D is for Directions {Freebie!}

I wanted to share a freebie that I made to help our IRLA 2G readers with the directions portion of their Category Words.

Click the pic to get it for free!

O is for Olaf

                                      

You've most likely seen this adorable idea floating around pinterest.

And you might have downloaded Mrs. Lirette's awesome sign like I did.

Well, I went to Target today to find myself a Mr. Potato head and they did not have him. But guess what they did have! (On clearance with an additional 20% off with the Cartwheel app this week! Woohoo!)

This guy!



And I couldn't find anything already made for him, so I made one. Just click the pic and you can have it too!

I just love summer!

R is for Return

I will remember 2014-2015 as "the year I wasn't in the classroom". I loved being the Graduation Enhancement/Leadership Teacher for the school. It was a fantastic learning experience. But I missed being a classroom teacher and having my own group of students so badly that I asked to go back to being a "regular" teacher.

So I am. And I'm so excited for it. After I thoroughly enjoy the summer first!

We have already sorted out the students and made class lists for next year. We like to send home letters to parents with a supply list. This year, I changed it up a little and made a visual version. Grab it for free in my store. My Wishlist could go on, and on, and on, and...well, you get it.

I'm hoping to use the summer get some things planned out (while enjoying the time off). So much has changed with our curriculum in "the year I wasn't in the classroom" and I need to sharpen up my knowledge. Be on the lookout for some updates.

F is for Freebie Friday

We made it! We made it through torrential rain at car rider line, severe weather relocating us from the portable to a "real" building, and freak outs over the fire drill! The first week of school is done.

This picture shows how hard we've been working. I've known this guy since he was born. I blogged about him last year. 

"2nd grade is exhausting"

I feel the same way.

Today is Freebie Friday over on Blog Hoppin'.

I'm putting the time capsules I showed you yesterday as FREE until Monday.

Click the pic to get it. =)

Have a fantastic weekend. I'm going to rest up for the 2nd week of 2nd grade.

 
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R is for Recharge (plus Moon freebie)

Today was the return to school after a nice, relaxing spring break.

I was in a little bit of a funk, but I was trying to "choose my attitude". (I cannot blame it on the fact that I stayed up past my bedtime to watch GCB. That show is hilarious!)

I was just a little annoyed that my car decided to not start yesterday. Which just made me imagine the sound of money flushing down the toilet.

On top of that, I think I'm going to need a new pool pump because it won't start.

And then my electric toothbrush wouldn't start. (Don't worry, I figured out that it still brushed.)

And then I stubbed my toe trying to walk in my classroom in the dark.

First world problems I know...But still, that's not how I wanted to start my Monday after spring break.


I was all ready to move to Australia with Alexander. I felt like a big ol Pout Pout Fish.

Anyways...

And then (does anyone else's darlings tell stories with 'and then'....?) I opened the door to my students and they chased the clouds away.

Here were some comments:

"I was so bored I read, like, 57 books!"

"I was so bored I actually read a book."

"I was so tired of my mom's cooking that I actually missed school lunch."

"You can only play so much DS before it makes your thumbs hurt."

"My lice are gone!"

"I almost forgot what you looked like."

"Hey! There's that cookie I left in my desk!" (9 days later!)

and the best...

"I missed you, Ms. Buckler."

Yeah, that'll take the drearie wearies away.

Also, my darlings who did one of my centers found a mistake today. Some of the labels were missing on the moon headband. So, you can get the fixed one here for free.

Moon Hat


And then I added a 'Free Stuff' tab at the top up there ^. Check it out.

Have a terrific Tuesday!

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S is for Stirring Up Memories Centers

Center Resources for Stirring Up Memories are now on TPT. Click the picture to see.

Here is an Articles freebie that is included in this packet.

Appetizing Articles

And Ginger Snaps Clip Art is having an awesome giveaway!

Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate it!


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M is for Mice and Beans Centers

Spring break is half over! Ahhh! It's okay, I guess. I've been trying to relax.

I did crank out another week of centers. Click the picture to get the Mice and Beans center resources. I just love that story!

Here's a freebie from the unit.

WhatsInsideAdj

I'm off to shop for my Easter baking! Happy Thursday!


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T is for Top Ten {Freebie}

My darlings love making lists.

They also help me find the lists that I've lost around my classroom, but that's normal right?

They are going to be so excited when they see that I've created a specific list for them to make each week.

These Top Ten lists go with the 2nd Grade Treasures series, but can be used in any classroom.

Click the picture to get yours for free! Let me know what your darlings think if you use them.

Have a happy Monday! I'm going to try to do at least one thing on my Spring Break to-do list. It is much longer than ten.

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B is for Brain Breakfast {freebie}

Our school has a "sacred" time set aside to do our intervention small groups.

The tricky part is keeping the on/above grade level kids busy. During this time, we provide enrichment for these students.

I use this poster to remind my darlings what they should be doing in the mornings while I work with my small group.

