My Worst OUCH!

OUCH! Bumps, cuts, and bruises are not at all pleasant while they are occurring, but they sure can make for a great story. Plus, all students can relate to this topic because EVERYONE has had some type of ouch happen to them.

My class just wrapped up our "My Worst OUCH Story" personal narrative writing unit, and it was a huge success! We went through the entire writing process starting with brainstorming. This lead me to the depressing conclusion that I have many, many ouch stories to share, and too many of them somehow have resulted from my lack of coordination--Mom, do you remember when you told me I would grow out of that back in sixth grade?? :) I fortunately now see this little talent of mine as a positive because my plethora of incidents can now serve as the basis from which I can help spark ideas for my students. Anyway, this 3 week unit walked students through brainstorming, pre-writing using a sequencing graphic organizer, writing a lead that hooks the reader, developing sentence fluency in the rough draft, creating a concluding sentence(s), revising using a word choice menu (to really add strong verbs, interesting adjectives, specific nouns, descriptive language, and overall improve word choice), peer-revising, editing, self-evaluating, and creating a polished final product. I just uploaded this unit in its entirety to my TPT store. Click on the picture below to access it!

Also, if you want to make your students light up with enthusiasm, at the end of this unit, purchase some crazy Band-Aids for them to decorate their OUCH story with. They will LOVE it. On a side note, I had no idea how many choices there are in terms of patterns, colors, design, texture, you name it when it comes to first aid care. I have been missing out for sure. I ended up buying Band-Aids in neon colors, animal print, and super sparkles. At the end of my unit, my students suggested that I keep the extra Band-Aids that were leftover as unused in my desk drawer in case someone in our class actually got hurt. Can you believe that all of the sudden I had about 5 spontaneous paper cuts occur immediately after I accepted this suggestion? :)

One thing's for sure, there is something about a zebra printed Band-Aid that just makes any ouch feel a whole lot better. :)

Frightening Monster Diagrams: A Spooky Nonfiction Text Features Lesson

I along with all teachers across the nation am panicking, dreading, eagerly anticipating tomorrow, October 31st, and all the crazy sugar-high shenanigans that accompany Halloween falling on a school day this year. To prepare for this calm and relaxing day (never!), I wanted to have lessons that keep my students engaged, allow them to release some of their "I can't wait to dress up as __________ (mummy, ladybug, jellyfish, scary masked creature of some sort... you fill in the blank)!!!" energy, and still LEARN.

We are currently studying nonfiction text features, and this week, our focus was on diagrams. My students have been asked to prove their answer when reading a diagram so many times that they are becoming zombies when they use the sentence starter, "I know this because it said on the diagram..." Needless to say, I wanted diagram to become a part of their academic vocabulary. :)

To really make diagrams stick in my students' schema while getting a little spooky, this is the lesson I have planned for tomorrow. I did it with a small group last week during workshop, and it was a HUGE hit!

Diagraming a Monster

1) Read aloud I Need My Monster By: Amanda Noll. (If you haven't read this story before, it's very cute! It's about a little boy who really just wants his own monster, Gabe, who has gone on a fishing trip, to return to his usual spot under the bed. In the meantime, the boy has all of these monsters try to fill in that quite simply aren't scary enough. They come with painted, manicured nails, a bow on a tail, green drool, but they just can't match up to the true terror of Gabe.)

2) Review a diagram (a picture that gives information) as well as labels.

3) Explain to students that today, they will be creating a diagram of their very own monsters. Brainstorm ideas to label on a monster diagram (has eighteen eyes, breathes fire, has a spiked tail, etc.).

4) Model how to draw and label a monster diagram--remind students that this is a diagram, NOT a picture, so you need labels, labels, and more labels!

5) Let students run wild with their creativity as they make their monster diagrams.

6) Have students share their diagrams at the end.

With this lesson in hand and maybe a few Butterfingers, I think I can brave tomorrow! :)

Listen to Reading and Accountability

Listen to Reading is always a popular choice during reader's workshop, and it is a great way to have students tackle a text that is above their independent reading level and ultimately grow as a reader. My students have just been loving it! However, I want to make sure that my Listen to Reading station is more than just fun but also rigorous. Thus, I have been creating study guide packets to go along with all of my audio book choices so that students have fun AND are building their comprehension skills, expanding their vocabulary, and becoming critical thinkers while they listen to what they are reading.

Since Magic Tree House is a great fit for many of my second graders (and I have the first 10 books on audio cds), I started there with my study guides! At this point, I have created study guides for Mary Pope Osborne's book #1 and #8 in the Magic Tree House series. My plan is to now work to fill in all the stories in between and eventually make study guides for the first 10 books. Maybe more??

Click on the picture below to access the study guide for Magic Tree House #1, Dinosaurs Before Dark.

Here is the study guide for Magic Tree House #8, Midnight on the Moon.

Answer keys are included so that you can monitor your students without having to read each book from cover to cover.  I have also listed the CCSS for 1st-3rd grade that the study guides address.

