2015-2016 Classroom Reveal

Whew! It's been a week and a half of long nights setting up my classroom! I may or may not have stayed at school one night until 3:15 am - whoops! I like to go work in my classroom at night after my son and husband go to bed, because I feel like it's less time away from my family that way. I would rather lose sleep than lose family time, so it has been worth it! My classroom setup pictures have gotten a lot of interest and questions on my Instagram account, so I wanted to share my complete classroom reveal as promised! So here goes.... prepare yourselves for picture overload!

I will share broad view pictures first, then close-ups of everything with details and more information, so keep scrolling!

This is the view when you walk into my classroom and my favorite part of my classroom setup:

Classroom Decor Galore

Hey, my friends! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer vacations (if you have a summer vacation) and are spending some well-deserved time on YOU! I know I sure have been livin' it up this summer, but I'm getting the itch to get back into my classroom. So what did I find myself doing earlier this week? SHOPPING! Classroom decor galore! So I had to share all of my fabulous finds with you all of course! ;)

Yes, my husband did walk in and see all of this in our living room floor, shook his head, and said "Seriously?". Yes, sweetie.... seriously.

But, you have to take a closer look! Let me give you the run-down real quick! I bought 5 orange mini pocket charts that I currently have no use for whatsoever, but I really needed them. :) The letter holder thingie, yeah, I don't have a specific use for it yet either, but it was only $3 so why not? Last, but not least are my very most favorite kind of pencil to write with, but unfortunately these are not for me, they're for my students. I'm starting them all out with a brand new mechanical pencil this year {wish me luck}! The sharpening of pencils is my #1 pet peeve in the classroom, so we'll see how this goes. I let my 2nd graders use mechanical pencils from December on this past year and it worked perfectly, so I have high hopes! The items below came from the Target.

What Have We Been Up To? {Five for Friday}

Today I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for a little Five for Friday {on Saturday}. This link-up is perfect for me, because all you have to do is share 5 random things from your week - fits my personality perfectly...RANDOM! :) Head on over to Doodle Bugs Teaching and link up or visit more Five for Friday posts by clicking the button above.

Background Info: I live in Kentucky and in Kentucky we have what we call Snow Days. Well, normally we do. But we have had forecast after forecast after forecast for snow and have gotten NONE! This is a good thing for those of us who like to get out on time in May, but for those of us needing a snow day (snuggle on the couch in our PJs day), our snow dances have NOT been working. With that being said, snow days are always such a controversy in our county. The parents, teachers, and kiddos know all about it, so I like to turn that little slice of hometown drama into an awesome opinion writing piece. So we have been working hard at this authentic piece of writing that the students can really relate to. You can see the prompt below and it can be found in my January Common Core Writing Activities in my TpT Store. You can also see a complete Q&A Blog Post about my Common Core Writing Activities {HERE}.

We have also started a new novel study this week. We began The Mouse and the Motorcycle. This is such a cute book! I remember reading it as a child and it was always one of my favorites! On Thursday, we read Chapter 1 and then completed some comprehension questions and a graphic organizer that goes along with the chapter. The comprehension questions focus on basic recall, while the graphic organizer encourages the students to dig deeper and use text-based evidence to respond. You can see a little snippet below and my Mouse and the Motorcycle Unit can also be found in my TpT Store.

We also spent this week finishing up some science experiments. We made edible rocks, excavated rocks, exploded volcanos, and much more in this science unit! The kiddos had a blast!

Wow, you guys, I have gotten some incredible feedback on my Perfect Paragraphs One Step at a Time! I even had a fellow teacher tell me that they used my Perfect Paragraphs even in the 4th grade! I just love the way that these guide the students in creating a quality paragraph with an introduction, three details, and a concluding statement. The unique way that these paragraph prompts are laid out is the key, in my opinion, for helping young writers to get their details out FIRST, then come back and add an introduction and a concluding statement AFTER they write their details. As you all well know, students want to get right to the good stuff and this layout allows them to do so. You can check them out in my store {HERE}. I have a pack for every month in the school year so far and will be creating for March through June/July as well. 

