We have a new Pope!!

So exciting to be able to experience such an amazing moment with my students today. We had such a great time cheering and learning everything we could about Pope Francis. This photo just makes me so happy. Look how excited they are!!! They joined the crowds at the Vatican in chanting "Viva il Papa!"

This will definitely be a moment I remember for the rest of my life! What a great way to spend a Wednesday! I love being a teacher!

Raider has a new look

Check out Raider's new look. One of my student's grandmas created this Broncos outfit. All he needs now is a motorcycle! 

Multiplication

We've been doing so much in Second Grade lately that I have so many posts to write! Below are the Multiplication Stories we wrote when we finished learning our 2's times tables. We spent a lot of time discussing the language of multiplication and learning how to answer and illustrate multiplication word problems. Therefore, when we finished learning our 2's, we worked on the project below. It was a quick project and only took us a day to complete. 

I got the idea over a year ago on Pinterest. Unfortunately I didn't actually pin the idea, so thank you so much to whoever pinned this idea originally. It was a great way to solidify the concept of groups in Multiplication and give them a sense of ownership in their learning.   

Book Report

Hey Everyone!

Today was such a wonderful day at school! Not only were my kids super well behaved, but they also presented their Book Flap projects!


We've been spending a lot of time lately on sequencing stories after we read them, and then giving our personal opinions about the stories. We learned about transition words and using evidence to better explain our opinion. We also worked on giving our opinions in a respectful way and making sure that we include all the important aspects of a book in a sequencing piece.




This project as a result was not only a way for me to assess the success of their learning over the past few weeks, but also give them a chance to share their favorite books in class.


Each student picked one of their favorite books and created a "Book Flap." They drew or traced the cover of their book and then gave their personal opinion backed by evidence on the inside cover and a carefully written sequencing piece on the back cover. They used the writing process to create high quality writing and received both peer and teacher help with editing. They then practiced presenting their projects, making sure to use a loud and clear voice and answer questions from their friends with respect.

It took us an extremely long time, but they're done! And... they turned out awesome!

I used the above rubric to assess my students. If you're interested, let me know and I'd be happy to send it your way. 

Helping Young Writers

Hey everyone! I attended an assessment conference a few weeks ago and learned all about student engaged assessment. One of the things they discussed the most was helping students assess themselves during writing. I got to observe some super amazing teachers teach writing. As a result, I spent a week updating all of my young writer's criteria and spending extra time teaching my students how to better assess themselves and their peers during the editing and revise portion of the Writing Process. Below is the link to my newly created Young Writer's Help Packet. It includes a checklist, and sight words, transition words and question word lists. It's already made a huge difference in my student's self assessment and overall confidence in writing. I hope that it can be some use to you too!

Young Writer's Help Packet

Native Americans and the American West

Throughout the month of February my students began working on their Famous Americans Expedition. Now that we've learned all about how humans influence the environment around us, its time to look at how humans influence other humans. We became historians, studying the creation of our country, beginning with Native Americans.

Because young children often gain their knowledge of Native Americans through very stereotypical portrayals found in television, toys, Halloween costumes, and Thanksgiving legends,  I designed my instruction to put these misconceptions to rest through integration of literacy sequencing standards, and an introduction to elementary research. 

I began by reading two Native American stories aloud. Students were asked to sequence these two stories through the use of story time statues and a storyboard graphic organizer. We then learned about how sequencing is important not just in understanding history but also in fully understanding literature.

Following these stories, we reflected in our journals on a visual image and I asked them to determine whether or not all Native Americans are the same. Connecting their prior knowledge to the varying depictions of Native Americans from the two stories and the image, we learned that Native Americans are a broad group of people made up by many different nations. 

Students then spent time researching different Native American nations. They created group posters and presented their understanding to the class. Finally we ended by discussing how white settlement affected all Native Americans. 

Below is an image of the five posters my students created this year. I'm always extremely impressed at how engaged my students are during this study. They go above and beyond their grade level to delve deep into the material and truly learn. 

If you're interested in seeing exactly how I taught this lesson, check out the entire plan, complete with materials, on the Western History Association's website here. I submitted this lesson through one of their contests last year and was awarded the Charles Redd Center Teaching Western History Award for excellent lesson planning in social studies.

Things that make me love teaching...

A fellow teacher once told me to keep a running binder of little notes, pictures and moments that remind you of why you love teaching. She said that because teaching is hard, you will sometimes have those days where you literally feel like your mind is exploding. Having this binder, helps ground you and remind you of the reasons you love what you do. 

Even just after two years, my binder is already bursting from the seams. I have so many drawings, pictures, notes and memories from teaching. I love flipping through it on the hard to handle days where I swear my students were fed only candy for breakfast. It reminds me to laugh, smile and dig deep down and find that extra patience. 

Adding to this binder gives me joy. 

Today we were asked by my principal to write thank you notes to the many donors that make the existence of our school possible. Check out the cards below. I had to snap a few pictures to add to my binder. Sometimes you forget how much you mean to your students. It's nice to get that reminder! :)