Don't Get Pinched

Tis the season to celebrate the little mischievous green guy!  I love this time of year.  Yes, it probably has to do with my last name.  Shamrocks, clovers, leprechauns, Ireland....do I have to give any more hints.  St. Patrick's Day is such a fun day.  This year my class will be participating in Projects by Jen.   My class will be taking part in the St. Patrick's Day Project.  We will be doing several activities with Lucky Charms.  We will also be using many of the activities in my St. Patrick's Day Literacy Activities.

I am also thinking about incorporating another engineering challenge and have the students make traps to catch the leprechaun.  It is a free activity on TpT.

I think we may write about this too using my How to Catch a Leprechaun Writing Unit.

I have high hopes that all my kiddos will wear green!  What are you planning for St. Patrick's Day?

Egg-cited about Spring and Hatching Chicks

I really think we all may be excited about spring.  This past week, my school left early one day because of weather, came in one day late, and we also missed Friday because of an ice storm.  Then on Saturday and today it has been in the upper 60's.  I keep saying Mother Nature is mad at us all.  Hopefully, spring is just around the corner.

We are beginning our life cycle unit.  Our class will be receiving chicken eggs this week.  We will have chicks in just 21 days after they arrive.  My hope is the weather will have stabilized, and we will be enjoying springtime as we anticipate the arrival of our little chirping chicks. To get us egg-cited about the eggs and to keeps learning about the scientific method and plan on using Egg-speriments by Ginger Snaps.

Each day we will also be using some of the activities from Life Cycle of a Chicken Literacy and Science Activities.  I like incorporating this unit in literacy activities too.  We will also be writing about the process using The Life of a Chick Writing Activity.

Another activity I did with my class last year was Big Chickens Craftivity and Writing Activity.

This is what the bulletin board looked like after we finished the craft and writing.  

If you have any ideas to go along with this unit, please leave a comment.  

Happy Sunday!!!

TpT Celebration

Are you ready to shop???  I am ready!!!  My wish list is seven pages long, and I can't wait to lounge around the house and shorten that list.  TpT is an awesome resource for teachers.  I love that other teachers are creating items for their students and then sharing them on here.  I would much rather teachers earn a little cash for their work and at the same time I know I am getting some great resources!!!!

Check out some of the items in my store that might help you over the next weeks.  I can't wait for SPRING!!!

Welcome Back!

Welcome Back to Fun in Second Grade!  I took a little break from blogging, and I am now happily back.

I have been enjoying my class of 15 boys and 6 girls.  Wow, I never knew that boys could really talk more than girls.  We have been having lots of fun learning!

We finally have decided on our Science Fair Project.  Our class is going to determine which camouflage is the best for the woods near our school.  Needless to say my kiddos were beyond excited!  Hopefully we will be conducting tests, this week.  That is if the weather and temperatures cooperate.  I guess this makes it the perfect time to be completing a unit on weather.  I am also excited about the storm unit we will begin in a couple weeks.  I am going to read Thunder Cake and make the cake too.

Some other things we have to look forward to is Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day fun!  I went to PF Chang's last weekend and got chopsticks and fortune cookies for all my students.  I will make rice again and check out their skills.  Below are some pics from last year.  Also, checkout my Valentine's Day -  Love Is Unit.

Leave a comment and you could be a winner of the Valentine's Dy-Love Is Unit!  I will pick a winner on Friday!

Turkey Time!

I just finished up my latest literacy and math unit for my students.  They always love these activities in centers, and they make great quick activities for last minute planning or even for a substitute.  I hope you will enjoy them too.  I am going to give away a free copy.  Just leave a comment telling me something that you are thankful for this time of year.

That's a Fact Jack!

What do you do with a class full of 15 boys that love hunting, camouflage, and creatures of any kind?  I also have 6 girls that love the outdoors too.  But my boys can tell you when opening day for squirrel hunting is and let's not forget coon season.

I came across some great items on TpT that are Duck Dynasty.  Without a doubt, I knew what to do.  I waited until the kiddos had learned some about facts and opinions and place value before we had a Duck Dynasty kind of day.

 

And wouldn't you know it, on the candy aisle at Wal-Mart, I found some special treats!  Yummy!!!  That's a Fact Jack!

Eating Our Way through Math

Carb Day in Second Grade, you ask?  By the looks of this, it may seem like it!  

We put up the plastic base ten blocks, and grabbed some food to help us with place value this week. What a yummy way to learn about place value!  We used saltine crackers to represent hundreds, pretzels sticks to show tens, and Cheerios for the ones place.  Each student made their own placemat for place value.  Then we started the fun.  One did a variety of problems. I called out a number, and the students had to show me a way to represent that number using the fewest pieces of food.  Then they had to show me a different way using more pieces.  Students also had to read word form to show some number  and expanded form.  I just wrote a bunch of different problems on the smart board.  Students also partnered up, and I gave them one number to show me two different ways.  Of course, every now and then I would tell them to eat five Cheerios or a cracker.  One of my students even told me that this was a great way to teach math!  Melt my heart!