Poetry Blitz

I cannot believe how FAST April passed us by!  With 18 days left, I am scrambling to get everything crammed in before I send my 2nd graders off to become BIG BAD 3rd graders.  This time of year is bittersweet because I am sooooo ready for summer, but I also don't want to see my kiddos move on just yet!  

April is National Poetry month and I always love squeezing in some poetry fun while I can.  Amy Lemons and Katie King have made this possible by incorporating it into their amazing Rooted in Reading April  edition!  If you teach 2nd grade and you haven't scooped up one of the R&R units...you are MISSING out!   This unit highlights an amazing book, Old Elm Speaks, and it is FLIPPIN' amazing in how it opens the door to the world of poetry.  My students learned about the following poetic devices....all in 1 week!

• Personification
• Onomatopoeia
• Similes
• Repetition 
• Alliteration 

Here is a snap shot of some of their student work!  They kicked booty and learned a ton too!  

To top it off we decided to incorporate poetry into our Tech Tuesday learning!  We used two FREE iPad apps: Draw Free and Chatterpix Kids to create Alphabet Alliterations.  

Now...this is not my idea!  SHOCKER! I stole, well borrowed, the idea from a colleague of mine, April Requard.  She is a FABULOUS technology leader in my district and highlighted this on her own blog Appsolutley April.  She used a paid app called Drawing Pad, where we used a free one :).  I was thrilled that my 2nd graders were able to do this and they had fun too!  

The best part about being an educator is working with so many amazing teachers!  There is no shame in gathering inspiration from others, as long as you give credit where it is due!  Thank you Amy Lemons, Katie King, and April Requard for inspiring Poetry Week in my classroom, we had a BLAST!   

Mrs. Patterson, how do you spell.....?

Do you have those students who are constantly asking you how to spell words during their independent writing time?  You know the ones I'm talking about, the ones that are ALWAYS asking how to spell commonly used words like friend or because?  Yeah, you know who I'm talking about...those ones!  Last year I was at my wits end with those students and, YES, I had a word wall, but my students weren't using it and I wasn't sure why (insert clueless emoji here)!

Over the summer, I scowered Pinterest boards looking for a way to give my word wall a little OoMph!  After doing some research I found that my word wall wasn't interactive enough for my students to actually use it.  So... I CHANGED it and I am so glad that I did!

If you want your students to benefit from using a word wall, you have to make it interactive.  It's an easy change, so what are you waiting for....follow these steps:

Step 1: Make the words accessible to all students.  I put my word wall in a central location that all of my students can see and reach.  

Step 2: Make it interactive.  Allow the words to TRAVEL.  My students can take the words right to their desk.  This allows them to apply the words directly into their writing.  

Step 3:  Reinforce problem solving skills.  At the beginning of the year, I tell students to follow these steps before asking me how to spell a particular word:

• Find the word on the word wall using their ABC (alphabetical) detective skills.  
• Once they have found the word, jot it down in their student dictionary.  My school has provided interactive student dictionaries (we call these the purple books).  
• Phone a friend.  My students are in the habit of using the resources around them.  They know to ask a friend before coming to ask me.  
• Finally, if students have followed all of these steps they may raise their hand and ask me how to spell a word.  This word gets put into their student dictionary right away. 

Start 2016 by amping up your writing block by using an INTERACTIVE word wall, it's not too late!   

December Currently

Better late than NEVER, at least that's my motto!  Happy December y'all.  To get me out of my bloggin slump, I am linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for her December currently.  

Listening: After meeting up with my #NMbloggers last night, I realized that I never finished Ron Clark's, Move Your Bus book!  So, I am listening to his inspirational voice on audible and playing catch up to a book I started months ago.  If you haven't done so CHECK IT OUT.  #amazeballs

Loving: I don't know about you all, but I am DECEMBER tired, if you know what I mean!  So, to help ease my pain I have purchased Amy Lemons' and Katie King's December Rooted in Reading series.  IT IS FANTABULOUS!  They have done all the work for you and it makes literacy in December so much fun!  If you haven't checked them out, you are MISSING out.  

Thinking: doesn't my title say it all?  Need.To.Blog.More. Yeah, I'm working on it!

Wanting: 14 days, but who is counting?!? I want to spend time with my kiddos, husband, and family!  I cannot wait until winter break is here, so I can sleep in and just enjoy those around me :).  

Needing:  I would LOVE some time to myself, but who am I kidding?  I am a mama, wifey, teacher, and blogger...there isn't much time!  

Real or Faux: I am a FIRM believer in the REAL thing baby!  I don't care if it's not economical...it's BETTER!  Real trees smell DIVINE, are BEAUTIFUL, and really get me in the Christmas spirit!  #onlyrealtreesforme

#moveyourbusmonday Part 2 & Chapter 6

Welcome to another week of #moveyourbusmonday!  Teachers from around the world are reading and discussing this amazing book, Move Your Bus, by Ron Clark.  If you haven't heard of Ron Clark, where have you been?!?  Ron Clark is the DA MAN and his educational strategies and approaches are world renowned!  Check out his books, including this one, ASAP!

If you would like to see what the previous chapters are all about hop on over to Kacie Biggs' blog Second Grade Sizzle.

