We're Having SNOW Much Fun in 2nd Grade!

I am hoping that all of our snowy fun the past two weeks is going to bring us a couple of snow days here in Oklahoma.. :) If not that, please let it at least be warm enough for outside recess. We are all sick of this eternal indoor recess!!

These past two weeks we used a lot of ideas from my Snow Much Fun! pack and we did have "SNOW" much fun!

We worked on synonyms {or, as Common Core calls it, "shades of meaning"} using paint chips! Students worked in pairs to come up with synonyms for a word given to them. We discussed how the colors on the paint chip were similar but not exactly the same, just like synonyms!

 

We worked on symmetry and made Symmetrical Snowflakes {idea courtesy of Cara}. The kids really loved seeing close up pictures of actual snowflakes on the smartboard!

 

We read Dream Snow by Eric Carle, and then had our kids hide an item under some snow. They had to use very descriptive writing to try and get their group to guess what was hidden under the snow! They really surprised us with their creativity and their awesome writing! There is a fancier printable version of this activity in my Snow Much Fun! pack :)

 

 

 

We made our cute Snowman Glyph Craftivities!

 

We read The Biggest, Best Snowman by Margery Cuyler and had the students make these cute little booklets to write about the characters, setting, beginning, middle and end.

 

We also sequenced the story as a whole group before the students did it independently.

 

 

Last but not least, we learned about states of matter by demonstrating the life cycle of a snowman.  I originally saw this idea on Pinterest, through Louise and The Frugal Teacher. We tweaked the idea a bit so that we could do the lesson in about 45 minutes. You'll need an electric skillet and a snowman :) We got ice from Sonic and it worked perfectly! The kids are able to see the solid, liquid and gas.

 



 

After we discussed what was happening, the kids filled out this record sheet {click HERE for this freebie!}





 

Photo from last year.

 

Next week we are going to start our unit on penguins, one of my faves!!! I am still hoping for a day or two off, though :) :) And we will also need to throw in a little 100th Day Fun {if we are in school all week!}









Happy weekend :) And happy February!


My Fall Decor! Plus some new puzzles!

I love fall. And I love fall break. We have been off since Thursday. It has been nice and relaxing and I have gotten caught up on some things that I just don't have time for {i.e. deep cleaning my house}. My sister in law came in town from Philly, too!

I went on a mini shopping spree at Bath and Body Works the other day. $3 wallflowers? Don't mind if I do! I should have enough to get me through fall and winter. I also bought these adorable mason jar candles! Do yourself a favor and go get these candles. They will not disappoint!!

 

Mr. Hubs finally got out my fall stuff so now our house looks like fall! I don't go crazy with fall decor, but I do a table centerpiece, and random sprinklings of fall/Halloween stuff around the kitchen and living room.

 



 

 

I do not decorate the outside of our house for fall/Halloween. That is Mr. Hubs' job... Let's just say he and I have very different opinions on fall/Halloween decor. NOTE: Do not bring your kids trick or treating to my house if they scare easily! I will leave it at that.

 

I have been loving me some puzzles lately. I made a pack of synonym, antonym and homophone puzzles. They would be perfect for literacy centers or whole group activities. There are 22 synonym, 33 antonym and 42 homophone puzzles, plus posters and student record sheets. Click the picture below to check out it out! You get some free sample pages if you download the preview :)

 

 

Have a happy weekend!

Paint Chip Synonym Snowflakes!

Today we worked on synonyms! We read this adorable book to introduce the concept:

 

 

Then we brainstormed lots of synonyms and made an anchor chart to record our learning. We discussed how synonyms are the same/similar. We also discussed how they are different shades of meaning. We demonstrated this with a paint chip. The colors are not exactly the same, but they are similar!

 

After a great discussion, we gave each child a card with a word on it. They had to find a friend with a synonym to their word. This person was their partner. They got a paint chip from us and had to write their two words on the paint chip. Then come up with three more synonyms on their own. They did a great job!

 

 

 

The kids had a lot of fun and I think it will really stick with them :) We did the writing for our snowman glyphs today, and tomorrow we will make our craftivity! I can't wait to post pictures :)