Five For Friday {February 27, 2015}


Earlier this week, my classroom door opened and this little pencil was delivered to me. There is a very special story behind this pencil....This pencil belonged to my mom when she was teaching at my school. She taught 2nd grade in room C. My mom has been retired for a few years now and the pencil was discovered in a file cabinet in our main office. Why was it delivered to me??? My mom's name is not on it. Know one would know it belonged to her... Well.... I teach 2nd grade in room C now! Yes, I am teaching in the same room my mother taught in years ago. Same grade. Same room. Now the pencil is hanging back in its proper place! 

We worked on learning some more about Chinese New Year. We wrote 3 things we learned about Chinese New Year, two facts, and asked a question about something we still wanted to learn. 

This came in handy this week! I had my tax appointment and was well prepared because I saved every single silly receipt. This fabulous idea came from Learning in Wonderland. Click HERE for her blog post about the Tax Tub and get an editable download to make your own too!

We are getting ready for Read Across America week, which is literally around the corner. We made these festive cupcakes and wrote about our favorite Dr. Seuss books. This is an activity I do every year with my kiddos thanks to the talented Linda Kamp

I got my Scholastic book order this week. During Read Across America week I always give my kiddos new books. We also honor a very special teacher from our school who entered heaven too early. The books have a sticker inside them honoring her love of learning and reading! I will forever carry this tradition on as long as I am teaching at my school. 

Hope you all had a fantastic week! Head on over to Doodle Bugs Teaching and link up!


Weekend Warriors: Favorite Read Alouds + a GIVEAWAY

My Weekend Warrior gals and I have joined forces this month to bring you some exciting read aloud favorites AND amazing giveaways! 

I love Read Across America week! We celebrate the love of literacy the first week of March every year at my school. We get crazy and goofy all week! One activity I just love is having each child take a picture with our red frame and red and white striped inspired hat. They each pick their favorite book to hold up too. The kids love taking these home at the end of the week.

We also have a read around one day during the week. Each teacher picks their favorite 10-15 minute read aloud book. Then, the teachers rotate to the different classrooms and share their story with the different grade levels. We pair K-2 and 3-5 together for this activity. The kids LOVE having the different teachers come into the room to read. This year I plan on reading:

A Bad Case of Stripes
I LOVE reading A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon! This book is awesome to show cause and effect to children. The illustrations are captivating and the story is simply entertaining. I think all 6 and 7 year olds can relate to this store in one way or another. I usually have many cause and effect follow up activities with this book. I won't have time during the read around, but I will do them with my kiddos later on. 

And now, let's get to most anticipated part of this post:
My Weekend Warrior gals and I want to spread the love of literacy too! We are EACH hosting a giveaway for a $10 TpT gift card. All you have to do is enter through the Rafflecopter below. This giveaway is fast! It ends Tuesday night. So, make sure to enter for your chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to hop on over to these gals for your chance to win also AND get some great read aloud ideas while you are there!

Five For Friday {February 13, 2015}

We have had a fun filled week in second grade! There is so much to share. It is only fitting that I link up with Doddle Bugs Teaching this week.
Love Bots! 
These adorable little guys are from the amazing Aimee at Primarily Speaking! The kids LOVED making their Love Bots! They all are unbelievable adorable in our classroom. 
Today, I gave each of my kiddos a copy of Marlene, Marlene Queen of Mean for Valentine's Day. My sweet SIL made this happen for my class. They kids were so excited to get the books, so we had a spontaneous class read aloud! They also each made a Valentine's Day Cootie Catcher that their pen pals sent them to celebrate their love of friendship! Too stinkin' cute!


We got ready for Presidents' Day by reading Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers by Karen Winnick, 
Then, the kids wrote an opinion piece about whether or not Lincoln should have a beard and made these little Lincolns. This activity plus many more can be found in my Patriotic Presidents' Day pack

We also started our geometry unit. We discussed the difference between plane and solid shapes. We learned about vertices, edges, and faces. Then we compared and classified our shapes on our posters. This adorable activity is from the very talented Linda Kamp!
Finally, don't forget to enter this amazing giveaway my blogging buddy, Aris from Sailing Into Second, and I are hosting. We each are giving away a copy of our popular Map Units to a lucky winner. There are only a couple to days left to enter. Don't miss out!


Hope you all had a fantastic week! Head on over to Doodle Bugs Teaching and link up!