to hang them up in hallway this coming week.

I did get a chance this week to hang up our bat writing. My kids did a great job writing about where bats live, what bats eat, and what bats look like. I’m proud of their writing! They wrote 3 to 4 paragraphs on bats. I first had them brainstorm and make a circle map. Then they made a tree map. I had them write a paragraph each day from part of their tree map. After I edited their writing. Finally they wrote out their final copies. This process took two weeks to accomplish.

Those were the highlights of my week! Now I'm off to enjoy this long weekend with my family!

Stellaluna Story Structure

This past week we learned all about story structure with Stellaluna. My students loved this story and made wonderful connections through reading throughout the week. Any printable shown were from Rooted in Reading. 

We read Stellaluna a few times during the week but they loved listening to the story. There are tons of stories you can listen to on Storyline Online. Even if you have a copy of the book, I highly recommend having your students listen. This website is by the Screen Actors Guild and the readers are phenomenal. I even teared up when Stellaluna and her mom found each other again. #pregnancyhormones

Throughout reading the story we discussed strong verbs vs. weak verbs. I went over the strong verbs meanings, which made a great vocabulary lesson. Hopefully after learning these strong verbs, they can incorporate it into their language and writing. 

Since we were learning about story structure, we talked about the beginning, middle, and end of the story. As a class we sequenced the beginning, middle, and end together early in the week. Then later in the week I had them work with their tables to write and determine the beginning, middle, and end on their own. Each child got a sticky note and I told them to write the beginning, middle, or end. They had to work with a partner to make sure they weren't writing the same part. Then they stuck their sticky note on their tables chart. I put each child's name so they could take ownership of their work in the group. They did a fabulous job and were proud of their work so I displayed it in our class.

We also discussed character development and how characters change from the beginning and end of the book. We decided as a class how Stellaluna felt at the beginning, middle, and end of the book. Then the students made their own foldable. I love how we color coordinated the feelings. It visually made it easier to see the character changes.

I love teaching reading with mentor texts like Stellaluna. It makes reading more enjoyable and authentic.

Five for Friday!

We had a super week in second grade! Fall was in our classroom and in the air a little this week.

We wrote about pumpkins this week. My students’ writing came out great because they had so much background information from last weeks reading. We even starting writing paragraphs! We wrote about what pumpkins looked like, what pumpkins needed, and what pumpkins could be used for. Today they wrote out their final copies and decorated a pumpkin. I love how they look in our classroom and my students’ our proud to see their working in our room.

This week we worked on point of view in various books that we read. This was the anchor chart I made for point of view. I got the idea from Pinterest.

Today we read “I Need My Monster” as a fun Friday read! We wrote creepy words under the flaps and sequenced the story together. My students had so much fun reading this book and the activities. It was a favorite activity today and they were still excited about it this afternoon. This is from Rooted in Reading by Amy Lemons.

We have been working on related facts this week. We did this sort activity this week. I love using colorful paper! It makes their interactive notebooks look great! This is from Learning out Addition Strategies by Amy Lemons.

I thought I’d share with you how I send graded work home. I have green graded folders that I fill with graded work for the week. Every Friday I compile all their graded work in ABC order and put it in their folder. On Monday the folder goes home and they bring the folder back the next day. If they received a failing grade they have the week to redo the work and send back for partial credit. I like sending home the folders separately from other work to make sure parents are seeing their grades.

Hope you all have a beautiful fall weekend. We have big plans to pick out paint colors and paint the nursery this weekend! I can’t wait to see how it turns out!