The Countdown is ON!!

First of all .. forgive me for this is my first post all school year ... insert awkward face here.

Don't want to bore you with all the reasons so I'll get right down to the post.

Since I've been teaching third grade this year and I looped with my kiddos, we are both facing this whole "state testing" thing for the first time together. In a way it's nice to be able to go through this experience with my class but on the other hand I wish I could answer more questions for them and soothe their little worried minds a little bit better.

So I decided to do a little something to get them to look forward to coming to school each day before the big day. Since I teach in Texas, we will have the dreaded STAAR test on April 22 and 23.

Since the day we got back from Spring Break my team has split our kids based on ability for 2 short 45 minute periods to do Flex Group in order to better prepare each student in both Reading and Math. Last week due to other circumstances we finally got an entire day with our class again and I was blown away by how hard they have been working. So I took their hard work + an idea that I got from Hope King at 2nd Grade Shenanigans at the end of school last year to find a way to get them to keep up their momentum.

Here is what Hope inspired me to do at the end of school last year that she did with her kiddos.

Click on the picture or here to see her post about her balloon incentives.

And in my classroom...

I tried to think of as many free prizes as I could because you know, teacher budget here, but there's a few others in there such as new pencils, colorful pens, bubbles, donuts and a few more, most of which can be covered by one trip to the Dollar Store.

It might be a little late in the game for some friends in other states who have already taken their state tests but if anything maybe it will inspire you for next year. Simple click here or on the picture below to check it out in my Teachers Pay Teachers store to get your copy and get those kids excited about the big day!

Enjoy and Happy Countdown!!!

I heart QR Codes!

As I am getting in back-to-school mode and the closer and closer summer comes to it's end, I find myself wanting to do more and more with QR Codes.

I had the pleasure of meeting someone yesterday who really inspired me to start working on stuff again. I have really been in a lull lately when it comes to creating things (non-house-related at least), and this woman had an excellent idea. I'm 98% positive a little cartoon light bulb appeared over my head when she explained her idea because I thought "Why didn't I think of that?"

This morning I finally got back to a little structure - drink my coffee, watch one show, work a little, watch another show, work some more and before I knew it I had completed it all in one day! It's not much but I'm feeling pumped!

Alright, alright. I'm sure you're ready to hear what it is that's got me all excited about QR Codes, so here it goes...

This past year I changed my system half way through the year because we started using Class Dojo (if you'd like to know more about that please email me!) as our award system. The students could buy prizes with the amount of points they had earned as we kept a running total. I printed a new list out each Monday so the kids new how many points they had and they could add their current weekly total to their previous total (that way they're were held accountable to do the math too). I really liked that system and the kids did too BUT since I am now in third grade with the same kiddos and they each get an iPod touch I needed to step things up a little.

To change it up a bit - we will come up with a point system in a way that lets them earn enough points to make it to the bucket where all the QR Codes will be held. I think it's important that you do this with your kids, that way they are the ones who set the expectations too and we share the responsibility. For example, maybe it takes 20 points to pull 1 card and 30 to pull 2. A student can go as soon as they have earned 30 or maybe they can save up and pull 2 at a time. As long as you have a simple QR Code reader it's as easy as pie. The name of the prize will pop up as shown below and in case you were curious my class uses "Scan".

I plan on laminating them and reusing them because I'm all about saving ink and cardstock! I tried to make them look very similar so the kids would be surprised with what they got. I am positive they are going to LOVE this! You can click on the picture above, here or see my store on the sidebar to get to it.

Now that I am back in the swing of things - of course I would be leaving for one more vacation for a week but can't complain too much right? Michigan and Chicago here I come!

Whew! If you read all of this, the first person to comment with their email address will receive a free copy the QR prizes! Thanks and Happy Hump Day!!

I apologize and some BIG news!

O my lanta ... I can't believe how long it has been since I've been on here. I have some valid reasons though.

• Buying a house.
• Moving into said house.
• Furnishing said house.
• Painting said house.
• Decorating said house.
• Finishing up the year with my sanity.
• Emotionally preparing myself for summer (aka being student-and-schedule-less).

Whew. Basically the house thing took over and I was just trying to adjust to being a first time home owner with new bills, responsibilities (like mowing a yard for my first time ever!) and SO much more room to work with. 


Now the BIG news I have for you is that I am no longer teaching second grade but instead I will be LOOPING up with my same kiddos to third grade. I am beyond excited and am absolutely thrilled to not only have my class again but to have my entire team loop up as well. We are basically all-stars and my students were kicking some serious bootay when it came to data. I am nervous to officially be in a "testing" grade but aren't all grades testing grades in a way - if not the actual test than prepping them for it, yea?

Either way - I've got a lot planned this summer when it comes to creating things for the new TEKS/Curriculum I get to cover. I am super excited to be able to go more into depth in certain subjects and to break out more of those chapter books! I will be aligning all of my stuff to the Common Core as well (since Texas just has to be different and go with the TEKS) to make it useful in other classrooms as well so be on the look out.

Have you looped with a class before? I would love to hear your feedback, likes, dislikes and suggestions about it all! Please comment or email me to fill me in on what you think! 

Thanks all! Hope you're having a wonderful summer and fun Friday!

Fractions of a Set AND a Whole?!

I know I've been a terrible blogger lately but a little update on things. 

• The Mr. and I are closing on our first home NEXT FRIDAY! It's all happened so fast yet all at the right time. 
• Every time I start to feel on top of things (school-wise) I get right back behind it all.
• Second grade has already hit the ground running with fractions AND multiplication.
• Spring Break is almost here!!

