Happy weekend everyone!  Your favorite second grade bloggers are back, this time with sweet savings for you.  We have gotten together to form a dollar sale linky party!  Each blogger will be adding 2-4 products to the link up below that will be on sale for ONE DOLLAR now through Sunday night.  Come Monday morning, all of the products will go back to their regular price, so make sure to grab them while you can!

Here's what you will find for one dollar in my store, this weekend only:

Tic Tac Toe Reading Logs   Pair Up--Ways to partner your students  Teacher Autobiography---All About Your Teacher

Click on the image to see that item in my TpT store.

At the end of this post, you will find previews and links for all of the items on sale for one dollar.  Click on the links below and you will be taken directly to the TpT store where the products can be found to add to your cart.  We hope you can find everything you need for the upcoming month(s).  Happy shopping!






I'm loving Mondays because I get to be a math nerd and share what's happening in my room and learn what everyone else is doing for math!

My school is using Math Expressions, which is new to me.  I'm trying to give it a chance and be true to the program while at the same time supplementing where I know I need to in order to best meet the needs of my kids.  If you use Math Expressions I'd love to hear your take on it.

Anyway, we're learning about regrouping in addition (which seems late to me because I've always taught that before Christmas).  One of the strategies that conceptually makes it easy for my kids to understand is a Proof Drawing.





The steps are similar if you're regrouping to make a hundred.  Math Expressions calls hundreds boxes, so I have my kiddos put a box around the 10 sticks to show that it's now 1 hundred.

I like this method because it allows kids to see why you add a ten or hundred so I'm hoping that as we learn more strategies my kiddos will be able to remember this and build on it.

If you're looking for more math ideas, be sure to stop by I {Heart} Recess!
We have a half day on Monday for professional development so I'm not sure how much we'll get done this week.  Whenever we have half days I feel like I over plan for the week so some of this may get pushed back to next week.  No matter, I'm linking up with Jennifer again for



Language Arts: We're diving into informational text this week.  I'll be using a few passages from this winter pack by the 24/7 Teacher
2nd Grade Common Core: Winter Themed Math & ELA Pack 100% Aligned

We'll also be adding 2.RI.1 to our interactive notebooks by using pages from Nicole Shelby's
2nd Grade Reading Interactive Notebook (aligned with the C

Word Work: My kiddos are really struggling with inflectional endings so I picked up this packet from Kelley at Teacher Idea Factory

Skating Through Endings {A Winter Flavored Ending Study}

Math: My school uses Math Expressions so we're learning different strategies for 2-digit addition.  I'll be supplementing that with some interactive notebooking from Bright Concept for Teacher's
2nd Grade Math Interactive Notebook {Common Core Aligned}

Writing: We're putting the finishing touches on our One Word Writing Project so I'm hoping to share those soon.

Work Stations: My kiddos loooove work stations!  They are almost in full swing and we'll keep it up this week.  Here's what's been introduced so far:
  • Language Arts: shared writing journals, independent reading, partner reading, games
  • Math: math journals, SuperSpeed math, task cards
Hope everyone has a great week!
I'm finally linking up for 
 

I can't believe this is my first time linking up, but I'm excited to share some of what went on this week!


We started our literacy and math work stations this week and it's going well so far!  My kiddos went on their first plural hunt around the room.  I wrote 12 singular nouns on post it's and stuck them around the room.  The kiddos went around and recorded the singular noun then worked with their partner to come up with the plural noun.




One of our math work stations was this great set of common core aligned math journals from Tara at Little Minds at Work:
2nd Grade Common Core Questioning Jar {122 questions}



I love this product because there are multiple journals for each standard AND it has the kids draw a picture and explain.  My kiddos love it too!


Another work station we explored this week was shared writing journals!  Here's a picture of one of my girls writing about her birthday.  My kiddos are excited to write in them so their friends can read them.



The theme of my week so far has been work stations.  I ordered these 2 books from Amazon and am eagerly awaiting their arrival so I can learn more:



Finally, a non-school related one!  My daughter started gymnastics right before the holidays and she's been loving it!




