End of the Year Countdown!

There is nothing like the end of a school year! This year my students were super excited. For teachers, as the end of the year comes, we are trying to wrap things up and finish strong.  We accomplished a lot this year and I saw so much growth in my kiddos. I decided to embrace their excitement and enthusiasm and do an end of the year countdown. 

I purchased End of the Year: Engagement Made Easy by Amy Lemons. I loved it! I used a lot of her writing activities and added a few of my own things to go with it. The first thing I did was made a copy of the countdown sign she includes in her product. I copied it onto astrobrights paper, which I LOVE! I have a clothesline that goes all the way across my room so I hung it up on that. Then I hung 5 balloons on one side and 4 balloons on the other side. 

I wish I had taken a picture but in all the excitement I forgot. Bummer!

I wanted to ease into the excitement so I strategically numbered the balloons 1-9. I put a note inside each balloon telling us the next day's activity before I blew it up. I chose to pop the balloon at the end of the day so my kiddos would look forward to what the next day would be. 

Day 1

This was an easy one but they loved it. It was a Show and Tell day. They were super excited to bring something in to show and then tell about it. I think I might turn this into a writing assignment next year and they have to write about what they have brought in to show. Then they can read their paragraph. 

Day 2

This was another favorite. It was Sit Where You Want Day. It took less than 3 minutes for someone to decide they wanted my seat for the whole day!

Day 3

Day 3 was Emoji Excitement. This day came from Amy Lemons, End of Year: Engagement Made Easy which you can purchase by clicking the picture below.

They loved making their own emojis and writing a memory paper using emojis. Then we went outside for a photo shoot!

Day 4

Day 4 was also from Amy Lemons. It was Learning with Lemonade. My kiddos made their own lemonade and then wrote a "How To" about it. Super fun!

Day 5

Day 5 was Cotton Candy Cloud. I think they thought we would be eating cotton candy all day long but it didn't happen. This was also from Amy Lemons and was all about clouds. My kiddos loved going outside to observe the clouds and try to figure out which kind they were looking at. They each wrote a cloud story and we also did a rain cloud in a jar experiment. You can grab this freebie at my store by CLICKING HERE 

We ended the day with everyone getting some cotton candy to take home with them.

Day 6

Day 6 was Living in a Bubble. This idea came from a fellow teacher a few years ago. First I went to Home Depot to get my supplies. You don't need a lot and it's very easy. All you need is a tarp, fan, and some duct tape.

My plan was to make a bubble (an air fort) that my kiddos could go inside. To make the fort, unfold the tarp and then fold it in half. My tarp was 10ft x 25ft. When I folded it in half it was 10ft x 12 1/2 ft. Once you have it folded in half use duct tape to seal it together on all sides. Leave one spot unsealed so you can stand the fan there and duct tape the tarp around the fan. Once the tarp is sealed to the fan you can turn on the fan. As the air fills the tarp it gets blown up and quite large. Now you can cut a slit on the opposite side as the fan to make a door so you can go inside. It will stay blown up as long as the fan is turned on.

This is one of the only pictures I took but we had a lot of fun. We took beanbags in and did buddy reading and they wrote journals in there too!

Day 7

Day 7 was a continuation of the bubble theme with Bubble Trouble, another one from Amy Lemons' product. I brought in bubble gum for everyone to chew and see who could blow a bubble! Oh My! I had no idea how fun this would be! My kiddos that could do it loved showing the others how to do it and my kiddos that couldn't were determined to figure it out!

We did a graph of who could blow a bubble and who couldn't.

Day 8

Sunshine in the Morning

Day 8 was on our last full day of school and it was on a Friday. Since some of our kiddos would not be there on our last 1/2 day of school, the teachers decided this would be our end of year party day. This day can get a bit crazy and full with all the things we try to squeeze in such as our, end of year prize auction, gathering projects and papers to take home, class party and so on. I always try to find a bit of quiet time with my kiddos so we can reflect over the school year and talk about some of our favorite moments, things we were worried about, and all our triumphs. It's a time that I can pray with and for them. With this in mind, I decided Day 8 would be Sunshine in the Morning. When my kiddos arrived that morning, I greeted them with breakfast. We sat around a table together and over orange juice, cereal, bagels and cream cheese, we chatted, remembered, laughed, sang some of our favorite songs and prayed. For me, it was one of my favorite memories of the school year.

Day 9

Day 9 was a half day and was our official last day of the year. We had planned a surprise children's concert for the elementary. Wayne from Maine! 

The kids loved it and it was the perfect ending to a great school year.

Happy Mother's Day!

Last week was a crazy, busy week in second grade! First of all it was testing week. The good thing about testing week is that it is a break from the routine and some kids really like that BUT it is always a very grueling week for students AND teachers! I went home every night EXHAUSTED! We were also getting ready for our Spring musical so we were practicing for that each day. In the midst of all of that craziness was Mother's Day Prep along with a TPT GIVEAWAY!!!!

First, I want to show you the cutest cards we made. They were super easy to do and I think they came out really cute!

They wrote something about their mom under each flap. This card was created by From the Pond and you can get it at her TPT Store by CLICKING HERE

We also worked on the cutest Mother's Day song all week. I'm always looking for a song to go with everything and found this one. It is an original song by Cindy Statham Hestla. 

I made a QR Code for their video and gave one to each student to put in their card so their mom could watch it on Mother's Day!

