Hey guys!

I'm super pumped to tell you all about my first guest blog post! My new cyber buddy Jenn over at Best Practices 4 Teaching so graciously asked me to write a post for her FABULOUS blog! Woot! Woot!


I wrote all about my first experience with Kidspiration. What a great software to use with ANY student from grades K-5. 

Go check out my "review"
Love how she called it that!! Hehe!


Click HERE to read my Kidspiration post.

Until next time...

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Instagram Fun!


Hey Everyone, 
Just a quick post to let you know that I am linking up with What the Teacher Wants and Apples and ABC's for some Instagram fun!

Check it out and join the fun!
You can follow Today, in Second Grade HERE!



Until next time...

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Let's Keep the Earth Smiling

Hi friends,

I am loving the fact that Spring is SOMEWHAT here and our Spring activities actually look a little less strange hanging up in our classroom! It was a little silly having flowers up while it SNOWED outside!

This week, the kiddies and I talked about Earth Day. We had a great time and really looked into how we can help  to keep our Earth smiling! 


We all agreed that we can each change something in our day to day life to help protect the Earth. After all, the Earth IS in OUR Hands!




The kiddies wrote all about what they can do to protect our planet. They did a wonderful job!

Click on the picture below to check out my The Earth is in our Hands Craftivity!


Teaching our students to take care of our planet is an important lesson. Students will love learning all about Earth Day with this 36 page package. Included in this pack are:

- templates to create the craft
- 5 writing stationary printables (black and white graphics)
- sorting objects activity (students must place the cards in the correct recycling bins as well as composting and trash cans) includes color graphics and a black and white recording sheet.
- make the earth smile activity (students must distinguish wether an action is good for our planet or bad for our planet) includes color graphics and a black and white recording sheet.
- an acrostic poem


This week, we will work on some Earth Day literacy centers. We will also go out into our yard and help with the Spring clean up! Click on the picture to learn more about this pack!


Hurray for Earth Day! Get your kiddies excited about taking care of our planet with this 109 page package filled with literacy center activities. Complete with colorful graphics and engaging games, this package will be a real crowd pleaser! The object of this unit is to familiarize your students with new vocabulary words and ensure that they be able to recognize and write most of the words by the completion of the 7 centers. This package includes:

- 7 center menus
- 1 word wall
- 1 word matching center (memory game) which includes all word wall words and a black and white recording sheet
- 1 word sorting game (short and long vowels) which includes most word wall words and a black and white recording sheet
- 1 word search center, which includes all word wall words
- 1 bingo center, which includes all word wall words
- 1 writing station with 8 black and white stationary sheets
- 1 ABC order center with black and white recording sheet
- 1 dictionary fun center with black and white recording sheet


Until next time...
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Spots!


Hi All, 
I'm super duper excited!
Why? You ask... Well, my kiddies gave me an idea for Writer's Workshop and it turned out 
G-R-E-A-T!

It all started a few weeks ago when we read our Crazy Eggs Read Aloud. 


Shelly, the middle egg, wakes up one morning all covered with spots. I asked the kiddies to predict what she would do and they came up with some creative ideas! 

"I would place a paper bag over my head."
"I would go to the hardware store and buy paint."
"I would use my mom's make-up to cover up the spots!"

Of course, I thought their ideas were do darn cute that I decided to make a craftivity to go along with it! 


They turned out sooooooo cute!

I thought, since my kiddies loved it so much, your's might too!


Grab yourself a FREE copy of the template, writing stationary, and bulletin board sign right HERE!

I also wanted to take this opportunity to advise you of some of my UPDATES!
I've been quite busy! 

If you have already purchased these packs in the past, you might want to check your emails because I have updated them ALL with NEW COLOR GRAPHICS and BlACK LINE ART for all the recording sheets!
CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO CHECK OUT THE PRODUCTS AND PREVIEWS! 











Until next time...

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Rain, Rain, Go Away!


Hello Dear Friends,
It's been a while since I last posted. Life always gets so crazy and before you know it, weeks have gone by! I have to admit, despite the fact that it SNOWED last Friday, I think, and I stress the word THINK, that Spring has finally arrived! Regardless, the kiddies and I have decided that Spring has Sprung and we went allllllllll out! I made these little babies  back in February and have been looking forward to making them with the kiddies ever since! 

Yes, I'm talking about Animal Umbrellas!!! 



We had so much fun! 

First, we read my credibly acclaimed story on the Smartboard. I don't tell the kiddies that I make the stories and constantly use the statement: "The author..." I love it! It's my little secret! I am faaaarrrrr from being an author, but the kiddies sure get a kick out of my stories. 



I just love creating them because they are tailor-made for my themes and craftivities. I also like to add a little grammar lesson so I always create a mini focus to the story. This time, we were working on using the past tense in writing. Of course, I include task cards for various grammar activities, as well. 


We read the stories on the SmartBoard and I like to keep it interactive by having the students come up and circle things. It could be as simple as circling all the capitals on the page to circling all the clues that help us understand that the story is in the past tense!

I even upload it to our class Ipads so that the students can refer back to it whenever they may need. It's great for students who are absent on the day of the read aloud and for those who need a little reminder. 


They also love to go back and read our stories when they get time on the Ipad. :)
It's also a nice tool to have when introducing the story again for shared reading or reading response. I like to encourage my students to reread books and stories. I love how their previous exposure to the text gives them the confidence they need to read with more fluency, expression, and intonation. I use the shared reading and/or reading response portion of the activity to promote rereading, by doing so myself.  
Nothing wrong with reading a good book again! 

I love the shared reading activity because then I make my kiddies apply the grammar lesson themselves!
Take a look!


This is where MORE rereading comes into play AND this is where I get to see who grasped the grammar lesson during the whole class instruction. Loooove it! Oh, and the illustrating gives me a good idea of the comprehension too!

In the midst of all this learning, we write a story too! This whole process (i.e. read aloud, grammar, shared reading, and writer's workshop) takes up a few days. 

Here is what our finished product looks like!


Oh, of course, I almost forgot! Our Rainy Day Anchor Chart!


Love filling these out with the kiddies! 
This one was actually MADE by my students! They sure had fun with that!

Until next time...
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