2nd Grade Happenings

Here are a few pictures of the things 2nd Grade has been doing this year

Welcome board

 Behavior Chart

 Reflection Center

 Pencils- this way we don't have to hear a sharpener all day

 Listening center

 Class Library- they love it here

 Our lesson on how plants get energy

 Native American-Totem Poles

 Can you believe the students came up with this presentation on their own! They are so good at organizing their thoughts on paper!

 Fall leaves-made with their hand prints

 First day of fall

Loving my class!

Week 1 Grade 2

This week has really boggled my mind. In one way it seemed to fly by, but in another it felt like it lasted a lifetime! 

So here is the scoop. I LOVE my 2nd graders. They are so cute and small. The best part is that they are genuinely kind. Not to mention, they are going to keep me laughing. So far I have heard about one kids favorite animal being a "liger" (Go Napoleon!!), but the best one is when a group of kids asked me if I had been to jail. I was like, "do I look like I've been to jail" to which they replied, "well, you are wearing a black and white striped shirt". Oh...I guess they were right. lol. I should have said yes and scared them a little, but I figured that wasn't a good idea. 

The 1st week was filled with activities, learning routines, and assessments to find out where I need to start teaching. ( I will post some pictures later)

For now, I am going to plan for next week and then lay around and do nothing. :) 

Could this be any better?

This past school year has been full of learning, growing, laughing, and maybe even a little cussing (Sorry Jesus) :)
My 1st year teaching was in a 6th grade class in a pretty tough school. That being said, I felt like I handled the year pretty well. There were days when I questioned my ability to teach, my ability to cope, and even my ability to survive. There were also days when I knew that I was exactly where I was supposed to be and could see lives being changed. I am so happy for the opportunity that I was given. I grew as a teacher and  a person. About mid January I started debating on my plans for the next school year. Should I stay here where I know I'll have a job? Should I try to get in to elementary school where my heart is? Should I just run away to an island and not worry about any of it?  I went back and forth until May. After talking with my husband, mom, and close friends I decided that it was time for me to step out in faith and follow my heart. I talked to my principal and the "journey" began.

 Fast forward to 2 weeks ago. I had been emailing every elementary principal I knew and got a handful of "call me laters". A student of mine comes into class and tells me he wont be back next year. When I asked where he was going he told me Milestones Charter.

Long story short- I emailed the principal that day, 5 min later had an interview set up. Interviewed last Friday and got the Job today. (I literally just had my last day of school yesterday, hence the quotes around "journey")

The school seems awesome, the principal is very nice and welcoming, and I get to teach 2nd grade. This will be such an awesome year full of new challenges but even greater relationships!

Here is the verse I was reading yesterday as I worried over if I had the job or not

Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

Proverbs 3:5-6

School's Out For Summer!

Well, tomorrow the kids go home. That counts right? I can't believe I have made it through my first year already! It seems like I just started. (In a way)

Funny story- Today I was handing out notes to each student that I had written for them. They were short but sweet and personalized. Well, this student who has loved giving me hell all year long reads the note, crumbles it up in front of me and then shoves it in his mouth and eats it! I would have been very upset, but I actually think he summed up his year with one action. All of the other kids were very sweet about their notes. I will miss those crazies and I'm sure they will miss my craziness too!

The 8th graders graduated tonight and the final song was "School's Out for Summer". I told them I have been singing that for a week already-whoops ;)

Wreath fun

This post fits better in my other blog, but it is under construction for now and will appear in the near future. 

One of my goals for the summer is to become more crafty....actually I should just say crafty because I have not really been a craft person unless you count children's projects. My friend Sarah from work wanted to hang out today so I thought it would be a perfect time to craft. 

The Project: A fun wreath

I got the idea from searching for wreaths on pinterest here http://pinterest.com/search/?q=wreath 

It is not exactly like the others but close enough!

Materials Needed:

 

1 wreath could be Styrofoam or Hay 

Yarn

Straight Pins

Flower

Ribbon

Total Time: 45 minutes (or 2 hours 30 minutes if you're Sarah ;) just kidding) 

Finished Product

So cute

I had a great time making it and it was super simple! I can't wait to try more.

Here is Sarah's wreath..she loves teal and brown.

Culture Day!!

Today was "Culture Day" for my 2nd period class. In case you missed what culture day is all about from my last post here is the gist. The kids work with groups on a country of their choice. They were required to do a three sided poster with specific information I asked for and anything else they wanted to include. They also brought a food dish relative to that country and any artifacts they had. 


I was blown away at some of the projects! They did amazing. Here are some of the best ones and also some of the food they shared...

Morocco (They did an AWESOME job)

This was the food from Morocco. It had couscous and lamb meat....I will tell them tomorrow about that ;) Very tasty!

France

LOL

Puerto Rico (Sorry for the bad pic)

Homemade Empanadas! Yummy

Ireland

Irish Cream Brownies

I am very proud of the work they put into these projects! Hope you like them.

coming soon....Culture Day

In my classes we have been working on a huge project for the last month. I have given them 1-2 days each week for research, printing, and designing their posters. For the project the students are in small groups. They each have a different country and are responsible for making a poster full of specific information as well as info they find intriguing and also bringing a food dish pertaining to their country. Let me fill you in on how it has been going.

•  I  introduced the project-the students were really excited.
• The students realized they had to put the information in their own words and site their sources      (What! Aw Man)
• We did a lot of discussion on what quality information was and what was junk
• The light bulb went off in their minds
• Poster boards went out 
• Information/decorations went on poster boards
• I had a dream that the projects turned out to be awesome
• I went to school the next day and saw how AWESOME the projects were turning out

Next week is culture day for each of my classes. I will be posting some pictures of the posters later. I am proud of these guys. They have shown such growth and creativity!

~Proud Teacher