Cause and Effect Wintery Adventures

Sooooo, we just spent our entire last week focusing on cause and effect! Since it's my very *favorite* time of year (wintery, Christmasy, hot-pepperminty treats season!), we practiced our cause and effect skills with a few different wintery, cozy books and partner and independent activities that my little ones really enjoyed and learned from.

We started the week off with a super fun cause and effect game called "Knock Your Block Off", thanks to Emily Foltz at Big Ideas in Teaching. My kiddos totally LOVED it! It was super low-prep AND a really easy activity for me to walk around to observe. I could hear a few little tidbits from my kiddos' conversations to informally assess what they were understand so far and redirect the ones who were struggling with the concept. 

  

Then, we read a few different books to continue to practice finding causes and effects in texts. We read "A Little Bit of Winter" by Paul Stewart, "One Snowy Day" by M. Christina Butler. We used the organizers here to allow students to show what they know about the causes and effects in the stories. 

Finally, on Friday we read "The Mitten" by Alvin Tresselt. We had a discussion together as we read the story, pointing out when students found causes and effects in the story. We have been practicing using good discussion techniques, such as listening when someone else is talking, expressing an opinion, and respectfully disagreeing. We're not great at it yet, but getting better every day. =) After the story, students chose one cause and effect that stuck out to them the most to record onto their little mittens! They wrote their cause on one mitten and the effect on the other mitten and decorated the mittens however they liked the best. Then, I use the hot glue gun to add the cotton balls and little string to hang them up and then posted them onto our wintery bulletin board in the hallway. I love how they turned out! Super proud of the beautiful work my kiddos created! 

Next week, we're moving onto practicing fact and opinion using our Holly Jolly Holiday Fact and Opinion activities! We're also using the holiday fact fun from Gretchen at Lipstick and Learning's "Holidays Around the World Mega Unit 1" packet to learn some new things about different countries' holidays by taking a trip around the world! It's going to be a BLAST, complete with passports and stamps and suitcases and a map of the world. I'm so looking forward to it! And I'm sure my littles will be just as excited about their trip around the world as I am. Hooray for world travels! =) 

Hoping you all have a very peaceful, learning-filled week! I know it's two weeks before winter break and my kids are just as super-crazy-excited as yours. Haha! So, I'm thinking positive thoughts and speaking life into my classroom all week long to help my learners be the best ones they can be. Wishing all those good things for you and your kids this week too!  

Happy teaching! 

Thanksgiving "Break"!

Oh. My. Goodness. Sake! I have been the world's WORST blogger EVER, I'm pretty sure. Between wedding planning and starting a new school year and moving to a new place, it's been QUITE the six months. But, here I am! I'm back and alive. 

My big, blog-worthy topic for this post is that I've FINALLY learned and started to create products to sell on TeachersPayTeachers, following the rules and laws and all that jazz!! Hooray!! It's been super fun, but taking lots of time here at the beginning as I'm learning the ropes. I'm enjoying it thoroughly though! My Thanksgiving "Break" has been full of TPT product making, as well as family time and lots of sleeping in. It's definitely been refreshing and lovely to get some extra sleep for almost a full week! Mixing relaxation with accomplishment makes for a very happy teacher. =) 

So, drum roll please!!!! *makes drum roll sound* TA-DA!!! 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Second-Grade-Super-Dots

This is my official TPT store with a few little wintery projects that I've spent the past week working on and trying to make perfect for you. Hehe! =) 

Please feel free to go check these products out. I use them with my kiddos and I hope they're helpful for the little ones in your classrooms too!

    

I pinky promise that I WILL be better at keeping up on what my little Second Grade Super Dots are learning together over the next weeks and months. 

We'll call it a brand new goal of mine. ;) Thanks for tagging along! 

Happy teaching! Enjoy the moments today!  

Contraction Surgery!

Today, my little second graders became surgeons! *sheds tear* I'm so very proud! 

No, but really though, we did surgery on words today! We have been learning all about how a contraction is really just two words squished into one word. One or two of the letters gets squished out of the original words when they get smashed together and those missing letters get replaced with a little "scar", the apostrophe.

The kiddos had a lot of fun with this activity. First, I wrote the two-word forms of the contractions we have been studying so far, such as "he is", "I will", "there is", "she will", etc. Then, I explained that surgery is when a surgeon has to cut a part of someone's body open so they can take out or fix something on the inside. I explained that the doctors give the person a shot of medicine to put them to sleep so they don't feel anything. So, then, modeled how students could choose any two words from the board to write on the two index cards given to them. We reviewed that a contraction is two words smashed together so ONE of the letters in one of the words was not "working properly" and THAT is why we needed to do surgery! 

So, we gave the word that was going to be cut a "shot" and then waited for the word to fall asleep, so it wouldn't feel anything, of course! ;) Then, we quietly cut the letter or letters off that the word didn't need because he was going to become a contraction. Then we connected our words together with a bandaid, placed on the word in the same way the apostrophe would look. 












Lastly, as I hung them up, I asked each student what two words they started with and what contraction they made, just to reinforce the main concept. The kids LOVED this!! They thought they were the coolest ever to be doing surgery on a word. I'll definitely be doing this activity with my classes from now on. Who knew contractions could be so fun?! =)  

Enjoy your moments today!

Setting Up the Magic...

Happy Thursday!! Okay, so, this post is approximately 7 months late and this is my little second grade classroom at the VERY beginning of the 2013-2014 school year. Haha! It didn't look very "magical" in these beginning pictures, but it has definitely turned into one of the most lovely, magical places I could ask for! 

Eventually, it turned into THIS beautifulness and I'm totally LOVING it!

 Our little classroom library space...

 Our math wall and baskets...

And our science bulletin board...

 Classroom jobs, my way to pass back graded papers, and the famous "Smarty Pants"!

 The classroom door, with yellow curtains, of COURSE. =)

 The computer station...

 Our writing reference wall with tips and tricks...and a fun way to keep track of what step each student is on in their writing! "Be'gum'ing Great Writers", thanks, Amy Lemons! =)

 Our carpet area, with the special story-time chair and reading rug...

 My word wall...with half as many words as it should have. ;) 

 My messy little teacher spot that needs some more organizational work on a daily basis. ;)

It's so amazing to see how things change and become even more fun as the year goes on. Hoping your year continues to change for the best! =)

Love and hugs! Alleah