After School Fun!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Five for Friday...

This week has been busy, busy, busy and on Sunday the hubby and I leave for our honeymoon (6 months after the fact!) Yay for April Break, I really need it this year!

 

Last Friday (after I had already linked with Doodlebugs for Five for Friday, we had a writing celebration. My kiddos had worked very hard to write a non-fiction piece, researching, writing, typing and illustrating so we had to celebrate! Half the kiddos read a section of their piece, then we had a "gallery walk" where the students walked around and could read stories out of each others' published boxes, then the other half got to read a section of their piece.

Remember the Marcy Cook workshop I went to last month? Well, I finally introduced these number tile task cards to my kiddos. If they had started using these earlier in the year I think these cards would be way to easy, but a lot of my kids are finding these as an exciting challenge because there is only one correct space for each of their number tiles and if you put the wrong one in one place you have to practically start over. Some of the kiddos are picking up on putting the "have to" tiles down first (places where no other number would fit) and working from there. So glad I purchased the tiles and cards. I think I may order more cards for next year from her website.

We are working on place value to 1,000 so I went searching for place value games on Teachers Pay Teachers and found loads of FREE games to use for math centers. Here are a few my kiddos have loved and a link to where I found them...

The above picture show a mystery number game, available free from Love to Learn here.

This shows a penguin place value dice game. This game came bundled with a few other games as well. Get it for free from Stephanie Stewart here.

This picture shows a Place Value Go Fish game that can be played with or without recording matches on the recording sheet. Find it free from T is for Teaching here.

As a part of my grad class that I am currently in (Multicultural Literature) I had to do a community outreach project. So I recruited a high school teacher who happens to be a mom of one of my students and some of her high school juniors and seniors. The recruits came after school one day this week and helped as I read The Legend of Blue Bonnet by Tomie DePaola and then did a craft with BLUE popcorn. Find the craft idea here.

The kiddos and high school folks had so much fun, we already planned for another event in May! So excited :)

In celebration of the FINALLY feeling like Spring weather, here are a few pictures

The Korean Cinderella

Book 4 from my grad-class series...

The Korean Cinderella written by Shirley Climo and illustrated by Ruth Heller is a retelling that
according to the author's note is based on 3 variations of the Cinderella tales that have been told in Korea for centuries. This Cinderella story tells a story of Pear Blossom who when her father is too old to look after her, falls victim to the mistreating of her stepmother and stepsister. When her stepmother asks her to do tasks that seem impossible, she is helped by various animals such as a frog, birds and an ox. When finishing her last impossible chore in order to go to the festival, she crosses paths with the magistrate who immediately notices her beauty. She is afraid of him and runs away, losing a sandal. He uses the sandal in the typical Cinderella-fashion to find the beauty who ran away.

 Reading Level:
DRA: 34
Guided Reading: O

Themes:
Family Relations
Perseverance
Just Rewards
Fairy Tales

Teachers: here are some resources for you...

Web Resources:

•  Find discussion questions and a lesson plan to teach this book here.
• Have students go here to learn more about the Korean culture.
• Here is an extension activity with discussion questions and information about Seoul.
• Cinderella Unit
• Beyond the Glass Slipper Unit

Vocabulary:  blossom, matchmaker, omni, feeble, tokgabi, hull, rice paddies, hastened, magistrate, palanquin, jade, ewha

Activities:
Before Reading:

• KWL focusing on Cinderella stories.
• Anticipation Guide focusing on Cinderella stories.
• Directed Reading Thinking Activity: what do we predict will happen in this story based on what we already know about Cinderella stories.

During Reading:

• Question-Answer-Relationship: Ask questions from each level...
• Right there Questions:
•  What did the mom and dad wish for?
• What did Omni keep saying to Pear Blossom?
• Who does Pear Blossom marry?
• Think and Search
• Which animals help Pear Blossom and how do they help her?
• What tasks did Pear Blossom have to do around the house?

After Reading:

• Question-Answer-Relationship
• Author and You
• How is Pear Blossom alike or different from you?
• How is this Cinderella story the same or different from other Cinderella stories you have read?
• On Your Own
• Do you think the magistrate would have found Pear Blossom without the sandal?
• What do you think would have happened if the animals were mischievous instead of helpful?

Climo, S. (1993). The Korean Cinderella. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.

Going Deskless and Letters

As promised back in a mid-March Five for Friday link-up, here is my post about going deskless...

I am also linking up with Five for Friday today :)

I am also linking up with Friday Freebie. You'll find a letter writing freebie on number 3.

I've wanted to go deskless for a while. Last year, I felt my desk area took up too much space and this year it was my "dump off zone." I used to sit at my desk last year because every teacher had a desktop and my desktop was on my desk. This year, each teacher has a laptop (I have my personal laptop hooked up to everything because it's easier to have everything in one place) so I NEVER sit at my desk. My reading table is so much roomier, and after a couple months I even moved my comfy desk chair to my reading table.

Here is my desk before the year started. I didn't even have my beloved mac set up on the school network yet...

In a pretty small room, my desk just took up way too much space. So, after much reorganizing, and my new easel holding our meeting area supplies instead of my rolling drawers, going deskless was possible!

Here's what the area looks like now... I'm thinking I have lots of possibilities when I rearrange my room for next year!

Wondering what I did with all the stuff in and on my desk? Well the drawers in the background of the above picture as well as the drawers near my reading table pictured below. The drawers used to be by our meeting/rug area, but with my new easel I didn't need the drawers.

I also found that rearranging the closet in our coat room opened A LOT of space for the things I didn't use on a daily basis/extra supplies.

