Counting Down to the End of the Year!

I don't know about you all, but as much as I love my class... I'm so ready for this school year to be over!  This is the time of year when I tend to go into "panic mode".  There's so much to do, and so little time to get it all done!  Does your "to do" list sound anything like this?  Let's see... end-of-year fluency and math assessments, writing samples, entering scores into the computer (40 question test times 32 student), report cards, student cum files and all the paperwork that goes along with that, and cleaning and organizing my classroom.  On top of all that, we've got a field trip to a swimming pool next week, I've got a step-son graduating from high school (with a big graduation party here at our house), and we are also putting on a class play!  Needless to say, things are a little cRaZy!!!  I know I'm not alone here, so I'd love to hear from you all and how you're dealing with this end-of-year madness? 

On the bright side, once everything is done in my classroom, I can relax and enjoy the summer at home with my three little ones!  My kids are 8, 4, and 2, and this will be the first summer I have not worked summer school in years!  I can't wait!  I am so looking forward to SLEEPING IN (as much as my kids will let me), trips to the park, days at the beach, and a few little family getaways!  I'm also very excited to be able to spend more time blogging and working on my TpT store! 

So... just to let you know that I've actually been productive these past few weeks... here are a few pics from my classroom! 

Our Eric Carle inspired collage projects!  This took over a week of sketching, painting, and cutting, but I'm so happy with how they turned out! 

Working on our Mother's Day projects!

All ready for Open House. 

Working on our Pocketful of Poems unit.  We brainstorm ideas and write our "rough draft" in our student journals first!

Second Grade Memories - A Layered Flip Book

I thought I'd share another crafty idea with you while we're all in end-of-the-year project mode!  Layered flip books are another one of my favorite little projects to make for Open House.  They're easy to make and fun to read!  The key is making each page one inch longer than the previous page, so that the finished product looks like this:



























I used to make these all the time, but the tricky part was cutting the pages to fit!  I love the look of the rainbow colored flip book (on the right), but the one with titles (bottom right) is also a lot of fun!  My students are working on these layered books right now.  I've already copied and cut the pages, and I've been handing out only one page at a time.  We take time to brainstorm ideas for each page, and I usually write a few examples on the board before I let them go at it on their own.  My students have been keeping their completed pages in their class work folder (in their desk), to work on them when they have extra time.  When we've completed all the pages, I will show them how to assemble them in order, and then whip around the room with my handy stapler and voila!  A lovely memory book for the end of the school year! 

To make things easier for you, I've created a ready made memory flip book for Second Grade here (this unit also includes a traditional, full-size memory book template).  I've also created one for First Grade, which you can grab here, as well as  a traditional, full sized memory book for First Grade here, if you want something simple!

Making Lemonade out of State Testing

State testing time is here!  We began our first official test day today, and I'm proud to say that we all survived.  Getting 32 students to take an hour long test independently is no cake walk.  But... they did their best, and that's all I can ask for, right?  One testing day down, only five more to go.  We can DO this! 

One of the things I like about our two weeks of testing is that we have some time in the afternoons to work on special projects.  Our Open House is coming up in less than three weeks, so I've made a to-do list of projects to have completed by then.

Open House To-Do List:

1. Animal Research Report and Diorama:  We started researching our animals in the computer lab this week, and most students were also able to find books about their animals from the library.  The rest of their project is to be done at home.  I'm not giving regular homework these next few weeks, so they all have plenty of time to work on their projects.  If you didn't already grab my freebie Animal Research Report Poster, you can grab it here  You can also grab my Animal Diorama and Research Report Project Pack which has everything you need to do this project with your students!  You can hop on over to TpT and grab that here! 
2. Poetry Books:  We are still finishing up our poetry lessons from April!  We are in the revising and rewriting phase, but we're on our way!  The students have completed several Acrostic Poems, an All About Me Poem, Cinquain, Haiku, and a Five Senses Poem!  These lessons and printables are all included in my Pocketful of Poems Unit, which you can find here. 
3. Eric Carle Art Project:  This project is a big one, and takes several days to complete, but I've done it for the past two years with my classes and I'm always so thrilled with the results.  We will be making our own collages in the style of Eric Carle.  This means we'll be painting different colors on paper, and then cutting the paper to make a collage.  For inspiraction, I've been reading lots of different Eric Carle books over the past month.  We're keeping track of our stories on a chart, so the students can think about each story and the different kinds of pictures that were in it.  I think the overall class favorite so far is The Grouchy Ladybug, ("Hey YOU, wanna fight?"  My kiddos LOVE that part!  Ha ha!)  I'll be posting about this project soon as well.  It's a big one, but so much fun and so worth all the mess! 
4. Second Grade Memories Layered Flip Book:  This little project is so much fun to make.  It's a memory book where the pages are cut in different lengths so that each page gets bigger by one inch.  This makes it fun to flip from page to page!  I'll be making a post of this one soon!  I've also got this little project available on TpT, and like everything else in my store - it's on SALE for 20% off until tomorrow night!  You can find this memory flip book here

I have some other things on my list of to-do's -- like taking their pictures for an "I wish"  bulletin board display.  I discovered this idea on Pinterest last year, and it turned out so great!  I'll be doing it again, and I'll be sharing it on here as well. 

