Saturday, May 24, 2014

Secret Admirer



Well I have a confession. I have someone who I secretly admire! It is Ashley Schroeder from Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd! She sent me her amazing pack - A Very Vocab Vacation. Click here to see this product. Let me tell you what... This product is 84 pages of AMAZING! My kids LOVED all of the activities!






This set covers Synonyms, Antonyms, Similes, Metaphors, Idioms, Context Clues, and Homographs. Could you ask for any more? :) Also, the fun vacation theme was perfect for this time of year. There was sooooooo much in this pack, I don't even know where to begin!


Sandy Synonyms and Antonyms
We started by reviewing synonyms and antonyms and I used the mini anchor chart as a reminder for the kids. We first completing the synonym worksheet. I loved this page because it had a good variety of words that really made the kids think.


Then we completed the antonym page. The kiddos enjoyed this because there was a spot for them to illustrate the sentences.

Finally, we played the I Have, Who Has game to finish up the lesson.


It's A Piece Of Cake- Similes and Metaphors
This was a lot of fun because my class loves task cards! These tasks cards are fantastic because they had to answer questions, fill in the blanks, and identify what was being compared. The mini anchor charts were perfect for this because they were a great reminder of the definitions and the difference between the two. We completed these as small groups.




Let's Hit The Road - Idioms
Idioms got my kids really thinking and it was a REALLY tricky concept for my ELL's. We worked together in small groups for a little extra help. There were interactive notebook pages that we just used with construction paper.






As a wrap up, they matched the sentences with idioms to the explanation of what the idiom meant.


Cool Off With Context Clues
This was by far my kiddos favorite activity. Since we were already super familiar with context clues, we used this activity for a center. The kids loved the nonsense words and being "detectives" to figure out the REAL word. The silly goofs even used some of the nonsense words later that day. This was also BY FAR my favorite page to grade. ;) This one made me chuckle. She definitely keeps me on my toes! <3

 



Hot Day For Homographs
All kids love scoots! This was a great way to assess my kiddos understandings of word meanings. I loved seeing the kids really check their work and reread to make sure it made sense.



WHEW! Can you believe how much awesomeness is in ONE set? I love this! (And all of her products!) And if that wasn't enough wow factor right there for ya... Ashley has included a FREEBIE for you guys! Just click on the image for your freebie and make sure to stop by her store by clicking here.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!  I hope you all have a wonderful day with family and friends! :) 

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Product Swap fun!

Christopher from Mr. Gibbs Colorful Creations and I decided to do a product swap.  I got to choose ANYTHING from his store. I chose his Solving Equations with 3 Numbers Common Core Aligned dice game.  This product was in black and white so it was really easy to print at school and run off on construction paper.  Christopher teaches 1st and I teach 2nd and this was still a great activity for my kiddos.  He has this game set up so that you can play it 3 different ways.  I added one more way for my 2nd graders to play and the possibilities are endless! 

I printed one set on purple paper and one set on yellow.  That way my kids could easily find the dice card that you need for each match.

I could easily differentiate what my kiddos needed with this center.  Some students simply matched the dice card with it's sum. 
 

 Other groups matched the dice card with it's description using words.

 
Some groups matched the dice card with it's equations. And my highest groups were able to match up all 4.
 
 
As you can see my kids LOVED these games and they would be perfect for introducing, practicing, reviewing and intervention. 
 



If you need an awesome and engaging math activity for your kiddos to do make sure and check out this set! 
 
 
Thanks Mr. Gibbs!






Saturday, February 8, 2014

100th Day of School

Yaaay!!!!! After 2 snow day delays we finally got to have our 100th Day!  I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to get to celebrate! Ha!  The first snow day I was ready and just spraying my hair gray when the I got the call.  Luckily my wonderful Momma had grabbed me some Halloween hair sprays that were on clearance.  It was more of a silver color the 2nd time but I think it turned out pretty cute!
All of my wonderful outfit came from my Mamaw!  :)  She's so great!
 