And now time for our giveaway. I have joined an amazing group of teachers and we are giving away a $75 Gift CARD!!! 

PRIZES INCLUDE 1 x $75 TPT Giftcard

#1 TAG your teacher friends by adding their names in the comment section
#2 SHARE THIS POST

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                  Happy Mother's Day!!!!

Teacher Appreciation Week

I'm super excited to be celebrating Teacher's Appreciation Week with all of you! We actually celebrated last week at our school. Boy OH Boy were we appreciated! We had lots of homemade goodies and lots of special treats. So to celebrate teachers I am giving away a 
$10 TeachersPayTeachers Gift Card! 

Rafflecopter ends at midnight tonight! So don't delay! I will pick a winner first thing in the morning and the winner will have all day to shop!

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Good Luck!!!!

Fruit Loop Subtraction!

Are you looking for a fun way to introduce subtraction to your little ones? All you need is a box of Froot Loops

or Fruit Rings, either will work!

I made these super cute Fruit Loop ten frames

and I made these task cards.

I filled a baggy with fruit loops and made these labels to put on each baggy. We actually used these fruit rings for a few days so it was important that my kiddos could put their names on them.

This is what they looked like when they were prepped and ready to use.

 To say my kiddos were excited about subtraction would be an understatement! They were over the top when they saw the baggies of fruit loops! 

 We built numbers on our ten frames and then subtracted by eating the fruit loops.

 We even made a fruit loop subtraction book.

You can grab this fruit loop subtraction packet at my TPT Store by CLICKING HERE

Compare and Contrast

We had so much fun with comparing and contrasting today! I found the cutest craftivity freebie from Michele over at Smitten with First! My kiddos had so much fun doing it. I have a very small class this year and today I only had 6 so I paired them up and we went to work.

They each made their own face and colored. Then we talked about how they are different from their friend. They wrote their differences on their hair. 

Then we talked about how they are the same as their friend. They put how they are alike in the middle. Super cute and I just love how they turned out! Such a great way to learn all about comparing and contrasting!

If you would like to try out this activity head on over to Michele's blog, Smitten with First, and grab this FREEBIE You can also CLICK HERE

Nancy

Fact or Opinion

Easter PEEPS and a Giveaway!

Want a fun way to teach fact and opinion? For the past two years I have taught fact and opinion with Peeps. My kiddos LOVE it! 

I always start with an anchor chart to discuss the differences between a fact and an opinion. I use strips and on each strip there is a clue for either a fact or an opinion. 

We read each clue and discuss whether or not it is a fact or an opinion and add it to our anchor chart. When it is done it looks like this:

For our next activity we use my fact an opinion Peep cards. I put my kiddos into groups and they work together to sort their cards. 

I created this foldable for those students who need a little more practice. 

And these strips for them to sort and put in the correct pocket.

Once they understood the differences between a fact or an opinion it was time for our next activity and time for PEEPS! This was my kiddos favorite part! I gave each one of them a Peep to eat. 

While they were eating their Peeps I told them to think of one fact about their Peep. I gave them each a post it note to write their fact down. 

They shared their fact with a buddy to see if they agreed with them. If they both agreed that it was a fact, then they put their post it on our second anchor chart.

Then we did the same thing except they had to write an opinion about a Peep. Then we added it to the other side of our anchor chart.

Now that they knew the difference between fact and opinion it was time to write their opinion paragraphs. They had to write and tell me which was better, real bunnies or Peep bunnies. 

Lots of fun AND they learned the differences between a fact and an opinion! All the activities above come from Fact or Opinion PEEPS

*** EASTER GIVEAWAY ***

Happy Easter! Myself and a team of amazing teachers have grouped together to gift an awesome teacher with a TPT gift card to show them how appreciative we are!

PRIZES INCLUDE 1 x $150 TPT Giftcard

#1 TAG your teacher friends by adding their names in the comment section

#2 SHARE THIS POST

#3 ENTER HERE: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b4951b8536/?

REMEMBER: each entry counts as ONE entry, the more links you complete, the higher your chances of winning!!

Raffle CLOSES: Sunday 1st April 2018 12am

GOOD LUCK!!!

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Hey Little Ant!

Have you read this book? It is one of my all time favorites! It was written by Phillip and Hannah Hoose. He and his daughter live right here in Maine. I love reading books by local authors to my kiddos! The story is about a boy who is just about to squish an ant with his shoe. The ant and the boy go back and forth giving their reasons for squishing or not squishing the ant. Another thing I love about this book is that it rhymes. I love rhyming books and so do my kiddos!!

On the last page of the book they have all of the words of the story with notes so you can sing the song.

As I read the story my kiddos got very involved in both the boy's and ant's argument about whether he should squish the ant or not. When I got to the last page they had definitely formed an opinion which led right into our opinion writing lesson.

I handed out this ant paper so they could start planning their opinion writing paragraph. They had to write whether or not the boy should squish the ant and give two reasons why. 

Once the planning was done they wrote their paragraphs. They did a fabulous job!!

Here is a sampling of their paragraphs. I thought they were adorable!

I think he should let the ant go free. I like ants. His one chip can help feed his whole town. He helps his whole town. He helps his whole family. I didn't like ants but now I do.






I think the boy should it be because it's not nice. Ants just don't know what they're doing. I also like ants. I am never going to squish an ant!

I think the boy should not squish the ant. Ants may be annoying but they are cute. Ants are funny. So don't ever squish an ant!