November to Remember

Now that the school year has gotten well underway, students and teachers are buckling down preparing for unique ways to meet learning targets and benchmarks, as well as getting ready for two of the biggest celebrations of the year--Thanksgiving and Winter break, of course! Along with autumn winds come festive seasonal lessons and projects. 2nd grade students designed and created a very unique scarecrow and story to match. Students were to create a scarecrow from a given or self-made template and write a story with a problem and a solution. I was so impressed with all of the unique plots and story lines! Check them out:

Of course, you can't have a scarecrow without a few crows flying around. Using the Kennedy Center's ArtsEdge teacher resources, I found an arts integrated lesson that incorporated drama, visual art, math, science, and reading. First, my students read Aesop's fable, "The Crow and the Pitcher" from the Pearson Reading Street class anthology. We then watched a YouTube version of the same story. Students used a graphic organizer to compare and contrast the two versions. Throughout the week, students designed and created crow sock puppets following the instructions in the lesson plan found here.

On Friday the lesson came together in an engaging multi-disciplinary center time.  
Center 1: Readers' Theater (Drama/Comprehension/Retell)-Students used their own puppets to act out and retell the story.

Center 2: Partner Reading (Foundations/Details/Story Structure)-Students read the story and discussed important details. Students also analyzed the overall story structure using a graphic organizer.

Center 3: Estimation (Math/Science)-Students worked together to predict and estimate how many pebbles would be needed to allow the water to rise to the designated line. Students then tested their hypotheses and recorded the data from their results.

My students were entirely engaged and thoroughly enjoyed each aspect of this week long lesson! They couldn't wait to take their crows home and share what they had learned.

Coming Soon: Eric Carle Author/Illustrator Study Inspired Social Studies Lessons

School Under Construction

I'm so lucky to have a job I love at a school I absolutely adore! We got a newly renovated school building this year with a new state of the art theater. Due to the renovation construction, teachers and staff were not able to go into the school until one week before school started. That gave me 7 days (not including pre-service prof. development hours) to unpack Kindergarten classroom boxes and organize a new second grade classroom, not to mention parent orientation was just 2 days after staff could enter the building. So, here is what my classroom looked like the day I could come in and work:

 Here is what it looked like by the end of day 1 (a little progress):

On orientation night, things started coming together--thanks to some awesome helpers!

Finally, by the first day of school, it was looking like a real classroom!

Here are some of the ELA centers we used this week

I love those freebie bin labels from Sunny Days!

In addition to the new school renovation, we are also getting a brand new theater! We've been anxiously watching the theater construction through our window. Here is the progress so far:

So much for a room with a view!

The theater is expected to be done by March. Everyone is so excited to be able to watch productions and be on stage in this magnificent structure! I'll keep you updated.