End of Year Wrap Up

Sweet summertime has come at last!  I must say I love my job and my students, but I look forward to summer break just like every one else.  The last week of school is really something...  I leave school each day mentally and physically exhausted!  There are so many fun activities and so much going on in my little mind I had to take basically all day Saturday to recover from the festivities. :)  Here is a little wrap up of our last two days of school...

On Thursday we went to the beach!  We got to see a really neat movie about the Channel Islands, hear a ranger talk, go on a native plant scavenger hunt, check out the visitor center and tide pool tank, and enjoy the ocean view from the lookout tower.  After our tour was over we headed to the beach for lunch and some sandy, wet fun!  It was a memorable day for all!  Thank you parents for diving and chaperoning. We love you!

On the last day of school we met with our study buddies one last time and created these adorable Watermelon People.  Aren't they just so dang cute!?

My heart is certainly full from a wonderful year.  The end of the year is always a little bitter sweet because as my students move on to third grade they always take a little piece of my heart with them.  Thank you parents and students form making this year so special in too many ways to count!  Have a wonderful summer and I will see you next fall!

With a heart full of love,

Today is Beach Day!

Yahoo!  We have been waiting 179 school days for this day to come!  

Don't forget to wear layers, pack a sack lunch, bring water, sunscreen, a hat, and a beach towel. :)  Parent drivers, first of all thank you for making this trip possible and I will see you all at about  8:30 in room 8.  We plan to leave school by 8:45.  Looking forward to seeing you all soon and hoping the sun will shine down on us. :) 

If I Could "PICK"le Any Class...

I'd "PICK"le YOU!

lol :) Havin' fun, keppin' kids engaged, and still learnin'!  

Today we taste tested pickles, made Pickle People for a pictograph, and wrote about our experience.  

I have to giggle as I tell about this silly adventure, but it was sure a hit!  

Which makes me and my little loves happy campers!  

I can't help but smile. :) How funny are those Pickle People!? 

Second Grade is "Berry" Sweet

Woo-wee!  What a day!  Note to self... must.take.vitamins. (and drink lots of coffee) to make it through the last week of school!  Ha! Any-who... we have been having a "berry" good and crazy fun time in room 8!  Today we celebrated each precious student with personal class awards.  Seeing the kiddos' faces light up as I described their award and called their name was such a joy!  Not only did everyone get special recognition, but everyone got a Blowpop for blowing me away with their amazing work and growth this year. :)  Gotta love the little things right!?

Oh my word!  Look at these little angels drinking Jitter Juice on the first day of school!
My how we have grown! (And  come out of our shells:)

As I announced the awards the kiddos snacked on strawberries and "berry" sweet juice.  SO much fun!  And the spontaneous hugs absolutely melted my heart. <3 

To keep with the sweet berry theme, we then made this adorable strawberry craftivity telling about the "berry" best part of second grade.  My plan is to keep these cuties and make a book to read to my new second graders next year (sniff).  

Oh my cuteness!

I just had to share this cuteness overload!  For my graduate class I am conducting a research project on reading centers and The Daily 5.  I asked my students to help me gather data by participating in a survey about reading perceptions and reading motivation.  Everyone was happy to help me out (yay!) and I just had to share some of their precious responses! Out of the mouths of babes!
Q: Do you like reading?
A: Yes because it makes me smart.
A: Yes because it's good for my brain.

Q: Are you a good reader?
A: Yes because I love it!
A: Yes because I practice.

Q: Do you read at home?
A: Yes because it settles me down.
A: Yes I read from 8:00-8:25

Q: Is reading important?
A: Yes because I want to learn.
A: Yes because you read most everything.
A: Yes because it gives you brain power.

Q: Is reading hard?
A: No because if I find a word I never read I sound it out.  Then I read the sentence so I understand what the word means. (I'm doing a happy dance over here reading this response!)
A: No because I practice!

             

Reading Centers and Tracking Our Math Progress

With the dust of Open House settling, we are now back to a bit of normalcy.  (In an end of school year kinda way! HA!) Here's a little peek at what we've been up to with reading centers this week.   We have been working on the Dive Right In and Investigate the Ocean centers from Swimming Into Second Grade.  (By the way, I'm sot sure if I've mentioned lately how much I love the amazing network of teacher bloggers out there.  They inspire me daily!  In fact they sparked me to start this sweet little blog.  A heartfelt thank you to teacher bloggers everywhere.  You fill my sails!)
Back to our reading center time... :)
We have been working on 9 different centers.  Here are the ones a managed to snap a picture of:

Octopus Antonyms

Shark Facts and Opinions

Sea Turtle Synonyms

Crabby Adjectives

These Ocean Centers have been so perfect!  They kept the students working and engaged which allowed me to complete all of my end of year assessments.  Phew!  Quite a feat if I do say so myself! Each student has made so much growth this year and I am so very very proud of their accomplishments.  Look out third grade here we come!

We have also been working so hard completing all of our end of year Common Core math assessments.  (Also a gem of a resource created by Clutter-Free Classroom) This was definitely a process!  Each morning for a little over a week the students took a few assessments that covered the Common Core math standards.  Then, I quickly graded their work and returned them either that very day, or the following morning.  (The reward was worth working through lunch -for sure!) The reason I was so speedy to return the assessments was because the students graphed their results for each math standards.  This was SUCH a POWERFUL learning experience!  To hear my little BIG :) second graders discussing what concepts they had mastered and which ones they needed to practice was priceless.  It also upped the motivation level to put forth best effort on the assessments each day.  Each assessment had 10 points possible, if they scored 70% or above they showed mastery, 60% or below meant we needed to practice a little bit and try again.  Since we covered all the standards throughout the year most just needed a quick refresher or explanation of what the problem was asking since it was a different format from our usual Saxon math pages.   I have been busy pulling small groups all week to answer questions and reteach where needed, but my most favorite part of this reteaching process was when the students taught each other.  They each self reflected to see what area they needed to practice or what area they could teach to a peer, then we got busy!  SO POWERFUL!  I am 100% sold on the value of student-centered assessments.  They took such ownership of their learning.  I could go on and on about this process because, well, it was extremely effective. :)  I hope you got the gist.  Please look out for your child to bring home their math assessments.