Planning Your Morning Work

First off, its been a hot minute since I blogged that's for sure!

Kelli at Surviving the Little People posted recently about trying to get back into blogging and some of her goals. It inspired me to get back into blogging and, while I am not ready to commit to anything more that trying to at least do a couple of Currently's or Five for Friday linkys, I am ready to blog again. 

I still have almost a month and half ( don't hate!) before school starts again ,but you all know that we teacher's spend our summer planning for success for the coming school year! So with that in mind I have been thinking about morning work and how to best handle that time. 

Typically I spend Thursday or Friday after school planning, printing, and prepping for the next week of school. I am always looking for areas to improve on and one area I felt could use some streamlining/ improvement was morning work. Typically what I do for morning work for the week is to look at things like Super Teacher Worksheets or Teachers Pay Teachers until I found 5 skills that I felt would be good independent practice for my kiddo's. This could be a time consuming process! So I decided that for this coming school year I was going to focus my morning work and make each day a specific area of focus. 

This is my plan:

Monday's are going to be devoted to a math concept from the previous week that my kiddo's need practice with. We use Bridges Math at my school and I really love the number sense that my kiddo's have developed over the past two years. However, it is sometimes tough to find pre-made practice pages that align with it. In the past I have created some of my own ,but it can get overwhelming with all of the other things I have to do. However, only having to create one piece a week seems much more doable to me. 

In Michigan we take a "lovely" standardized test called the MStep. I am sure you all, unfortunately,  have something similar where you are. This was our first year with it so we weren't exactly sure how to prep our kiddo's ahead of time. One of the things that the 3rd grade teachers have asked 2nd grade to do next year is to do more writing prompts so that they are used to writing to a specific topic.Our writing curriculum is all about genre writing and writing workshop, which does not include a lot of time for prompt writing. Our reading curriculum ( we use Wonders) has writing prompts built into the writing portion of the curriculum which I will be using. But you could use prompts from Super Teachers or type writing prompts into TPT and see what you can get!

Each week with Wonders we have a different weekly grammar concept. Our kiddo's are assessed on this concept on Fridays. Wonder's has some really good practice pages for grammar. Last year I put them at my writing station as a have- to. But not all my kiddo's were at that station throughout the week and I wouldn't usually check that page until after the week was up. By giving it as morning work I have 2 days to clear up any misconceptions before they are assessed on Friday. 

We also do a weekly spelling test on Friday. Every week as part of our weekly homework packet I send home the spelling words for the week ,as well as the previous week's test. We also review the words throughout the week during our Wonders time. But about March of this past school year I started having my kiddo's practice their spelling words for morning work and they did SO much better on their weekly spelling tests. Last year I typically did this on Friday morning, but with all that we usually have going on on Friday's I thought moving it to Thursday would allow for more guaranteed time. 

 Finally for Friday we will be practicing our math facts. At my school one of the awards that students can get during our monthly awards assembly is for fact fluency. Last year I had students work on this skill but not as consistently as I would like. Having a designated day for this will help it to be more consistent and hopefully have kiddo's that are stronger in their math fact knowledge. 

So that is my plan for morning work for the coming year. How do you handle morning work in your classroom? 

~Jean~

Currently November

Oh my word. August???? Really? That was the day of my last post.

I can't even tell you how many posts I have started since then that I have not finished. I feel like I have read a lot of posts on blogs and Facebook from people who have been in my same boat of just not feeling the blogging thing. I wish I was more frequent with it, but I am a Gemini and we are really passionate about things for short bursts of time. :)

So tonight, since my husband is monopolizing the tv,  I am linking up with Farley for her November Currently. 

Listening: Usually my hubby, my brother, and my sister in law get together on Sunday nights and watch The Walking Dead while I make a swift exit....can't stand Zombies. Tonight they aren't coming over so he has decided to watch some horrible sci fi movie with Tom Cruise...both of which I also can't stand. :) 

Loving: On Friday, because having a Harvest Party ( our version of a Halloween party) at school and the promise of trick or treating that night wasn't enough to make my kiddo's crazy we also got the first snow of the season! It didn't stick, but it was still exciting. 

