Second Grade Smartypants: January 2013

Saturday, January 12, 2013

The Magical Product Swap

Hello and happy Saturday!
We are so excited to be participating in the Magical Product Swap.

We missed this the first time around and were kicking ourselves later, because it looked like so much fun. Sooooo....we were watching like hawks to make sure we didn't miss this round!

We were paired with Nicole Rios from Mrs. Rios Teaches Second Grade.

She has a really great blog and a tpt store with a ton of FABULOUS items!! If you have not checked out her blog and/or her store you really should!!!

So after looking through all the wonderful items in her store and hemming and hawing over which one to pick (we want them all!:) we decided on Nicole's Place Value Around the Room Activity/Center. It is adorable and really great because their is tons of differentiation for learners. Both of our classes totally loved it because we let them work on it as they finished their math assignment and they were so excited to move around the room and look for the cards that would help them fill in the recording sheet. This can also be used very easily in a center, but for our VERY active kiddos this year the movement around the room was wonderful.

(for some reason, even though this picture is the right way when I upload it, it keeps turning! Grrrr....) :)
These pictures show how easy it is to assemble this activity. We just printed off the cards and laminated them. You could also make them on cardstock or just print them off year to year. Then we printed off the version of the recording sheets that we wanted to use. After that we put the cards around the room. Finally we set our kiddos loose to work as they finished their math work for the day.

In honor of The Magical Product Swap we are having a sale in our tpt store through the weekend! You can head on over and save 20% off of all of our items!!

We are also giving away the product that Nicole is reviewing! If you would like a chance to win our Common Core Math Games for Second Grade then just enter below!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]

Thursday, January 10, 2013

What We Have Been Working On...

Most of the time Katie and I take turns being productive. When she is on a hot streak of creativity I am usually exhausted and feeling good that I made it to work without Starbucks! (I hate when I run out of time for my coffee run!!) When I am feeling creative Katie is usually surviving on a Mcdonalds coffee/ice cream drink and pure adrenaline. That is one of the reasons we are so glad that we do our blog and tpt together! I'm not sure much would get done if we were each on our own! Plus it is also so much more fun for us to bounce ideas off of each other!!
The past few days, however, we have BOTH been working on things at the same time. What??!!!! This is definitely a first! :) We are taking full advantage of this ~~most likely short lived~~ burst of energy and trying to burn through our to do list! Here are the first 2 things that we have accomplished from that list!

Reading Strategies Book, Blends Posters, & More!

This is one of our favorite things to use with guided reading groups! We also send a lot of these resources home in our book baggies so that parents can be using the same strategies that the kiddos are using at school!

Click on either the product name or the picture to head to tpt and check it out!

The Story of Me! An Autobiography Unit

This is one of the kiddos favorite activities every year! They love to publish their books and share them with the class. This is also always a huge hit with the parents!!

Click on either the product name or the picture to head to tpt and check it out!
We will give away your pick of one of these new products to the first 2 people to comment!!!

[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

The Day Jimmy's Boa ate the Wash freebie

Hello and happy Tuesday!
I am having a pretty good week so far! One of my high maintenance kiddos moved to the school that he should have been at all year! (love the kiddo, but MAN I went home exhausted EVERY single day) He is still in my district and I have already talked to his teacher so I know that I will still get updates on how he is doing.
On top of that I have 2 kiddos absent today! So I am currently teaching 16 very well behaved children today. I am a little bit worried that someone switched kiddos with me and that my very active, love to tattle, constant storytelling darlings will be back tomorrow. :) I am completely keeping my fingers crossed that they are all just growing up and outgrowing some of their immaturity. I have been telling them that they are 1/2 way done with 2nd grade and are heading towards being big shot 3rd graders so maybe that tactic will work for awhile.
This week we are reading The Day Jimmy's Boa ate the Wash by Trinka Hakes Noble. This book is always a hit with our kiddos and I love that there are other books in the series. We are working on cause and effect, retelling, etc., etc., etc. :) Of course we have to throw some fun and movement into the mix too! In both Katie's class and my class the more we can keep the kiddos moving, the happier life is for all of us! So we did a Boa Constrictor scavenger hunt. Like most kiddos, anything non-fiction is usually a hit with our classes. So we bribe our little darlings to finish their work on time by telling them that when they are finished they can go on a fact scavenger hunt. Sneaky teachers!! I swear they LOVE these activities and really still have no clue that they are still learning something!!!
If you would like a copy of the Boa Constrictor Scavenger Hunt that we made just click on the link and head to TPT to pick it up for free!!!
We just cut the clues apart and put them up around the classroom and as kiddos finish work we give them the question papers and a clip board and turn them loose to learn all about boa constrictors.
Enjoy!!!!