End of the Year Classroom Ideas: Second Grade Classroom Fun!

I seriously feel like I did one thousand things this week! I'm beat. But... it's our VERY LAST FRIDAY!!! Yippee! We had a rip roarin' good time this week with our end of the year fun stuff and actually worked in a few learning activities too! 

I was so excited to get home to check my mail all week. It's a long story, but there was no mail. At all. For weeks.

 But...look at what arrived just today!

Happy Happy! I purchased these pencil door signs from Tallahatchie Designs at Etsy to give as an end of the year gift for my teamies! I think they are going to love them. I love the colorful ribbons the best. They are all a little different.

If you read my last post, you know that we had something special planned each day for our End of the Year Extravaganza. 

Here are a few snapshots of our bubble day:

We also had a campout read-in, a movie day, an electronics day, outdoor picnic-style summer birthday celebrations, a princess on her way to the prom visit, a guest reader, an AR assembly and raffle, the PBIS prize cart, sibling visits and classroom switches and a board game day (just to name a few). WHEW!

A little at a time, while my second graders were having all of this fun, I was able to put the finishing touches on report cards, complete student records and get organized!

 I am feeling accomplished!

It might look like all fun and games, but the kiddos did actually do some work! One thing we did was to wrap up our science unit and put together our matter lunch bag books. This time I used red bags from Target! 

It's Pizza Box Keepsake time so we did that all week in stages. This year it all went so smoothly!  Three fifth grade students from my Science Olympiad team came down to assemble our boxes. Coloring the cover and completing the memory pages that go inside was done a little at a time during the week. On assembly day, I delegated project passing to a few students at a time. It was a snap since most projects actually had names on them this year! :)

So that's it for classroom stuff! 

Is anyone else completely exhausted??? It's hard work having fun (planning it too). This is my selfie version of "There is no tired like the end of the year teacher tired".   

Three more days folks and I am home free!

We Love Teachers Sale at TPT!

IT'S HERE! The look on this cutie's face says it all, doesn't it?! I'm SO excited! Time to work on your wish lists and get set to SHOP! 

 Thank you to Ms. Beatties Classroom for the adorable sale banner!

Everything at my Creative Lesson Cafe TPT store will be 20% off during the sale and with the promo code, the deal is even sweeter! 

Each and every one of the items in my shop is something that I have created and used with the first and second grade students in my classroom. These are just a few of our favorites! You can take a peek here by subject/ category for a little preview of  some of the items you might like to grab for your kiddos too!  

If these resources look like fun and something you can use too, you can find all of them by clicking {here}.

Hope you have a fantastic Teacher Appreciation week! 

Happy shopping!

March Writing Prompts and Papers

Now that Read Across America activities are behind us, maybe you have started planning for St. Patrick's Day and other fun monthly themes! There are so many things to celebrate in March. The list goes on and on! Just for the record though...Daylight Savings is NOT one of them! What can you get accomplished in one hour? For me, that would be a load of laundry, a quick blog post, a trip to the grocery store, a hair appointment, some major housework and a huge dent in my school to-do list! On that note, I'll make this quick! 

This weekend, I brought home writing assessments to check for report cards and data collection. I beyond pleased with my students' growth so far this year! I'm sure that it had a lot to do with the specific instruction that I have given them, but I also feel that providing my kiddos with daily writing PRACTICE opportunities has been a huge factor. 

In case you missed my previous posts, I set up a monthly writing station with a variety of pick-a prompt cards and papers to select from. Here's a peek the March set:

This month, the prompts include these themes:

  Dr. Seuss' Birthday

 St. Patrick's Day

Leprechauns

Leprechaun Traps

Pot of Gold

March Madness

Reading

The Iditarod Race

Spring 

Oreo Cookies

Johnny Appleseed Day

Green Eggs

Feeling Lucky

Children's Poetry Day

and other fun stuff!

The kit also comes with lots of cute papers that coordinate with the prompts!

We are starting our writing station tomorrow.

 I think the kiddos are going to really like the activities this month. 

They get so excited when I introduce the new prompts!

 If you are looking to add more independent writing practice to your day, you may like to get something like this started in your room too!

To read the full description, you can view the March Writing Center {here} at my Creative Lesson Cafe store at Teachers Pay Teachers. 

Enjoy the rest of your day! Make every hour count!

:)

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!

:)

Tacky the Penguin Story Activities

Every January, our grade level does a fun thematic unit plan centered around the story Tacky the Penguin. I few years back, I created a packet of activities for our kiddos. I've been wanting to add to it and finally got around to doing so. I can't wait to put the activities into action when we return to school. 

Here's a peek at just a few of the many pages inside:

The item has had a complete makeover including all of the fonts and graphics. Newly added to the file is a Tacky with a shirt craft, interactive notebook flip-flap pages, room to write graphic organizers, some poetry pages and more writing and word work activities.

 I 'm pretty sure my class is going to love this, especially the penguin project! I can't wait to see how these look on our bulletin board! 

 Maybe you LOVE Tacky the Penguin too or want to add some new fun to your penguin unit plan! If so, you can read the full item description and see this packet at my TPT store {here}.

Have a Lovely, Perfect day!

Fall Sequencing Fun! There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves!

Happy (almost) Fall one and all! The leaves have not changed colors here yet but other signs of fall have arrived. The heat is running in the morning hours but it's still warm enough in the afternoon for the swarming BEES to go all crazy, chasing the kiddos (and the teachers) at recess! Anyway, I've had lots of requests from my sweet friends for more sequencing sets so I thought I'd make a fun activity for a favorite Fall read aloud! 

