Kiss the Pig Winner!

Wow! Thanks for for the support for our school parents! The kids in class really enjoyed watched me kissing the pig on KTUF this morning! 

Blessed!

What a blessing it is to work with such wonderful and caring families.  Thank you so much for the baby shower and helping us get ready for the arrival of our baby girl! The games were fun and the gifts were very much appreciated! I can't wait to see the pictures that you took! 

How adorable!

I love reading kid writing...we had a section on a citizenship assessment where the student had to draw a picture and fill in a sentence frame with how they show good citizenship! Well, this time I was featured in the student's art work! This shows our class waiting to switch and my student at the front being a good citizen in the hallway-made my night! 

Read for a Better Life!

Our class enjoyed a special guest reader, Principal Cresswell!  She was able to come and read some of the Pigeon Books by Mo Willems to our class and Mrs. Harrison's class.  
What a special treat! :)

Principal Cresswell reads to our classes!

Go Noodle!

One of the awesome things about teaching 2nd graders is the fact they are kids and like to have FUN!  I personally believe that children are not meant to sit still all day, and a firm believer of "brain breaks".  These are breaks we take to stand up, get our blood moving, and give ourselves a break from our learning so that we can learn more.  If you are interested in the research behind brain breaks, read this article "Moving With the Brain in Mind" by Eric Jensen, one of the leading researchers on teaching with the brain in mind.

In our class, I use an internet site called GoNoodle to help our class refresh, refocus, and reenergize before moving on to the next lesson.  It has a variety of activities including Yoga stretches, Zumba for Kids, Just Dance type of dancing, running training, and much more! The cool part is that we have a little mascot that we earn points for with our activities.  Every 10 points our mascot grows, changes, or adds a friend.  The kids LOVE earning things for their mascots and taking breaks!  I can't wait to join in with them after my maternity leave!

Here is a picture of our class enjoying a "GoNoodle" break: 

Budding authors...

Had a fantastic Writer's Workshop! Here is my morning class during our "open" workshop thoroughly enjoying the writing process and all are engaged...love! 

Classroom Funny!

For those of you who don't know, Coulson Tough recently went under some maintenance over the summer.  The ENTIRE building got repainted, floors were deep cleaned, and all classrooms had new carpet installed!  The front office had major renovations as well!  If that wasn't enough, things were also shaken up by the grade levels getting rearranged into to new classrooms!  (You need to know this background information...)

So far these past few days we've received LOTS of phone calls for the guidance counselor, who previously occupied where my classroom is now.  Today alone we had about 4 calls in a 10 minute window of time.  A student raised a hand and said "Maybe we should call someone about this...it's pretty disruptive!"  :)  Out of the mouths of children...heehee

Awesome First Day!

We had a GREAT first day with 2nd grade today!  Today was spent with my homebase class, just organizing our materials and simply getting used to the routine of the school day after a nice summer break.  A break down of our day:

• Learning how to label our OWN materials with our OWN Sharpie!  (We are pretty grown up in 2nd grade!  The kids LOVED that!)  We labelled folders, pencil pouches, notebooks, and our writing binder.
• Remembering how it is to be in a BIG group again!  We started brainstorming ideas for our classroom's social contract.  They have AMAZING ideas and I am moved by their empathy and compassion for others.
• Remembering how to use the bathroom at school ('nuff said! haha)
• Remembering how to walk in the hallway (NOT as easy as it sounds...)
• New "big kid" lunch and recess procedures (2nd graders throw away their own trash!)
• New Essentials (Art, Music, PE) teachers!
• New "big kid" dismissal procedures!

Phew!  That makes me pretty tired just thinking about it.  We had a table group competition to see which table could make the list that remembered the most of what we reviewed and learned today...Way to go Table 5!

We also got to have some pretty great read alouds:

This one was just fun to look at the pictures and enjoy the story!

We were able to do some predicting (there is a surprise ending!), a think-pair-share activity, and a writing activity I found on Pinterest with this story!  

I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!  We laughed and had fun, ate lunch, and got everyone home safely.  That is a GREAT first day! :)

Our 2nd Grade Language Arts Classroom!

Here is the long awaited "After" picture and virtual tour of our 2nd Grade Language Arts Classroom!

Welcome to our Classroom!  This is where all the fun is!

Our Classroom Library (LOTS of books!)

I LOVE Technology!  Blessed to have 4 student computers!

The Teacher Area and Awesome Storage Cabinets.

Small Group Area, Daily 5 Stations, Mailboxes

Coulson Tough ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

After a WONDERFUL first day of school with my awesome new second graders, I was able to participate in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge with the rest of the staff at Coulson Tough.  We participated to bring awareness to ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and support a fellow teacher's family member who is currently living with this debilitating disease.  Here is our video!

Teacher Inservice Day 1-PLC Continued Training

Top 5 of the first day of inservice:

1.  It directly related to helping me be a better teacher

2.  It directly related to me improving student learning

3.  I have picked up several new ideas I can easily implement regarding student learning

4.  The presenter was outstanding

5.  I was able to collaborate with my amazing 2nd grade team

I am also finishing up a few projects before posting the "after" picture of our classroom! 

Here is our updated "I can" board! I had to update it because this year I am only teaching Language Arts.  It also includes our weekly habit and our monthly character pillar.  "I can" statements are "what we're learning" statements that are written in kid friendly terms that also introduce academic vocabulary.  It helps bring student awareness of what they are learning and our focus for the day. It's pretty powerful, takes minimal time and is backed up as a best practice with research and data.

So, how did I make my focus board? Well, I love Pinterest and saw a kitchen memo sign made out of a picture frame and scrapbook paper.  I thought, "Why not do this for my "I can" statements?" I went to the dollar tree and purchased 6 frames, then created signs on my computer to put in the frames.  To attach the frames together, I just used duct tape! I attach this to our white board with 3M strips, and it holds up very well! I simply write on the glass with Expo marker, which makes it easy to stay or change as often as needed.

Ok, off to finish some more projects before tomorrow's inservice! :)

Ready...Set...

Hello!  I can't believe that summer is almost over and the new school year is about to begin.  What do teacher's do over the summer anyway?  We spend time with our families and prepare for the following year!  

I've been working tirelessly this past week getting ready to welcome our 2nd graders to our newly painted and carpeted classroom! I'm SUPER excited to show you the after.  Stay posted! 

Before...