{Math} Monday!

All of this second grade math is mind boggling to my first grade trained brain.

Seriously! Adding double digits... & it's only October! Jeepers!

 

 

I just adore a good game of Scoot, and {luckily} so do my second graders.  So, I spent most of Sunday yelling at my computer {mostly taking out my Steelers loss aggression on my keyboard} and creating a fun fall Doublt Digit Addition without Regrouping Scoot game!

 

I told my kiddos today that if we worked hard on our addition strategies this week that we'd play Scoot - this was met with a chorus of whooping. :)  Love them.

 

Any advice for this crazy common core 2nd grade math???  Eeep!

 



Finding a Peaceful Moment in {the Madness of} Life

I think it's been a decade since I posted, seriously... it's been so long!

Why?  I mean, we're teachers - life is CRAZY busy.

Plus, I had lots of fun and exciting bridal things going on, my cheerleaders are in the peak of their season, as well as my fiance's very busy fire prevention week that just happened to fall in the middle of all of it.

BUT...

It's Friday and I left work at 3:33 on the dot! Can I get an "Amen?!"

I can hardly remember what 3:30 looks like, but I was so happy that we were reacquainted today.

*Sprinkles!*

I thought I'd celebrate with my favorite post to post of all time - Five for Friday!

Here are some of the top 5 things this week that kept me oh, so busy, busy!

1. This one just happened to be 2 weeks ago now, but it's all good.  I headed home to PA for an amazing weekend with my friends and family!  They had a wonderful bridal shower for me {so wonderful it brought me to tears, people} and the most hysterically funny bachelorette wine night/sleepover - LOVED IT!

2. We spent lots of time this week working on our sentences - making sure we had correct punctuation, complete/incomplete sentences, etc.  Thank goodness for Mrs. Lemons - being in 2nd grade this year, she has been my saving grace!

3. I love word problems for math.  The kids get a kick out of seeing their names in silly problems.  We had a little extra time in math one day, so we threw some word problems up on the board, folded up a piece of paper quick into sections, and voila! We were practicing using the make a model strategy for solving double digit addition problems. Tallies = not efficient! {So glad MOST of them figured that one out quickly.}

4. I seriously can't get enough of everything we worked on this week - I get far more giddy than any normal person should over non-fiction text features.  Why? I just love how much extra fabulous information there is to be learned!  We spent lots of time discovering all of the features, learning about them, and then a LOT of time working on our non-fiction text feature projects... and they are still not complete {I get a little impatient, but they are really working hard on them.}

5. My wonderful cousin/bridesmaid arranged for Essie to send us 90 {yes, you heard right... 90 people were at my shower! I felt so loved!} nail polishes in my wedding color to give out as favors.  I spent a few minutes pampering my feet this week. {On a weekday! Gasp!} Can't get enough of the color<3

Well, I'm off to a firefighter ball!  I get to dress up all fancy & hopefully do a good bit of dancing - woo hoo!

Have a Fabulous Friday!

Science Observers! {Freebie}

As promised, I'm back tonight (past my bedtime) to share my "treat" - a quick anchor chart that I used for my science lesson this week.

On Monday, we are officially kicking off our insects unit... there will be BUGS IN MY ROOM! {Ahhhhh!}
I'm nervous as all get out.  Creepy crawlies are just NOT my thing.
Hopefully my sweet second graders love them to pieces and enjoy this unit.

With each insect we bring into our classroom, most of our learning will be done through observations.   We will get to spend time observing the insects as they change & grow, then discuss what we noticed.

To prepare, we spent time this week learning what it means to be a good observer.  We talked about the word observer, observed objects in our classroom, & practiced our observing skills on a nature walk.

After much practice and discussion, my kiddos & I worked together to make this anchor chart.  We will refer to it throughout our insects unit. {We talked a lot about why observing quietly is especially important for the hearing sense & about paying close attention to details!}

And here's a mini one that I whipped up quick for each kiddo to keep in their insect journal for a quick reference. {Click the pic!}

Happy Observing!

Currently, I'm Buctober Lovin'

It's October & the Pittsburgh Pirates just finished their first play-off game in over two decades!

I am so excited that this post will have absolutely nothing educational - BUT, I promise I'll be back tomorrow with my new favorite anchor chart for science (so stop back)!

I'm going with the fact that most things in this noneducational post need know extra explanation.

It's late, and although I'm probably too excited about this win to sleep, I'm going to try... now.

Stop back & visit tomorrow for an anchor chart treat!

Let's Go Bucs!