I have a group of students working with these study guides right now, and I quickly realized I needed to come up with a way for them to keep all their materials organized since it is a chapter book they will be working with for a period of time. I took gallon sized zip-lock baggies and wrote each student's name in permanent marker on the bag. Then, inside the bag, students keep their chapter book with their book mark as well as their study guide packet. This way, each day, their supplies are easy to find and organized. Then, when they are finished, I take the baggies home with me, and they are all there organized and ready for me to grade. It's a system!

Word Work

The Daily 5 has been running smoothly in our classroom, and word work has been a very popular choice. I completely revamped my classroom materials this year so that the weekly spelling homework from my Spelling Menu Pack does not overlap with word work activities in the classroom. This is meant to keep both areas fresh and fun. So far, I have introduced 5 different word work choices, and at this point, "Stamp It Out!" has been the most popular. There's just something about getting messy with ink so that I have to pull out the Clorox Bleach Wipes each day that gets students motivated. :)


For "Stamp It Out!" I created a template where students have to write it in pencil, stamp it, then write it again. To download a FREEBIE of this template, click on the picture below!

Another favorite is the "Beads and Pipe Cleaners..."

...as well as the "Scrabble Tiles" (grab the "Scrabble Spelling" Template FREEBIE from That's So Second Grade) and "Rainbow Roll and Write," another awesome FREEBIE from Cupcake for the Teacher! Our fifth word work choice is "How Much Is Your Word Worth?" that math lovers go crazy for.

We will continue to add choices over the next month or so as students have mastered the expectations and routines, but so far, so good!

Make Spelling Count

Spelling homework has officially started this past week in my classroom as we just wrapped up our second week of school. I love all of my new second graders (you forget how young they are at the beginning of the year!). Since spelling practice can be dreaded by students of all ages, it was important to me this year to make spelling homework truly engaging, interactive, meaningful, and fun. I also wanted to be able to differentiate. Thus, I revamped all of my spelling menus as well as expanded a ton in terms of the types of activities I offered. I also wanted to make my spelling homework completely different from the word work activities we do in the classroom so that all those classroom materials such as pipe cleaners and letter beads, scrabble tiles, wikki sticks, etc. stay fresh. I devoted last Saturday just to this task, and I was able to launch our very first spelling menu on Monday. After I had collected homework and assessed how it went, the votes were in. The "Swirly Words"  activity was by far the most popular choice! For Swirly Words, students have to write their spelling words around a swirl as they move their paper around in a circle. It's a great way to give students that skill and drill practice needed to master the words. To get a copy the Swirly Words template along with my Spelling Menu 1, click on the picture below!

I have decided that I am going to switch up my spelling menus every two weeks, so I ended up making a total of 9 different spelling menus. This will keep spelling interesting throughout the whole year. For the full set of spelling menus, all the spelling activity templates, pre- and post-test printables, and bin and folder covers to keep your classroom cute organized, check out my spelling menu pack on TeachersPayTeachers. Click on the picture below!

Now to enjoy some fresh fall weather! :)

Classroom Reveal!

I think I can finally say my classroom is no longer under construction. And by construction, I mean me organizing the explosion of items that comes along with the territory of any teacher moving into a new room.  It is officially ready for my second graders to arrive Tuesday! Here are some of my favorite parts...

I think I am MOST excited about my college wall! College readiness is a big deal at our school, so I thought, why not expose my students to some choices now and get them thinking, "Class of 2024, where do YOU want to go to college?"

I attempted to be as unbiased as possible, but I realized subconsciously I used maize and blue for my accent colors (HAIL!).  I immediately made up for it by displaying MSU and Ohio State prominently at the top of my columns.

Another favorite of mine is my classroom library. I have an awkward pillar in the middle of my room, but I actually now think it is an advantage. I used a bookcase to cut off access to it, and now it makes my library more enclosed and homey looking!

Also, I am super pumped about my organization this year. I have each book bin labeled by author, genre, topic, etc. and then the best part is that inside the book is a label that matches the bin. No more of me pulling out my hair as I organize misplaced books!

You can probably tell by now that I went the whole Chevron route this year. Because Chevron in every colored border was on backorder, I actually printed out scrapbook paper and cut it myself... Obsessive? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely. :)

Our school studies a moral focus virtue each month, we start with wisdom. The "Knocking My Socks Off!" bulletin board will be used to display student work. Last but not least, I will post expectations on the Daily 5 board as we go through the first 20 days!

A final view. Now to get some good sleep in before Tuesday!

People Bingo

With school only a few days away, I have been in my classroom busy organizing and preparing bulletin boards,  lesson plans, and community building activities. Since half of my class this year will be returning students and half new students, People Bingo will be a fun and interactive way for my students to get to know one another. For a free copy of People Bingo, just click on the link below!

After students have played the game, I like to wrap up with a "stand up, sit down" sharing out activity. We go through each square on the People Bingo board, and students stand up for "yes" and sit down for "no." This allows students to see what they have in common with others!

It's just a quick blog for today as I have to get back to cutting out laminate (you are probably all to familiar with the back-to-school mounds!). Until next time! :)