Welcome to the second grade product swap and blog hop! EIGHTEEN wonderful second grade bloggers have joined together to swap and review each other's products.  Best of all, we are giving away all of the products to one lucky winner!  

If you are looking for the start of the hop, head over to see Casey at Second Grade Math Maniac to start hopping.  As you check out all the fabulous products, make sure to follow each blog on Bloglovin' as well.  There will be a Rafflecopter at the last stop.  This is where you can enter to win all of the products being reviewed!

I got the chance to review Shelly from Smiling and Shining in Second Grade's Common Core Math Assessments:

Here's Shelly's description from TpT: 

This Common Core Math Assessment packet for 2nd grade includes at least 2 assessments for every common core math standard. Also included is a colorful page with the name and description of each standard and a simple black and white standard page description.

When I first got this pack I was amazed at the different options for each standard.  I printed the color version of the standards description along with all of the pages and put them in sheet protectors in a binder.

 

 Here you can see the different versions of some of the assessments.  I love how the standard is clearly labeled in the top right hand corner of each page.

 

 

 

I initially thought to use it simply for assessments.  I looked at standards that I wanted to review and printed out copies as a traditional assessment.

 

 

 See how there's a simple border around each page?  I found that the border left the perfect spot to record the grade on that assessment.

I love that this resource allows me to see which standards my class rocks and which ones I need to review with individual kids.  This got me to thinking of another way to use it.

As part of my math work stations, I meet with 2-3 kids each day.  Since I've put them in their group based on their math areas of strength and weakness, this is the perfect opportunity to give kids targeted instruction in what they need!  Since everything is in sheet protectors, I had kids use their dry erase markers to work on the sheets together.  Since I have them working on the same standard, but different problems, there was a lot of math talk happening.....teacher heaven!

 

 

This is definitely a resource that you can use in your classroom immediately.  Just print and you're ready to go!  With the end of the year coming up soon, this is a great way to make sure that you're kiddos have mastered each standard in second grade...which will make report cards easier in May/June!

Now, click the button below to head over to Lori at Owl in a Vowel Tree

Also, don't forget that I'm participating in the Spring Cleaning Sale! Everything in my store is 20% off through Monday!

Click here to check out my store

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Brandi

Just a quick reminder that today is the final day of our 2nd grade Winter Wonderland Facebook Hop. 

Here's a link to my Facebook page where you can find my freebie.  You'll also need to head over to Tori's Facebook page to get the links to all of the other (OVER 30) bloggers who are participating!

Today is also the last day of Blog Hoppin's Welcome 2014 linky party!

I'll be talking about Days 4 & 5: Professional and Organization.

There are so many professional changes that I want to make.  I'm waiting on some things to work themselves out and am hoping for some clarity soon.  My OLW for 2014 is faith and I'm leaning on it right now.  

Back to my goals.  I want to fully implement more strategies from whole brain teaching.  I started reading the book Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids over the summer (you can read my reflections here).  I've been good implementing some of the basics, but as with anything management related, I need to be consistent with it.

Another area I want to focus on is interactive notebooking.  I'll be sharing some of what I've done recently in this area, because I love it and my kids have a blast with it.  I've been good using it in social studies and science and implementing basic foldables in math and language arts.  I really want to make this a mainstay in my classroom.

Similarly, I love using task cards in my classroom.  We use them to review whole class, as a check for understanding, an early finisher activity, or an exit slip.  Like foldables and interactive notebooking, I want this to be a routine part of my classroom.

Finally, I want to integrate more literature into math.  I love Stuart J. Murphy's books and want to get back to using them when I introduce concepts.  For me, these books lend themselves to creating meaningful math lessons that have real world connections for my students.

A few days ago I read THIS post from Clutter-Free Classroom where she talked about the direction of her blog and decided to focus on certain areas for her posts.  I LOVE this idea and want to use the goals that I just laid out to be the focus of this blog.  I know that I will grow as a professional by committing myself to implementing these strategies and instructional methods and I can't wait to start!

 

I love organization!  Labeling things, color coding and sorting...all these things make my heart happy.

One of the biggest organizational obstacles for me has been paper clutter.  I've been known to hide stacks of papers in file cabinets just so my kidney table is clean....don't tell my colleagues!  A tool that my grade level purchased this summer was this paper sorter:

We picked them up from Amazon for less than $20.  I know the picture is blurry, but it has 31 flaps.  Students lift the flap and put their paper under it.  Since my students are numbered alphabetically, once they put their assignment/homework/test in the sorter and I slide the papers out, they are ready to grade!  It eliminates the step of having to put papers in alphabetical order before entering them into my gradebook or even just returning them to students' pick up folder.

I swear as teachers it's the little things that make us happy and this is one of those things that makes my heart happy!

I also want to get better at making lunches for me and my daughter at night, as well as laying out my clothes for the next day.  Doing these simple things will save me time as well as keep me sane in the morning.

What are your professional and organizational goals?

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Brandi

***Make sure you read to the end of the post for even more fun***

Get ready to HOP people!!  We have over 30 bloggers participating in this hop so you know there are going to be some fabulous free goodies!

So here is how this works...

Start by going to Tori's Teacher Tips' FACEBOOK page.

Click on the "FB HOP" button once you are there.  It looks like this:

Then you will see a whole list of bloggers.  Here is a snippet of what it looks like:

Start by clicking on the first button which will take you to Tori's freebie.  

Download, save, print, whatever you want to do with that freebie and then close out those windows.  You want to get back to the list of bloggers on her Facebook page.  Everything should open up into a new window to make it easier for you to get back to the "hop."

