A slight duct tape addiction

Hello.  My name is Ashley and I am a Duct tape addict.  Phew that felt good to say.  I blame is all on my mentor.  She reminded me of all the fun things you can do with decorative duct tape like:

-Use it as bulletin boarder
-Hang up pictures from kids around your room creating a "frame"
-Fix broken kids shoes (Yes- this actually happened)
-Fix books who have sadly been sent to the book hospital
-Fix book bins that are breaking because they are full of so many books (What a tragedy, right?)
-Fix kids binders that are falling apart
-Mark Notebooks (Get out your Science notebook- the one with the GREEN tape!)

AND my students most favorite thing of all....

Binding their writing! Check out that binding!

 

I'm guessing Greg over at Kindergarten Smorgasbord would LOVE that mustache tape!

 

Seriously, how fun does that look? My kids {el-oh-vee-ee} to see their writing materpieces hanging in the hallway and they are so proud of them.  Not to mention, it helps bring out even more of their huge personalities.

 

 

Even better than the fact that it makes their writing look even more fabulous? They can do it by themselves! Yes people, by themselves!! They look forward to putting on their binding and sharing it with a friend!

 

 

 

They sell tons of fun patterns at almost any store.  The possibilities are endless!

 

What are your {maybe-not-so-strange-as-I-think-mine-is} addictions?





Love me some extreme weather! {Come grab a Freebie!}

Thank the good Lord upstairs for intersession.  The perks of year round! Once everyone starts getting really tired, it's time for a break. 

Right before intersession we finished up our unit on Weather.  I have a weather FANATIC in my room this year.  I mean, serious weather fanatic.  He could not wait until we got into extreme weather because he had sooo many questions about tornados.  I knew he would love our mini research!  I especially love little projects like this because it helps me see who is a leader, who is a follower, who is bossy, who does all the work and who just does the bare minimum.  I do have to say that each and every one of my 20 little second graders put in a tremendous amount of effort into this project!  Check out the work they did!

 

For this project, I split them into 5 groups and gave each group 1 type of extreme weather to become experts on.  They would research and find information about this weather and present their research to the rest of the class.  Here are the graphic organizers we used to take notes.  Students did the research in pairs and came back together as a group to decide what information was the most important and what they needed to teach the rest of the class.

You can click on either picture to head to my TPT store to download a free copy of these posters!

Check out my little babies at work!

They were so proud of their work and looking forward to more of this throughout the year!

ane-WHAT?

This week has been all about wind, wind, wind!  Yesterday, we talked about what we know about wind and did a little investigation with bubbles.

Today was all about how meteorologists use tools to measure wind.  We looked at a Beaufort scale and then I showed them an Anemometer!  (As I was showing them this and having them repeat ANEMOMETER, I just kept thinking about this...)

Love me some Nemo!

Each student build their very own Anemometer & we took it outside to test! Here's a good site with directions on how to make one if you'd like to try this with your students.  We did a little different to make it easier on me.  I stapled the 2 straws together making an "X" (I did this ahead of time).  Then each student taped the 4 cups at the edge of the straws, I put a push pin through the straws and then pushed it into a pencil eraser.  Worked great!  

It wasn't a very windy day but we still got them to rotate a few times when we found the windy spots around the school!  It was so much fun and students got to take their anemometer home to show to their family.  Nothing better than some engaging, hands-on learning!  

Math Fact Fluency (A Freebie!)

I'm coming to you today with a little idea I came up with last year to help my kids build fact fluency & get use out of some serious wasted time- You know... the time when kids are filtering in from Specials, or when they are using the bathroom after recess.. That time!!

I started this last year and I really liked it so I thought I'd share it with y'all.  I have NO idea why I didn't before.  Basically it is flash cards on PowerPoint and involves you just clicking "View Slideshow" and listening to your kids {quietly} shout out the answers!  Turn it on during that "wasted" time to turn it into some serious fact practice time! Click on the picture to head over to my TPT store to pick up this FREE resource!!

Place Value Boot Camp!

Attention soldiers.. we are about to begin place value boot camp.  This camp will teach you the foundation for almost everything you will learn in Math.  You will refer to me as Sergeant G.  There will be no laughing, no giggling, no goofing off, NO HAVING FUN, and most importantly a whole lotta learnin' so put your place value game face on and salute your sergeant.. Can I get a YES MA'AM?!

OK,OK I didn't really look (or sound) like that.  I tried to pull off the whole ARMY thing but I couldn't do it.. I just laughed.  The kids sure did get a kick out of it though!

So I'm sure you've figure out by now that to start off the year I have been taking my kids through place value boot camp!  (Actually I started off using our textbook before I gained my senses and decided that it was just too awful to use- Switching 5 weeks in? NBD)

I got the idea from a Teacher Tipster video.  Have you seen his videos?  Love them!  Here was my inspiration...

I pulled the whole "I don't like candy" except mine was "I HATE ICECREAM!"  ooh, you do? I'll remember that! To which they replied "HEY you tricked us!!" OH yes, you never know when Ms. G might getcha! muahahaha

We have been learning all about Hundreds, Tens, Ones and what they mean.  They are becoming experts.  Today one of my teammates came in at dismissal and told me about a game that her kids LOVED today (for comparing numbers).  I decided to make cute little recording sheet for it to share with you! (Note: I have NO idea where/who she got this idea from or if she made it up.  This idea is not mine, I just created the cute little sheet to go along with it!)

The game: Throw it in the Trash!

Rules: Roll a die 4 times.  Try to make the largest number you possibly can by placing the digits each time you roll.  You can throw only 1 number in the trash so choose wisely!  Once you've finished, compare it to the number of the day.  Is it Greater than, Less than, or equal to the number of the day? (Choose a number like 300 and have them compare each of their numbers to it!) We're going to make a fun little alligator to remember "Greater Than" and "Less Than"!

Click {here} to head on over to google docs get the game board! (Hint: Laminate for days and days of use without wasted paper!)

 

 

...Said No Teacher Ever

Have you seen this video that has been circulating around the little old world of the wide web?  It cracks me up so thought you might enjoy it too! :) Head {here} to watch it.  What else can you think of .. "Said no teacher ever?"

I love it when you come in late and interrupt my lesson! -Said No Teacher Ever

I really enjoy all the free time I get to spend to do whatever I want... Yea, said no teacher ever.

Smile!

Waay back in January I blogged about some Smile moments that I showed to my kids every Friday during Morning Meeting.  You can read about those smile moments {here}.

Basically what our "Smile Moments" are is a video/comic/picture that is meant to make the kids laugh or smile.  It's a great way to de-stress from the week and just have some good ole plain fun. Last year, this was one of my kids favorites things of the week and they looked forward to every Friday.  It is quickly becoming this year babies favorite thing, too!  In fact, one Friday we didn't do it and all I heard all morning was, "HEY Ms. G!! Where was our smile moment??"  Awe dang, forgot to find one. 

Well, I want to save you the stress of finding videos/comics that are kid appropriate! Here are some of my favorites...

Love, love, LOVE this one!! Kids loved it too.

I don't know what is about Annoying Orange. I think he is just annoying, but the kids love him so I throw him in every once in a while.

These babies make me laugh..

This one never gets old...

This laugh is contagious and will put a smile on anyone's face!

And who can resist Mishka?

If you have never showed a "smile moment" you should definitely consider.  Just once a week is enough.  The kids look forward to it & you will get a good laugh too!