I also listened to your requests and have added an extra, matching publishing page for those students who may get lengthy with their writing. I also have added a rubric for each paragraph upon request. I hope you guys enjoy! I will be going back to my previous packs and adding in the extra publishing page and the rubrics as soon as I can find the time! :)

You can see I have our Perfect Paragraphs all copied into packets for the entire month of February! You can check out my Perfect Paragraphs One Step at a Time in my TpT store by clicking the picture below. I always include two seasonal and two generic prompts that can be used year-round.

Last, but not least, I have added a new math center to our rotations. My Addition and Subtraction QR Codes - SO. MUCH. FUN! These are self-checking task cards that utilize QR codes to make them super engaging for the kiddos. Included are 4 different sets of task cards - Addition Without Regrouping, Subtraction Without Regrouping, Addition With Regrouping, and Subtraction With Regrouping. I have added this to my rotation of centers, because now that we're finished with the Addition and Subtraction to 1,000 unit, I don't want the kiddos to forget what they've learned! All you need is ONE iPod, iPad, or iPhone with a free QR scanner app and you're all set. You can see how they work in the pics below or check them out in my TpT store {HERE}.

 4 Different Sets of Self-Checking Task Cards

Solve the problem on the task card. Then use an iPod, iPad, or iPhone with a free QR scanner app to scan the QR code.

 Check your work with the answer that is displayed on your device! So much fun! The kiddos just love it! :)

So there you have it! A little peek into our week! A little writing, reading, math, and science and a LOT of fun! Thanks for stopping by! :)

This is YOUR Year - GIVEAWAYS GALORE!

Hello all and Happy New Year to you! My sweet blogging friends and I have some exciting news for you! We are hosting a HUGE giveaway on the Owl-ways Be Inspired Blog where we are giving away a $100 Amazon Gift Card! Yes, that's right - $100! It's super easy to enter and win! Head on over to Owl-ways Be Inspired or click the image below and enter to win! But COME BACK because there's more! I'm hosting a GIVEAWAY too! See below!

Many of the other Owls are also giving away something on their own blogs as well, myself included! I'm giving away a $20 gift card to Amazon and my Winter ELA Printables pack from my TPT store in the Rafflecopter below! You can use the $20 gift card to Amazon to order all the fun winter-themed books you need to go along with my ELA Printables! How fun!

Take a closer look at a couple of my Winter ELA Printables included in the pack below...

Enter to win in the Rafflecopter below! The giveaway starts now and ends January 3rd on both 2nd Grade Stuff AND Owl-ways Be Inspired. Good luck! :)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Throw Back Thursday: Thanksgiving Fun!

In honor of #ThrowBackThursday which has fully taken over all forms of social media, I'm throwing back to an old post from last year where I shared a fun Thanksgiving activity that was so awesome, we are repeating it again this year! Original post can be found below...

*** Original Post Starts Here ***

First, we begin by reading Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano.  You could also read A Turkey for Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting.  Both involve turkeys that don't want to be eaten for Thanksgiving dinner.  There are several other picture books out there, but these are two of my favorites.  Click the links below to purchase them from Amazon.com.

After reading one of these picture books, we discuss the plot, point of view, and problem/solution.  There are several graphic organizers in my Thanksgiving ELA Printables pack to use when reading either of these books.  

*** Edited to Add ***

This year we will be reading both books above and comparing/contrasting the story elements in each book using my printables below.

After completing one of the graphic organizers from my pack (there are several that will work), we begin to brainstorm how it would feel if we were a turkey on Thanksgiving Day.  We talk about how we would solve our problem.  The students are assigned the following writing prompt from my November Common Core Writing Unit.  They have to write a letter to try and persuade families to NOT eat turkey for Thanksgiving and provide reasons that support their opinion.

They will have to support their opinion using the following graphic organizers, also included in the unit.

And finally, they will publish their Opinion Piece on differentiated publishing paper, also included in the unit.

You can find all this and more in my November Common Core Writing Pack.  