I just LOVE this book!

If you are new to sequencing sets, all you do is print the picture cards, ordinal number cards and number cards on cardstock and laminate them. They may be used as retelling sticks or placed in a pocket chart for center time or a whole-group activity.

I have displayed them on a whiteboard to rearrange as we read the story and also as a cut and paste onto construction paper sequencing activity. My second graders will use the writing pages to complete a written summary using transitional words and phrases.

Lucille Colandro's Old Lady... series of books are perfect for thematic units!

 I hope you will love this set my friends! 

Happy Teaching!

Hershey Bar Fractions

Do you have a favorite unit of all time? If I had to choose, I would say that this sweet one tops them all! It's fraction fun in a chocolate bar theme without the mess!

This pack contains all of the printables you may need for a really fun fraction unit that your students will surely remember!

At the end of the unit, I always give my students a little sweet treat to reward them for their hard work! 

You can see more of this item at my Kidsrcute TPT shop!

What is really sweet, is that it is on sale for one more day!

If you have already purchased this, be sure to download the update!

Have a super sweet day!

Second Grade Collaborative Pinterest Board

Hello Second Grade Teacher Friends! I'd love to have you come join me on Pinterest as contributors in a super sweet new collaborative board just for second grade sweetness! Pin your Common Core products, projects, videos, blog photos and more! It will be the perfect place for visitors to find all sorts of creative second grade stuff for their classroom! 

Click on the picture to see the new board!

 I hope to have it fill up very quickly!

Graphics by Pink Cat Studio         Fonts by Kimberly Geswein

If you want in on the fun, just email me and I'll add you!

Look for a notification from Pinterest. Just hit ACCEPT and you can start Pinning away!

 It's that easy!

Feel free to use the image with credits!

Have a super sweet day!

Classroom Decor Set~ Birds on Burlap~ Beautiful!

Our classrooms are our home away from home. We spend lots of time and money to make it a special, inviting place to be. We clean, we organize, we rearrange furniture, we decorate, we make it our own, right? I just love having the chance to help teachers create the classroom of their dreams and one that will say, "This is me"!

Have you been thinking Spring? Well, picture birds on burlap!

 One special teacher knows just what "look" she is going for in her classroom. She requested a one-of-a-kind decor set in a nature theme inspired by this picture she sent me:

  

 So... we had a picture to work from and the fun began choosing the various color schemes, graphics, backgrounds and frames for her set. 

These are the pretty birdsnest colors she picked for her design. 

All of her accents were created to match.

They are mixed in for pops of color for her banner, alphabet, signs. labels and binder covers

 along with the birds and burlap backgrounds. 

Here is a preview of a few of the many pieces in the finished set:

You can purchase this decor set here if you are interested.

If you've thought about a new look or new theme, I'd love to design one with you!

Because creating the perfect set takes some time, I normally accept custom orders through the summer months. Please email me if you are interested in more details and to add your name to the list!

Writing Letters in a Creative Way with Frog and Toad

Proper letter writing format can be tricky for little ones. They often forget to capitalize Dear in the greeting and leave out the comma in various places. I have an idea for practicing letter writing in a way I think your students will love! Presenting~ a journal for creative letter writing! 

One of my favorite read alouds for this time of year is Frog and Toad, Spring! 

Toad does not want to wake up from his hibernation and his best buddy, Frog, has to trick him to get him out of bed.

Don't have the book? You can view a super reading of Spring on YouTube! Here is a musical performance of the same story!

How cute would it be after reading to partner up the students and have one write as Frog to Toad and the other write as Toad to Frog? 

Afterward, the students could share out, buddy up and swap letters or just read them in partner groups.

This will be my example!

You can also do this following the story, The Letter, from the Frog and Toad series. If you know Frog and Toad well, you will understand about the bathing suit and the cookies! Ha!

There are so many creative letter prompts you could assign your students. If they have a journal ready to go, you can use this for Work on Writing during Daily 5 or as a writing station with no prep after the journals are made!

To create a journal, simply copy a cover and a stack of the letter writing pages behind it. Then you can staple it as a booklet or bind it. This is the student journal cover they can color.

Sometimes I assign a certain writing prompt that I want all students to follow, so I also made a class book cover with the item. Creating a classbook is super easy with a 1/2 inch three ring binder (clear cover). Slip the colorful book cover page that's included in the clear front pocket and either hole punch the student pages or slip them in page protectors.

This new item is offered at a 50% discount for a short time, which makes it a dollar deal!

 If this is something you might be interested in, you can see more at my Kidsrcute TPT store! 

Well, many lucky friends have started their Spring break. What are your plans?

I sure wish Spring would hurry up and arrive here. No matter what the calendar says, it sure feels like winter! I can't wait for my Florida trip in two weeks!

Have a super start to your week!

It's TPT for Me!

When I can't find the perfect classroom resource or don't have time to make one, I search TPT. When I want something creative, unique or fun, it's TPT for me!

Teachers Pay Teachers is 3 million strong and for good reason! Teachers know best what they need, what motivates students and what activities are best for grade level learning objectives. The items created by teachers for teachers are always my favorites. When I can grab up something super on sale, that's even better! 

To help celebrate this magnificent milestone, I am having a sale at my store too! 
Click on my shop button below to see what's new!

Help us spread the word about the great products available at TPT and let's go for four million strong!

 I hope you find the perfect resources there too!

If you are having a sale at your shop, link up at Blog Hoppin below!



Thanks Krista from Creative Clips for the cute sale banner! :)