Thinking: Of course, if you have ever read a post by me you know I absolutely LUH-HUV Christmas. Some of my blogging buddies and I are doing a Secret Santa gift exchange and I am SO psyched about it. I also just got my Beans presents from Santa this weekend too, so I definitely have Christmas on the brain. :) 

Wanting: I love, love, love puffy vests. I wear one at least 2-3 times a week starting in Mid October and going as long as possible. (Usually in Michigan I can make it through about April.) I have two blue, one black, one brown, and one red. I REALLY, REALLY want this super cute blue and white checked one from J Crew Factory. 

But my clothing budget does not allow for $98 to be spent on a vest. I mean really? Its basically like a puffy tank top. ;)

I was hoping to get a white one this weekend from a couple of different places that were having sales but neither Old Navy nor Lands End had the one I wanted. :( 

Needing: I think everyone feels this way on a Sunday night, but since June my weekends have been RIDICULOUSLY overbooked. I just need an extra day or two to get some projects done. 

Reading: I actually just finished rereading the whole Hunger Games Series in preparation of the new movie coming out this month. And yes, I got my tickets the day they were available.  And yes, I am going to the marathon cause that's how I roll! :) 
Enjoy the last bits of your Sunday friends! ~Jean~

A Triple Scoop of 2nd Grade

Today I am linking up with other fabulous 2nd grade bloggers to share......

We are here to share with you some of our fave products. The first two are from our own store and the third is a can't live with out product made by someone else. Keep reading. It might even be you!

My first product is my Making Connections packet. Confession time: Comprehension used to not be my favorite thing to teach...probably near the bottom. But after taking several classes on it Comprehension has become one of my absolute favorite things to teach. If we could do nothing but read good books and discuss them in my room all day I would be happy as a clam. 

I made this packet back when I was starting my comprehension journey. To me Making Text Connections is one of the "easier" comprehension strategies to teach and so it is usually one I start off with. 

It comes with 3 posters, student bookmarks, response sheets and question strips that could be used in a variety of different ways. You can find it in my store HERE. 

 My 2nd scoop is one of my favorite products.
I change my kids seats monthly. I find that if they stay by each other too long they become best friends. And by best friends I mean they talk. A LOT. ;)  I also enjoy decorating for the seasons/ holidays. So I created my seasonal nameplates packet so that I could change their name plates when I change their seats. Which is a good thing because by the end of the month those babies have DEFINITELY seen better days. 

The clip art on the cover is representative of the clip art you will find on the name plates. The 2nd image lists all of the different designs. ( There are 20 different styles!) You can get that HERE. 

PS: Both of my scoops will be on sale in my store through this weekend!

For my final scoop I decided to share one of my purchases during the big TPT sale. I am working on updating my ocean/ beach theme to be a bit more nautical. During the sale I was searching for clip art and papers to use in my creations and discovered this: 

Matches the colors of my room perfectly. Has anchors, chevron AND polka dots! Sign me up!!! There are tons of cute digital paper sets, clip art ( the elephants in her store are to DIE for!) You can check out Digital Dollface HERE.

If you follow me on Instagram you have seen her products in action already. And if you don't click on that little Instagram Icon and join me! :)

We've got more scoops of second grade for you! Make sure you stop by & check out everyone else's triple scoops! There are some real treats in store for you!!

~Jean~

An InLinkz Link-up

Two Stars and A Wish

Today I am here to share with you some tips to start your school year off right, as well as to share one thing I am hoping to improve upon this year. You know, if you tell people it kind of holds you accountable right? :)

My two stars are all about how to handle a teacher's favorite thing...classroom supplies. We all love them. But, if you are like me and you don't have student desks ( I have tables), you have to figure out how to store them. 

However, my post is not about how to store them as I think this is very teacher specific depending on space, organization style, and amount and type of containers. :) But if you want some organizational ideas check out this post from last summer.  My two stars are how to deal with the sudden influx of 20+ notebooks, boxes of crayons, and scissors etc. 