I'm hoping she learns a lot because I can't even do a cartwheel so I'm no help when it comes to that!

Hope your week was great!  I can't wait to see what everyone's been up to!
I'm linking up with Holly again for Tried It Tuesday.  I'm such a nerd and spent about an hour and a half last night going through all of the previous Tried It Tuesday posts.  I love how she has it organized.  If you want to see what everyone's trying, you can click {HERE} to see all the posts.



Back to my tried it for this week.  In previous schools, my kiddos were required to do a reading log.  I have a love-hate relationship with them.  I understand that we need to make sure kids are reading; however, I feel like reading logs take the enjoyment out of reading because kids know they are required to respond and begin to view reading as an assignment, instead of something they do for pleasure. 

As a way to keep the enjoyment in reading, I created Reading Log Tic-Tac-Toe sheets. 

Tic Tac Toe Reading Logs

 Students have to complete 3 activities during the week to make tic-tac-toe.  The activities range from drawing a picture of the setting, writing a letter to the main character, creating an alternate ending, writing a song, and echo reading with a grown up.



My kiddos love the choice and the variety.  Since there are 5 different logs all with different activities, they get each log about once a month.  In talking to the kids, they view the activities as fun and not so much of a chore since there are different activities that aren't just the standard "write about what you read."  You can check them out in my TpT store by clicking on the images above.

Do you use reading logs?  How do you try to make it fun?
I'm linking up with Jess from I {heart} Recess for her Mathematical Monday linky!




I love math!  When I was in college my mother told me that you HAD to have a minor in order to graduate, so I minored in math!  I could do math problems all day and I love seeing that light bulb turn on when kids really understand the why behind the math.

One of the activities that my kiddos love to do when they finish is FACEing Math.  Have you heard of it?  You can check their website out by clicking on the picture below.



FACEing Math is a combination of standards based math and art.  I've used the Elementary Multiplication in 4th grade and my friends in 3rd grade have used the Elementary Math.  I'm currently using the Primary Number Sense pack with my 2nd graders.

Because I am a horrible blogger, I don't have pictures of my lovebugs doing these activities, but I will share the pictures from their website:



These are the final products from the Primary Number Sense set.  There are 20 lessons in this pack and each lesson has 18 problems.  Students solve the problems then, based on their answer, draw or color the person a certain way.  Below are some sample questions from lesson 1 of this set.


The reason I like FACEing Math is because it's high engagement. My kids always ask to do this.  It's easy to check if students are solving the problems correctly.  If their picture is drastically different from the final product, then I easily know that there are some misconceptions I need to clarify.  I also love that for each set, the initial images are the same, which means I can make mass copies and always have them on hand.  For example, in the Primary Number Sense pages, students are always drawing a person.  The initial page starts off the same, but how they create the person varies depending on what they are told to do in the lesson (I hope that makes sense!).

Here are some pictures from different sets that are available:


from Primary Problem Solving

from Elementary Multiplication

from Elementary Math
Now that I'm diving in to math work stations, I will use these in my independent practice work station as a review of concepts that have been previously taught.  

Because Jess is so fabulous, she's making this a freebie linky!  Here's a link to my missing addends snowman that you can pick up for free in my TpT store!  Click on the picture to snag it and don't forget to leave feedback!


Missing Addends Snowmen {FREEBIE}

Now that I've finalized my schedule (for now), I feel ready to go for the week.  Here's what the kiddos and I will be up to this week:


2nd Grade Language Interactive Notebook (Common Core aligned)Plural Noun Party! {Common Core Aligned}Language Arts: We're continuing our study of nouns.  This week we're exploring plural nouns.  I love this Plural Noun Party pack from Aimee Salazar.  We'll be adding the student booklet to our interactive notebook and doing the regular plural sorts early in the week.  Toward the end of the week we'll begin looking at irregular plurals.  For that we'll be using a foldable from Nicole Shelby's Language Interactive Notebook.