Part 2: How to Accelerate

#accelerate Moving forward and moving quickly

Ron Clark starts off Part 2 by saying that he believes we all have an innate want to improve.  Essentially, we all have a drive to get better and be better, but that drive is different for every person.   Each one of us has a special talent and with those talents we can contribute to "our bus".  He explains that we can all contribute in different ways as long as we take part in something.  

Ask yourself these questions:

How can we get better?

What can we do to contribute?

How can we help move "our bus" forward?

How can we accelerate?

His biggest tip, for those who want to contribute, is to PACE YOURSELF!  If you aren't a runner, but rather a jogger or walker, you will want to work yourself up to a running pace.  Don't accelerate too FAST!  Take the steps needed to become a runner--ONE.STEP.AT.A.TIME.

The next chapter describes some steps at becoming a runner.  

On your mark, get set, GO!

Chapter 6: Get There Early

A common habit that MANY runners possess, is their ability to get to work on time, and even a little early.  Ron Clark believes that runners possess these traits:

*They get to work early and start their day with LOADS of energy.

*If they aren't early, they are always ON TIME, and usually stay late.  

*They are working while at work.  

If you aren't showing up to work on time or putting in the work while at work, your leader (the driver) will start to doubt your abilities.  

Being on time to work and putting in the work will increase your worth.

I feel like I'm a runner, but I know that I jog sometimes too.  For me, knowing that I get up each and everyday and put forth my BEST self is good enough.    

Join us next week when Alyssa Aguilar from Miss Aguilar's Adventures  hosts Chapters 7&8.  

Please check out other blog posts and comment with your thoughts!

Managing Attendance and Lunch Choices

Happy Friday!  To celebrate the upcoming weekend I wanted to share an easy management tip.  Here is an efficient and CUTE way, if I do say so myself, to keep track of daily attendance and student lunch choices.

At the beginning of the year, my students colored superhero avatars and labeled them with their names.  Then, I laminated each avatar and attached magnets to the back. The avatars can be found in my TPT store HERE.   

How It Works

At the end of each school day, I place avatars on one of the student's chair legs and in the morning students place them on the lunch count board under their chosen lunch choice!  This helps me know what each student is having for lunch that day and counts as an attendance freebie too!  

This has become apart of our morning routine and it makes taking attendance and lunch count easy peasy (as my students would say)!  I hope you enjoyed this little management tip and if you haven't incorporated it....DO IT!  

Have a  great weekend :).  

Student Generated Alphabet

Happy Friday y'all!  We just finished our 5th week of school and I am LOVING my class this year.  So first, I have 15 students....YES, 15 students in my class and I got the cream of the crop, no joke! They are such curious little learners and have been eating up all that I am teaching. One of their most favorite things that we have done so far this year is our student generated alphabet.  

Over the summer as I was reading my favorite blog (stepintosecondgrade), or should I say STALKING it, I came across the idea of a student generated alphabet.  HELLO, can I just say GENIUS!  For the past 7 years I have used the same store bought alphabet that hangs on one of my walls for students to refer to, and it has been fine, but I was ready for something new!  #FRESH 

Amy Lemons (cue the angelic music) has had her students create their own alphabet for years, YEARS people!  Her alphabet and information on how she does it can be found by clicking HERE.  So, this was the year I decided to change and MAN am I glad I did.  

Here are the steps we took to create our alphabet:

Here are some pictures of my favorite letters:

#theclassic: APPLE

#starwars: Lightsaber

#current: Minecraft 

#creative: Pixels Movie

#myfavorite: Quail

#aquatic: Octopus 

#ownership: Student Generated Alphabet 

At the unveiling, my students LOVED seeing their ideas up on the wall.  Doing this student generated alphabet created ownership, helped build our classroom community, and brightened up our walls!  Thank you Amy Lemons for your amazing ideas (that I steal often).  

I will be doing this again next year!  

Lesson Planning

Oh the dreaded lesson plans!  We all have to do them but we DON'T have to like them, do we?  Lesson planning has become a part of my teaching routine over the last eight years.  Every Sunday, I sit down to write out all of my plans, even though I pretty much know what I am going to do each week.  I'll admit it does help me stay organized throughout the week...just don't tell my principal that! 

Over the last few years I have tried different lesson plan methods.  I've tried writing them out using a fancy lesson plan book, creating visual plans, or typing them out on a word or excel spreadsheet.  Each of those ways worked, but I didn't find my TRUE lesson plan groove until I found.... PLANBOOK.COM. Cue the music and the heavens opening up, ahhhhhhh!  

Planbook.com forever changed the way I planned my weekly lessons.  From its color-coded classes to the learning standards drop down menu, I was SOLD!  I started out using the free, yes free, month trial plan and I was hooked after the first week.  It was easy to navigate and it helped that there were a ton (still are) youtube tutorials on how to set-up your plans and get started.    

Here is a picture of my weekly lesson plans from last week, (morning work and Literacy) looks like a ton, right?  Organized? Neat? Well-planed?  Yup!  

Trust me, once you start you won't go back to anything else!  After your free trial it is just $12.00 a year.  The coolest part....it saves your lesson plans year after year.  You can print them, store them digitally, and share them with others.  With all that is expected of us on a daily basis, lesson planning should be painless and easy!  Give it a try....you know you want to :).