At my school we do a Back To School/ Meet Your Teacher night the week before school starts. I send home a meet your teacher brochure before then to encourage the kids and their parents to attend. I also include this note: 

 I have found that about half of my students will bring everything in with them ahead of time. ( I make sure to say any they have. They get this note about 2 days beforehand and some families haven't gotten everything yet.)

I go communal on most of my supplies because of the whole no whole desks situation. I can sort through the supplies that are brought in ahead of time and get them labeled if need be and put away ahead of time. This really cuts down on the amount that needs to be taken care of the first day. 

 Now I don't get 100% of the supplies then, although that would awesome. :) So we do have to take care of some things on the first day. Confession ( Although for many of you I am sure it is nooooo surprise.) I HATE clutter. I hate mess. I hate when things are not in their place.

                I mean this picture pretty much sums it up folks. ;)

 So unloading the supplies time in my room used to just make me itch. It was a horrible way to start our very first day together. 

Here is my next tip on supplies. Spread it out throughout the morning and put away the supplies as you get them. Here is what I do. While my students are working on something else, usually morning work, I will call for supplies one at a time. For example, all the tissues. Students that didn't bring them in already will bring them to me and I will put them away where I store them. Then I will call for something else, like plastic baggies, and put those away before calling for a new item. 

This really works for me for three reasons. 

Reason #1: It keeps the piles of supplies to a minimum. Yes, our backpacks are in the room and they take up some space. But overall the "mess" is a lot more under control and it helps to keep me sane on a very insane morning!

Reason #2: I can point out acceptable behaviors and start conversations about what we act like in 2nd grade. I usually have someone model bringing me a supply first before I have others do it. 

Reason #3: It gets the kiddo's up and moving, something that is SO necessary in those first weeks of school!

OK, now to switch gears and on to my wish. This is the thing I am hoping to do better next year. 

I always have several areas that I want to work on each school year...who doesn't. But for this post I decided to focus on improving my character education. 

At my school we have a monthly character trait and at the end of the month we have an assembly where we award students who we feel demonstrated that character trait. We used to do an assembly at the beginning of the month where the students learned about the character trait. Each teacher was responsible for one months assembly. But that went by the wayside and it just became up to us to teach about the character traits in our room. 

Now, I'll be honest, sometimes teaching the character trait would get pushed off until the day before the assembly and I would scramble to find something to use to introduce the character trait. But I TRULY believe that as important as reading, writing, and arithmetic are, teaching our students to be good people is just as important if not more. 

So in order to help me be prepared for the character traits I created this little gem here:

Each of the character traits has a poster explaining the trait in kid friendly language, a list of books that help students to understand the trait, and then a writing response that includes space for students to write and draw about the topic. No more scrambling to find SOMETHING to do with them. This is ready to go and requires very little of our precious instructional time. You can check out the first month, respect and responsibility, HERE. 

If you enjoyed this bright idea, please consider joining me on Facebook or Instagram for more great ideas. 

For more star ideas more than 40 different bloggers, please browse through the link-up below and choose a topic that interests you. Thanks for visiting!

An InLinkzLink-up

~Jean~

Instagram and My Apologies

How true is that E-Card. Am I right?!

First off, I want to do the "I'm a horrible blogger song and dance," because I am. Until tonight I have been COMPLETELY unmotivated to do anything blogging or TPT related this summer. Mostly because at the very tip top of the ol' bucket list was to spend time with my Peanut this summer. She starts Kindergarten in the fall ( WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?!?!?!!?) and so I decided that this was going to be a Peanut and Mommy summer. We have had a great time so far. We did Vacation Bible School at my church. We have gone to the downtown theater every Thursday for their summer kids movies, gone on lots of bike rides and just basically enjoyed one another's company. 

Suddenly though, motivation has struck me again. You know something I can't stand is people having fun without me. Ha! Can you say social butterfly here?! I saw that Blog Hoppin was having a photo scavenger hunt on Instragram and since getting an Instagram account has been on my bloggy to do list since forever ago I decided now was the perfect time. My user name is robinsonj2004 if you want to follow me. 

