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Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Consonants and Vowels

Hope all is well in your world.  I wanted to share this vowel/consonant activity that we are doing in my class this week.  I started out having the kids copy it down on paper folded into rectangles, but my kids write so big that I decided to switch to this cute little form.


I plan to follow it up by having my kids cut out the different sections and glue them into booklets. They will finish up the booklet by drawing their friends on the different pages.  I think it will turn out cute.  I got the idea from the CCSS vocabulary that we are supposed to teach.  According to my school's support teacher, the kids should be familiar with the 'teacher' vocabulary so that they understand what we are referring to...in this case they should be familiar with the definition for 'consonant' and 'vowel'.  I use these posters to help document my teaching--it is a good reminder for the class as a whole, too!  

I have prepared sets for different grade levels!  Take a look! In case you are wondering, I got the vocabulary from readtennessee.org.  Just click on the pic to go check out the vocabulary posters.






Hope you can use them!  Have a good day!

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Duck Dynasty: Duck Calls and Syllables

This week in my class we are using our names for all sorts of things...how many letters, how many vowels, how many consonants, and how me syllables. 

 I taught my kids how to use their 'duck bill' to find how many syllables are in their name...all they had to do was hold their lips together like a duck and instead of quacking, we buzzed out our names while the other hand was pressed against our voice box so that we could feel the vibrations.  Each new vibration was a new syllable.  Worked like a charm!  

Here is a quick little freebie for you.  Give those duck bills a try and see how it works for you.  Let me know!








Thursday, August 22, 2013

Back to School in Second Grade Day 10



Well, we are off to a rip-roaring and populated second grade year.  Must have been something in the water!  There is a possibility that we will get a new teacher--we are still waiting...and growing older....Stay tuned!

We have been using a great back to school packet by The Bubble Blond Teacher that the kids are loving.  It is great to use right now because I am so busy doing Back to School assessments.

Click here to buy it!

This is what I am using to do some of my assessing with.  It is FULL of different types of assessments so I anticipate using it all year.



Our focus right now is Problem Solving on your OWN!


Not that I want to start with the negative, but this may come in handy for you.  These two were pushing and shoving in the line...they were at the end, mind you....and could not work out their issue by themselves.  So, in my room, if you can't work together as friends, I will FORCE you to become friends!  These two spent about 15 minutes holding hands while trying to work together, getting water, and cleaning up.  Needless to say, at the end of that 15 minutes they were fast friends and ready to be rid of each other.  I haven't had any more pushing and shoving either!!  The wonderful thing about it---no parent can be mad at me for doing something ridiculous.  At least not too ridiculous.



Right now our second grade classrooms are departmentalized.  I teach half a day's worth of literacy to two different blocks of students.  My partner teaches all of the math.  Because of our enrollment, we may be adding a third teacher and if we do, we will all be teaching every subject.  So, I am really interested in looking at this book.  From what I read, the curriculum spirals.  So...anticipating that I may need to problem solve on my own, I am looking ahead!



We have already had a case of lice this year and hopefully it is the last!  I am trying to figure out if I am brave enough to buy this new book from David Shannon of No, David! and David Goes To School fame.  My kids have read both of these books until the pages are falling a part, so it is time for me to re-order them.  



Available on August 27, 2013

Again, I am trying to problem solve on my own, so I am using Lice Logic hairspray.  The scent keeps the critters away! Again, I am problem solving!


  Oh!!  Remember that I am looking for pictures of anchor charts!  Feel free to email them to me at jennh13 <dot> aol.com.  Include your name and state for posting!  For those of you that have sent me charts, I will begin posting them soon, so be on the look out!  I can't wait for you to be pinned!!!


More later!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Tools For School--Classroom Printables

I have just a sec, so I wanted to share this offer I got this in an email so I thought I would share it with you!