Make your way through all the bloggers as they will ALL have FAB stuff for you...for FREE!!!  

Each new FB page will have the same "FB Hop" image- just find that and click there.

Make sure you like the page to get your free product.

Here's a link to my Facebook page, but remember that you need to go to Tori's Facebook page to see the list of all the pages.

Oh and say "Hi" and "Thanks" while you are there... we love your comments/feedback!

And if that wasn't enough....

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ok.. what are you waiting for... GO HOP!!

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Brandi

I'm back for day 3 of Blog Hoppin's Welcome 2014 Linky Party!  Today's topic is fitness.

Like many people at this time of year, I've set fitness and nutrition goals for myself.  I need to lose weight, there's no easy way around it.  I've joined Sparkpeople (username NewBrandi32 if you want to friend me) and have lost a couple pounds so far.  As for fitness, I am using Leslie Sansone's walking DVD's.  I love these because I work up a sweat and I can do them at home without a lot of equipment.  There also entertaining enough for my daughter to walk with me for a few minutes--she loves doing the kicks!  Leslie has a bunch of different types of videos.  Her strength ones give you a good burn and the walking ones are fun and many of them (at least the ones I have) are set to good music.  You can view clips each of her workouts at Collage Video.  Here are a couple of titles that I like:

My fitness goal is to walk at least 15 miles a week with Leslie's workouts.  I also keep track of my steps with my Fitbit Zip:

It tracks my steps, calorie burn, and miles.  It has an app for smartphones so I can check on my progress daily.  You can also add friends and challenge each other.  If you have a Fitbit and would like to be friends click HERE to link to my Fitbit profile.  I'd love to have more people to push and motivate me to be more active! 

And don't forget about tomorrow.....

Make sure you're following me on Facebook!  You won't want to miss this!

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Brandi

I can't believe it's the end of 2013 and I haven't blogged in over 4 months!  Like many of you life has taken over, but with the new year comes new goals and resolutions and blogging on a more consistent basis will be one of mine!

First up, I'm sharing my goals and resolutions.  I'm linking up with Jessica from First Grade Nest: 

Most of these are self explanatory.  Like many, I need to lose weight and get healthy.  I plan to use Leslie Sansone's walking DVD's as my main form of exercise right now and have already created my meal plan for the next 4 weeks.  This past year I ate out way too much and used food as a reward and comfort.  That will NOT be happening this year!

I also realize how I cannot do anything with God.  I read my Bible on a consistent basis, but I need to go deeper with it and spend more time in prayer.  I plan to link up soon with Ashley from Just Reed for her Spritiual Goals linky and go more into detail there, but for now I know that I need to develop my prayer life and really meditate on Scripture and commit it to memory.

It's so common to resolve to find balance, but that's one of the things that I seriously need to do.  I want to accomplish so many things personally and professionally, but I need to find time for them all.  I can't neglect things that I enjoy doing (like blogging and creating for TpT) just because I'm caught up in other goals.  I will make better use of my planners and free time to do more of the things I want to do.

This leads to my last goal which is to enjoy my family time.  My daughter is growing up so fast and I want to savor every minute of it.  I need to organize my tasks so that I am all in when I'm with her and not thinking of the million other things I need to do.  Again, this goes back to balance and putting God first in all that I do.

Next, I'm linking up with Denise from Sunny Days in Second Grade for 

This week's theme is One Little Word.  The idea is that you pick one word that will define your year.  Here's mine:

Like I said earlier, I need to grow spiritually this year.  I need to rely on my faith to get me through at times.  The last few years have been rough both personally and professionally, but when I look back, I see God's hand over my life.  I may not understand things as they happen, but I need to let faith guide me on my journey!

Ok, now to the fun stuff!  Since I've been out of the blogging world for months, I'm linking up with Jennifer at Simply Kinder for her Teaching Blog Round Up.  I can't wait to find new blogs to follow!

One of the things I've missed these last few months is linking up with Farley for the monthly Currently.  I'm excited to get a jump on this early in the month:

Finally, I wanted to give you a little teaser about an upcoming blog hop!  Make sure you follow my Facebook page to take part in this fun hop in the new year!

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Brandi

Today I'm linking up with Latoya for her Let's Get Acquainted Linky Party!  This week's topic is advice to new teachers.

Here's my advice:

Buy:

Comfortable shoes.  When I first started teaching I was 22 and wanted to look older professional so I wore dressy heels every day.  My background is in softball, so this was so uncomfortable for me!  There are so many cute, comfortable shoes that I now wear.  Remember, you'll be on your feet most of the day!

Always:

Over plan.  I still do this now going into my 10th year.  I find that it's better to be prepared then to sit with rowdy angelic children in front of you with nothing to do.

Never:

Be afraid to ask questions.  Veteran teachers don't know everything and no one expects you to.  Find someone you're comfortable with to go to when you need a little direction.

Find:

A friend on your staff.  You don't need to become besties with everyone, but you will need someone to talk to, vent, cry, and laugh with.

Make:

Time for yourself.  Teaching can be consuming, but you need to remember you are a person in addition to being Mr./Ms./Mrs. Teacher.  Take care of yourself so you can be your best for your kids.

Be:

Open minded.  You've learned a lot of stuff in classes and have visions of how your year will go.  Just remember to have an open mind.  Change is okay.  If you have to scrap your classroom management plans midyear multiple times, do it.  Find what works for you!

And don't forget that today is the last day for the 2nd grade facebook freebie hop!

Click here for directions on how to start.  Have fun!

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Brandi