Math: We're finishing up place value and I'll assess the kids on that.  I'll also be starting 2-digit addition.  Here are some of the products that I'll be using this week:

Race to 50 or 100 {A Place Value Game}

Double Digit Addition Activities

Social Studies: We're beginning our government unit and will spend this week doing some vocabulary activities.

Writing: I love the idea of one word to guide you through the year.  I blogged about my one word {HERE} and when I saw this idea from Jennifer and Jamie's blogs I knew I had to do it with my class.  Last week my kids wrote their rough drafts and this week we're working on revising and editing.  I can't wait to see how they turn out!

Work Stations: I'm so excited to introduce these this week!  My kiddos are good at independent reading and partner reading.  I introduced a few of the activities last week, but will keep adding to it until it's fully up and running!

I love reading what everyone's teaching.  Make sure you stop by Mrs. Laffin's Laughings to see what everyone's up to!
I saw people linking up with Amelia from Where the Wild Things Learn and felt like it was divine intervention.  


I started a new position after break and am back in a second grade classroom (woohoo!), but at a new school site where the focus is on balanced literacy.  Thankfully, my class has their routines and procedures down, but there are some things in their previous schedule that I want to tweak.  I feel like I've been working on this forever, but here's what I'm going to attempt to do:


ELD: This is the time that we teach English Language Development to our English learners.  All of the 2nd grade students are divided up based on their proficiency level.

Morning Routine: The previous teacher had this in place and I've just decided to keep it.  Students come in from ELD, turn in their folders, and write their homework down in their agenda.  We also do the pledge and recite the Learner's Creed.

Interactive Notebooks: I am trying to limit my amount of whole class instruction to this time.  I plan to use interactive notebooks in math and language arts during this time.  My goal right now is to do a math lesson during this time on Mondays and Wednesdays and a language arts lesson on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  After we add to our notebooks, I have an activity for students to complete in pairs/groups.

Calendar: Another area that was set up by the previous teacher in which the kids are great at running themselves.  Once I get my work stations nailed down, I plan to revamp this to hit on more standards.  Right now it's great with even/odd and place value.

Work Stations: Here is where my major overhaul is going to occur.  I plan to do more small group instruction and will be having kids go to work stations each day.  On Monday and Wednesday they will be engaging in language arts stations and on Tuesday and Thursday they'll be engaging in math stations.
  • Language Arts Stations: I have three 20 minute rotations and 6 work stations (independent reading, partner reading, respond to reading, word work, writing, and games).  During this time, I'll meet with my guided reading groups.  I plan to make bookmarks similar to these created by Jessica at Literacy Spark. This way my kiddos still have choice, but I know that they are engaging in a variety of activities during the week.
  • Math Stations: I have four 15 minute rotations with 4 work stations (independent practice, facts, journal/problem solving, games).  I'll also be pulling small groups to work on specific skills as well as differentiate the material we're learning.
Interactive Read Aloud: Here I'll be using think alouds to model comprehension strategies.  For the text, I alternate between our reading series and children's literature.

Shared Reading: I will be using poetry and our content area textbooks for shared reading.  I plan to focus on fluency and phonics with the poetry and on comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation with the textbooks.

Writing: I use Write from the Beginning which is a writing program that uses thinking maps to organize writing.  I have an older version (before common core) and I'm going to adapt the materials that I have to focus on opinion writing next trimester.  Right now, we're finishing up our how to unit.

Word Study: My kiddos love to do word sorts so I spend this time exploring spelling patterns while also reviewing high frequency words.

Social Studies/Science: I wish I had more time to teach this, but I don't.  I love the content areas because kids loving learning about this stuff!  I try to make this as interactive as possible so we have a lot of discussions.  I also try to make foldables for each unit (Hopefully I'll be able to share pictures of those soon)!

So that's pretty much my revamped schedule.  Some afternoons are different due to shortened days and specials.  The work stations are new (to me and the kids), but I'm excited to introduce them and see how it goes.  Any tips or advice?
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