DonorsChoose.Org!

Superstar!

I was excited to find DonorsChoose and Burlington Coat Factory featured me and some of my awesome colleagues in their giving campaign! 

We always have a DonorsChoose project up - So... if you feel like supporting our class - just click the desk icon on the right of your screen! 

Thanks!

Thankful

There is a lot to be thankful for!

Writing Journals...

We are continuing on with our Two Schools, One Book read, Jack. The students are really loving the Jack and the Beanstalk twist and I'm loving their illustrations and writing.  We are getting a ton of practice responding to literature in a super fun, meaningful way.

Their journals are AMAZING!

Reading Board Up!

My students love hearing The Recess Queen every year. Let's face it - it's probably because I love reading it. We worked on describing the Mean Jean character a few days back and I put up their work on our reading board.  Very quickly I realized there was something I just could not live with - the orange Astrobright paper about blinded me and the students. We all agreed it had to go. 

The students carefully cut out their illustrations and then mounted them on white paper (the democratic consensus) and finished the Bubble Map - again. We all love how it came out - and hey - another board is up! Win!

Learning About Guinea Pigs

This week we read several books about guinea pigs and the students really learned a lot. 

We created circle maps noting what guinea pigs need in our journals and then the students got to writing. 

I just love seeing where my students are as far as sentence structure. We have some work to do. But, I also love seeing some of their stamina - many can write long! AND - look at those illustrations! LOVE!

Happy September!

I can't believe it's already September! 
Changing our calendar is so much fun. Every year I have my class make something for the next class. Three years ago my class made this calendar and I can't imagine using another. It's just perfect!

Jack!

So, our new whole school book is Jack! I am super excited about this because it ties is so well to our 2nd grade curriculum and it's just a fun story. PLUS - there's about a million and one companion stories - different points of view, diverse character versions - just so much can be done with this story! 

Today, we read about dirt sprinkling from the sky. My students sketched what that might look like and then wrote about what they think happened to Jaber's leg. No spoilers - you have to read it! 

Check out their illustrations...