Spring Break

Oh my word!  Does Spring Break totally refresh and rejuvenate you like it does me?!?  This has been such a wonderful week.  I hate to see it going by so quickly!  It has been filled with nothing but fun and relaxation!  We had an egg drop at our church this week.  We dropped 20,000 eggs out of a helicopter.  My kids loved that!!!

We have had beautiful weather that has allowed for endless hours of playing outside, riding bikes, and enjoying sweet treats in shorts and T Shirts!

I have also enjoyed a little extra time to get some school work done.  Heather and I are embarking on a very new and exciting adventure next year.  I am sure you will be hearing lots about it in the upcoming months.  But I needed some new baskets, so my kids and I had a fun excursion driving from store to store looking for these cute green baskets.  After visiting 5 different stores, I think I finally have enough.  You may remember my blue baskets from my post here.  Next year I am going to have 2 classes.  A blue class and a green class.  So naturally, with adding another class full of kids, I need some baskets! :-)

  

But the one thing that Spring Break does for me is make me LONG for summer break.  How about you!?!  We officially have 47 school days remaining and 70 days left until Summer Break and I can't wait!!!

Spring is in the Air!!!

Spring may just be my most favorite time of the year!!!  Especially with the extra long winter that we have had this year, it is a welcome sight in my eyes.  Since summer in North Carolina can be a little rough, Spring is just the best time.  Warm temperatures, abundant sunshine, Carolina Blue skies, and no HUMIDITY!!!  Perfection, if you ask me.

One of the things that I love to do most with my class is garden.  Typically, I begin planting with my kids in late January and early February.  But considering this winter has been horrible and just last weekend it was 24 degrees, gardening has been delayed!

I think now that our freeze warnings are behind us, it's time to get our hands dirty!!!  A local nursery donated brand new dirt for us and we shoveled it in this week.

I am excited to get my kids out there in those beds and begin planting.  We will be partnering with our PTO this year as an economics lesson.  My students will be growing, harvesting, and then on Fridays selling their plants at our school's Farmer's Market!  All the money earned will be donated back to our PTO.  I am so excited to get started!

First up this week is one of my favorite activities from a fellow NC blogger.  Rachel Lamb, also known as The Tattooed Teacher, has made a really cute little gardening activity that I highly recommend.  I always begin my gardening with this cute activity.  Be sure to check it out!!

Valentine's Day Part 2

I love to give my students a little something special for Valentine's Day every year.  My go to Valentine treat for them has been a bag of skittles with a cute little heart homework pass stapled to it.  It isn't much or hard to do but it makes a big impact with the kids and they love it!

Click on the picture below to get your own editable powerpoint file.  All you will need to do is download the font Cupid de Locke so that you can add your name in the same LOVEly font.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day Graphing

Do you remember when we did our post about graphing candy hearts here?  Well, we decided to change it up a little bit this year.  Instead of a bar graph, we will be completing a pictograph.  I have updated the file to represent a pictograph instead.  Just click on the picture below:

  Maybe you want to do both with your kids?  Click on the first link to access the bar graph.

Happy Graphing and have a Happy Valentine's Day!

Surveys and Graphing

Greetings world!
I have missed everyone so much.  I actually have missed blogging...a lot!  Things just get so busy don't they?  I feel like Heather and I have struggled a little in the last couple of years with the stress and management of several unruly classes. But I come to you on our 103 day of school in complete second grade bliss.  I am in love with my little bunch of babes and I wish time would slow down just a little!

The last few weeks we have been busy graphing.  Graphing everything imaginable! Most specifically we have been working on Bar Graphs and Pictographs.  I was getting a little tired of coming up with lots of survey questions to ask my class.  Then I came across this amazing file from Kim Swoveland.  Aren't they incredible? So I laminated them and put them up on my board.  Each day I assign a different group to answer the survey question as they enter the room.  By Friday, everyone has been able to answer and we are ready to use the data.

From our survey data we create a tally chart and then a pictograph and bar graph on Fridays.  It is a quick and easy way for my class to practice this graphing skill each week!  Check out the blank graph that I use each week.  I just copy the pages front to back.

Word Problem Freebie: Football Edition

Hello! I have a freebie for you!
 I am sitting here curled up on the couch by the fire waiting for my Carolina Panthers to play! NFC South Champs! Can I get a "Keep Pounding!"???
In honor of football season coming to an end and the Panthers doing so well, I made a math station word problem review...in Panthers' colors of course! My kids will be excited to have a football themed math station and I get them to practice word problems. Win win! You can grab it at my store. Just click on the picture below or HERE
GO PANTHERS!

Pumpkin Fun

I feel badly that it is already November and I am just now getting around to sharing about our pumpkin math! Last week we had a very short week as we missed school on Monday for parent/teacher conferences.  Then we had a fun filled field trip to the zoo.  So in all we were only in class for 3 days...the week of Halloween!!  So I found myself asking, what can I do to keep these kiddos busy during a very different week.  I went to my tried and true sources for some ideas.

I love using Sunny Day's Pumpkin Science investigation!  You can find it here:
Pumpkin Science Investigation

I also love Abby's Pumpkin Activities from The Inspired Apple. You can get them here:
Inspired Apple's Pumpkin Stuff

The kids have such a great time with all of these activities.  They kept us busy for our 3 days and the kids were engaged and excited!

The other day in my browsing of Facebook, I came across this video posted by Box Tops for easily counting 100 box tops.

Post by Box Tops for Education.

I loved the video and immediately shared it with our wonderful PTO who spend so much time counting our box tops for our school.  Then the video got me thinking.  How could I use this for counting other things.  So I made a file folder that looked like this for each of my pumpkin groups:

They were very easily able to line the pumpkin seeds up in the boxes to begin counting by 100's.  I gave each group a large sandwich bag and told them to begin counting by 100's.  When they could no longer fill the grid, I told them to raise their hands and I brought around small snack bags and had them continue to count by 10's.  Then, when they couldn't complete a ten anymore, they set the leftover ones to the side.  Then they were able to easily count by 100's, 10's, and 1's!  It was also much more manageable for both the kids and me!  I highly recommend it!

Now thanks to the election we are now in the throws of teaching government.  So much fun! 

Until next time!