So here's a look into our past few weeks via pictures.

We used pattern blocks to help show improper fractions.

The kids made their own "Circles and Stars" booklets to show "Groups Of".

The students used the iPads to scan QR codes that took them to multiplication word problems.

They were SO engaged. Who knew problem solving could be so fun?

Here is an example of the work I expect them to do/how I modeled expectations.

I've just recently discovered the world of Number Fill-Ins... EXCELLENT for early finishers and high achievers. 

We also did an adorable readers theater. Wish I could show their sweet little faces :).

Also... I finally got it. My first prank.

They thought they were so clever...

So that is a just a sneak peek at how busy we've been. Can I just say that we have started our first Book Study on "Maybelle in the Soup" and it is the cuuuuuutest book ever. I read it in 20 minutes and the kids LOVE IT. We are doing 3 chapters a day and should be done with it in a week. Every chapter really leaves the kids hanging and wanting more. What more could you ask for?

On another note, here is a mini set I've put together that deals with fractions as part of a set and of a whole. I think it's really important that students see that fractions are not just "pizzas" and "candy bars" but fractions of a set are just as important. This can be anything from number of students in a classroom to cookies in a jar. Either way you can represent these numbers with fractions and this little set helps students see that. Click here or on the picture below to check out more at my TPT store.

Click on the picture to check it out in TPT.

Until next time... Thanks for stopping by! 

Valentines Day Coupons

I just love Valentines Day when it comes to little kids. My students have been so giddy for the past few weeks and it's contagious. 

I couldn't decide what I wanted to get/make for my class until the other day. Coupon Books! I used to make them all the time for my dad when I was little, and now my kids can have one too. They are gonna love some of these options. You can get some for your class too. Just click here or on the picture below. There is also a blank one in there for you to handwrite some of your own incase the ones I chose don't quite suit your class' needs. Let's face it, not every class is the same!

Enjoy and have a Happy Valentines Day on Thursday! 

Problem Solving...

What more can I say?

That seems to be my biggest area of concern/what I wish I could focus all day. Technically we do throw it in there in all subjects but I feel like I've had so many epiphanies lately when it comes to how to teach problem solving.

In the past 2 weeks I've gone to 2 Professional Developments and my favorite part of them has to be hearing what other teachers do in their classrooms. Get this... Today a fellow 2nd grade teacher in my district, on their second week of fractions, gave her students this problem:

"Sarah has 348 gel pens. She gives 3/4 of them away. How many pens does she give away?"

In my mind I'm thinking there is NO WAY my sweet little babies could figure this out and we are on our third week of fractions. But then again, isn't this the level of questions we SHOULD be asking of our students? All we keep hearing is Rigor Rigor RIGOR. Well, it's just like it was back in the day when we changed from TAAS to TAKS. People would say it's "too hard" and "we're asking too much of these students". Now look at us. If only the TAKS was still around. It's the STAAR we dread. It's always going to be something new and I'm sure in a few years we will be wanting the STAAR back. 

The rigor is always increasing and as an educator we are only doing our students a diservice if we don't give them the opportunity to succeed instead of doubting their capabilities and saying "that's way too hard". Sure it may be hard but confusion is a step in the right direction. It means they are trying. I don't know about you but the best tool that has helped me learn thus far is the mistakes I've made along the way. 

I heard the same teacher relate problem solving to gaming. Our students will continue to play a level where they fail and fail, time and time again. They are determined to beat that level and after awhile they do. I can't wait to have my students make this connection and preserver until they can get a hang of certain strategies to use to make problem solving that much easier for them.

So speaking of problem solving.. I am going to compile all the of our Daily Problem Solving problems that we have done in Q1 and Q2 and get them ready for this weekends Super Sale for the Super Bowl! Check back WEDNESDAY for their debut!

Penguin Palooza & Classroom Goals

We have literally hit the ground running this year. My kids and I decided that we needed some Goals to strive for. They literally come up with these on their own and wanted to do ALL of them. I was thinking 3 or so, nope.... they wanted 5. But I made sure they were all attainable if they worked hard so here we go!

They're posted at the front of the room so we can refer back to them throughout the year.

2nd graders have to read 15 Caldecott books to become a Caldecott Kid.

We have 4 Fact Fluency goals for the students to meet by the end of year. To differentiate and give everyone a fair chance we chose to have them focus on moving up at least 2 ranks. Check out more here. 

We are definitely Bucket Fillers, individually and as a class.

Here's our FILLED bucket as of lately!!

Our district uses iStation as an Reading Assessment tool and let's just say my kids are both rocking it AND have high expectations for themselves. (That would mean 11 out of 16 kiddos on Tier 1.)

Check out our growth so far. If you can't tell green is good, and I've still got one baby waiting to test  for January but as of right now I've still got 9 on green. So I would definitely say 11 is attainable.

I love that my kids came up with this one. This helps everyone, at every reading level,  have a goal to work towards.

 On another note, every second grader in our district is starting our huge research project called Penguin Palooza. Technology plays an enormous role in their final projects and the kids will get to choose how to they want to present it. There will definitely be more on this to come. 

 To get them excited about penguins I had them write what they want to know about penguins on a piece of paper, crumble it up and throw it as far as they can towards the front of the room. Then they each got to come by and grab a paper (that wasn't theirs) and share the questions aloud. I recorded them all and we went over all the things we were excited to research. Here's a sneak peak of that:

 That's all I got for now. 

Here's a nice little pic of my cat Buster to make the rest of your Hump Day the best it can be!

This is what it looks like ... Facetime-ing with my kitty.