Free Quote

I LOVE quotes!!

I saw this great quote pinned on someone else's blog and thought I've got to add that to my quote collection.

So while I was making one up for myself I added a few with other backgrounds for those of you that also thought you could use it in your room.



Click here to download.
(If you'd like a different background email me and I'll see what I can do.)

There Poster

Here is a poster to help with the spelling and usage of there.

I didn't write these just made them into the poster form.  I can't for the life of me find who to give credit to, so if you know please tell me.  I also don't know the tune, if there is one, so I just use "100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall".  :)  Use whatever works for you.

Click the image to go get it.

Last week was crazy assessment time as we have parent-teacher conferences this coming week...starting the day after Halloween.  Yes, you read that correctly!  Whoever planned that one wasn't playing with a full deck I tell you.

I'm praying that after dealing with the still sugar-high, wacko kids on Thursday I have a few positive things to say to their parents who are probably going to be tired and cranky as well.  It sounds like a win-win situation for us all doesn't it?

Saw this on Third Grade Thoughts blog and had to grab it...

Here's to us all surviving Halloween on a Wednesday!

Tricky Too

We are working on this homophone bugger this week.  Do your kiddos struggle with using this guy correctly?  Mine do.

It is practiced all year long in our spelling program and some still don't get it.  It doesn't matter if I beg and plead or cry.  It doesn't matter if I stand on my head or run naked.  Some just don't get it.

But this little chant that is a take off on the their one I shared earlier seems to be helping . . . so far.

I figure if I beat it into them hard enough teach it enough ways they'll have to get it eventually right?!

Click to download

Do you have a magical way to teach too to your students?  If so please share.

The Floss Rule for Spelling

Here's a little spelling rule poster freebie.  It's a rule from the Barton Reading program.  Hope you can use it.

Nothing fancy just something my kiddos put in their binder.  They LOVE putting things in that silly contraption.  Maybe it's the clicking noise they can make with it that I love drives me bonkers.

click, click, click

I hear that!  Stop it!

Now last years class would have snickered for hours over the word gas.  This year's class . . . not a peep!

T-h-e-i-r

What a bugger of a word.  Not hard to spell really.  But to get a second grader to use it correctly. . . not easy.

I found a lengthy homophone song or poem somewhere on the internet that naturally I am unable to find now and there was no author listed on what little I had.  Basically the song/poem was too long for my kiddos but this one little snippet stuck with me for a couple reasons.  One it provided spelling practice (yeah, some kids can't remember if it's ei or ie) and two it was simple.

Song/poem?  Who knows.  I have no idea what it was initially intended to be but I say  this little itty bitty part somewhat to the tune of "100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall".  My kiddos don't know that.  Or at least no one has said anything . . . yet.

Last year I know one of the kids would have caught it.  The little stinker I'm thinking of caught all those kinds of things.  If it was inappropriate or related to anything potty-mouth, even remotely, he got it and let everyone know it.  I got a kick out of that kid!  Most days anyways.  The other parents probably didn't though.

Wouldn't you know the year I had him my two male guinea pigs were fighting for dominance.  Most of the kids thought they were jumping on each other to play but not that little firecracker!  Oh, no!  He nearly gave a little biology lesson before I gave him the hairy eyeball.

Anyway, this is another little chant thingie that this year's class is famous for spontaneously reciting if they hear me whisper "Does that (insert object) belong to them?"

I whipped up this little sign for my language arts focus wall.

Click to go to download

Hope you can use it.

BTW, if you know the song/poem source please let me know.

Expository Nonfiction

Our school uses Reading Street by Scott Foresman to teach language arts.

It's not bad.  Although I thought the stories in our old series were more interesting.  :(

The one thing I like is the amount of nonfiction it includes.

Second grade boys LOVE nonfiction.  (So do the girls.)

As mentioned in previous posts I love the Teacher's Clubhouse for literacy posters and much much more.  But they didn't have one for a genre that our book uses.

So instead of paying them to make one for me I made my own.

It looks a LOT like theirs because I wanted it to go with my other posters so don't get mad at me.  Just click on the picture to grab it.

I found a website I'd never seen or heard of before.  It includes Smartboard lessons for many topics.  Check it out.

University of Missouri eThemes:  your source for content-rich, kid-safe online resources

I am a couple followers away from 400!!  Woo Hoo!

I'll be unveiling a new look for my blog and having a giveaway . . . so stay tuned!

What To Do When You're Angry!

Wow, I can't believe how close I am so 400 followers.  I'll have to think of something special to do.  (My husband just suggested I could shower!  Har har, honey!  It's summer and I don't have to!  Na na na na na na!)

