Spelling Charades!

I'm sharing a NEW game that my kiddos are just LOVING!! I have to admit that this is one of those teacher creations I came up with spur of the moment when all of a sudden plans changed. My students were supposed to go swimming one afternoon for P.E., but the event was rained out. This meant I had some time to fill with educational goodies! :) I made up this game I call "Spelling Charades" and my kids are begging to play it over and over! Here's how it works: I use the spelling list we are on this week. My students grab white boards and a marker. I have one student be the "actor or actress." I show the student the word to act out. The student acts it out, but instead of verbally guessing the word, my other students write the answer on their whiteboard. Once I see the correct spelling word I say, "Showdown" and they show me their boards so we can discuss the spelling. (This is also a super quiet game that students can't wait to play!) This has quickly become a staple game in our classroom! :)
Here's a few pics of our Spelling Charades:

First Day 2016!!!!

I decided to create a chalkboard sign for my kiddos to stand by for first day pics!  (This was a leftover sign from my wedding and I was so happy to put it to good use!)

Yes, my handsome hubby sent me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers! I feel so lucky to have his unwavering support! 

Yes, that this a rolling cart projector! My smart board projector pooped out right before school started, so I am anxiously awaiting new bulbs!!!

From Miss to Mrs.!!!!

I was doing so well posting regularly...then this happened! I got engaged in February and it has been non-stop busy since. I will be teaching second grade at a new school this year, I moved, and got married!!!! It has been an amazing roller-coaster. I am so excited for these new life adventures! It was a little nerve racking sharing my news with my kiddos. They were not crazy about my leaving or my upcoming name change, but of course they had lots of advice for my new hubby! I will miss my kids and coworkers, but I can't wait to start this new life sharing about Mrs. Hedlund's second grade class. :)

Growth Mindsets!

We have been working recently on training our brains to think positive! Students brainstormed how to think and speak with a growth mindset. 

We discussed how the main character's mindset changes as the story moves along. The story fit perfectly with our data dots. (see below)

Throughout the year we view and discuss the progress dots together. We are working as a team to grow and move our learning forward. The kids were so excited to see how high the dots have already gone! (The red is the goal line that increases as the year continues.)

Class Dojo has an AWESOME series of short videos about growth mindsets and how the brain can grow. The videos are 2-3 minutes and captivate students the whole time! My kiddos can't get enough of Mojo's discoveries!! 

Grinch Day!

We started off the day with some scrambled up Grinch sentences! Students worked in teams to sort out the sentences the Grinch mixed up.

Reading group students are presenting on a book they have been working on together. I love seeing my students excitedly share information they have learned with others! 

We read How the Grinch Stole Christmas and made a chart of descriptive words for the Grinch from the beginning (green) to the end (red). We talked about how characters have choices just like we do. They can always choose a better path. One of my favorite moments was when one of my students said, "I think perseverance, because the Grinch kept trying to stop Christmas from coming." I have been working so hard to teach my students about persevering and was so happy to see the meaning of the word clicking! 

In the afternoon we did some quick addition with cards on the top of our heads. The santa added to get the sum and the mice needed to figure out what number was on his or her head. This fun math idea came from a Santa's Stuck packet from firstgradewow.blogspot.com. 



A little movie/book compare and contrasting two versions of the same story!


We finished off the day with my personal favorite! GRINCH GRIME!! This super science activity is from "A Pinch..." packet from firstgradewow.blogspot.com.

Christmas CrAzInEsS!

Above are a few pics from our FUN and FESTIVE winter party! I feel so lucky to have such creative parents helping in my room! It was a real winter wonderland with hot cocoa, cookies and crafts! 


Yesterday an elf brought us special SNOW DOUGH!! The recipe can be found online and I whipped up this tag with poem I created using free TPT clip art and font.

It was ugly sweater day at school yesterday. I added on to my lovely hot glued Christmas tree from last year and added battery powered lights (This is probably a fire hazard! Ha!) My kiddos decided that when Miss Stucky's lights were on she was happy and when the lights went off they should get quiet quickly! It made for a very interesting classroom management strategy! ;).

LOVE this parent gift idea I found online! It is personal, but quick and easy!

Our suitcases have been sent home!! This is another awesome unit from Stephanie Stewart! I love the writing prompts!

We are so Thankful!

Thanksgiving was so busy I forgot to post! Here are a few projects and events:

Bugles were the perfect "Turkey Toes" snack the day before break! (I downloaded this tag free online, but can't remember where!)

This idea is from Stephanie Stewart. My kiddos love it! A turkey writes us a letter begging us not to eat him for Thanksgiving dinner...So of course we jump in and save the day with an awesome persuasive writing activity. (I had everything from chicken instead to ice-cream  This year was a first to have a student write to eat lettuce instead of turkey...I loved the adjectives. Cold, crisp, crunchy! Ha!)

We did a little food science! We learned how to write procedures and a hypothesis! This is a freebie I downloaded from TPT!!!

We had been reading about the Pilgrim's voyage and mentioned chamber pots...One of my AMAZING paras brought her great grandmother's to show us! This kids were grossed out, but intrigued and engaged! :)

Finally, we wanted to say thank you for all the places, things and most importantly people in our lives! <3