Arthur's Thanksgiving and more

I am knee deep in papers that need to be graded and I thought it would be far more interesting to write a blog post!  So, I  thought I'd share a few of the activities we did before the Thanksgiving Break.   Next week is sure to spring us into full Christmas mode, so I better post this while I still can!

We always read the book, Arthur's Thanksgiving, and it's always a class favorite! Arthur is in charge of directing his class play, and my students always make so many great connections to it.  I was in the middle of reading the story, when I came up with this spur of the moment idea.  I love kid art, so I thought a directed drawing of Arthur would be super cute.  Our second graders no longer have a separate art class, so I really try to bring art into the curriculum any chance I can!

I looked at the cover of the book and kind of just went with it.  I just started giving them different steps and hoped for the best!  Their drawings really turned out super cute!  I was pretty impressed and I love how unique they all turned out.  No two are exactly alike!

If you are interested in the summarizing labels, you can get them below.  

They could be used with any story.

We also worked on these goofy gobblers that turned out super cute.  This is available in my Writing Piece of the Month Resource.  

 

 

They also wrote why they are thankful.  They are so sweet! I am so very thankful for such sweet second graders!

This is also available in the same Writing Piece of the Month resource.  I save all of their writing for the year, which includes all of the pieces in the resource I mentioned above.  We put them all together into a writing portfolio at the end of the year.  Their writing makes a perfect keepsake.

 

Leo Lionni Goodies and a FREEBIE

It's been a BUSY, BUSY school year and I apologize for completely neglecting my blog.  I just finished putting together all my Leo Lionni goodies and I just had to share.  I've been meaning to put these together for years, and I finally squeezed in the time to get it done.  My students just finished these activities and really enjoyed learning all about Leo Lionni.

Here's a peek at the finished product:

 I always make anchor charts for each of the stories we read.   Here are a few:

 

Once my students are familiar with Leo Lionni and his stories, then they are ready to tackle writing their own Leo Lionni story.  I use the FREEBIE below for them to plan their story.

I always write a story along with my class as a shared writing piece.  This is the planning page we completed together:

 
I'd love to give a copy of my Leo Lionni unit to the first 3 readers that leave a comment below.  Please don't forget to leave your e-mail.
(Giveaway has ended)

 

Early Finisher Calendars

This year is off to a great start, although I must admit it's hard for me to believe I'm already getting ready to start week 3!!!  Time just seems to fly by.  This year, I seem to have several students that finish before the rest of the class.  They do a fantastic job of getting a book from my Book Nook to read, but I believe my class is ready for me to introduce my Early Finisher Calendars.  I created these calendars this summer with exactly these students in mind.  I have already created August, September, and October.  They are already packaged together in my TPT store.  But, with time flying by as fast as it is, I better get a move on creating the next 3 in the set!  By the end of the year, I will have the entire year complete.

I'd love to give these away for free to the first 3 people that leave a comment.  PLEASE do not forget to leave your e-mail.  Now, off to grade a few papers before bed.
 

Writing Portfolios

The year is winding down and it's about that time to start putting our portfolios together.  I actually have two portfolios.  One is filled with their work from all subject areas, and the other is put together into a booklet to create our Writing Portfolio.  Here are pics from the past couple years.  I definitely love using the large, 2 gallon ziploc bags. They fit everything perfectly and their work stays neat and tidy on the way home.

Here is last year's writing portfolio:

I absolutely love teaching little ones to write.  It is honestly my favorite subject to teach.  I LOVE to hear them squeal with delight when I say that we will start a new writing piece today.  I love the  anticipation they have as I start to share my own personal story at the start of each mini-lesson.  I can see their little minds turning as I'm passing out their writing paper.  I definitely think a love for writing is infectious!  You can get the portfolio covers for free by clicking HERE.

I keep all their writing during the year, so it can be compiled into their portfolio.  I include all of their pieces from my Writing Piece of the Month resource. I also include their Poetry Journals, as well as their writing pieces that go along with our Reading Street stories.

