Brush and Floss Kiddos! First and Second Grade Teaching Resources for Dental Health Month {freebie}

Do you teach dental health to your students during Dental Health Month in February? I do. Because I worked in the dental field as an orthodontic assistant for many years, I always pay attention to how clean/not clean children's' teeth are, especially those in braces! No matter how old they are, it is wonderful for students to get yearly reminders in school about the importance of caring for their teeth! 

I don't spend nearly as much time on this unit with my second graders as I did with my firsties, but we will be using this reading passage and discussing ways to keep our teeth healthy next week. 

I haven't decided yet, but if there is time, I might pull out the old egg shell in vinegar experiment. Kids always love that one! It's really need to see the effect the fluoride toothpaste has on the shell! 

I hope you can use this passage at some point with your class, either as a reading activity or as a read-aloud! Click {here} to download a copy if you like!

If you are looking for a few more resources for your class you might like this packet: Dental Health Activities and Worksheets

If you have a whole classroom of toothless or snaggle toothed smiles grinning back at you, these lessons are even more important as children begin getting in their permanent teeth.

:)

Valentine's Day Informational Text Classroom Activities for Second and Third Grade

Looking for an educational activity to do with your second and third graders on Valentine's Day?

Try using their excitement for the special day and get them engaged in reading with an informational text passage about CANDY HEARTS!

They are everywhere in stores and classroom parties but what do the kiddos really know about them or how this famous little treat came to be?

There is one informational text passage written at the stretch complexity band for second and third grade. It comes with one page of text-dependent questions and several culminating activities. One that I love is where the students have to look back at the reading to create a love note candy of their own based on the history of how candy hearts have changed over the years. There is also a descriptive writing portion and an opinion writing piece. These are our focus questions/prompts to set the purpose for reading.

 If you think you might want to bring a little sweet history into your February before it ends, you can find the packet and read the full description at my Teachers Pay Teachers store {here}.

Other teaching resources for February themes at my store include a packet for dental health, a February Writing Kit, Black History Month items and everything Valentine's Day!

:)

A Sweet Valentine's Day Activity for Second Grade: Candy Hearts Science Experiment FREEBIE

Hi everyone! Are you all set for your Valentine's Day activities? Maybe you need just one more idea... :)  I might have a great one here for you to try! This year, rather than the traditional Valentine's Day candy hearts graphing and all of that other great stuff I'm pretty sure my students already did last year, I am going to mix up our fun with conversation hearts!

You may remember how much my class loved our experiment with gummy bears, so I thought they might really like trying a similar experiment with a different treat! Your class might love it too and you probably already have what you need!

My readers know how much I LOVE teaching science! I used to work as our district science specialist teaching only hands-on science to elementary students, so it's sort of my thing! Because I have not done this in about fifteen years, I don't have step by step photos for you (yet), but the idea is to observe to see what happens to the candies in a variety of liquids. 

Supplies:

• conversation hearts
• water
• vinegar
• Sprite
• bleach
• small plastic cups
• one large clear glass

I don't want to be too much of a spoiler and give it all away, but it is really neat to see what happens to the candies. In vinegar, they fizz and the hearts dance when placed in a tall glass full of a clear carbonated beverage. Experimenting with the bleach is one I model in front of the class for obvious reasons.

Of course, we always need a lab sheet to record our steps to the scientific method! We will do the lab write-up on only one of the experiments, not for every liquid. 

If you like it, you can grab this freebie lab sheet {here}! 

Maybe you can round up a few supplies and work in some Valentine science fun with your class too!

 If you give it a try, let me know how it goes!

:)

A Peek at OUR Week in Second Grade! Five for Friday in February

Happy Friday! I hope your week was great! I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share some highlights of our really fun, but short week! It was a completely mixed up one for many reasons, so I'll start with the end of the week and work backward!

It is always a great feeling to finish our monster of a monthly bulletin board! It's a combo for Valentine's Day and our 100th day! 

The look we were going for was sweetheart candies. The colorful papers we had were perfect! The heart shapes have doilies behind them. Where the word love would be, we added a cute heart shaped sticker!

The class did a great job with some close reading activities about groundhog burrows. They got to use their new close reading bookmarks for the first time. It was REALLY helpful for them to have one to keep on their desk, so they didn't have to keep looking up to see the poster that I used to display on the SMART Board. We printed them on colored cardstock in lots of fun colors. The kiddos are really excited to have this special tool to keep!

Our penguin unit wrapped up this week with the completion of some penguin reports! This cute flip book report is just one activity in an awesome unit from Primarily Speaking. It is just the cutest thing ever! The class LOVED it! It was nice to see that they took such pride in their work. 

 This was a fun activity we did with Judy clocks and dice. All clocks are set to a given hour. Then, they roll two dice and move the minute hand to that number on the clock. The students draw clock hands to show the time as needed and compete in a game of tic-tac-toe. They love to play against the teacher! 

