Monday, August 25, 2014

Sunday Funday Freebie

Second grade had a kick start with even and odd numbers this month. I decided to give a Sunday Funday freebie....only it is really like a Monday freebie because I forgot to publish it yesterday night!

We start each math class with our even and odd chant:

0,2,4,6,8 being even is just great! 
1,3,5,7,9 being odd is just fine! 

The kids love it! 

To end the week we did an even and odd sort in our interactive notebook. 

The students went threw and color coded each even number green and each odd number red. 



They then cut out the "even and odd" labels and numbers. In their notebooks, they used one page for even and the adjacent page for odd. 

For my early finishers I challenged them to put each number from least to greatest and challenged them to add groups of the numbers together. 


This lesson for review took about an hour. 

If you want to grab your Sunday Funday freebie click HERE

How do you review and teach even and odd? 


Saturday, August 23, 2014

The Science of Plants

This week in science we started out unit on plants and flowers. Some of the activities I started with were a KWL, labeling a diagram on an anchor, a project in our interactive notebook, and reading our science book together. 

Fridays are my "fun" day or "Fun Friday"! This week I decided to do a craft with flowers and a paragraph explaining three new things that we're learned about plants. 

We started with choosing two colors; one for the middle of the flower and one for the petals. We also used a green. 

Fold it "hamburger, hot dog, hot dog, hot dog" and cut. It should look like this: 


We then took the color we chose for the middle color, looped it, and glued. 


The extra paper was shared or donated to our paper bin. We continued to
loop all of our petals. 


The students then glued the petals to the middle of the flower. 



We then created two leaves. 


We glued the two leaves to the stem and the stem to two petals. 

{voila!}



After creating our flowers we wrote a little paragraph of three new things learned with an intro and a conclusion. 


What activities did you do to teach about plants?





Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Chalk Board Headings

This year I decided to do a theme in my room. In the past it has just been tons of colors and {let's face it} kinda chaotic looking. Since I have the same kiddos this year as last, I decided to give them a grown up, sophisticated room. This summer I started obsessing over making my room perfect, and I fell in love with how clean and beautiful the chalk board theme looked. {See "Peek into my Room" tab to see the full classroom.}

I ended up buying a pack on TPT for most of my things, but some things were in the pack that I wished were...so I decided to make them myself! :)

I made focus wall headers for reading, math, science, and sight words. I also made mini-headers for things like vocabulary, objectives, spelling, and sight words. They are great to just print, cut, and laminate! The kids even complimented me on them!

Here are what they look like so far:



 
Some other headings in my pack are:
-Vocabulary
-Spelling
-Sight words
-"Our Word Wall" heading
 
What do you think?!...This year has awoken the crafter and creator in me and..not gonna lie...I am lovin' it!
 
What is your classroom theme this year?
 
Grab your copy from my TPT store HERE!
Feedback is encouraged and adored!  


Monday, August 18, 2014

Meet the Teacher Linky Party

Hi there! 
My name is Megan and I am a twenty-something teacher in Arizona. I recently moved here from a suburb outside of Chicago. I am a fur mama to Phil and a second grade teacher at a small charter in Scottsdale. I taught first grade here last year and a year in Tucson. When I am not teaching I love to do yoga or shop. I also love to lounge in my pajamas, read, and watch Netflix.. {Who doesn't?!}

I always found myself browsing and obsessively reading blogs. It inspired me to start making my own resources and join the blog universe. I have fallin' in love with it! That is how Cardigans and Caffeine {2 of my lovely obesssions} was born!

Now a little more about me... :)


 THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS...
Some of my favorite things are..
Coffee. Yoga. Shopping. Naps. Reading. Harry Potter. Sephora.

 IF YOU WEREN'T A TEACHER, WHAT WOULD YOU WANT TO BE?

If I wasn't a teacher, I would want to be an addiction counselor. I started to pursue it last year, but the price tag and leaving teaching didn't seem right to me. 

THREE LITTLE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE YOU.
Loyal. Organized. Happy.
 
FINISH THE SENTENCE, "________,  SAID NO TEACHER EVER!!"

"I don't need a summer break!"
 

 Q:YOU GET TO PICK ONE SUPERPOWER. WHAT IS IT?

My super power would be to never have to touch dishes again. That is my one chore that I just can not stand to do. My boyfriend and I have played "rock,paper, scissors" numerous times to see who has to do them. I win 9 times out of 10. :) 

 
Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE OR SAYING?

"Life is not about the destination, it is about the journey." :) 
 

Q: IF YOU HAD TO SING ONE SONG ON AMERICAN IDOL, WHAT WOULD IT BE? 

Hmmm...anything by any of my favorite boy-bands of the 90's...Nsync..Backstreet..2gether {Yah..remember them?!}
 
 Q: ARE YOU A MORNING PERSON OR A NIGHT OWL?

I am definitely a morning person. Getting up is not my favorite, but once I get my coffee in me, I am ready to conquer the day!...ever try CoCoCafe? Coconut water with a shot of expresso...It is ahh-mazing and my secret morning weapon. ;)
 

Q: SHARE SOMETHING WE MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU! 

Something you might not know about me is I have played the cello since I was in 4th grade! I love it. I was lucky enough to have a parent rent me one last year to show my class what it is and play with them. I was so grateful! 
 
I am very new to the blogging world, but I am loving every minute of it! :)
 
 ************************************************************************

Head on over to Falling Into First to meet all the other teacher bloggers!  

Sunday, August 10, 2014

#glitteraddict

I love anything shiny and glittery as much as the next girl, but this year I went glitter crazy. I am not the least bit sorry about it....even though I did have to apologize to the janitor for my mess! 

My first project to glitterfy was my bathroom passes. Our school is so small that typically I don't use passes...this year I'm doing it a bit different though--super excited! 

Materials: 
Mod Podge
Big letters 
Glitter 
Sponge brushes 

I started with an even layer of Mod Podge and sprinkled with glitter. 


From there I let it dry over night. In the morning I put another layer of Mod Podge on top witha sponge brush. 


A short day later and these beautiful little gems were kid friendly! 


Now, I don't let my kids take passes to
the bathroom. Instead they place the pass of their desks. This avoids lost passes and unwashed hands touching them. I did the same routine with lady bugs last year....we named them our bathroom bugs! 

I also glittered up a frame for my birthday bulliten! By the end of the day I wanted to put glitter on everything! {and I practically did unintentionally!!} 


What have you made for your room so far?