Teacher Funnies

 

Pretty sure this is funnier to me because it has my name in it but still... 2 more days and then it's SUMMER!!!!!

 

More Body System Activities

Well we finished up our Body Systems Unit this past week! The kids really enjoy the activities and my amazing parents have been so awesome with donations this year so we were able to do so much more! :)

 
Boneless Hand: Why do we need bones? What do you notice about the hand? This was so much fun and a great "inquiry" lesson.

 

Spinal Cord: They used cheerios for the bones and gummy life savers for the squishy membrane.  I think I will use string Twislers next year so that it is all edible.

 More of our body systems book and a completed "spinal cord".

Body Systems

We started our new IB planner on Human Body Systems. I am doing an activity with each body system and then the students are adding that body system to their BODY BOOK.

 

First, we did the Circulatory System. We discussed the different parts. Then, we made blood! LOL

Water Bottle = Vein
Vegetable Oil = Plasma
Red Hot Candies = Red Blood Cells
Marshmallows = White Blood Cells
Sprinkles = Platelets

 

 

Next, we did the Digestive System. We discussed the different parts. Then, we made a stomach!

Plastic Baggie = Stomach
Soda = Acid
Saltine Cracker = Food

 

 

Then, we did the Respiratory System. We discussed the different parts. Then, we made lungs!

Plastic bottle with balloon inside and on the bottom (lung and diaphragm).
Straw = Trachea

Next week we will finish the body systems and I'll post some more pictures! :)

Compare and Contrast Writing

Hey Ya'll!!! I feel like I haven't updated my blog in forever. I spent all last weekend planning for my July Wedding. We got CJ and my dad their suits, we paid off the caterer, we bought and semi decorated our wedding arch, and we sent out our invitations! I am a huge stress ball and this past weekend definitely helped relieve some of that stress! So with that said. I'm back and ready to share some of the teaching ideas we have done in the past two weeks. :)

For writing this week our skill was "Compare and Contrast Writing".  Our story was "Cowboys" and of course cowboys vs. Indians pops in my head. This is how I did it!

I read my kids a book about what it would be like to live like an Indian. It explained the clothes, food, houses, government, traditions, etc. It was an awesome book! Our other skill was "graphic organizers" so I showed the kids 4 different examples that they could pick from to write their information. Most picked a T-Chart (similarities and differences) but some chose a Ven-Diagram too.

After we read about Indians, we listened to the story Cowboys and they did another graphic organizer. This one they compared and contrasted themselves to a cowboy.

The next day, I discussed the compare and contrast writing steps: Intro, Paragraph 1 (similarities), Paragraph 2 (differences), Closure. I had the students decide if they had more similarities and differences with the Indian or with the Cowboy and that was the one they would choose.

I only had 4 cowboys and the rest were Indians.

There writing has really improved over the past few months and I am so proud of their similarities and differences. They really noticed odd things like their bed wasn't built into the wall like the Indians beds were. LOL I guess 2nd graders really think about that kind of stuff. :)

For the craft part of the writing activity, I had the students use water color paint and a coffee filter to make "tie-dye" looking bandanas or feathers. We thought they turned out awesome!

Summer

Math

My fellow teachers have commented that "I LOVE to use my ANCHOR CHARTS" and they are so right! I use them as a visual and resource all the time. (yes I know my pie graph equals more than 100%....It was made prior to coffee-Whoops!)

 

 

We just finished our Chapter on Graphing Data. I enriched this "easier" chapter with additional types of graphs and a family project. (seen below)

 

I have to admit, this years "Family Project" participation has blown me through the roof. I had 14 out of 19 students turn in an optional Data Family Project! I love that the parents support enriching activities like this at home!

 

 

On Thursday we started our LAST math chapter on Geometry. I had the students work as a team to discuss the math vocabulary: faces, vertices, edge, 3-d, 2-d, and 1-d. We had so much fun making our 3-d Shapes foldable resource (not pictured) for their math journals.

 

 
If you haven't already read this, you need to! I ordered it off Amazon and it is such a hilarious book on 3-d shapes. The kids were so into it and it retaught the shapes for reinforcement. I asked questions throughout the story (found on TPT for free) that went along with "Captain Invincible and the Space Shapes"

Easter

I know I'm a week late, but I had to post these cute Easter Treats that I made (via pinterest) for my students.