Five for Friday

After much lurking, I've finally decided to participate in my first Five for Friday! Join the fun over at Doodle Bugs. 

We learned about subjects and predicates this week in second grade. Each student and myself wrote one sentence on a large sentence strip then we cut them separating the subject and predicate. Later in the week during work stations, students created new sentences from the mixed up pieces. One group just happened to create this sentence at the same time I was wearing my cupcake slippers!

I went to a science " sip and see" after school this week. I scored some science swag I can't wait to use with my minis. 

 

On Monday one of my students from last year gave me this thoughtful give. She was a struggling mini at the beginning of second grade and made excellent progress! She is continuing to do well in third grade. This sweet gesture touched my heart. 

During math stations students played Place Value War. You can grab a copy for yourself here. 

Mrs. Bell is our key communicator this year. She's been working hard and does a fantastic job. We appreciate you Mrs. Bell!

TodaysMeet

Week 3 has come and gone in a blur. I must take a moment to brag on my sweet room parents. They are so amazing and helpful! It's always nice to hear compliments and have people willing to help when needed. During teacher in-service before school started I learned about a great resource called TodaysMeet. It's easy to set up and user friendly for my students. It can be used for feedback on a lesson, group participation, or making comments. Students know when they come in on Wednesday morning they will type their response on an available computer to the week's question.

The first step is to create the name of your room. A green check mark means the name you've chosen is available; if you see a red ex you will need to pick something else. I choose to have the room deleted in a day.

Our question last week went along with the story Mr. Putter & Tabby Pour the Tea.

Get started with whatever question you want, then students can begin typing their responses. Students love seeing all the responses from everyone in class. In a couple week's time I hope to do some collaborating with other classes at school. 

More Pictures

I took a few pictures of things I intended to include with my first classroom pic post but forgot.

I had a dead wall space area in the room that needed a little "oomph" so I decided to use the monogram art letters from Schoolgirl Style. This is the area right above Ricky Bobby's cage.

Our class share chair. This is where students sit to share anything from writing to show and tell goodies. A teacher who retired last year had this and I couldn't resist it.

When students take a book from the class library, they clip their clothes pin somewhere on the basket so they know where to return when finished. I found this idea on Pinterest. So far so good with this system! 

My district uses McGraw Hill reading curriculum. At the beginning of each week we discuss the meaning of our vocabulary words and come up with a visual reminder whole group. I first learned this idea at a Debbie Diller workshop I attended my first year of teaching. Students love to act out the definitions during learning stations.