All of our students participate in some sort of community service each year. We call ours Coins for Critters! The whole school participates in this fundraiser. During the fundraiser, we read many books about rescued animals. This was day one but our jars are filling up quickly! The second graders have to count and roll all of the coins. The donations go to the Humane Society.

The first two days of the week, school was closed. For my friends who experience the seasons through the photos I share...this is the view in every parking lot! We have mountains of snow! 

You can imagine how life gets complicated with this much snow to dig your way through!

Because of the snow days, the fun for Groundhog Day was spoiled. My plan book is also a hot mess, but with all the carry over activities, lessons for next week are almost done!

 So that was a recap of our short but sweet week. 

:)

Creative Valentine Boxes and a FREEBIE!

Hello friends! With Valentine's Day right around the corner, I thought I'd share what I am doing with my students for Valentine boxes! I usually have an organized craft that we make to hold the treasures on the big day. This year, I decided to mix it up a bit and I am doing absolutely nothing! The kiddos are! 

I have a really creative bunch this year. To give them a chance to let their creativity shine and to coordinate a fun at-home bonding experience, I am letting the students decorate their own box! They are super excited about it!

 The first of the boxes arrived just in time to bring you this post!

 Isn't this just the cutest thing????

We're not holding a contest or anything. The students are encouraged to decorate their box however they choose. I don't expect all of the boxes to look like this masterpiece! I explained to the class that they could use items they already had at home. We brainstormed lots of ideas that wouldn't involve a trip to the craft store.

I recently sent a note home that explains the project. It went home early enough to give the families time to gather their supplies. I even excused the students from their homework this week so they have some extra time to work on it. I want this to be fun, not stressful. I know how busy life with kids is!

I'm excited to share more photos of the finished projects with you! If you think you might want to mix things up a bit this year, you can download the note I sent home {here}.

There is an editable version available {here}so you may type in whatever you like! 

The download also includes some writing pages. This will be our writing activity on the day we celebrate Valentine's Day.

I hope you can use these with your class or file the idea away for another time!

:)

A Sweet February Writing Center for Second Grade

Hello my friends! I just finished up some new writing centers for February!

 I think they turned out really sweet!

There are lots of fun prompt cards this time in these great February themes:

Groundhog Day
President's Day
Dental Health
Valentine's Day
Black History Month
Kindness, Empathy and Love
February Excitement
Chocolate and Candy Hearts
Pets
AND MORE!

Having these writing center materials ready to go every month has been the best thing for my writing instruction. Even though it takes some time to make them each month, it has been so worth it! Not only are the prompts great for independent practice, but I am able to do modeled writing and give mini-lessons using them too! The kiddos are SO excited about their writing time this year and I can't say I have seen that before the pick-a-prompts were created... 

Even the most reluctant writers have something to say!

My students are also taking pride in their work as authors because they love the special papers for writing! 

These are a few of them.

I hope you like the February kit!

If you think you might want to jump in and set up some February fun too, you can see this item {here}.

:)

A Valentine's Day Gift Idea for Your Students

Happy (almost) February to all of you! The Weekend Warriors and I are back this month to tell you what we HEART for February to help you get a head start with your Valentine's Day planning! I am here to share a little something I came up with for a special made with love gift for students! It's something educational and definitely unique!

It's a Valentine bookmark with Scholastic books in a heart!

  :) 

 Why a Scholastic book order form?   

I wanted to decorate my bookmarks in a hearts, books and reading theme to go with the saying! 

 I had lots of fun painting! This was all done using only red and orange watered-down tempera paint. The background ink on the order form came through to reveal other beautiful colors. Once the papers had dried, I created a tracer and cut out some small hearts.

I made sure to trace in areas where a book cover could be seen.

I tried the designs out on various colors of cardstock, but ended up selecting white because the heart really pops! 

 Once laminated, the images get really vivid! 

 I think my kiddos will LOVE comparing their bookmarks with their classmates and looking for books they enjoy inside the hearts.

If you think you might want to try this idea out, all of the patterns, including the bookmarks and tracer heart, can be downloaded {here}. 

In the file, I also included some freebie bookmarks that can be printed on colored cardstock if you are out of time for painting this year. You can always color them if you like too!

I hope you can use them for your class or even use them with your own children to make a special valentine for their classmates! 

 I HEART how adorable the book order bookmarks turned out. 
 It is a one-of-a-kind gift that my students will use and hopefully keep! 

To celebrate Valentine's Day, we have fun-filled learning activities planned for the children too. It's not an official party day in our district so we have to keep it educational until it's time to pass out valentine cards. 

If you are looking for some fun academic activities for the special day, you might like this center for reading or word work! 

Check back soon for more February ideas and projects! In the meantime, you can find lots of ideas on my Valentine's Day Pinterest board.

InLinkz.com

Get Ready for Groundhog! Groundhog Day Projects, Close Reading and Teaching Resources

Have you started prepping for Groundhog Day yet?  Some years, the day just sneaks up on me and Phil never even crosses my mind until February 1st! If you are looking for some more resources to add to your groundhog fun, you may like these items!

