The Sun & Moon

First of all, TGIF!!!!

This week we started our space unit, and we focused on the Sun and Moon. We have read several nonfiction books about each (don't you LOVE Gail Gibbons??!) And I am not going to lie.. I showed two videos this week... *GASP* But they were GREAT! I remember Bill Nye when I was in school, and he still rocks! He had a video on the Sun and one about the Moon.  We recorded all the fun new facts we learned on our Sun and Moon anchor charts.

To do our Sun facts, I first had the kids finger paint the center of the sun. Seriously took 10 minutes for them all to do it, and the look really cool! They needed to dry most of the morning, so we did our writing that afternoon. I had them write five or six facts on the sun rays that they folded accordion style. Super cute and easy!

We also wrote our Moon facts today. We made these AWESOME moons. Each child needs a paper plate and a straw. You need to mix a little water, black paint, karo syrup and hand soap in a dish. Have the kids blow BIG bubbles with the straw, and push the plate on it. See the pics below....

It was VERY helpful to have our 2nd grade assistant pulling kids to do this :) It only took 10-15 minutes to get everyone done, and they dry super quick.

Once they are cut out, the moons look SO. COOL!

We also made this Pinterest inspired activity today! I decided to just do 5 oreos, because the one on Pinterest does waning and waxing phases, which look the same but are just opposite :) The kids flipped for this activity. Food is just SO. EXCITING.

Next week we will only get to stars and constellations because Tuesday is our 100th day celebration and we have a professional day Friday (woohoo!)

Happy weekend, friends!

100th day is coming!

We will be celebrating our 100th day in a week, so I'm trying to gather some new, fun activities! I plan on having my kiddos make themselves at age 100 (with cotton balls for hair) and then write about it. I usually have them roll a dice 100 times and tally which number they roll the most, some estimation activities, etc... We will also make 100th day hats and/or glasses :) gotta be festive, you know! If you have any ideas, I'd loooove to hear them :)

Let it snow! PLEASE! :)

I just cannot seem to get back into the groove ever since Christmas break. Partially because we have to do all of our winter testing (no fun). And that full moon that seemed to last ALLLLLL week this past week didn't help either. I am loving the nice weather we are having, but it does NOT feel like January at all. I have secretly been waiting and waiting for some snow days.... but since it doesn't seem like that will happen anytime in the near future, we had a snow unit at school for the past week and a half!

This is a long post! So grab a coffee and enjoy :) 

After reading some books about snowmen, we made this "Snowmen are.." chart. Always good to review adjectives :)

We learned the three states of water by observing the The Life Cycle of a Snowman. Uh, have I mentioned that I. LOVE. PINTEREST?? (this photo is not mine-from Pinterest)

I didn't do it exactly like it says in the link above... I bought Sonic ice and formed a snowman in front of my kids and put him in the skillet immediately. I turned the heat WAY up and we watched and discussed what was happening. Who knew that watching ice melt and turn to steam would be SO. COOL. The kids loooved this activity. Then I had them write what they observed and how the snowman changed. They had to determine if he was a solid, liquid or gas.

We made snowman glyphs one day. The kids had to answer questions such as, "What is your favorite snowy day activity?" "Do you like snow?" etc.

We read

and I had the kids pick any item they wanted to hide in dream snow! They had to draw it, then they got a piece of white paper to tape on top of it. They had to write 5 descriptive sentences about their item that was hidden in the snow. Then they all got up to share, and we all got to guess what was hidden. They did AWESOME! I forgot to photograph my class' writing/pictures, so here is one from Amy's class! So cute!

 It's a horse! Super cute and EASY activity to do :)

We worked on synonyms this week too. I was inspired by Pinterest yet again! We spent a few days discussing synonyms and doing some group activities, then my kiddos used paint chips to come up with three synonyms. We talked about how the words are similar, and the colors on the paint chips are similar. Then I made Synonym Snowflakes to display their work. **NOTE: Do not let your kiddos use black magic marker to write on paint chips. It smudges. Pencil would have worked juuuust fine :) I learned that the hard way!**

For my observation I did a lesson on symmetry. I (bravely) brought my iPad to start the lesson, and the kids were going nuts! :) I showed them photos of real snowflakes and we discussed what they noticed about them, which lead into talk about symmetry. I used the "mirror" in photobooth to show that symmetry is a mirror image, and they thought it was THE. COOLEST. THING. EVER! Then we made Cara's Symmetrical Snowflakes. I just LOVE how they all turned out! :) And they were all different, just like real snowflakes!

I read them a few books about snow and snowflakes and we completed this chart together, and then they did one independently:

The past three days we focused on characters (and how they change), setting, and summarizing the beginning, middle and end of a story. We read

I just love this book, and so do the kids :) We made this anchor chart together after reading the story a couple of times:

At the end of the week, we wrote directions on how to build a snowman, and made snowmen with snow paint. This was my first experience with this stuff (equal parts glue and shaving cream). I don't know if all of my kids put enough of the paint on... I really wasn't sure what to expect!! So we will see what they look like when I go in tomorrow morning :) Yet another learning experience for me!

Not gonna lie, it's gonna be a little hard going back to school tomorrow, but I am excited to teach about tolerance and MLK :) If you read this whole thing, THANK YOU :) Have a great week!



A post that has nothing to do with teaching.

First week back was really good. The kiddos settled in really well, we started our Snow and Winter unit and we did some great writing activities. I will post about them later next week!

The highlight of my week happened on our first day back. My friend Amy and I found a (very skinny) miniature Australian Shepherd during our plan time that was right near where the car riders were going to be picked up in like 15 minutes! So we took her in and put her in our closet for the last 30 minutes of the day to figure out what to do (and to keep her from getting hit by a car!) We also fed her some string cheese, which she loved. Poor baby had a collar but no tags :( I don't know if anyone knows this, but I have a mini Aussie of my own named Lulu so I fell in love instantly!! Now, Lulu is an "only child" and doesn't always like other dogs... so I was worried about bringing this one home. But Lulu LOVED her!! And they were HI-LARIOUS to watch play! Anyway... long story short, I kinda fell in love with "Lily," as my mom named her :) But in the back of our minds, hubby and I felt guilty about having someone's dog without at least trying to contact the owner. So I took her to the vet, no chip. Vet said she was a little too skinny, and her coat was not the best. We (or I) really struggled with what to do.

We were able to track down the owner (because some people at school ended up knowing the area she came from)... and they wanted her back. I guess I thought (or hoped) they would let us keep her because we would provide a really good home for her. I feel bad that this sweet baby may be going back to a home where she is left outside all the time and not fed enough. And hubby said they didn't seem all that excited about her when he dropped her off (and that she wasn't wagging her tail or excited like she was with us). So I am a little sad about this, and I just pray pray pray that she is taken care of. Sometimes doing the right thing sucks!

And the winner is....

Here are three of my winners for the Liebster Award! I am getting very irritated because blogger keeps freezing up on me, so I could only get to three blogs!!! Anyway, check 'em out :)

Little Learners

Life in the Lime

Stories From Second

Today I went up to school with my friend Amy to get stuff done. We left school pretty much as soon as the bell rang before break... meaning we did not clean up or plan anything :) We got our Snowman Unit planned out today, and I am really excited for all the fun stuff we will do! I have one more little day of freedom, and then back to my kiddos :) I wish everyone a wonderful week back!!