Have you been to the new teacher store, Tools for Schools?  There are lots of materials available there from teachers all over the world, including yours truly!!!  Be sure to go follow me there!  They also have a great group of boards on Pinterest!



I had over 561 emails that I had to read, so as I read I fulled information that I thought other teachers might enjoy.  Here is a treat for you as you go into the weekend!



Monday, August 19, 2013

Classroom Management--Line Up Song



Last week I tried something new...a line up song.  I chose a slow Jim Brickman-type song which kept my Speedy Gonzales's from being too speedy but was quick enough to get my snails moving.  I played the song and gave them that time to clean up their areas and line up the door.  It worked!  They were quiet, in line, and my room wasn't a diaster.  AND, I had gotten them lined up in less than 4 minutes.  I am pretty proud!
Do you do the same thing?  If you do, I would love to know which songs you use so that I can put them into my Spotify folder.

Speaking of Spotify, have you been there?  It is awesome!!!

There is also a blog called Classroom DJ if you want some specific music for specific things!

Also, don't forget me during the Teachers Pay Teachers Back to School Sale!  Just click on the button to go my store!




Thursday, August 15, 2013

Wanted: Pictures of All Types of Anchor Charts and Public Records!



Wanted:  Pictures of All Types of Anchor Charts and Public Records!  

This includes procedural charts and charts for all subjects!  If you would like your chart featured on the Charts N Chit Chat, just email the picture of the chart along with your first name and the state you live in to me!  

Hint:  Pictures that are already on nice backgrounds will be featured first.  This can be done on Microsoft Word or Power Point and cropped in Microsoft Paint!  There are lots of tutorials on the web that will help you do this...just search for the program of your choice and go for it!!  I can't wait to see what you send me!  Please make sure that your chart is done neatly!

Send emails to jennh13<dot>aol.com!  

Just think....when your chart is featured on the blog, thousands of teachers will be pinning you, and using your chart to teach their students!  You have the chance to help change education in our country!  Go for it!


Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Hangin' Tough

I'll go ahead and worn ya...there is not a stitch of academia in this blog post tonight.  I was a blank slate, so I'm going to go retro tonight....and I hate even calling it that, because these guys are from my time period.  I remember going to their concert and my ears ringing for 3 days afterwards!  Thanks to Missy Squirrels for giving me this idea, even though she didn't know she gave it to me.

She and I were 'talking' on Facebook tonight and I couldn't think of anything to blog about and she said, 'Just blog about something you do that is unique'.  In my head, I thought, "I'm just barely hanging in there because I am so tired.'  Well...I just decided to have some fun tonight and I've enjoyed my walk down Memory Lane.    Oh, the memories...So, here I am...barely hanging in there.


I feel like this is about what I am doing tonight...I'm Hangin' Tough.  It's a new year....new kids....new <and increased> responsibities and expectations.

So....I'm just going to do it all step by step.






Trying to teach my kids to whisper when they really seem to be yelling when they read out loud.






Everything I do I do for the good of my class, just like you.




My plan is to make sure they have all of the skills that they need to become successful.



The tough part is making sure that I am teaching everything thorough enough.





By the way, did I tell you that our school board is going to be discussing raise that was proposed by our union, but they say they don't have any money???  hhahaha  Dirty Dawgs!! 



But, no matter.


Pretty soon, I'll <Oh, just another 175 days> be singing along with this.....




But, I want you all to know that I have faith in you and what you are doing this year!



And tonight.....welll....tonight I'm just gonna crash!  So tired....




Keep on Smilin'!!






Sunday, August 11, 2013

Thought I Would Share..

Just thought I'd share these with you.  I am going really low-key with my job chart this year.  My room has so much going on with it, that I decided I didn't need anything really froofy!  But, I couldn't help doing them with a gliggery background from The Bubbly Blonde!  There are enough jobs for 18 students.  All you have to do is click on one of the pics and download for FREE!