Remember my post about the informational text passages for MLK Day? Well, my class rocked out the reading and annotating and they loved it! Because the written portion was a new skill, they needed quite a bit of support to organize their thoughts for the constructed response, so we will keep at it with our next unit! 

An Underground Home is a reading passage meant to be read and reread independently. This time, the students are also going to create their own diagram of a burrow (like a cutaway). They will have to look back at the text to label their drawing to show rooms and tunnels. I think they will LOVE this! 

This will also give them a focus for purposeful annotation in the margins. Setting the purpose by discussing the end product of the culminating drawing and writing activities will give the class a heads-up about what to look for in the text as they read alone.

The pages follow the same format as the MLK set, only with different text-based tasks of course!

To read the full and detailed description, you can view this item {here}. It's a mini-pack right now, so it's only $1.50!

In addition to some great read-alouds and educational videos, I use the activities in this unit. There's a little bit of something for all subjects so it's a very nice way to theme the day or week.

I was on a computer marathon to also finish an expansion to this unit. It now includes more nonfiction passages, some vocabulary work and some printables with real photographs.

If you are interested in any of these fun activities and projects, you can read more {here}. If you have this packet, be sure to download your update.

We are going to have a blast with the...How much wood could a woodchuck chuck?... tongue twister too! That's a favorite brain break and always good for a laugh!

What do you have in the works for Groundhog fun? 

Valentine's Day Freebies

I am just about set for Valentine's Day classroom fun on Friday! This year I'm sticking with my favorite crafts, games and party activities, but with a few new additions!

I recently posted a freebie at my TPT shop to share with you!

It wouldn't be a holiday without a cute poem in our room! 

I retyped Hug O' War by Shel Silverstein for our poetry binders. 

You can download a copy if you like from my Dropbox!

Lots of other fun learning activities are prepped and ready to go too! 

 Take a trip down memory lane with me to see last year's festivities here. 

I also found these adorable homework coupons from A Teachable Teacher at Teachers Notebook!

What a find and just in time!

I'm getting them printed and ready to attach them to my treat for the kids!

Won't they just think a night of their choosing without homework will be oh so SWEET?

Hope you can use some of these freebies in the coming days! 

Rest up for a Friday full moon party. 

It could be a wild ride!

Groundhog Day Classroom Fun!

A SHADOW??? Oh boy! I'm not all that happy with Phil right now, but I'm still sad to see him go! We said goodbye to groundhog as we finished up our furry friend activities today. The kids had lots of fun in the days that we spent learning more about groundhogs, shadows, hibernation and celebrating the silly side of the event.

 It was a jam-packed two days of playing catch-up from our snow days off so we didn't quite get to publish our peeker writing project, but the groundhog heads went up on display anyway! Isn't he cute?

The craftivity comes with paws to hold onto an expository writing piece about groundhogs. 

The kids each made their shadow predictions on Friday and we created a class graph.

 This year, I decided to make printable pieces and laminate them to reuse, rather than create a new graph each year on butcher paper. The whiteboard worked great for this!

As you can see, we ran out of room with so many YES votes! 

Oh well. Our graph is not completely accurate, but it was cute!

The students kept tally as each child voted and then created a graph on their own recording sheet. 

Afterward, we talked about our data, made comparisons, did some mental math and wrote a summary statement about our graph. 

We also read this sweet Groundhog Day story, Gregory's Shadow. It's always a favorite and a great one for leading into the science of shadows.

We talked about shadows and how they are created. The weather kept us inside, but we may venture outside to test out our groundhogs and make shadow observations as soon as we can! 

There is a great Groundhog Day video on Safari Montage for those of you who may have access. The students learned a lot about woodchucks, hibernation and the history of the Groundhog Day tradition.

We learned even more with some reading activities too! The video introduced some new vocabulary which was very helpful.

Several times each week, we work on a nonfiction selection. This reading selection about groundhogs was used as a guided highlighted reading activity. 

First, the students number each paragraph. Then, I give verbal directions about what they need to look for and highlight in the selection. 

For example, I will say...

In paragraph 3, highlight the part of the sentence that tells the reader when the groundhog goes into the burrow to hibernate. 

or... 

In paragraph 1, highlight the proper noun that names the continent where groundhogs live.

There is no script, I just make it up as I go! 

The kids are getting to be really good at this skill. 

This is a great stepping stone for being able to provide text evidence.

If you have never tried a highlighted activity like this, I highly recommend giving it a try! You get a lot of bang for your buck while combining a reading lesson with science and a holiday theme!

For reading fluency practice, we worked on repeated readings of this Fun on Groundhog Day poem. This one was great for talking about rhythm! 

After reading and coloring them, our weekly poems go into the student's poetry binder. We have a really nice collection going!

You can find all of the printables, the graphing pieces and the craft here if you are interested.

 The kiddos really enjoyed our yummy last hurrah by putting together their groundhog burrow pudding cups with Oreo dirt and a tiny Teddy Graham peeking out!

 It was easy peasy and adorable!

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek into our classroom!

 Hope you were able to get some ideas for your class too!

 :)