Friday, November 8, 2013

Pumpkin Observations
 
The holidays can be an exciting time for kids...especially Halloween! This holiday doesn't have to be all costumes and candy in the classroom so I tied in a fun pumpkin exploration activity for the kids. Pumpkins / Jack-o-lanterns, there's enough of a link, right?!
 
Science- life cycle- seed to pumpkin
Art- sketch
Word study- descriptive words
Math- seed estimation and counting with arrays, circumfrence, hight in base ten blocks
Reading- How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin, by Margaret McNamara and Brian Karas
Writing- story starter: "3 little pumpkinds were rolling down a hill..."
 
 
 



 

Personal Narrative Writing

How do you teach Personal Narrative writing?
I have found that kids write their best stories after a lot of modeling and exposure to mentor texts. My go to author to demonstrate personal narrative writing has always been, Patricia Polacco.
Below is one of the graphic organizers I made to use with my students this year to help them generate ideas for their personal narrative. I ask them to think about a time when they felt, sad, hurt, angry or worried. They write down one idea for each box, then pair-shared (adding in some detail words to each event/box).
We spend about a week reading and doing different graphic organizers to generate ideas- small/true moments from our life. After each student has a wealth of topics to choose from, they decide which event they want to turn into their very own personal narrative story, like Patricia Polacco's stories.
I can't wait to see how their personal narratives turn out this year!

Saturday, October 12, 2013

C'est L'Halloween Chanson (It's Halloween Song)

Here are the lyrics to the French song mentioned in my previous post.

Adventures in Grade 2 French Exposure

Adventures in Grade 2 French Exposure
 

I wish the title read: Adventures in Grade 2 French Immersion, but for now exposure will have to do.  As educators, we all know our school day is beyond packed with curricula.  Despite the cramped school day, I decided to add one more thing (how many of us have said that phrase before?)! However, I truly believe that learning a foreign language as a child is so important! Kids are like little sponges and another great benefit is that they have perfect accents!

So this school year, I have set off to expose children to the beautiful language of française.  I am attempting to do this by integrating French into my morning work and morning meeting time.  The kids really seem to be enjoying this so far! I recently dug up an old french CD for children and it was perfect for the upcoming holiday. Is anyone familiar with the french song, C'est l'Halloween? You may remember this song from your high school french class! You can watch the video and hear the song here:


Needless to say my kids love the song...unfortunately they got in trouble for singing it at computer time! I am going to have to remind them when it is appropriate to sing!

À la prochaine!
(Until next time)

Friday, August 16, 2013

Almost done with my classroom set up! Then again, what teacher is ever actually DONE?! 





Wednesday, June 19, 2013

End of Year Gifts for Students

 Every teacher wants their students to continue READING over the summer, so why not give each child a book or two at the end of the school year...the cost right? Well I found this great website called, Book Sale Finder, that lists local library sales. You just search for your state on the website and it lists the dates the public libraries will be having their book sales.  What a cute idea it would be to give each child a few books in a beach pail as they head off for summer vacation! You can usually find the beach pails at your local Dollar Store or Target in the dollar section. I thought this was such a cute and inexpensive way to give each student a gift, I just had to share!



Baby Natalie


I can't believe I haven't posted since October....well actually, I can! We have a new addition to our family! Our daughter Natalie was born this April and has been keeping us very busy! So in between her naps and feedings I'm going to try and get caught up on this past school year! Thanks for sticking with me and still following my blog!