In other creating news, I am going through my MAP/ NWEA Binders and starting on my list of things to make from that. I am also working on a massive post with how I prep for MAP that I am going to post closer to the start of school. 

Thanks for sticking around Diving Into 2nd Grade. I appreciate it!

~Jean~

Second Grade End of The Year Blog Hop

Happy Wednesday Friends!

Well, the countdown is on! And I am sure you know which countdown I mean...yes, the one to the end of the school year. Don't get me wrong. I love, love, love my peanuts. But I also love my summer time and getting to be an at home momma to my own baby. Being a teacher, for me, is the best of both mommy worlds. Now, I still have (a little under) a month to go...but I know some of you are talking days till your break begins. So I have teamed up with some of my blogging buddies to bring you this end of the year blog hop. Along the way you will find some fun tips, tricks, and freebies to help you end your year in a fun way!

Today I am going to be sharing two different ways that I celebrate the end of the year. One way that we celebrate is by having a 2nd grade end of the year cook out at a local park. The park happens to be within walking distance of our school and is free to use, so instead of  asking students for admission money we assign each class a type of item to bring in. Since there are 3 sections of each grade level we usually do one sides, one paper products and condiments, and one deserts.

Then ,since we aren't paying for a bus, we supply hot dogs, buns, and drinks out of our 2nd grade account. We invite parents to come too and we usually get at least 1/3 of the parents who are able to come. It really is a great way to visit with our students and parents in a more relaxed fun setting than we normally get to.

                  This was my shopping cart full of hot dogs and buns for last year's picnic. 

And me, manning one of the grills. Usually we have a parent who does this job, but last year it wound up being me!
The 2nd thing I have to share with you is the end of the year gift that I make for my kiddo's every year. This one does require some preplanning so it may be something you file away for next year. 

I create mini photo albums of their time in 2nd grade.

                                    Obviously in this picture their name is covered up. 

 I try to take a picture of at least one special event a month...although some months have 5 and some months have 1. I vary it between group shots, partners, and individual. I have a couple of pictures that I always take ( 1st day of school, last day of school, field trips), but every year it is a little bit different with what kinds of pictures I am taking. 

This is what I do. I get those $1 photo albums that hold about 30 pictures at Walmart. 

As the year goes along I try to do two things. Thing #1 is I try to buy the photo albums when I go grocery shopping so I am not scrambling to get 20+ at the last minute. Thing #2 is I try to print out a picture of each kid at least once a month, or every other month...so again, I am not trying to print a ton of pictures at the last minute. Walgreen's has great photo deals and I usually wait for one of those. 

In the past I used scrapbook papers and stickers to decorate and hand wrote a little message about EACH picture. But last year, with my new found clip art and font knowledge I created them on the computer. SO.MUCH.EASIER! 

           These are just a couple of the examples of inserts I made for last years photo albums.

I wish I could show these to you a little more in depth but because of privacy issues I can't. I always get parents who compliment me on it and I have students who tell me 6-7 years later that they still have those memory books. 

I send them in the mail to my students with a letter and a thank you note to their parents. My students love to get mail from me and even though it is money out of my own pocket, I know getting them in the mail makes them that much more special. 

So those are my tips. I hope there was something that sparked your creativity...and if not, there is always the next stop! Go check out what Amna has to share over at Teach Two Reach

~Jean~

It's a Second Grade Thing!

I am so excited to team up with some of my second grade bloggy friends to bring you a brand new, collaborative Pinterest board!

Click on the image to go to the board!

The purpose of this board is to share some of our spectacular second grade teaching ideas and resources with our followers. Here are some of the amazing bloggers participating:

Hippo Hooray for Second Grade

Lucky Little Learners

Diving into 2nd Grade

Saddle Up for 2nd Grade

Smiling and Shining in Second Grade

Teach Two Reach: 2nd Grade Happenings

Sailing into Second

Schroeder Shenanigans in Second

Bright Concepts 4 Teachers

Swinging for Success

Going Strong in 2nd Grade

Tori's Teacher Tips

I Live 2 Learn, I Love 2 Grow

Teachin' Thrifty

Top Dog Teaching