Monday, December 22, 2014

January Plans

Can you believe I've only been out of school for three days and I'm already planning for January?  What's wrong with me?  The answer is 'nothing'.  I'm a teacher.  Planning is my middle name.  I actually started planning on Friday afternoon after school.
Here are two of the centers we will be using beginning January 5, 2015.  One is a math center and the other literacy.  Both of these are a review for my kiddos.  However, they may be used for practice when these skills are initially taught.


Contraction Literacy Center is alligned for the second and the third grades.
CCSS ELA.L.2.2C
CCSS ELA.L.3.2D

Three Digit Expanded Form Center is alligned for the second and the third grades.
CCSS.2.NBT.A.1B
CCSS.2.NBT.A.3
CCSS 3.NBT.A.2

Both are absolutely adorable with winter cupcakes and are very low prep.  Just print, laminate, and cut.  Easy!!

This pack is on SALE!

You may click HERE to be routed to my TpT store to download this and other learning tools.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend and getting excited about Christmas.  Our family is alive with anticipation!  We haven't seen our son since August since he goes to college in another state.  We are all so ready to see him.  I am beside myself, because after all, I am his momma!  I am

Cordially yours,

Jan’etta

I would love it if you would follow me on any or all of the following media.






Thursday, December 18, 2014

One More Day

It was a big day for my second graders.  We began the day with a field trip.  We were lucky enought to get to watch "The Velveteen Rabbit" at the Arkansas Arts Center Childrens Theatre.  The production was delightful and the children were well-behaved.
We arrived back at school just in time for lunch and recess.  It was cold and wet outside, but they needed that fifteen minutes of playtime!
We had our Christmas Party this afternoon.  Excitement was the order of the day. The children cleaned their desks and played 'Scoot' until it was time for the party.  The following is the game they played-I had to fit in a little bit of work!



Included are 36 Task Cards which are color coded. Blue snowflakes are for counting by 2’s. Purple snowflakes are for counting by 5’s. Green snowflakes are for counting by 10’s. There are three worksheets for each. Also included is a task card recording page.

Click HERE to preview on TpT.


There are 36  task cards included.

The task cards are differentiated.
 

10 worksheets are on three levels.


The 36 task cards and 10 worksheets are for counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's, respectively.

We have only one day to go before our two week break.  I am hoping to work on some more winter activities for my students and perhaps yours.  I am

Cordially yours,


Janetta









Monday, December 15, 2014

Word Work with Winter Words

Are your students on the ceiling this week as mine are?  This is such a busy week.  It is our last week before Christmas break and we have a lot going on.  This week we we have our 9 week testing, a field trip, a Christmas Party, a sing-a-long, Polar Express Day, and probably more that I am too tired to recall.

At our school, we gave our second grade students a homework pass for this week.  I decided that I still wanted my students to do word work.  We began by making an anchor chart of winter and holiday seasonal words.

I then gave my students this page.  It has two sets of the alphabet as well as an extra set of vowels.
Click HERE to purchase.

The first thing my students do is highlight all of the vowels.  Then they cut the letters apart and put them on their desk in alphabetical order.


Students use the Word Work Mat to build the words on our anchor chart.  We do this as a whole group and I give them clues as to which word I want them to build.  Usually, we do this as a center but today I wanted to work on the meanings as well as the spelling of the words.

This Word Work packet has a lot of other activities that can be used with any word list.  In my classroom, we use it for our spelling words each week.  Sometimes I choose which activities the students will do.  But, at other times, I allow students to choose.

Here are some examples of the other activities.


My students enjoy these activities and I never have to coax to get them to complete these assignments.  You can download this set of Word Work activities by clicking HERE.  You will be directed to my TpT store.

I hope your students enjoy these activities as much as my second graders do.  It is much easier for my students to remain school-minded when they are engaged in worthwhile work that they enjoy.  Good luck to all of us on this fun week.  I am

Cordially yours,

Janetta

Monday, December 8, 2014

Long 'i' Center Games

Today was a typical Monday.   Wouldn't you know we would have a fire drill and a tornado drill at the same time that my students were going to Activity?  Needless to say, my planning period was shortened to about 10 minutes.

On a better note, one of my students bought 'Lunch with the Teacher' with his reward tickets.  He had me in stitches with a million kid jokes.

During word work today, my students had a new set of games.  Our spelling words this week feature long i.  I made this fun set of games to reinforce the concept.

http://mcdn.teacherspayteachers.com/thumbitem/Long-I-Digraph-Literacy-Center-Games-1520680-1417631458/original-1520680-1.jpg

Click HERE!
The great thing about this center is that it has three different games.  Eight to ten students may  play at once.  Although I usually have only four to five students at a center at a time.  With this set of games, students will be kept engaged all week.  Also, on cold days, when we have inside recess, several students will be able to play.  

The games included in are 
'Go-Fish'.  
'Concentration' 
'Alphabetical Order'

All come with directions, differentiation directions, answer keys.

Click HERE to purchase this fun set of games from my store on TpT.

I hope you have a good evening!  Winter break is just around the corner so hang in there.  I am

Cordially yours,

Janetta

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Syllable Sort

Hi Friends,

This is one of the centers my kiddos are working on for Language Arts.  Even though they are in the second grade, some students still aren't firm in counting syllables.  Of course, we know this is an important skill for spelling, dictionary skills, and writing.  
I made this cute game for students to work on during our Language Arts center time.