Seriously I don't want you to think I'm sitting here in my own swill stinking the place up.  But sometimes often when the hubs comes home for lunch I'm sitting on the couch or deck on the computer still in my pj's.  So he isn't looking at me with a whole lot of lust in his eyes.  That's all I'm saying.

So I'll have to do some thinking.  Maybe while I'm in the shower cuz I do good thinking (and singing) in there.  And best of all, during the summer, it's not a quick-I'm-gonna-be-late-for-school shower.  No siree!  It's the-water-tank-still-has-a-bit-of-warm-water-left kind of shower.

Thank you to all who have said they like and can use my little posters for 2nd Step.

Here is another poster freebie for you.  This one kind of integrates the problem solving and calming yourself down steps but also includes reflection time.

Enjoy!

Problem Solving Poster

Pick yourself up off the floor . . .

Come on, you can do it!

I know it's shocking that I've posted a so many times in the last week or so after neglecting this little ol' blog for months.

But it's summer people!

Can I hear a woo woo?!

A few days ago I posted a freebie poster about how to calm yourself down.

Here is another one.  Click on the picture to download.

We brainstorm problems and go through each step.  The kids love it.  Role play, be silly, have fun, be serious!

Use it for problems big and small.

Post it somewhere where you and the kids can easily see it.  I even have a laminated copy that I have been known to hall to recess with me.  (Some years and groups you need it more than others.)  I've got the poster on how to calm yourself down on the back.  Use a ring to hang it on the fence during recess if you need to.

Make it so that kids can use it.

There have been years where I've forgotten to bring it to recess and someone will ask if they can go get it.

The more you use it at the beginning of the year the less you'll need it physically later on as the kiddos internalize it.

Enjoy!

Calming Yourself Down Poster

School is out (in most places) for the summer but it's not hard to recall the turmoil that can happen on the playground or in the classroom (bathroom, hall, lunchroom) or anywhere for that matter.

As adults it's hard to see how hurtful someone calling you a "big meanie" or cutting in line can be when we're dealing with budgets, health issues, and other "big, adult" problems.

But we need to remember that for our little ones (or not so little ones) these everyday occurrences are a big deal.  And they can cause some kids to blow.

So it's important that we teach our kiddos to recognize their own (and others) emotions and manage them.

Too many adults in our world haven't learned these crucial skills as one can attest by driving down the road and witnessing all the road rage.  (Maybe we'd need less medication in our world if we all learned and practiced these skills more regularly.)

Our school has used the Second Step program that teaches empathy, emotion management, and problem solving for as long as I can remember.  And like all things, there are some components I like and some I dislike.

But one that I have always liked was the way they teach kids to recognize their own emotions and manage them.  I see a lot of adults who haven't learned this biggie and know that I sometimes struggle with this one too.

Second Step has some posters that come with the program but they are really blah so a few years ago I redid them.  They were a bit better but . . .  Let's be honest here.

Not

nearly

enough!

I mean a primary classroom is supposed to be happy and homey and all those other feel good things.  I honestly spend more time in my classroom than my own house people!

And research shows how color makes all things more appealing.  (As if I needed to have research prove that to me . . . at a cost of billions of dollars!  lol)

So this is the first Second Step poster to be redone.  It is "Calming Yourself Down".  Feel free to nab and enjoy.  I hope you can use it . . . for yourself or your classroom.  :)

Stay tuned for more as I tackle the job of redoing these posters!

Free Manners Posters

Not yet a week out of school and the wheels are turning, creative juices are flowing, and late night Pinterest hopping is occurring.

Love, love, love summer!

With school and blog designing and life in general so little of that has been happening for me lately.  And I'm not complaining at all because I love everything I do but it's nice to have a little extra "free" time to do those things that don't come easily during the year.

I am so looking forward to actually reading a whole book for PLEASURE and then posting about it on The Best Endings too.  Most everything I've read during the year has been recommended by someone else's posts so I'm searching for something new and exciting.  ;)

As I've been slowly working on cleaning, organizing, and packing my room away for the summer, I've noticed a few things that need updating or tweaking.

Before school started I found a set of free manner posters from somewhere . . . can't find or recall where.  Anywho, I hung them up and the kids and I loved them and referred to them often.  But, they didn't really fit in with my theme.  So naturally I had to redo them.

You can grab them for free from my Teacher's Notebook shop.  Since I couldn't get them to upload to my shop you can grab them here for free by clicking on the picture.

Enjoy!