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

2nd Grade Product Swap and Blog Hop: Math Stations and Journal Prompts for April

Welcome to the second grade product swap and blog hop!  EIGHTEEN wonderful second grade bloggers have joined together to swap and review each other's products.  Best of all, we are giving away all of the products to one lucky winner!  

If you are looking for the start of the hop, head over to see Casey at 2nd Grade Math Maniac to start hopping.  As you check out all the fabulous products, make sure to follow each blog on Bloglovin' as well.  There will be a Rafflecopter at the last stop.  This is where you can enter to win all of the products being reviewed!

So, I was lucky enough to be able to choose something from Casey's store to review. It was a tough choice, but ultimately the item I chose was her Math Stations and Journal Prompts for April. ( All aligned to CCSS, of course.) 

I was going to share pictures of my students using some of these awesome activities, unfortunately we had an ice day ( which makes day #14 off for the weather this year!) on Friday, so I am sharing pics of what we were GOING to do and I will update this post later on when we have actually had a chance to do some of the activities. 

These are all of the activities you get with this product. I love that she puts the standard addressed for each activity right away and in large print. Very helpful when planning. 

 I chose two items that my students are currently working on, measurement and time, to have them practice a little more. 

 This is the measurement activity. It comes with 6 pages that have pictures of two things to measure. Not only do students record their measurements, but they also have to find the difference between the two. This station activity packs a lot of punch. 

 The other one that I chose was the time activity. I love that this is so straightforward, but such a necessary skill to practice. You could do it as a station for students to practice independently or in small groups. You could also play it like a scoot game and place the cards at tables or around the room, for a little extra movement. 

Finally, the last thing I am sharing is the journal prompts. Each page has 5 of the same journal prompts, but there are 20 different prompts to choose from! When my students come back from lunch that is our math time. But trying to get them focused on the lesson right away is impossible. So when we come back from recess and lunch I always give them about 5-7 minutes of time to either read or work on a math skill. I thought this would be the perfect time to use these prompts. I have really tried to get my students writing more in all subject areas this year and these journal prompts are just the thing to encourage it in math. 

I would definitely recommend you check this product out. And if you are looking for a math activity, make Casey's store your first stop!

Click the button below to head over to Teach Two Reach Two. 

Five For Friday: Other People Are Creative and Talented Edition

Happy Saturday friends!

SO yesterday we had ANOTHER snow day and it was number 13...yes 13!! So after having worked only two days this week I thought that I would showcase other peoples hard work for my Five for Friday post.

My blogging buddy Angela over at Hippo Hooray for 2nd Grade has MANY great products. We have been hard at work learning and re-learning regular and irregular plural nouns. My kiddos have really become obsessed with playing Scoot. So I picked up her Plural Nouns Scoot game and we used that for me to assess their learning. ( Coincidentally it was Angela's Estimating Scoot games that got them addicted.) 

We play Scoot 2 different ways in my room. Way #1 is everyone gets a card and we rotate around my tables. Way #2 is I put one card on our lockers out in the hall and we rotate down the line. Either way it gets them up and moving, so important for our littles, its a quick assessment and they think they are playing a game! Win/ Win for all!

Most of you do March is Reading Month activities at your school. We also do Kindergarten Round Up the first week of March and we do the same theme for both. This years theme is Fiesta. So my 2-5 are of different cute-cute bulletin boards around my school. Many of these ideas were inspired by Pinterest I was told. 

This bulletin board is inspired by the book Chicks and Salsa. It is SOOOOO cute! I have never read that book, but just based on this bulletin board I am checking it out!

This frog literally made me laugh out loud when I passed it by the first time. One of the special ed parapros does the academic center bulletin boards and they always turn out spectacularly!

This last one is going to have quotes from the staff about why we love our school for Kindergarten Round Up night. I love the tacos! 

 Finally, this last one doesn't really fit with our Fiesta theme but it is SO cute I had to share. Our office ladies made this board. TOTES ADORBS!

Well that is all for me. I am hoping to actually WORK next week and have more things to share from my room. ( I know, I know, poor me having snow days. But we are now in make up mode, so while those of you who don't have 3 snow days to make up are relaxing in June think of my sweltering in my old un-air conditioned building.) 

Go link up with Doodlebugs Teaching to share your week with us!

                                                       

Enjoy your weekend friends!

~Jean~

Work Stations Wednesday

Happy Wednesday Friends!

