Fabulous Finds and a manic Monday Freebie!

I'm not much of a Super Bowl person, neither is my boyfriend. We do however love buffalo chicken wings, a Super Bowl staple. We celebrated by watching movies and eating chicken wings together. I also bought several cart fills of TPT goodies. I couldn't help myself. The stuff I buy on teacher's pay teachers has made me a much more efficient teacher because I am benefiting from the experience of others. Not to mention I am far less burnt out because of all the time I save prepping and creating lessons.

I bought so much fabulous stuff I can't wait use in my classroom. Here are my favorites. You can click the pictures to see their items.

I love her stuff, I've bought several units. This one is perfect the perfect supplement to my American heroes curriculum. 

So excited to start using these task cards to help my kiddos write better sentences.

YES. I admit that poetry is not my favorite unit to teach but with this pack I am going to be so much more prepared and have a lot more fun with it! 

I usually give my kids a quick math sheet and a reading comprehension page for morning work. I've found some really great ones on TPT. These are great because of the types of questions she asks. It is going to keep my kiddos skills sharp! 

Hope everyone got some good stuff to use in their classrooms! 

And before I go I wanted to share a quick Freebie. I am introducing this into my word work center this week. 

It's a spelling board game! Directions are on the board. All you need to play are index cards with your kiddos spelling words, a die, and two counters or tokens. Let me know if you plan on snagging this freebie! 

Click the picture to view this file in Google Docs.

AND I just realized I am super close to 200 followers at my TPT Store! 

LOL at my tab at the top. I forgot how to take a screen shot.

Anyways I plan on having a big, big giveaway when I reach 200 Followers!

Want to help me get there? Click on the icon below and follow my store. Once I get to the magic number I'll hold my giveaway!



Happy Monday Everyone! Hope you all have a fabulous week!

February Currently!!

The office, yup. It's pretty bad these days, but I need to see how it ends. 

This week was rough, and it ended with one of my kiddos projectile vomiting. Fun. 

Writing, math tests, spelling test blah. 

My room is out of control. I am not the most organized person, but even for me I realize I'm having an issue. I have two desks, both are filled with clutter. I have several crates all with random materials with no home. My closets look like a bomb went off, ugh. 

Spring break is in two weeks and I am counting down the days. Ski Trip! 

My kiddos know my pet peeves. Interrupting drives me crazy. So does this

"So who can tell me one of the three types of rocks we learned about yesterday." 

"Do we have centers today?"

ugh

They get the cold stare for that one. lol. 

Love them though, even in the hard weeks I try and look for the good moments of the week. 

Like watching my kiddos get soooooo excited for their hero speeches. One person is going to be a famous American Hero, the other an interviewer. They are begging to practice and I even saw one of my girls planning what she was going to wear on the back of her math test today. So cute. 

Also we did this super adorable groundhogs day shadow art project today. I saw it first on Miss Kindergartens page. They turned out so cute. Here's their work in progress. 

OHHHHHH and before I go, I'm sure you know about the big sale. But, in case you don't.

Everything in my shop will be 20% off on Sunday for the big game. Plus Teachers pay Teachers if offering another 10% off with the code SUPER. 

I've got my cart loaded already! 

Click the banner to check out my shop, or just go check out the widget thing on the sidebar and scroll through to see some of my top products! 

Oh and don't forget to link up with Farley!

Celebrating the Chinese New Year

Does anyone else celebrate the Chinese New year. Other asian Countries besides China celebrate it and it is relevant to many of my students. I also just like to expose my them to other cultures and the best way to do this, I feel is through celebrations. I love teaching about the chinese new year because you can really stretch the activities to any subject.


I usually start out by providing this math challenge for Morning work. I give them a handout of all the zodiac animals.

Here is one.

I then ask the following question. This is the year of the snake. If the animals repeat every 12 years, when is the next year we will see the year of the snake

They love to look and see the animal for their year of birth, and their siblings year of birth as well.

I then read this book.

It is a sweet story about a little boy who eventually decides to spend his new years money on the less fortunate. 

