What a Week....

My kids were coming off of a 4 day weekend and I thought they would be fine but noooooooo! They were crazy!!! By Friday I finally had them all back to normal, but here's the catch....they have another 4 day weekend next week!!! Every other week in October is a 4 day weekend for the kids!!! What was the calendar committee thinking! ;) We were able to do lots of great stuff even though they were crazy!! First off I wanted to share with you are second grade meeting pictures from Wednesday! I of course decorated the conference room to perfection for all my other second grade friends!!

It was so much fun!! I love getting together and talking about what we are doing in our classrooms!! My teammate will be planning the next one in November so I will share more pictures then! 

This week we talked about character traits! We learned about George Washington and Abe Lincoln. We completed a Venn Diagram of the character traits that they both have! (I forgot to take a picture of it though!)

We read the following books, which were really good because they were bogged down with facts. The kids were able to understand them! 

We also talked about adjectives, which went along just perfect with our character traits. We read the book The Biggest Pumpkin, then wrote adjectives that described a pumpkin!

If you are looking for some GREAT pumpkin ideas check out Cara's pumpkin post at First Grade Parade!

I started teaching my small group regrouping addition with 2-digit. We are going to be doing it whole class next week and I am a little frightened!! I think some of my kids might cry!! Wish me luck! I introduced it by making these quick flip chart sequencing the steps! 

I don't know why it is upside down....silly me I guess! Check out my post here for more information about the flip charts!

Since I was took the time to take pictures, I will also share with you what we are doing this week!! We are sticking with the theme of character traits and we will be talking about Martin Luther King Jr.! 

Again..I guess I turned the phone when I was talking the picture! Sorry!

We will be making this craft that I found on pinterest and made my own templates for. The students will be writing character traits on each square. 

Last but not least they will be making this craft of their own personal character traits that is inspired by Mrs. Cupcakes back to school activity here! I also used a worksheet from What the Teacher Want's post here! Once they were combined they looked like this:

It turned out pretty cute thanks to both of those ladies mentioned above!

Well I am off to sit on my bed alll day and do homework in my p.j.'s! It is raining and gross outside! Have a great weekend!

[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]

American Symbols, Math Games, and Opinion Writing!

Last week we started our unit on "We the People." First up was to talk about a few of the important American symbols...I would have loved to talk about more, but we had a short week so we only got to three!

We talked about summarizing, therefore we used this little anchor chart to help us write our summaries. When we talked about the Liberty Bell we read " Officer Buckle and Gloria," because I wanted them to realize that we have some freedoms but it is important to follow laws and rules too!

The other book we read was Red, White, Blue, and Uncle Who? It has a page about each of the different American symbols!

We made these foldables to go along with our summaries and symbols!

Last week we also had conferences....which I had the time to make these great math games that are Pinterest inspired!

The kids "toss" a dice or marker then add the two numbers together. These green ones are easy! I also made a harder set and then I figured I could also mix the two!

Today we worked on writing opinion pieces. We reread the story "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!" The kids then had to decide if the pigeon should or shouldn't drive the bus!! Everyone of my kids said that he shouldn't be allowed! We used this paper to help us before we wrote our piece!

Here is the crafty we made with their writing!!!

This week we also have our 2nd grade get together again! Of course I am getting everything all ready to go! I will show you picture later this week or next week. Happy Monday! 

[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]

Addition/Subtraction Review Freebie

So I said I was going to post a freebie for synonyms and antonyms, but I still haven't created one. But I did create a game around something I found in Target's dollar section. I was searching through the dollar section and found little x's and o'x in a package (to my hubby's dismay!). Immediately I was thinking of all the things I could do with these.

I knew exactly what I wanted to create to use them with....addition and subtraction connect four. I made an addition mat that has doubles and then another with just simple addition. One subtraction mat is simple and the second one has subtraction problems that are a little bit harder. I figured this is a great way for all types of learners to review these facts. I made a cover page for the mats in case you would like to make it into a file folder game for centers, which is what I was planning to do.

Click Here!

I am sorry for the blank page in this document. I tried all my little tricks to make it go away and it just wanted to stay! I hope your students enjoy this simple game, inspired by a classic! (Connect Four!)I am so excited to be home tomorrow. I worked on my homework all day today and still have a few things I would like to do.....make washing machine and dishwasher soap with my bestie and of course I have papers to grade. What will you be doing on your extra day off?

Addition, Addition, and More Addition

This week we have been working on Regrouping with Addition. I got some GREAT ideas for Amy Lemon's blog. Here is what we did. (it is slightly modified from Amy's ideas!)

This is what we started off with on Monday. The students got very familiar with the steps that need to be done to regroup! Here is what the inside says:

A little tip if you do this, make the booklets ahead of time. I really saved valuable teaching time by doing this! Today and tomorrow we are working on solving some regrouping and non-regrouping problems. After the kids are done they sort them in a mini folder booklet.

These next pictures are activities we are doing during our "Pioneer Time," which is when we split the kids up in small groups between the grade level teachers and the interventionists. My group has finished working on 4 digit addition and we are reviewing subtraction regrouping. These activities I am using during centers and small group instruction.

If you would like the link to some of these activities go to Mrs. Lemon's blog. They are under addition and subtraction. My kids have LOVED working together and trying new things!

2 more days until Friday! Woohoo!