Common Core Standards   RF.K.2b, RF.1.2, RF.1.3e, RF.1.3d

This literacy center is differentiated for three levels of practice. In addition to the center, three worksheets are included each more challenging than the last. This will meet the needs of you 
lrower level students and challenge your higher level ones. Answer keys are included for all activities.

You may purchase this adorable activity in my Teachers Pay Teachers store by clicking right HERE.

I am having a great time watching my student's knowledge and skills grow.  They love the colorful ornaments in this game.  I am also using this with my tutoring group.  It is the perfect activity for a small group.  This is so versital   that I can have two students working on one and two syllable activities, and two others working on three and four syllables.  Making Syllable Sort, two simultaneously played centers.

I hope your students enjoy this cute activity as much as mine do.  I am

Cordially yours,

Add It Up!

Hello Awesome Teachers,

It has been busy at my house.  My husband had shoulder surgery and I broke my foot!  We both are healing well.  Christmas preparations have taken over my evenings.  We are planning to have
Christmas at Disney World and then stay in Melbourne, Florida for a few days where our son is a student at Florida Institute of Technology.  That's right, we are going to Disney World with our two adult children.  We are prepared for fun!

School has been it's usual business.  Teaching, paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork.  My second graders have been learning up a storm.  Our latest endeavor is two-digit addition!.  They have learned to draw a picture as well as complete the algorithm.  For extra practice, I have made 10 fun games in two different themes.

Five of the games I have made with a western theme.  It is so adorable!  This is the preview picture:


Common Core Standards 

Each game may be played individually, in pairs, or in groups. Answer keys are included for even more independence. Each game features a penguin with a different colored scarf for discrepancy. Each game has equations with and without regrouping. These games make wonderful math center activities or early finisher activities. This is a great resource for teachers, tutors, or home-school use.  

There are 48 pages.  The games included are:

Show the Order
Which is More
More than 50, Less than 50
Spinning Addition
Match it up

There are answer sheets and answer keys included with each game.  Children may self-check, partner check, or teacher check.

To order this great game pack, click HERE, it is on sale right now for $6.50!  That is a $4.00 savings!


For the winter holidays I made another set of games with a cute winter penguin theme. NOTE: These are different problems from the Western Theme.  I thought it would be great to make two complete and different sets.

The other five games have a cute Penguin Theme.  This is the preview:


Common Core Standards 


Each game may be played individually, in pairs, or in groups. Answer keys are 
included for even more independence. Each game features a penguin with a different colored scarf for discrepancy. Each game has equations with and without regrouping. These games make wonderful math center activities or early finisher activities. This is a great resource for teachers, tutors, or home-school use.  

There are 48 pages.  The games included are:

Show the Order
Which is More
More than 50, Less than 50
Spinning Addition
Match it up

There are answer sheets and answer keys included with each game.  Children may self-check, partner check, or teacher check.

This set is also on sale right now for $6.50.  That saves $4.00 off of the regular price.  To purchase this great set, please click HERE.


I just got this set out for my kiddos to use at their math centers.  There are five games, so there are more than enough for several weeks worth of centers.  My students are enjoying this more than I had imagined.  We do our math centers in the afternoons, but I am asked all morning if we are going to be using the pink-ones (penguins) this afternoon.

I hope you are having a good December!  I am...

Cordially yours,

Janetta

Monday, July 28, 2014

Making the Rules

I met with one of my colleagues today to eat lunch make plans for school.  I haven't been able to get into my room to accomplish anything yet.  The floor waxing is hindering my endeavors to be ready early.
The first day sneaks up so quickly that I decided I had better get some things done!  My plan was to finish the things at home that I could.  My plans went awry, as plans often do, and I instead went with my son to get his hair cut. He is going back to Florida to school in only two short weeks so, spending any amount of time with him is the dream of my mothers' heart.
I did, however, put together my classroom rules. 



 I made these a couple of weeks ago and squeezed them into the last of the lamination at school.  I put it together with ribbon that I already had.
As you can see, this is still in line with my chevron themed background.  If you are interested in this, you can get it HERE.  


I won't have this hanging up when my Sweeties arrive.  On the first day, we will brainstorm together what we need to do to be good classroom citizens.  I will direct their thinking in such a way that the rules I have made will fit.  Then, tada!  On the next day of school I will have 'our' rules all put together and hanging up in our classroom.  I really like it when my students have a stake in making our rules.  Then, if there is a problem, I refer to our rules and say, 'Remember when we made our classroom rules?  We decided that we must be kind to each other."  or whatever fits.  

I hope each of you have a wonderful Monday evening.  I am 
Cordially Yours,

Jan

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Getting Ready for School

I have a lot of things created for my classroom, already.  I went to school yesterday to laminate some things. The crew was waxing the floors, but I was able to cut through the office to get to my room.  Luckily, I am right across the hall from everything!  The Teacher's Lounge, the office, and the work room are all just steps away for me.  There was very little laminating film left but I was able to get some of my things completed.
I laminated my writing center headers and pennants.
Which you can get from Teacher's Pay Teachers.  You may click Here for the link.  I will put this together in the next couple of days and post a picture of the completed board.  I put this on a tri-fold board so that I can put it away when we need the space in our classroom for other things.

I also laminated my Boggle word game.  You can see that I decided to decorate my room in chevron.  I love it, plus, I can put any other thing with it and it still looks cute. I will put this Boggle game on the front of my desk.  It will be a perpetual word work center!
I posted it on my TpT store.  Actually, it is my most downloaded product.  You can click HERE if you are interested in having this in your classroom.

Here I go, off to continue my number one hobby, creating things for my classroom!  Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great weekend! I am 
Cordially Yours,
Jan