Camping Out

Our first writing celebration!!! It was awesome!! 

We had two pitched tents for them to try. 

Gunner is trying to read his story with lots of voice. 

Peek a boo!!

Everyone was listening to him. 

Elijah was telling the funniest story!

Candy Bomber Parachutes

These kids had a great day building parachutes today with Miss Ryan! They learned all about the candy bombers of World War 2. 

Native American Teaching

Second bend of RUOS2 is when we carousel teach from our research of Native American regions. They taught each other everyday. Great work!

Slice of Life 30 Day Challenge- Met!!

We finally finished our Slice of Life 30 Day Challenge!! We wrote for 10 minutes each morning. They were so proud of themselves. I was too!!! Great volume!

Little Teachers

We finished our first bend of the RUOS2 on NF researching. We did mini research clubs. They chose the topics from a selection. Great note taking skills to start with, but then turned it in to teaching second graders who were beginning informational writing. They did great!!!

September Catch Up

One of my favorite activities when we begin our essay unit to push our thinking. I have them write an idea. Then I will orally give them prompts to get them writing lots. Way to push volume. 

We are starting the nonfiction units across reading. This is also when we begin our Native American unit. Here we are on day one of centers. This is an art/artifact center. 

Photograph center

Fluency groups are great way to end the day!! Working on multiplication! 

The Great Outdoors. Kind of.

We decided to have a Campout celebration for our first publishing party: realistic fiction. They loved it! 

Data Anyone?

This is our second Math Investigations unit that we use in Science because of the study of data that we do. Honestly, I had never even heard of a line plot before I began teaching this. It is one of my favorites. The kids get to partner up and decide on a survey question to compare themselves with another group. They learn to represent the groups, interpret, and then analyze it all. We even go into guessing what the data is and graphing WNBA players. That's what this is describing: "Who had the better season?".

Class Library Grand Opening

How could I forget??? This week was our grand opening for the class library. The kids were so excited. I have each table a tour of the library and showed them where everything was. It was a great way to build up the excitement. I had already leveled tubs for each table that the shopped from so they could immediately get into just right books and not worry about shopping, then abandoning them. 

Reader's Workshop Update

In the RUOS1, they have kids make theory charts. This is what I interpreted it to be. The kids loved it. 

Then I made a bulletin board to showcase them for awhile. 

Another cool thing for reader's workshop is signing up for a book recommendation. 

I have a huge calendar plus weeks already sectioned off with certain themes. 

Luke was one of my first ones to try. The kids are chomping at the bit to do one. 

Spirit Day!!

Our first Pointer green day with both of my children. Proud mama! 

Our first Spirit Day of the year! So fun!! 

This is Peyton's first spirit day for Rena and pointer green. Reagan and Peyton are good buddies. 

My little Destiny cheerleader!

I had three of the four seniors who came to visit. My how time flies. I wonder what they were thinking? 

I had to take the kids back to the stage for a pic in front of the amazing sign I drew! Ha!

Gallery Walks

 

I have lost track of how many years back when I learned about Gallery Walks.  I immediately started doing them and I don't want to stop.  I usually wait until Fridays to do them, but you can choose any day.  For one, I love how it holds students accountable for responding  in their notebooks without them actually realizing that you are requiring them to do so.  There does come a time, when you explain to them that there are skills that you must teach them and you have to assess if they are actually using them to comprehend. 

 

But back to the more fun reasons why you can use GW as a tool in so many ways.  At the beginning, I am noticing that if I showcase the notebook entries that are pretty outstanding, more students want to follow.  I created a new bulletin board last week that will be used for several phases.  The first mission for this board is to promote the reader's notebook.  I have several reluctant responders, but when I brought the board to their attention, it sparked a few of their interest.  They want on that board.

 

I also spent lots of time Friday with them on making their reading goals.  The board is going to help me help them  meet their reading goals.  They had two goals.  One goal was a volume of books per quarter goal.  The other goal was all about what they would do in their notebook, and the entries I will showcase will help them reach towards it.  They need exemplars.  More about the goals later.  I'll post some entries as I get them.

 

Growth Mindset

This is one of my favorite things that I have found so far with all of my new Growth Mindset findings.  We take one letter a day and talk about each word and what it means.  It will take us 26 days. LOL  I have tried to integrate and introduce some new ideas to these students with books, videos, and discussions.  They have responded well to them so far. 

I have a few charts we've made so far.  The Fixed and Growth was used the first day of school.  I will never forget the looks on their faces.  It was like they really thought about how they think about themselves.  From their faces, it was the first time many had considered these ideas.  The ABC chart is on the right.  One of the many books we've read was Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon.  Some had read it for years, but it didn't matter.  We liked creating this synthesis of ideas in one place.

In the Groove

Well, it's the second week of school and I just got through hump day. Still up, so not technically done. But the first week went so well. We did some fun team building activities. Got lots of ideas online, via blogs or Twitter! Go figure. My new PD comes from all of that. It's how we do it in the 21st century. Here's a pic of my students trying to "Save Fred". 

The kids had such a fun time trying to get Fred in his life preserver. We covered procedures that day, routines, and built our community. 

Another thing we did that Friday was went over the assignment of "Mini-Me". I gave each child a paper doll of their chosen skin tone. They were to go home and design or clothe the kid with things that would describe him or her. 

They worked hard!!! 

We went into our first units of study, especially the long-awaited Reading Units of Study which is brand new. 

Of course, we also had to glue in lots of charts to help us get back in the groove of responding to texts. 

These aren't by any means, the best, but I had so many who acted like they had never responded before. There's just no way around it with all of the work we'll be doing with the learning progressions and checklists. They will be setting goals and tracking their growth. Good stuff!!