Fairy Tales

Our classroom story last week was Cinderella, which meant that all other ELA activities revolved around fairy tales. In addition to reading many versions of Cinderella, comparing and contrasting them, and writing our own fairy tales, the students did an activity in which they read a fairy tale of their choosing, completed a story map about their fairy tale, and then created a brown paper bag puppet. The puppets turned out wonderfully and the students did a great job of presenting their mini book reports through their puppets. What a fun and creative way to study fairy tale elements!

Flat Stanley

About a month ago, we began to read the story Flat Stanley. In this story, a boy gets flattened by a bulletin board and is able to go on tons of cool adventures, such as traveling to California through the mail. We tied this story into regions and friendly letters and sent out our own Flat Stanley's about two weeks ago. We waited very patiently for our first Stanley to return, and he finally arrived on Friday morning!! Needless to say, the kids were beyond excited (and I was, too!!!). This Stanley came from the distant land of Charlotte, NC (47 miles away, FYI) and the kids were SO interested in all Stanley had done while away. We're keeping track of our travels on our region map and will then make a book out of our adventures. I cannot wait to see where else our Stanley's travel!

UPDATE: After the kids left today, I got another letter and a big box addressed to my students. I can't wait for them to open it tomorrow morning and see what's inside!!

TALL Tales

We studied tall tales for the past few weeks and the kids loved learning all about the adventures Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, Johnny Appleseed, and John Henry went on. To finish up the unit, the students got a chance to create their own tall tale figure and write their own tall tale about their figure. There was one catch, though - when drawing their figures, they had to actually be TALL!! The kids came up with some creative ideas and it was a lot of fun to read all of their stories!

Marionette Theater Fun

This Friday, the second grade took a break from our regular schedule and headed to the Marionette Theater to see the Brementown Musicians. After watching the wonderful play, we got the chance to go backstage and get an inside look at what occurs to make a puppet show go smoothly. The kids even got to play with marionettes! We ended our day with lunch at a nearby park and a chance to play on a super cool playground. All in all, it was a great day and I think the kids learned a lot about theater and proper etiquette. I'm looking forward to the next time we have a reader's theater in class, where we read our story of the week as if it is a play, because the kids will be such professionals now that they've seen a play themselves!

Disco Fever

It's time for the family dance at my school and the theme is disco fever! We had to decorate our doors with this theme and so I let my kids have the chance to create what they wanted to put on it (a little scary to give them that control, but also fun for them). After brainstorming ideas, they chose to go with the theme "We've Caught the Disco Fever" and create a 70's man with a temperature (CAUGHT the fever...got it?!). I was very impressed and encouraged this fabulous theme. After a few afternoons of hard teamwork, we came up with this beautiful creation. I'm looking forward to the dance tomorrow night when I dance the night away under a disco ball!

Shape Robot

Sorry for the long gap since my last post! Things have been a little busy around here :) Our last unit in math focused on shapes and our last unit in social studies focused on recycling, so naturally we integrated the subjects and created a recycled robot! The kids LOVED this activity and had a great time naming the shapes as we used them to create our robot. This also allowed us to put a big focus on 3-D shapes, something we've only touched on, and I was surprised at how much the kids knew about these shapes - they never cease to amaze me. This robot proudly sat in our Town Hall area until a few days ago, when his hot glue joints went out and he started to fall. He's now actually been recycled, but we sure loved him while he was around!

UPDATE: We had our first marble party this week and it was a blast! The students brainstormed ideas for the party (some included a giant marble cake or a "learning party"- don't we do that everyday??), but in the end we chose extra recess and popsicles. It was the perfect day to spend extra time outside and the kids adored it. We've set our next marble goal for 30 marbles, 5 higher than last time, and I'm already looking forward to the next party!!

Marbles!

I have several different ways to manage behavior in my classroom, but the one that excites the students the most is the marble jar. At the end of each day, the students pack up and join me on the carpet. During this time, we reflect on our day and discuss all of the positive things that happened as well as all of the things that we need to work on the next day. The students are wonderful at reflecting and we are usually on the same page with our thoughts. After we reflect, we take a vote on whether we think we earned a marble that day; the students are so good at judging their own day that I rarely have to sway the final decision. If we earn a marble, we select a marble from my collection of marbles - you can't believe how thrilling this process is for 2nd graders!! - and add it to our marble jar. Our goal is currently 25 marbles, so once we reach that goal we will have a "Marble Party" which the students will decide upon. We are at 17 marbles right now, but I'm really looking forward to reaching our goal because I LOVE a par-tay!!

Check out the HUGE marble - only the best days earn one that big :)