Gallery Walks!

One of the easiest ways to incorporate MOVEMENT into your day! A GALLERY WALK!

In the example above, I pulled photographs and pictures from our current ELA unit. I had kids walk along and write what they notice and wonder on sticky notes. It was a type of formative assessment because these were familiar pictures from texts we already read. Just me checking in to see what the kiddos were retaining/still thinking about.

Another option? A a pre-assessment! I could have used these same pictures BEFORE starting the unit to see what my students already know about the topic. It would guide my instruction for that unit.

How about yet another option? A super engaging culminating activity where kids can show what they know!

Any way you use a gallery walk, the kids will be MOVING, COLLABORATING, and ENGAGED!

By the way, I always have a number associated with each student in my class. They just put their number on the sticky note so I know for sure who wrote what. :)

Five for Friday

The day after our NYS ELA state assessment ended we set up a crime scene in the classroom! Kids really had a blast finding clues, recording evidence, and deciding what the evidence most likely meant. It was totally engaging and fun!

The crime scene materials came from The Engaging Station's TpT product. It had suggestions for how to set up your classroom and handouts for students to record their notes.

And here is some of the writing my students did the day after the NYS ELA assessment! On the third day of the test and the 9th written response question, I had some of my most talented writers telling me that they were tired of writing. Well, that all changed when they walked into our transformed classroom and determined that their lovely teacher was a suspect in a terrible crime! They really did jump right in and got excited about writing again!

Lucy has been a MUSH with all of the rainy weather we have had here in New York lately. She doesn't mind playing in mud puddles after the rain, but she really does NOT like walking in the rain. So...she sleeps. :)

With the NYS ELA assessments over, we have about a month until the NYS Math assessments, which my kids are sure will be a total blast because they love math. Definitely less anxiety there! We can do it!

Five for Friday

Here I am, and I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching this week for Five For Friday!  

Gallery Walks

I'm loving a good gallery walk this year!

The one above is a culminating activity from our Immigration unit. It's in the second grade CCLS ELA domains.

Each child had Post Its and went through the pictures. They wrote down facts that they remembered from our unit and their thoughts on the pictures. (I did have the Smart Board on with a cheat sheet of helpful vocabulary words for my little second graders!)

Next up, I think that I will try this as an INTRODUCTION for an upcoming unit. Activate a little schema and get the kiddos thinking and EXCITED about what's coming next!

SocksBean

I ordered some fun new necklaces from SocksBean.com!

I'll be giving a couple away to my sisters for birthday gifts, but I'm thinking that I'll keep that last one for myself! 

SUPER CUTE!

And I used a sweet 20% off code from Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd!

(And yes, those are Lucy's feet in the picture. She loves being a part of a blog photo.)

Modern Family.

I've just been really into this show recently. :)

NEW FLAIR PENS!!!

This is an exciting day.

I like to use Flair pens when I'm writing greeting cards for my kiddos. I try to write each child a personalized greeting card and put it in their mailbox a few times a month, and Flair pens are perfect for that!

Plus, they are great for writing little desk top reminders on Post Its for my second grade cuties.

Lucy is always a fun way to end a Five for Friday!

Frolicking outside in her pajamas.

Five for Friday

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching this week for Five For Friday! 

We celebrated the winter solstice on December 21 with an indoor campout! I set up a real life tent. I also used bulletin board paper to make some lean to's. I also brought in some real wood and set it up around a touch light for a camp fire in our meeting area. We even had smores! Well, graham crackers, chocolate bars, and fluff! :)

Before winter vacation I downloaded Hope King's science experiments file from TPT. We had been learning about matter, but the kiddos were struggling. I had a few days before winter break, and instead of starting a new unit, I stayed with matter a bit and tried out some experiments and hands on activities. Obviously, they loved it!

We don't actually have science built into our schedule in my school. (I know, crazy.) Especially for me, someone coming from teaching fourth grade for five years and knowing that there is a state science test, well, I can't NOT teach science. So, I squeeze it in whenever I can. Plus, science experiments are SUPER engaging and fun for kiddos!

The experiment above is neat. We put pop rocks into the balloon, attached it to the soda top, and flipped the balloons at the same time. The pop rocks fell into the soda, created gas, and inflated our balloons. The kiddos went nuts!!! I think it was one of their favorite experiments. 

We also made ice cream, made root beer floats, dressed up in clear garbage bags and added balloons to represent molecules for solids, liquids, and gases, AND A LOT MORE!

We finished up our life cycles unit, so I took ten minutes in a day for some fun! We each had a partner and wrapped each other up in a chrysalis! And then we EMERGED! It was a hoot.

Each child had a black chenille pipe cleaner wrapped onto their fingers to look like antennae and butterfly feet. We then dug through the Cheetohs (pollen) for the candy (nectar). When the victor emerged from the bag with the candy, their pipe cleaner was covered in Cheetohs dust. We made some great connections to our life cycles unit as we finished it up!

You may not be able to see, but my friend had the polka dot dog mat embroidered with Lucy's name! My entire classroom is black and white polka dots with splashes of yellow, so it is very fitting and I love it. :)