My First Day of School Promise

Every year, I sit down with my brand new class and have a little chat about why we come to school. My second graders figure it out right away: we come to school to learn.

That's when I make my yearly promise. 

I'm very dramatic when I make the promise. I include dramatic pauses, and I make the same gestures whenever I say it. 

I move my right hand outward as I say the first part, then I move my left hand outward as I say the second part. It goes like this:

These phrases are used all year long, and I repeat the gestures each time. After a while, I don't even have to say the words, I just do the gestures, and the kiddos realize they need to put the effort into their learning.

Of course, I make a point to keep that promise!

Resources for May

 May is here, and the horses are at the gate!

 

 

Yes, the Kentucky Derby is this week, and there's a close read about the Kentucky Derby in this resource: Science and Social Studies Activities for May!

Here are some Kentucky Derby-themed books that might interest you!

           

 

I'm sure I'll have my kiddos wear fancy hats and find Kentucky on the map! Maybe even read a good horse book! (Images lead to affiliate links from Amazon!)

This week also brings Cinco de Mayo AND Teacher Appreciation Day. 

I plan to celebrate Mexico on both Monday and Tuesday, then celebrate teachers for the rest of the week.

Here are some Cinco de Mayo resources:

Cinco de Mayo No Prep Printables for Literacy and Math!

Here's a fun word work game with a Mexico theme: Mexico Suffixes Go Fish Game!

Of course, students may want to write about Mexico! Writing Paper with a Mexico theme!

For more ideas for celebrating Mexico, see THIS BLOG POST.

This is what I plan on doing for Teacher Appreciation:

I'm going to run off a whole bunch of these Thank You Cards, and have them fill them out for the teachers in the school! I don't let them make them out to me, since there are plenty of other teachers who spend their time helping children. (Any adult who works with children is fair game for Teacher Appreciation, even if they don't have a certificate!)

 

or perhaps you'd like the sampler?

  

For more about the Thank You Cards, see THIS BLOG POST.

Here's some fun Mother's Day stuff: Mother's Day Math!

Mother's Day No Prep Printables: Literacy and Math

And here's my traditional Mother's Day gift:

 

 

For more information about this Mother's Day gift, see THIS BLOG POST.

Toward the end of the month is Memorial Day. I know some teachers will be enjoying summer by then, but we're not even close yet! 

But it's not too early for Freedom Isn't Free!

Plus, try this activity to help keep track of the Patriotic Holidays!

Plus, keep them moving and thinking about the USA: Patriotic Brain Breaks!

For more information about celebrating patriotic holidays, see THIS BLOG POST.

Of course, I do like to make the lives of busy teachers a little bit easier. Here's a whole bunch of May Reading, Science, and Social Studies activities that will intrigue the children and save time (and money) for teachers: May Bundle!

What are your plans for the month of May?

Camping for a Week in the Classroom!

It's been another fun week in second grade!  This week was Camping Week (see THIS blog post), and boy oh boy, did we have fun!

The children read loads of camping books, listened to nature sounds,

played learning games

did loads of writing,  played "camping math" scoot, and had a wonderful week!

I'm so glad I did camping week!  Here are some pictures:

1.  I brought in the little pink tent my daughter had when she was little.  It became a great place for reading books about camping!

2.  I brought in my little travel camping table.  The kids used it for reading as well as playing games!  

3.  So many kids brought in sleeping bags, it looked like a big pajama party!

4.  After Friday afternoon's special, there was a little treat waiting for the children.

5.  Yes, that's my REAL camping tent in the classroom.  We found out we could squeeze the whole class in my tent!

The s'mores and the tent made their day!  And, honestly, the smiles on their faces made my day!

It was a great week!

It also inspired me to make a new resource, based on most of the activities we enjoyed this week.  

 

Somehow I have to make it through 8 more school days and one more teacher workshop day.  After a week at the beach and a week camping, next week's theme will be "fun at home".  

We'll be spending most of the week remembering all the fun stuff we did this year and planning fun stuff to do this summer.  

What do you do during those challenging last few weeks when the kids struggle to pay attention to anything?

Five Fun Ideas for a Seashore Week!

In many ways, this has been one of the most fun weeks I've had as a teacher in ages!  Why? Because we're done with most of the "have tos" and I get to teach what I truly feel the children need, and will enjoy. 

I chose to go with a Seacoast Theme for this week, and I'm not sure who had more fun, me or the kids!

We were totally busy, and squeezed in the seacoast theme every chance we could!

Here are a few of the things we did:

1.  Towels!  We brought in beach towels, and the children sat on them every time we had stories on lessons on the rug. Each day, there were more beach towels and paraphernalia, it really looked like the beach! We even had a couple of "boogie boards" and a child sized beach chair! These came in handy during Independent Reading time, as well. Yes, you guessed it, we read loads of books with the Beach theme!

2.  Games!  I managed to dig up several games with the beach theme that reviewed important skills we studied this year. Of course, instead of the usual tubs, I picked up some pails and buckets at the dollar store to store the beach themed games. Great stuff!

3. Books, books, and more books!  Our wonderful librarian found some great books for us to share! Here are some of my favorites:

  

  

4. Floating Boats!  This was a huge hit this week, and something I managed to bribe motivate the children with as they're getting into their "summer mode". We made sailboats out of milk cartons, then today we floated our boats. First, they put their boats in the water, then we added "people" (balls of clay) It was interesting to see how many people they put into their boats without disaster. They were thrilled to bring their boats as well as the "people" home at the end of the day today. We called our bodies of water The Atlantic Ocean, The Pacific Ocean, and the Indian Ocean. We figured the Arctic Ocean was mostly ice and probably wouldn't have sailboats. (Yes, I'm always finding excuses to squeeze in a bit of geography review as well!)

 

5.  "Beach Day" Theme Unit: We did manage to squeeze in some real learning, mostly in the form of centers. This set has plenty of review materials for my second graders! You can see this unit by clicking the link below or click here: Seashore Bundle

 

A little more learning fun: Science and Social Studies Activities for Summer

What themes do your students enjoy in your class?