{Click picture to get freebie!}

This is what students do on each day:
Monday - math practice pages, unfinished math work, math games
Tuesday - Daily Oral Language, use whiteboards to write sentences using weekly grammar skill
Wednesday - weekly journal prompt
Thursday - brain teasers/challenge, holiday worksheet/activity
Friday - students choose a free choice activity/project or finish any weekly unfinished work

I feel like these activities provide my darlings with independent learning opportunities. My highest achieving students step up and act as "assistant teachers" while I'm busy.

It also creates a morning routine that gets students ready for their day.

I hope this is useful in your classroom. =)


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O is for Observation {Freebie}

My second observation was today. Let me just say that in my seven years, I haven't really done anything I wouldn't normally do on a regular day for an observation. I got that out of system when I was an intern.

No big fancy lessons. No talking with a sweet voice. No having the "difficult" children go to another class during that time (even though I've really wanted to).

I try to keep it real. That includes me dropping half of my manipulatives on the floor or calling kids by their silly nicknames (remember I have 3 sets of duplicate names this year).

Today was no different. I am a little ahead of the district's timeline, so I'm spending some extra time with geometry/fractions to enrich some of my higher students.

So here's what I did:

Click the picture to get it for FREE!

It was nothing fancy.

I started with a Ms. Buckler's childhood story. They LOVE Ms. Buckler's childhood stories. I am not going to tell you how many of them are true. I told them that my piggish big brother always tried to take more of the pizza and I quickly learned my fractions so I'd know if I was being tricked.

They cracked up at the thought of me trying to eat more pizza than my brother.

I made them (and my principal) promise that they wouldn't tell the third grade teachers that I was going to teach them some third grade vocabulary words.

We made this quick chart of the shapes' names and talked about how the shapes could fit within each other. They thought 'rhombi' was hilarious.

I made huge pattern blocks out of some colored poster board, laminated them and stuck magnets on back.

Then, I gave each pair of students a game sheet, spinner, and pattern blocks. They had to make "pizzas" according to the directions.

This is a picture of M&M's sheet after the 5th time she and her partner played it during centers. She loved it. (By the way, I did not have them cut the page in half until after they played the game during the whole group lesson.)

I had said "Holy Moly that's crazy!" to one of my darlings who happened to keep spinning triangles. My principal got up and said, "Holy Moly! I'm outta here!" She handed me a note and left. She missed the next 10 minutes of the lesson, but I'm okay with it. A short and sweet observation is my favorite kind.

After they made their pizzas, I had them chop the page in half and then we drew/traced our pieces and wrote the fractions of the whole shape.

I then gave them their math page for the day and told them it was super easy and I bet a goat on a boat could do it with its eyes shut.

Here is what Ms. Cheeky wrote on the front of hers. They are supposed to put a green/yellow/red dot for easy/okay/hard. She went a step further just to make sure I KNEW that she KNEW what she was doing.

She informed me that the H.O.T. (Higher Order Thinking) question was actually "ice cold". She was not happy when I underlined the word Explain when she wrote "It makes 30."

She came back quite exasperated with this new word:

multiplucate

I'll let you know how I rate according to Marzano after my post-observation conference.

I apologize for any run on sentences or grammar/spelling errors.  I've got a lot of things swirling around in my head right now. Did I mention our Odyssey of the Mind competition in Saturday and I'm a K-2nd coach? I swear I found a gray hair last night.

Have a terrific Tuesday!

L is for Listening Lists

I've started a listening center in my class. We are lucky to have iPods with our stories on them, but these can go along with the online format of the Florida Treasures reading series as well (mhln.com).

I am going to laminate, cut them out, and put them on a ring. Enjoy these cards for all 30 stories for free if you use Treasures.

Listening Lists

V is for Valentine Centers

Yeah, I know what those of you who know me are thinking. I'm pretty bah-lovebug about Valentine's day. (Not the movie because Taylor and Taylor were so cute together...)

I do, however, get a big kick out of seeing my little darlings get so excited about it. So I try to make it fun for them.

I've found oodles of awesome Valentiney math resources on pinterest and other blogs, but a few key second grade skills were hard to find.

You can find mine in my TPT store. 

The only thing you might want to pick-up are these heart-shaped boxes from the Dollar Tree. (That sentence made me start humming Nirvana.) 

To prove that I'm not TOTALLY bah-lovebuggy, I will email this file to the first 5 lovely people who leave a comment with their email address for FREE! (Don't forget to join this blog, too.)

Sorry if you are humming Nirvana now, too.

R is for Robotic {with freebie!}

Maybe it's just my students, but we have some serious fluency issues in my class. I do have a few that read FABULOUSLY, but I don't think the kids hear themselves. We tell them to read like a news reporter, but it doesn't always hit home.

One day, one of my more fluent little darlings told his classmate, "You read like a robot!"

So, when I saw this pin, I knew I had to "borrow" the idea.

from Scholastic

We've had a similar hand drawn one for a few months now, but the kids are going to LOVE this colorful version I created!

If you are a follower of my blog, please comment below and I'll email it to you for FREE.

Otherwise you can get it in my Teacher Pay Teachers store.