Saturday, August 10, 2013

Teacher's Notebook Back to School Sale




Teacher's Notebook has kicked off their Back to School Sale today!!  I forgot to mention it in my last post.  Feel free to visit my store and browse!!  You can also enter my giveaway!  All of my items are 40% off!!

Friday, August 9, 2013

Made It Through The First Week

Whew!  Has it been a week.  I have 26 second graders right now.  It is looking like we may get another teacher, but until our enrollment period is up, we just do the best we can.  Out of that 26, 8 are native Spanish speakers and another 11 received RTI services.  My work is cut out for me!!

Below is a little bit of joy that brought into my life....a 'real' treasure box that I got at Hobby Lobby.  This is how I 'rewarded' myself for teaching my 20th year of school.  It seems like just yesterday that I was furiously trying to organize my <then> Montessori classroom!  My kids are pretty impressed with it and asked me if I went scuba diving and found it! hehe


This is a book that I shared with you a few weeks ago.  It was recommended during our Common Core training.  It has assessments for all grades <even up into high school> and I am using a phonics screener to assess my students.  The theory behind it is that students read at a different phonics stage than they are able to spell, so to adequately meet their needs we have to know what type of patterns, blends, digraphs, etc. they are able to read and this information, in turn, will help us determine which phonics levels meet their needs in spelling.


This is the first page of the phonics screener...it simply assesses letter names and letter sounds and progresses to the different vowel sounds, nonsense words, short vowels, long vowels, affixes, and multi-syllabic words.


We got this freebie from TpT to send home to our parents in the hopes of gaining more info about our kids.  All you have to do is click on the pic to go and grab it!  



I am also going to be using these next week!  Just click on them to get more info!


Have a great weekend!


Sunday, August 4, 2013

Behavior Folder Printables

I just finished working on these and thought that I would share them with you.  We use a color scheme for our behavior chart like many of you do.  I think the difference in what we do in my grade level is that we mark behavior colors in the morning and afternoon so that we can track behavior patterns.  We also have a number code system that we can use to communicate with parents to let them know what issues were dealt with that day.  I hope you can use this!  I left the dates and area for rules blank so that you could fill them in if you wanted to use the printables!   Enjoy!  Just click on the pics to go download this freebie!






A Pep Talk



My administrator shared this with us in our first inservice.  It inspired me, so I thought I'd in turn, pass it along to you and try to inspire you!



That is all for today folks!  Get some air through your nose!!


Saturday, August 3, 2013

Apps Gone Fwee and Ewapsed Time Pwactice




Just click here to go check it out!

I'm weally psyched to be starting the yeaw off with Wodney and his Wat fweinds!  Wodney has been a favorwite of my past classes for yeaws and yeaws.  Wodney is a gweat book that helps teach about bullying and acceptance. I am cuwwently wowking on a mini unit fow this book!!  Love him!!


We went back to school yesterday and spent half a day meeting as a staff and half of the day working in our rooms.  Over the summer I had reconfigured the book shelves that I had made with boards and cinder blocks <see the pic in the middle> and just realized after getting the baskets on there that I don't have enough shelf space.  I am trying to figure out what to do to fit all 35 baskets of books while not hiding the space that is usually my word wall.  Any ideas?  I am open to suggestions!!




So finally after sitting there looking at it all, I did get all of the Journeys materials that came in a zillion boxes hidden but plan on going in and taking care of the books bright and early Monday morning before registration gets started.  This is what happens if you have a children's book addition!







If you teach elapsed time, here is a great packet <with an answer key!!> which gives students plenty of experience with figuring out elapsed time and the concept of being early, on time, or late.  I used it with my second graders, but since Common Core moved that concept to 3rd grade <Thank Goodness!!>  it is just sitting in my store, being all lonely.  So, feel free to pick this packet up if you teach 3rd, 4th, or 5th grades.  Feel free to share this with your upper elementary friends, also.  Elapsed time materials are hard to come by!!

Remember....please follow my blog while you are here!


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