I is for Interactive Math

Hello friends! It's been a while! I think I FINALLY feel like I've got this specializing/STEM thing under control. I have one set of students in the morning and my partner's group in the afternoon. Let's just say it's been a learning opportunity for me.

It's so interesting to see how the two groups of students are different. I say it's partially due to the craziness that is an elementary school cafeteria (well, at least ours anyway).

The one thing I'm using for both classes is Math Interactive Notebooks. We've used Go Math! from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for several years now, but we just transitioned to the Common Core Edition in our District.

The kids really enjoy doing these.

I'm not going to lie, the cutting and gluing was a lesson in itself. I probably said "A LITTLE BIT OF GLUE WILL DO!" a gazillion times and we went through about 8,000 glue sticks.

But it was so worth it! I was pretty impressed with our Chapter 3 assessment data. I'm confident Chapter 1's results will be awesome.

Because our district has a "suggested curriculum timeline" we jump around chapters. I've completed Chapter 3 and Chapter 1. You might want to follow my TPT shop to get updates. =)

Click picture to go to product.

Click picture to go to product.

 I hope my fellow Floridians can find these useful!

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B is for Blur

August was a blur! I am working on taking classroom pictures and updating the header of my blog! No more portable has been quite the adjustment. Stay tuned! =)

 Happy September!

 Follow my blog with Bloglovin

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W is for Weather

For those of you who have heard of The Leader in Me process or The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, you know that "proactive people carry their own weather with them."

Stephen Covey says whether it rains or shines makes no difference to proactive people.

Well, here in Florida, the literal rain has been driving me crazy testing my "proactiveness". It's hard to do normal summer-type outdoor activities with all the thunderstorms.

 We even have Tropical Storm Dorian trying to visit.

myfoxhurricane.com

BUT, since proactive people CHOOSE their attitudes, behaviors, and reactions to our environments, I'm finding things to do inside. And soaking up the vitamin D when the sun is able to break through the clouds.

I made a little poster to remind me of this. Click the picture if you'd like to have a copy. =)

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D is for Drawers

I'm sure you've seen this magnificent creation on Pinterest from One Happy Teacher.

And the fabulous ones made by Rachel aka The Tattooed Teacher.

 

So cute!

Well, they inspired me to make my own. 

 Ladybug style! 

{Tip: I couldn't wait to take this picture before the Mod Podge dried, but the combination of my printer ink and the Mod Podge gave the black part a little bit of a chalkboard effect. It still looks this way after drying time. You might want to look into printing with a professional printer if you afraid of ink bleed-age. Or tape it!}

If you would like to use these labels, click {here} to get them. 

Happy organizing!

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I is for Instagram

Yes! I've caught up with the times. Come follow me on Instagram. (secondgradesillness)

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D is for Daily Math

I am super excited to specialize in Math and Science this upcoming school year. I think this will give me more time to plan some fabulous activities.

I have been using the freedom of summer to rethink how I do math centers.

I've been doing Debbie Diller style Math Stations, but keeping up with 9 seasonal math stations was beginning to wear on me. It works for some {organized} people.

I was all ready to copy Mrs. Cooley's idea.

Then I saw BUILD on Pinterest and really liked the concept.

Awesome idea!

BUT, thanks to Pinterest, I am committing to Daily 5 Math. I'm not going to lie...after starting Daily 5 for Language Arts last year, I was going to miss the convenience a little.

Daily 5 Math centers will provide my future students (about 36 of them!) with the much needed practice they will need to keep up with the Common Core State Standards.

They will include these 5 areas:
Math by Myself (skill worksheets, workbook pages, fact practice, math stories)
Math with Someone (partner games taught in class/groups)
Math Writing (journal prompts) {Math Journal Prompts from Yvonne Dixon}
Math Technology (iPads/computer games)
Math Work (using manipulatives) {Math Action Cards from Lesson Plan Diva}

I am planning on using baskets similar to the BUILD ones above and attaching some signs I made like this one:

Click for FREEBIE!

Students will put their clothespins on one of the green numbers when they make their choices.

They will use this to keep track of the centers they have chosen:

Click for FREEBIE!

I will copy these on colored paper and students will keep them for two weeks. Students can color in the square of the centers they choose each day. I may also use my hole punch to confirm that they did well in that center.

I am hoping to do two rotations a day after a whole group lesson. My hope is to use more interactive journals, too.

New centers are going to be lots of prep work, but I think they will be more beneficial.

Who else is using Debbie Diller's stations, BUILD, or Daily 5 Math?

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C is for Caaaake!

The theme of this summer seems to be...cake! It basically started with my surprise cake.

Check out the blaze 30 candles can make!

And of course my mom's tradition (aka buy an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen):

 I hung up these things in my house:

Notice the cupcake apron.

 And today I made this:

  

I am going to mess up the kitchen so I can use these gifts:

    

Finally, have some of this:

Boy am I enjoying summer.


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U is for Updates

I know, I know, I know! I am such a negligent blogger. Let me just say that I had an aweseomly awesome class last year and was very blessed. However, my plate consistently stayed full and my poor blog just collected dust.

Now that it's summer and I can finally breathe again, I am fired up and ready to blog again! Also, I turned 30 two days ago and feel much older and wiser than I was three days ago. (Ahhhhh!)

Exciting changes are happening next year. I will still be teaching second grade (whew! had a couple of close calls...) but I will be specializing in Math and Science. One of my very bestest friends will be moving from Kindergarten to partner with me. She gets the giant responsibilities of ELA and Humanities. We are going to have so much fun! I told her she has to get on board with Daily 5/Cafe/Whole Brain Teaching. She doesn't have a choice.

Because of this change, I will be moving in from my much loved/hated portable and back into the pod of four classrooms (we share a common middle area). My best buddy will be across from me! Time to work on a new blog header I suppose.

I've already painted my new room's bulletin boards a lovely black (well, Mr. Ken helped) and am so ready to add some red/polka dot borders. I stumbled across a TPT seller the other day and fell in love with this:

TPT Shop: Gabby Barba

It's like this woman knows me! This is what my teacher dreams are made of. =)

I'm also going to work on creating a new Instagram account for my blog to share all the fun we will have.

And stuff like this!

It looks like I am also going to be one of our 2nd grade team's PLC leaders. AND we going to be a Leader in Me school next year because we won an awesome grant. Can't wait! 

I just hope my bestest buddy doesn't bound and gag me because of all my excitement. She might start putting "calm down" pill in my food...

Stay tuned friends! I'm fired up!



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