A Teacher's Journey in Second Grade

I just opened up a store on Teachers Notebook.  Now I am going to spend some time this week making new items to put on my store.  Check back soon to see what I add to my store.

I have been really busy this school year organizing my classroom and files.  I hope to share some pictures soon of what I am doing.  It may help other visual learners out there get their classroom more organized. 

I have been on a quest all year to get organized more in my classroom to help save time.  This week I decided to organize my grading materials.  I took a hanging file organizer such as this

and I labeled each section.  One section is labeled "Need Grade."  This is where I stick all the papers that I need to grade at the end of the day.  Since I can only fit in a stack that is an inch or 2 thick, I must get things graded in a timely manner.  Next, I labeled a pocket with "Needs Recorded" for those moments when I do not have time to record the grade right away.  I labeled the another section with "Needs Returned."  This let's me know that I have graded and recorded these papers already so I don't have to double check.  I labeled one pocket with "Rubrics and Forms" so I have them on hand while I am grading if they are needed.  Then I decided to label a pocket with "Grade Sheets."  I keep a supply of grade sheets printed off so I can quickly record a grade and hand the paper out.  Then all I have to do is take the grade sheet to the computer to enter the grade.  This also allows me to quickly see who has missing work and I can get them a new copy if needed.  The last pocket is labeled "Supplies."  This is where I keep my EZGrader, stickers, and markers to check papers with. 

Since I have been using this system, I have not had to search for my EZGrader or a pen to grade with.  Everything is in one place and the file is portable so I can take it home if needed.  I hope I have helped out some of you on your journey to becoming better organized.

This week, I was complemented on a lesson that I did during my reading block.  The students had read the story Ronald Morgan Goes to Bat from our Scott Foresman Reading Street series, and the poem Spaceball.  I put a Venn diagram on the whiteboard and students drew one on a blank sheet of paper.  Together we compared Ronald Morgan Goes to Bat to Spaceballs.  The students really got into this lesson and someone from the board office happened to walk in while we were doing this.  They went and bragged about my lesson to the P. 

If you would like to join this linky party, hop on over to Clutter-Free Classroom. 

I have added a new product to my Teachers Pay Teachers account.  I have been working on a contractions station for my second graders to use during guided reading.  The packet contains a matching game, a game board, word cards, a word sort, a weeksheet on contractions, and bonus items, such as, a bookmark, certificate, and blank word cards.  This packet has a frog theme and contains 13 pages.  Check it out here.

Here is a small peek.

I finally decided to try out Teachers Pay Teachers.  I have uploaded a free lesson on fact families.  You can access it here.  I have also uploaded a packet to teach place value.  This packet is 14 pages.  It contains 3 lessons, 3 stations/centers, 12 task cards, and all the printables that are needed to complete the lesson.  The packet even has base ten blocks that can be printed for classrooms that may not have access to these.  You can check out my place value packet here.

Here is sampling of what my place value packet looks like.

Yesterday, I decided to look for some math lessons to use with a small group of students during our guided math time.  I remembered finding a great lesson once on Thinkfinity, so I decided to search there for some lesson ideas.  I came across this lesson that uses macaroni to help students understand fact families.  I really think this lesson will help some of my students.  The lesson is only one lesson in a unit titled, Macaroni Math.  I may use more of the lessons during with some of my students this week.  Go check out the site.  You might find something you like.
This is the link for the lesson I am going to use: http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?ID=L120#.TpjbAmmuhGs.favorites
This is the link for the Thinkfinity website:  http://www.thinkfinity.org/

Enjoy!