I hope this fun, seasonal activity helps you tame down the teacher burnout too!  :)

Bright Ideas Round-Up

Several months ago, a group of bloggers decided to get together and start posting some simple, yet effective Bright Ideas. In these posts, there were no products, no links, no advertising. We just wanted to share nice and easy, simple to implement, Bright Ideas. For the month of November, we are rounding-up some of our old Bright Ideas posts so that you can take a peek at them again and hopefully browse the link-up below to find some more Bright Ideas that you can use NOW in your classroom! We hope you enjoy this round-up of Bright Ideas!

My most popular Bright Ideas post was my post about managing your turn-in tray using clothespins! It was a simple idea, yet one that so many people fell in love with! It's now my #3 most popular blog post on 2nd Grade Stuff. You can go back and read the original post {HERE} or click on the picture below.

My next Bright Idea that was a sure hit was my post about organizing all the never-ending amounts of PAPER in your classroom - How to Avoid Stacks of Paper. This post was one of the most pinned on Pinterest on my entire blog! You can go back and read the original post {HERE} or click the picture below.

I hope you've enjoyed this Round-Up of Bright Ideas and maybe you have found something that you can take back to your classroom and implement immediately! If not, check out MORE Bright Ideas by browsing the links below for thousands of our most popular posts. Enjoy! :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Take a Peek Inside "Perfect Paragraphs One Step at a Time"

I've had several requests for examples of my Perfect Paragraphs One Step at a Time in action. The example I'm sharing below is a paragraph that we just finished up from my October Edition. As with any writing, the most important thing for a teacher to do is model, model, model. So this is the Perfect Paragraph that we created together as a class while I modeled the process for the students.

My Perfect Paragraph packs come with paragraph templates that are aligned to the Common Core, so the students will be writing Narrative, Opinion, and Informative/Explanatory paragraphs. In each monthly pack, I include 4 paragraph templates, 2 that are seasonal and 2 that are completely generic and can be used at any time of the year. You can check them out below and more will be coming each month throughout the year!

The Perfect Paragraph displayed below is a Narrative paragraph called "A Bad Dream". It was so fun to create this Perfect Paragraph with my students! See the details below.

Narrative: Step One
The first step in my Perfect Paragraph packs is to brainstorm. This is the fun part where the students can come up with many different ideas or details before they actually begin writing. This is what we came up with as a class together while I modeled brainstorming and choosing ONE event for the narrative paragraph.

Narrative: Step Two
The next step in my Perfect Paragraph packs is to write three details. While some may find this confusing to begin in the middle, I think it's super important to write this way as a beginner. The details are the most important part of the paragraph and they're the easiest to write for the students, because the details contain all the good stuff! :)

Narrative: Step Three
The third step in my Perfect Paragraph packs is to write the introduction and the closing statement. I encourage teaching in this order so that your students can see the details first, then choose a good introduction to those details, as well as a good closing for those details. I personally think it's easier for the students to complete the introduction and closing AFTER writing the details. Take a look below.

Narrative: Step Four
The next step in my Perfect Paragraph packs is to put it all together! This is where your students will combine their introduction, details, and closing statements in the correct order! Finally you have a cohesive paragraph! A crucial part of this step is modeling the order in which the sentences should be written. I also remind the students about indenting and spacing in between sentences although I still have the few that try to start each sentence on a new line. :)

Narrative: Step Five
The final step in my Perfect Paragraph packs is to share and discuss. This is where your students will peer-edit each others' paragraphs. This is an important part of the writing process and it also hits those Speaking and Listening Common Core Standards as well! I encourage my students to think together, discuss their thoughts, and develop a plan. You can see what the students decided were my strengths and weaknesses below. The next step is to revise and edit. And then you're done!

I hope this example helps some of you who were wondering exactly what my Perfect Paragraphs One Step at a Time were all about! I appreciate all the support and feedback you all have left on these packs. I plan to continue making the Perfect Paragraphs for each month following the same format. I chose not to switch up the formatting too much (aside from fonts, borders, and clipart) purposely so that your students become familiar with the format and have a good visual for when you begin to move away from the template. Leave me any questions in the comments and I would be happy to answer! Y'all have a great weekend! :)

P.S. I also have an AWESOME giveaway going on right now on my Facebook Page. THREE winners will get to choose ANY one of my November resources from my TPT store. Hop on over and enter to win!