Today I am starting a new blog series where I share with you what my students do during Literacy Work Station time in my classroom. AND ( the best part) I will be sharing a freebie ( or two or three) with you for each post.

I tried starting this series last April when I shared how I rotate my students through stations. However, I took a class that suddenly took up all my time and I never stuck with it. To see how I rotate my students through stations and read my back story on how I " discovered" LWS click HERE.

I <3 this book!

You can purchase it through Amazon HERE.

Today I am sharing how I have my Reading Corner/ Independent Reading Station set up and organized. Stick around to the end because I have a freebie to share with you.

So this is what my reading corner looks like:

Let's be honest here. It's not a large space. But neither is my room. But like all spaces in my room it is well organized. I have my books organized into bins. All of the bins have a label. I got the labels from the ocean theme classroom set that I purchased HERE. I just used the generic labels and typed in my own categories. This way students can easily put their books back where they belong. 

My kiddo's rotate through stations once a week. Our station time lasts from 9:30- 10:15 each day. That gives us enough time to do 2 station rotations everyday.  Everyone goes to reading corner at least once throughout the week. 

There are three different stations where they read ( or listen to) books: Reading Corner, Listening Station, and Buddy Reading. On the reading log they use it has a space for them to mark which one they are at. This helps to hold them accountable and gives them a focus when they get to those stations. 

Once they fill out their reading log, they spend the rest of their time reading! ( Kind of a giveaway by the name of the station.) Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my control my kiddo's only get about 15- 20 minutes of schedule independent reading time per day so that is why I have everybody go to reading station at least once a week.

When I introduce stations this is the first station that I introduce because to me it is the simplest one to understand. There are only two steps to remember: Fill out the log and Read! I keep it fresh by allowing them to read with stuffed animals only at this station. I also read out loud to them at least once a day and many times I pull a "special" book from my book shelf for read aloud. I leave that book out for them to read during reading station. If they have any issues with words they can whisper/ ask someone at the station with them, but otherwise they are independently reading the whole time. 

SO! Now the promised freebie.
I have included both the reading log I use with my kiddo's and a more generic log. Plus two different response sheets ( the same questions but one has a boy and one has a girl). 

Click HERE to get your freebie!

So that is how I run my reading station. Check back next Wednesday for a peek at my word work station and ( of course!) a freebie!

Do you use Literacy Work Stations in your room? I would love to hear how you run yours. 
~Jean~

Five For Friday

Ok, I just realized that I never finished this post Friday...so what better to do while hubby is watching The Walking Dead, but finish my Five For Friday Post. LOL! Read on.... 

Happy Valentines Day Friends! Hope you got some LUV today!

Me? We had today off. So I spent 7 hours in my 2nd home, AKA my classroom, getting lesson plans/ organizing/ cleaning/ laminating done. Peanut spent ALL 7 of those hours with me. She was amazing. Then we brought home pizza to the Mr. and enjoyed some family time and Funniest Videos. Not the most exciting of Valentines Days, but great since I got to spend it with my favorite people. 

Now both of those people are in bed and I am spending the rest of my night blogging and doing laundry. 

So here I am, linking up with Doodlebugs Teaching for the Five For Friday linky. 

1. We started an informational writing unit this week. So I busted out my Pinterest project from last year and the non fiction text features freebie from my TPT store and got down to work. We have been reading a lot of non fiction lately and they really enjoy it. I think they are going to love writing non fiction. 

2. Since we had today off we had our Valentines party yesterday. I didn't have a ton of time,but wanted something cute to pass out to my students. So I grabbed a bag of suckers, a freebie border and font from TPT and VOILA. Insta- Valentine. Then one of my beans brought me a cute homemade Valentine. It is S'more stuff in a jar with a note that says " There is no teacher I love S'more than you." SO Cute!

3.  I am working on a post on my classroom management. I rarely have issues with students and my administrators have sent teachers to observe in my classroom to see my classroom management at work. This is just a taste of what will be in that post....and a good way for me to really get on with it and get it done! :) 

4/ 5 Do you love looking at bulletin board pictures on Pinterest as much as I do? I love to see the creative things people are doing. I decided to share one that I made ( the mitten one)  and one that one of the 3rd grade teachers down the hall from me put up ( the Olympics one). She told me I could share it as long as I gave the credit to an amazing parent helper in her room who did it for her. :) 

Well, that is all from me. Can't believe I forgot to post this...What a nut. Oh well, better late than never. :) 

~Jean~