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I'm a little late to the party, but that's okay.
Okay, so they're calling for a BIG STORM on Wednesday. I have to admit, I love snow days like the kids. However, I like mine spaced out. We had a whole week out of school back in January! It was insane! Now they're calling anything from 4-10 inches of snow! AUGH!
We're already on extended school day and any other missed days add on to the end of the year. Also, my kids thrive on consistency. Once they're in the routine, they do all right. The day here, day there, delay here - it doesn't help our productivity! January was the WORST month all year about turning work in! We had a "put everything on top of your desk" day on Friday - it was not pretty.
So....the "wanting" - I am undecided. I mean, I can't stop the weather, but I can hope it changes to rain? Then again, that could be a flood day in my county! *rolls eyes*
I am soooo loving the Olympics. Can you tell which one is a fib? If you looked at it and said "HOW can she NOT like the opening ceremonies?" You're right - I didn't. I LOVED IT! Soooo cool! I keep trying to find video to show my kiddos who missed it and I'm about at the point of recording it from my DVR using a video camera!
So, that's me in a nut shell right now. Loving the Olympics, doing several themed activities in class (including a medal count by continent - geography and math together, gotta love it!). Getting ready to start my Polar Unit (my fave!).
So, sitting in grade level meeting today and looking over our resources for abbreviations....threw out some nasty looking worksheets, you know the ones - you kept them because it's what you had, but they look so dry and boring! Last year, I made 3 different activities for abbreviations. Recently, I've been into the "write the room" activities (I had always thought they were too low for my 2nd graders - duh!). Looked for one in abbreviations. Couldn't find one. So, I made one!
Thought it was cute and I'd tie in with the kids that abbreviations are like the Transformers - they can "change" they way they look. Or, like a super hero, it's like a "secret identity." You get the picture!
So, please check it out! I hope you enjoy it! I added some female super heroes in for my girls, although they'll just enjoy getting up and moving around like my boys!
Thanks for checking out my blog and following me - I have added another "freebie" if you'd like to check it out! :) Click on the pic below!
It's another snow day.
I think I'd have more enthusiasm if it wasn't that after a 4 day weekend, my kids are not going to be their best and brightest at 9am in the morning when we have reps from the state coming in to visit. Little bit of panic mode!
Well, that and our 100th day keeps moving. Now it's next Wednesday (was originally today!). And, we're in the middle of PALS (reading) testing and today was our day to test. It's rescheduled for, you guessed it - Wednesday. *sigh*
Good news - I got to sleep in. :) Always a treat!
Better news - I finally got my "Abbreviation Call Out!" activity done! I described it in the last email and promised a picture. Took several pictures (and of course all my students wanted to pose!)...and murphy's law, the camera didn't have a SD card inside and my cord is....at school.
Knowing that I could not find any more speech bubbles at Walmart :( and figured you might not be able to as well, I created a center for you to use! It's over at my teacher's store BUT since I realized that January 14th was my actual "blogiversary" I decided to offer it to my followers as a thank you! ;) I have LOVED discovering the world of teacher blogging and it has really changed my way of teaching! Well, maybe not changed, but definitely enhanced! I still get giddy every time I see a have a new follower!!!!
So, here it is. Click on the picture to take you to Google Drive to download. :) I'll keep it available as a freebie till the end of the month! :)
I shouldn't say this - I really shouldn't, but.....a 4 day weekend was almost too much. It was super hard for me to get motivated on Monday night to go back to school. Maybe it was because it was so close to Winter Break. I don't know. I just wanted one more day. However, it was good to get back into the swing of things.
It also didn't hurt that my kids LOVED the ideas I did today for abbreviations.
Also that we are still ongoing with our Polar unit. Today was the last day that we were "in" Antarctica. Tomorrow we head north to the Arctic Circle! Bye bye penguins, leopard seals, and Southern Ocean! We ended our time there looking at Discovery Earth. Neat place to visit. If you haven't been there, it's definitely recommended! They have video clips about the different areas of the world.
We also did a science experiment I got from "Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears." (see previous post). It's about how the snow compacts to ice and that even though Antarctica only gets 3 inches of snow a year, because it never gets above freezing...it never melts. Each year the previous year's snow gets compacted (pressed down) into an icy layer. You can do this experiment with snow. Our snow has melted. We did it with marshmallows.
I wish I would have thought to taken pictures!
Let's just say that 10 mini marshmallows flattened (10 years of snow) gave the kids a good impression of what it's like!
So, on to abbreviations. Everything seems to have a polar theme, doesn't it? I love it when themes go together so well! I am still loving this unit!
I had these speech bubbles I bought at Walmart at the beginning of the year, knowing I'd find a use for them. Well, I did today! I made a "master list" of common abbreviations, including math ones I knew my kids would get to later this year, and wrote each one on a speech bubble.
I handed out the speech bubbles at random. The kids had to look at their bubble so if I said a word and they thought it was their abbreviation, they were to stand up and silently (like a cartoon) show their speech bubble like they were talking.
It's the quietest I have EVER heard my class!!!!
Again, not thinking and not taking pictures. I will try to take some tomorrow (they want to play it again) and add it to this post!
The next big "hit" was playing an "I Have/Who Has" game with abbreviations called "Shh! Don't Disturb the Sleeping Bear!" (Teacher's Notebook)
You can click on the picture to find it on TpT.
I'm introducing this one tomorrow: "Waddle It Stands For" (Teacher's Notebook link)
I'm hoping it's just as big of a hit.
Click on any picture above to take you to my teacher store to download. I am trying to work on the speech bubble idea and get it finished so I can add it to this post as a freebie! Make sure you check back later this week when I *hopefully* will have it up!