When we read, A Birthday Basket for Tia, they wrote about a special birthday. Click the image below to get the FREEBIE.

 I have most of my writing templates on my school computer, I will have to post some of the other writing papers in my next post.  I will also be back to post pics of their portfolios.  I always say I'm going to be more organized with their portfolio work and it just NEVER happens.  I have piles everywhere!!!  If you have any good ideas for storing portfolio work, please share.  I need a much better system.
 

I ♥ Monsters

I've had monsters on my mind the last week, so I wanted to share a few of my creations.  My classroom theme is monsters, so I thought it would be fun to create some cutie monster clip art.  You can check them out on TPT. I am currently working on the color versions, so stay tuned.

I also created writing paper to go along with the fun monster read aloud, I Need My Monster.

I also REALLY wanted to read, A Monster Under Alex's Bed by Angelika Glitz. I checked it out on Amazon, and this is what I came up with:

 

I spend a lot on books, but $394 for 1 book is just not happening.  I considered it for a whole 5 seconds and realized that would be a bit crazy!!!

You can click below for the writing paper freebie. I plan to use the monster adjective page first to brainstorm great adjectives to describe their monster.  This will give them ideas for their writing piece.

 

 As always, the first 3 people to leave a comment will get the Monster Cutie clip art for free.  Just a way to say thank you for following my blog :)   Also, please don't forget to leave your e-mail.
 

A little of this and that...

What a busy week!!!  We started the week with Earth Day and that was a lot of fun.  We created an Earth Day anchor chart together to get those schemas activated.

We also worked a little with poetry.  They searched for the  rhyming words and then drew their mental images.  I'm sorry I didn't share the poem page.  I found the poem on-line and I'm not sure who originally wrote it. I just typed it up and put on a REALLY cute border.  I absolutely love Krista Wallden's new borders!!!

We also wrote letters to the tooth fairy this week.  Oh my gosh, I love reading their writing.  They are way too cute!!!
This template is out of my Writing Piece of the Month resource.  We normally do it at the beginning of the year when we do our letter writing unit.  I don't know what happened, but better late than never.

I also created some fun money posters.  It had been on my to-do list since the beginning of the year.  I'm just now getting some of those projects done.  Better late than never! I'm thinking that should be my new motto.

As always, the first 3 people to comment will get the money posters for FREE.  Don't forget to leave your e-mail.   Have a great weekend!
 

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumkins...

 I originally posted this last year.  I added a simple fence post template at the end, and for some reason the date changed and it posted today!  My blogger must be haunted, because it's acting totally crazy!!!

The last couple weeks have been all about pumpkins, which ties in nicely with our All About Writing Unit from Lucy Calkin's Units of Writing.  So, The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons, was at the top of my list of read alouds.  They made so many great connections to our nonfiction conventions that were taught at the very beginning of the year.

I'm sure you have seen the silly pumpkins on Pinterest that are super popular right now.  Well, they were too cute to pass on.  The pumpkins are from Doodle Bugs Teaching.  Please go check them out here. My class had a blast making them and they look adorable in the hallway. The toothy grins have definitely caught the eyes of passer byers in the hallway.   My student teacher created the cute hallway display below. 

My student teacher is super creative.  I love this friendly scarecrow!

 

My student teacher also did a fun Pumpkin Diagram with my class.  They reviewed the parts of a pumpkin and then made their own pumpkin and labeled the parts.

We also wrote facts about pumpkins.  They added a lot of new knowledge to their schemas!

You can get this Freebie by heading over to a previous post.  Click here.

*** I had a request for a fence template similar to the one in the picture above.   If you are also interested in creating a fence display, here are 2 pages that can be copied on brown paper, and then put together to create a simple fence.  You will need several copies depending on how large you would like the fence to be. You can click on either image below to download.