I am LOVING the deskless-ness of my room! The room feels more open and I don't miss the desk at all, I mean honestly, I NEVER sat at it. When I use my reading table, I just put my laptop on the back counter and boom, we have a reading table!

If you aren't a facebook follower, you probably didn't get to hear about the April Fool's prank one of my grade level partners pulled on me. We had our common planning time and he decided while going to drop something off, he'd stop in my room and hide my new and beloved easel in the teacher's room across the hall. Those third graders played it off SO well when I came around asking where the easel was (it was hidden in their coat closet!)

Sorry for the terrible quality, I was probably shaking with anger when I took it ;) Did I mention I reallllly don't like April Fool's Day!?

We started our letter unit in writing and we are reading Dear Mr. Henshaw in reading so we are all about letters! Here's a fun anchor chart I modeled off one I found somewhere in the world of pinterest.

Check out a letter writing freebie I created for one of my grade level partners here.

I downloaded the Daily 5 book to my iPad to read over April vacation while we're flying to our cruise launch destination! I couldn't help myself and read a couple chapters and am HOOKED... I might end up having to download the CAFE book for the flight because I'll be done with the Daily 5!

One of the teachers in my grade program brought in Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson for our weekly book review. I loved it so much I bought it at our book fair.

In the story, a new girl moves into a school and the main character and the other students are unkind to her because she is different than them. The girl then leaves to go to another school and the teacher demonstrates the "ripple effect" with a bucket of water and a stone, telling students that each kind thing we do ripples into the world. The main character then realized the missed opportunity in having not been kind to the new girl because she could never take the unkindness back.

This week we had conferences and I must admit I am very happy for it to be Friday. And in even better news, I get to meet my new niece tonight :)

Abuela

Another book post for my grad class... enjoy!

In Arthur Dorros' Abuela, a little girl imagines she is flying with her Abuela through New York City. They see Manhattan Island, the Statue of Liberty, clouds and more as they soar above the city. The little girl and her grandmother use Spanish throughout their conversation. The story shows a beautiful bond between grandmother and granddaughter.

This is a great book to use, especially if you have Spanish/English bilingual students in your class. This story uses Spanish throughout, but uses context clues for students who don't speak Spanish.

In my grad class, we have discussed how important it is for students to have books that serve as "mirrors" for them. Think about it, most of the books in your classroom probably feature white characters. It's not your fault, most children's literature unfortunately is primary featuring white characters. These books provide a mirror for white students in your class, but not for students of other cultures. Try to expand your classroom library to include as much multicultural literature as you can!

Reading Level:
DRA: 16-18
Guided Reading: K

Themes: Family, Grandmothers, Immigration, Love, New York City, Imagination, Adventure, Fantasy, Spanish Language

Teachers... here are some resources for you.

Web Resources:

• Escape from Third Grade: This site offers an extensive list of activities to go along with Abuela.
• Study Guide: Find a study guide with comprehension questions and vocabulary here.
• Google Lit Trip: If you have google earth downloaded on your computer, you can show this lit trip to your students which shows some of the areas the characters fly to in the story.

Vocabulary: flock, harbor, glide, soar, swoop

Activities:
Before Reading:

• Have students create a word cloud for the word Abuela.

During Reading:

• Use the Google Lit Trip while reading to show what the illustrated places look like.
• As you read the Spanish vocabulary, have students create a vocab 4-square identifying the definition, using the word in a sentence and drawing a picture.

After Reading:

• Have students create a family tree.
• Ask students to write a narrative about an adventure with a family member.
• Response notebook: 
• Where would you fly if you could fly anywhere?
• Create the next adventure for Abuela and her grandchild.

A Long (but exciting) Week

After being out with a stomach bug 2 days last week, a 5 day week felt VERY long! Today I'm linking up with my 2 favorite linky parties Five for Friday from Doodle Bugs Teaching and Freebie Friday from Teaching Blog Addict. The freebie is on #4 this week, it's a foldable for place value.

Here's my week...

Okay so this one is from LAST week, but since I couldn't link up last week, here's a cute Saint Patrick's day craftivity we did in my room. The kiddos cut out the hats, wrote why they were lucky which went inside the hat. It is my plan to post this as a freebie before March 17th of next year!

We've been working on poetry elements and as a second grade team we have taken our love for March Madness and created Poetry Madness! The kids are just loving it! We took a lot of fun poems from poets like Shel Silverstein, Judith Viorst, Jack Prelutsky and others for our bracket.

I was made the happiest teacher in the building on Tuesday when I FINALLY got the easel the PTO has been attempting to raise money for since December (2 events got snowed out!) It's the EXACT easel I had last year at my old school and after 4 days of teaching with it again, I don't know how I survived without it for so long. It also meant I had to move my room around a little which made my kiddos go nuts! I also went deskless in the past 2 weeks which I plan to post about to encourage anyone who is thinking about it to just GO FOR IT! I LOVE not having a desk!

I had to change up my morning meeting area now that we have an easel... I like it so much more now!

We are starting our place value to 1,000 unit in math. We made a pocket foldable (it uses a little bit of glue so I guess it's not a true foldable) for place value pockets. The numbers were made with index cards cut in half the long way. Get the foldable printout freebie here. Print back to back, but do just 1 first to make sure the pages are in the correct direction (I always have a hard time getting them in the right direction when it's a foldable!)

 

We had a ballet come to our school and perform Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs this week. It was one of the best performances/assemblies I've seen in the last 2 years!

BONUS

I just LOVE some of the shirts my kiddos wear, they crack me up!