We also usually do some sort of art project. Chinese lanterns are simple, fun and easy for the kids. I found this picture on pinterest, but it looks like the teacher had the kids write math facts on the sides as well. Cool! 

You can google chinese lantern patterns and find directions. But I've also done that for you! 

Chinese Lantern Directions

I also am really super stoked to use this new unit from Teacher to the Core. 

This unit looks absolutely amazing! Check it out by clicking the picture. With this unit I can extend my chinese new year theme all week if I want. 

I am especially excited to add more social studies into the unit with her interactive informational book. 

Finally we end the day with oranges (symbolizing good luck and prosperity) and Fortune cookies! Last year I went to my local Chinese restaurant told them I was a teacher and asked if I could buy some fortune cookies. The sold me a bag of 50 for just a couple bucks. The kids loved it of course. 

Did I convince you to celebrate the Chinese new year in you classroom? Maybe? Let me know if you have any other activities I really must try this year with my class in the comments! 

Verbs! Verbs! Verbs!

Last week we started our study of verbs.

I have used a few free verbs study packs I've found on TPT to introduce the concept.

I love this one by because she shows the anchor chart she made and the three different types of verbs, which can be confusing for the little ones.

Free Verb Activities by Amy Lemons







This one had a fun action verb detective activity the kids loved.

Verb Activities by Rachel Lamb







Finally, after playing scattergories with a group of friends one weekend I decided to adapt the game for verbs. We had such a great time playing this game!

I wrote up some directions and a recording sheet in case you want to add this game into your plans when you study verbs.

Click the picture to view this file in google docs. 

I'm back! (plus an MLK lesson idea and freebie)

It's been a while since I've posted. It took me a bit to get back into the swing of things after break. I've have missed blogging though, so I am happy to be back :-)

I wanted to share an activity we will be doing this week, in honor of Martin Luther King's birthday.

At my school, the second and third grades study heroes. They study people the who made a difference in this world, people in their families, communities, and the world. This all leads them to projects where they themselves get to show their heroic qualities  and work to make a difference themselves. We've done fundraising for charity, volunteering at pre-school, and public service announcements to the younger grades on bullying.

We always study Martin Luther King as well. He leads us into our famous national heroes project, where after researching several heroes,  the kids partner up and write a mock interview as if they were a famous national hero. One dresses up as the reporter, one as the hero and we film it. It's really cute.

There is a free brain pop movie on Martin Luther King I plan on showing this week.

Click here to check it out. 

I am also going to begin teaching my second graders to take notes during video or reading. They love this because it's the only time I tell them they don't have to write in complete sentences or use punctuation. We go over how when taking notes, you don't have to write everything down, but that it is important to write enough information so that you can understand it later.

The kids are going to watch the video and write down four facts they think are important in the boxes. The first time I do this activity, I pause the video half way and we share out a few facts. Kids who don't have anything written down yet can listen to their classmates and get a better idea of what they should be writing.

Click the picture to download the graphic organizer. 

I'm hoping to get back into regular blogging. I want to share what we've been doing in science, and I've got a new division packet I am super excited about that I should be posting soon. Have a wonderful week! 

Welcome to Winter Sale!

It is finally winter break! Yesterday we played games, did art, and ate lots of food. I also got tons of hugs and little ones wishing me happy holidays. Love this job <3 p="p">
Today I am packing up in preparation for my trip up North to visit my family. Can't wait!


I am participating in the welcome to winter sale organized by Casey at Second Grade Math Maniac
Everything is going to be 20% off. You can join in too! Just link up with Casey! Click the picture below to be taken to my store. Happy Winter!

12 days of Holiday Freebies- Day 12 at last!

Hi everyone,

I am back with my final freebie! The school year is winding down and I still have so much to do before I get ready to go home for the holiday's.

I plan on letting my kids do this for morning work on Friday. Maybe you'll have time as well.

So many of you loved the glitter graphics from my last freebie so I made this one glittery as well! 

Have an amazing last few days of school! (Unless you're already on break, lucky ducks!)