 
We had tons of activities planned and of course couldn't get to them all. :(  Totally bummed, but that's the way it normally goes. I always plan waaaaaaay to much! *sigh*
 
The day started off with our journals.



I asked him about this and he said he figured when he was 100 he'd need some money so he'd need to find a job!

 
 
 
I love how he is going to celebrate with his cane and his disco ball!  This 100 year old really knows how to PAR-TAY! ;)



Honesty is the best policy!


By the time she's 100 I'm going to be ANCIENT! 


 
Little does this sweetie know, but it'll happen waaaaaay before he turns 100!
 
 


What did ya say Sonny?!?!
 
 

Crazy cat lady or crazy dog lady?  She hasn't worked out the details.  (I LOVE THIS KID!!!!! She cracks me up DAILY!)
 
 
Then we practiced a few poems for fluency, wrote a 100th Day book, made portraits of what we will look like at 100, and wrote what we would do if we had $100.  It's amazing what they think they can do with $100.  I had one say he'd buy a house, car, phone, tablet, and anything else he needed for his house.  Another little guy said he'd keep it till he was older and ready to have a wife and buy her a ring! (Awwww!!!!) After all this hard work it was time for our 100th Day snack! I was pretty impressed with their spray cheese skills! Ha!
 
 
 
 
With our new found energy, we then completed 100 math problems, made 100th Day hats, drew 100 smiley faces, and had a 100 Hershey Kisses hunt!  The kids loved the hunt and that they got to divide up the Kisses to take home.  Then we started our centers.  The kids favorite was the 100 cup stack!  They worked so well as a team!  I was so proud! They weren't big fans of the fact I kept stopping them to take pictures. ;)
 







 
 
 
 
 
I wish I could have gotten more pictures but my iPad died. :(
 
 
Here is the last picture of me and some of  my 100th Day Sweeties!


We had a blast!  How do you celebrate 100th Day?







 


Friday, January 17, 2014

Well I found these super cute little mailboxes at Target in the Dollar Spot. I never make it to Target at the right time, so I was super excited to see these little jewels. 



As soon as I saw them, my head started reeling with all the different possibilities. I knew that with Krista Wallden's super cute clip art, I'd have the perfect center!  I bought three of them and knew the possibilities would be endless.

Here is one mailbox all fixed up.  All I had to do was stick the stamp to the top of the box.

 
 
 
Here are the letters they will sort.


By just switching out the stamp on the top and grabbing a new card set, we could play review TONS of skills. ;)  Right now a few of my babies are struggling with digraphs and blends. So I thought digraphs would be a perfect start! My kiddos will start by sorting ch, sh, and th words into the correct mailbox. I thought I'd share my first set with my blogger buddies. :)


Click on the picture to download this freebie.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7M_w1FqKvQXZF9mTW9NVFN4TWM/edit?usp=sharing  
 
 
I plan on adding more sets soon, but this week has been kind of  insanely crazy.  We have staff development on Monday and company this weekend so who knows when it'll get done.  If only I had a few more hours in the day...
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

We have a winner!!!!!

Congrats to



a Rafflecopter giveaway Heather B!  She was the winner of my birthday giveaway! Heather make sure and check your email. Thanks to everyone who entered!  I appreciate all of you. :) 

It's been a crazy busy week, including a soup fiasco and a new freebie I am working on.  I will post more later.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Happy Birthday!

Today is my birthday AND a snow day! Does it get much better than that?   I am staying nice and warm inside and thoroughly enjoying this delicious cup of coffee that I don't have to down in 5 minutes. Can I get an Amen? Ha! I have plans to fill this day with all my favorites - favorite foods, favorite movies, favorite people - everything to make a birthday special! And to celebrate with all my new favorite cyber pals, I am having a giveaway and a sale! This is only my second blog post, so I am still new at all this but I'd love for you to join me on this journey.







 
I'd love for you to help me celebrate!
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway