Reading Strategies

Daily 5 is our favorite time of the day.  We like to save it for the afternoon because it's such a relaxing way to end the day.  

We have taught many strategies from the CAFE Menu but I'd have to say that making connections was a big hit! We read various picture books throughout the week and talked about how we can make meaningful connections to each.  The kiddies were able to practice by making personal connections, sharing with a partner, with the class, and also writing them down in their Daily 5 Notebook.  To conclude the week we made this cute connections chain... We all wrote down one connection to Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and linked them together.

Need a quick lesson on visualizing? Try this... Read this poem to your class, without telling them the title, and ask them to draw a picture of what they "see."  Once everyone has their picture complete, do a "Gallery Walk."  This means the kids walk around and look at everyone else's pictures.  Invite them to share some similarities and differences between the pictures and explain why they drew their picture the way they did.  Next, tell them the title and read the poem again. Pass out a small copy of the poem to everyone.  They can glue this in their notebook and then draw a new visualization.  Our classes were so surprised to know that the poem was really about a PENCIL!

      

 

We'd love to hear how you teach the strategies in your classrooms!  

Witchy Halloween Fun

Wow!  I was just stopping in to tell everyone about a great new product when I was thrilled to see many more adds to our "Linky Party!". This "party" has turned into something very exciting.....thanks to Sister 2 for getting this party started....ha ha (music trivia anyone?).  It's also great to "meet" our new followers and check out the happenings on their sites.  Thank you to everyone who has linked up so far.  What creative items we've been seeing! 

Keep the good "links" coming!

Speaking of creative.....you all know how much we love Halloween and today we added a new product to our TPT store!  It's a super cute witch craftivity that comes with many ideas of how you can use it in your classroom.....a glyph perhaps?  Or my personal favorite is to use it as a countdown to Halloween!  "Witchy Halloween Fun" can be found here.  

Check it out "my pretties"....little witchy weekend humor for you!

~Sister 1

Halloween Linky Party!

The sisters decided that a great way to share some spooktacular ideas with other bloggers was to host our first linky party! Soooo...link up, folks! We are so excited to see all of your fabulous Halloween ideas.

Pumpkins, Bats, and Elections Oh My!

TGIF! That's all we can say after our crazy, but very fun, Pumpkin Day. The kiddos LOVED it!!!

Our classes are wrapping up our bat unit!  Check it out on TPT.  Here's the expository writing craftivity, they turned out great! The best part was the kids were super into it. 

Can you believe that November is right around the corner?  We are excited to share with you our two new election "babies"  that have recently been uploaded to TPT.  Our election unit includes a list of picture books, vocabulary cards, mini book on symbols of the United States, voter/president: can, have are, voter registration cards, a candy bar election, a voting timeline, the election process, and a "Vote For Me" writing craftivity.  We also created a book study with Marvin Redpost: Class President.  This book study includes comprehension quizzes, word studies, and a writing prompt.  We can't wait to get started on these units next week!      

Pumpkin Fun!

The sisters and I love Halloween! Last year we had our first annual "Pumpkin Day."  With our second annual pumpkin day quickly approaching (tomorrow!) we thought we'd share some of our favorite activities! 

Last night, after school, to get in the spirit we picked up a Pumpkin Spice Latte...mmmm...and stopped by the grocery store to get our classroom pumpkins.  Everything was going smoothly until Sister 1 spotted the most perfect pumpkin...of course it was at the bottom of the pile. As she was trying to pull it out Sister 2 and I were standing behind her giggling. I bet you can guess what happened next!!! Yesssssssssss, next thing we knew that large display of pumpkins were rolling around the floor. After a few dirty looks from other shoppers we managed to pick up and put away all the pumpkins.  The great news is she got that pumpkin!  Sister 2 and I are a little jealous of how "perfect" it truly is!   

Tomorrow morning our plan is to start with a pumpkin book read aloud, then move into pumpkin centers, and finally do an expository writing titled "How to Carve a Pumpkin." 

After lunch is when the real fun begins! We recruit 4 parents each to come in and join our fun.  We split our classes up into 4 groups to complete the Pumpkin Math and Science page.  Grab this TPT freebie today!  Once they finish measuring, weighing, and counting the seeds as a group they decide how they want the parent to carve the pumpkin. As the parents and students are carving the pumpkins the sisters and I run down to the oven.  We pop the pumpkin seeds in and enjoy them as a little afternoon snack!  Our kids love setting their newly carved pumpkins around the room to add to our spooky decorations.     

What did one jack-o-lantern say to to another?

Cut it out!

Have a spook-tacular time! 

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays

Hey everybody...Sister 2 checking in today!  Well, birthdays are in full swing here.   I have 3 in October in my class and as you know, kids love their birthdays!  I love birthdays, too...especially my 29th, I have celebrated it the last 4 years. Haha...:)

Anyways, check out this craftivity.  It's a cute birthday graph pack that I made with my kiddos at the beginning of the year.  Each student got a cupcake, decorated it...we made a pictograph and then the kiddos solved the problems and made their own graph.  Enjoy!

Oh and did I mention this is works for Common Core??!!  (2.MD.9 (Representing and Interpreting Graphs))  Who would of thought learning could be so fun? :)

Batty News!

What's up, friends?  Sister 1 here..... trying to pretend the weekend is not almost over already!  I don't know about all of you but mine sure do go by way too fast.  Sunday is always a mix  of emotions for me.....sad that tomorrow is an early wake up, excited to start a week of new ideas, but frustrated that I somehow didn't get as much done as I had planned the last few days!  But enough about that.....now onto the real news!

Secrets of the Second Grade Sisters has begun posting items on Teachers Pay Teachers!!!!  We are SO excited.  For those of you who know about this site, I am sure you love it as much as all three of us do!  Seriously....we are obsessed with all of the great finds on there! And for those of you who might not know about it, be sure to check it out!  There are lots of good ideas for you to use in your classroom.  

We have posted our first 3 items this week.....estimation slips, a birthday graph pack, and the largest being our "Bat'tastic" unit!!!  Our kiddos love learning about these nocturnal creatures!  We noticed when looking for new ideas, that there weren't a lot of informational activities out there so we came up with our own unit!  You will love all of the factual info you can share with your classes while working on meaningful activities.   Dare I say the best part of the unit is the cutest bat craftivity ever!?!?  It ties in a great display for your classroom with a writing piece you can grade for your Common Core informational writing!

Hope you all had a great weekend.  Don't forget to check out our TPT store.....we will be adding more activities this week as well!  A little hint of what's to come???.....think Elections! 

Estimation Jar

Hey all, Sister 3 here! A big hit in my classroom is the estimation jar.  Our "Star of the Week" is responsible for filling the estimation jar.  The jar is displayed all week and students are responsible to make their estimation by Thursday morning.  Estimating is an important skill...so why not start today?!  Grab your free copy of our estimation skips here! 

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome

We don't know about all of you... but after months of throwing around ideas we're finally ready to take some action. We've decided to try our hand at blogging! So WELCOME, we're glad you stopped by, and hope you come back often.

You might be wondering who the "Second Grade Sisters" are???  Well... we are second grade teaching partners by trade and sisters by heart!  We've been teaching for a combined 25 years... you know a sister never tells her age. ;) Since Sister 1 started teaching, boy times have changed!  With all the new curriculum popping up in the last few years we thought it was time to share some of our "secrets" with you.   

Follow our blog and enjoy this journey with us! 

Look for more posts coming soon.

~Second Grade Sisters~