Until then, have a fabulous week and be sure to check out TpT for their Teacher Appreciation Day SALE going on today and tomorrow!  My entire store is on sale 20% off, and I have a BRAND NEW surprise product on sale for 50% off that would be a great way to wrap up the school year in your literacy centers!  Check it out HERE!

Teaching Special Thinkers Giveaway!

I'm super excited to be a part of my very fist giveaway!  Gabrielle at Teaching Special Thinkers is having a "Final Countdown Giveaway" to help you pumped up for summertime!  It's jam-packed with over 50 products for grades K-2!  There's also a separate prize for grades 3-6, and one for Special Education!    Just scroll down a bit to find the RAFFLE COPTER so you can enter to win!  Woohoo! 

Be sure to check it out!  You don't want to miss out on all these awesome prizes!  

I've donated my "Springtime Fun" unit to this giveaway - you might remember it from last month! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Animal Diorama-rama and a FREEBIE!

It's that time of year again!  Open House season is here and we are busily working on projects to share with our parents on our big night.  One of the big projects my students will be working on is their Animal Diorama and Research Report.  This was something I did for the first time last year, and it was a HIT!

I got this idea after my son had to make a diorama for his first grade class last year.  We had so much fun creating his animal diorama as a family project, that I decided it was something I had to do with my class too! I brought the idea up to my second grade team, and they were all very excited about it... so we went for it!  We decided to give the assignment the week before STAR testing.  Since we wouldn't be giving homework during the two weeks of testing, that would give students more time to research, gather materials, and work on their projects. Students had about three weeks to complete their projects.  We decided to have the students bring in their completed dioramas the day before Open House.  We were thrilled with the results!  

Here are a few student samples from last year:

Along with this diorama project, our students will also be completing an Animal Research Report poster with information and illustrations, as well as a writing assignment and an oral presentation.  Our students will be getting both a Science and Language Arts grade for this project.

I'm offering my Animal Research Report poster as a FREEBIE on TpT!  Here's a sneak peek:

You can grab it here.  Animal Research Report Poster

If you're looking for everything needed to do this Animal Diorama project with your class, take a peek at my Animal Diorama and Research Report Project Pack!  It's got everything you'll need in one convenient spot!  Last year, I struggled to find examples of dioramas online to show my students, so I've included detailed photo samples of my own students' projects, as well as a step-by-step presentation for your students.


Here's a preview of all of the goodies included in this project pack!

In addition to the Animal Research Report Poster and step by step presentation for your students (which can be projected onto your Smartboard or other type of computer projector), I've also included a student-friendly rubric with grading expectations for all aspects of this project, as well as a grading rubric for teachers to use when giving final grades for this project, student instruction sheet, writing template for research report, and a presentation outline to help guide students on what to focus on for their oral presentation.  It's everything I struggled to put together last year for this project in one convenient place! 

Sweet Ideas for Mom!

Mother's Day is right around the corner, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite class projects to create for this special day!

One of my most FAVORITE things to make with my students are these absolutely gorgeous tissue paper flowers.  I know they look complicated, but they're really not!  What I love the most about creating these with my class is to see the looks on the students' faces when they realize that they actually created these beautiful things all by themselves!  If I get time, I will post step by step instructions later, but for now... you can find a pretty decent tutorial here.







Another one of my favorites is the classic coupon book.  It's such a cute, simple idea that kids love to make and moms love to receive.   I had a hard time finding a coupon template that I liked, so I made my own!  I then decided to jazz it up a little by mounting it on cute scrapbook paper, punching a small hole in the side, and tying some cute ribbon on it.  Here's the  finished product, along with another creation - my little twist on the classic teapot card, my "Cup o' Tea for Mom" Craftivity:

Teapot card front...

Cup o' Tea for mom (inside) with poem, and cup & tea bag for mom on the right!

I've put all of these cute little projects (with the exception of the tissue paper flowers) plus a few more goodies in my "All About Mom" download on TpT.

Here's a little sneak peek at all of the goodies included in this file:

I'll be throwing a sale in my TpT store tomorrow (Saturday) through Monday!  You can grab this pack of Mother's Day Printables in English and Spanish for only $2.40! 

Spark Motivation Saturday - Linky Party!

Today I'm linking up with Joanne at Head Over Heels for Teaching for her Spark Motivation Saturday LINKY PARTY! 

This linky party is for sharing ideas about little tips or tricks we have for motivating students in the classroom! My first idea was to link up a previous post I made about a great behavior chart that really gets my students motivated!   You can find that link here,

If you've got any great ideas to share, be sure to hop on over to her page and link it up!