Sparkle!

Love it!!  I'll leave you with this for tonight...SPARKLE!

I Have a Dream...

Those famous words have been heard among my class this week.  We've had a great discussion about Martin Luther King, Jr. and his accomplishments as well as completed a variety of activities.

My favorite book to read is Martin's Big Words.

This book is also a video on Discovery Education which my school has a subscription.  It really brings it to life for my students.  They just love it!  I looked and found several on youtube.  This looks like the same one we watched.

Another of my favorite books is My Brother, Martin.

We completed some activities from Erin Eberhart's MLK free mini unit which is fabulous.  It really gets the kids thinking. Check it out here!

Then, the entire second grade made these cute little I Have a Dream people, and we make a big bulletin board out of them.  They are very old and I don't have a source, I'm sorry!   You could probably make a quick template.

I have a dream...

"to have at least ten kids so their kids can have lots of aunties"

"for my family and friends to get along"

"of being a police officer to help other people and my family"

"that when I grow up I will be a firefighter so that the world can be safe."

"I want people and children to be nicer and not mean to each other"

I always let the students listen to Dr. King's famous speech.  You can find it here on teacher tube.  It's interesting for the students to hear his voice along with the speech and see what it really looked like.

I Have A Dream Speech

We also had the students reflect on what they learned about Martin and the message that he wanted to share.   This is from an old Mailbox magazine!

Here's my favorite:

"Learning about Dr. King has taught me he's a man of his word.  He taught me to be respectful to everyone."

I really enjoy the conversations that you can have with kids about Martin Luther King, Jr. and the segregation that occurred.  The students are just shocked and stunned.  It also really upsets them how African Americans had to go to different schools.  It usually really riles them up because we have a very diverse class and they say how they can't imagine our class without everyone!

Have a great weekend!!

Acrostic Fun

Do your students like writing poetry?  My students love love love writing acrostic poems.  They've gotten very creative and their phrases and sentences have started to include more details!  Here are some free templates that I made for winter acrostic poems!  I hope you can enjoy them with your class.

Click here to download them!!

I'm linking these up with Freebie Friday!  Pop on over and check out all the other great freebies!!

Tell me Something Good!

I'm linking up with Jennifer at Rowdy in First Grade.  I thought this would be a great positive way to start off the week!

Something good at school-  I have a pretty good class this year.  It's nice to be at school and just simply enjoy the children and have fun teaching them.  I feel like we've started to really build a solid welcoming community.  We started Pennies for Patients this week and I just gave a brief little speech about helping kids that are sick and need help.  I emptied the change from my wallet and put it in the box.  Kids started putting money that they had brought for the school store.  It just melted my heart.  They are so excited about finding change around the house and bringing it in.  This just brings a huge smile to my face.  

Something good at home-  We're planning a fun trip with some friends this spring and I'm pretty stoked about that! :)  I love vacations!


Go link up and tell us something good!!!

Making Addition and Subtraction Facts Fun!!

The CCSS state that all second graders should be fluent in addition and subtraction facts to twenty.  We are having a hard time getting our students to master all these facts.  Very few students are practicing at home despite sending notes home and giving students and parents a plethora of activities to make practicing math facts fun.  We are also noticing that students really think they do know their facts fluently.  Here are some fun ways to help your students practice their facts:

Addition and Subtraction Rap and Rock DVDs.  (We got these from our local library!)

I've also seen some video clips I found on youtube:

Here's the add and subtract body part dance:

Flash cards!  Student get with a partner and quiz each other.  They make piles of ones they know and ones they don't know.  I go around and see if I can say them faster than them so show them how fast they need to know them.  Flashcards are their supply list and they can be found at that the dollar store.

Time Tests

We give out time tests each week.  Students have to pass mixed test of easy addition, easy subtraction, hard addition, hard subtraction and mixed tests.  At this point in the year I don't have anyone who has passed all the tests.  Once they pass all the tests they get their picture taken and have it hung on the Math Master Hall of Fame!

Games! Games!  Games!

Bump is a great game where students practice adding three dice.  I have some FREE winter bump mats in my TpT store.  Check them out here.

Some other games to play:

Beat the Calculator

I Have, Who Has...

Game Board Races using flash cards

Memory Match

Check out my Winter Addition Fact Fun if you're looking for some ideas!

These games can all be played with cards:

Addition War

Addition Top- It

Make a Number

Great math websites:

Math Magician Addition

Math Magician Subtraction

Math Machine

Addition Baseball

We also send notes home to parents encouraging students to practice their facts at home and providing suggestions.  

Do you have any other ideas for helping students master math facts?

Woo Hoo!!

Congrats to the winners of my first little giveaway!!

Lisa from Growing Firsties

Najat

Jessica from Literacy Spark

Please email me (smilesfrom2ndgrade@hotmail.com) and let me know what two items you would like from my TpT store!!

Is anyone else just so darn exhausted?  I feel like I can't even function.  My husband (also a teacher) is sleeping on the couch next to me already! Hahaha

I would probably be sleeping but....Dance Moms starts in a few minutes so I've told myself I'm going to get some work done and watch!  Anyone else loves Abby and Dance Moms?!  I know, it's definitely a guilty pleasure...the train wreck I just can't look away from!

Hope you had a great day!!

Music while Planning and Giveaway!!

My OLW for the month of January is HAPPINESS.  I want to find the happiness in life all around me. Don't get me wrong, I consider myself a happy person, however, I want to find little joys in each day and just truly embrace and love life as well as everyone around me!  

Today, as I was working on some lesson plans ( see, this post is a little education-related), I was rocking out listening to my iTunes library.  Music just makes me plain happy!  Anyone else??  Here are a few of my favorite songs to jam out to recently.  I hope you enjoy some some of them.  What songs are you loving lately?  I have an iTunes gift card from Christmas and I'd love to get some new jams to rock out to enjoy! :)

Some Nights  By: Fun
Just can't get enough of this song!  Love the rhythm/beat.


Hey Ho! By: The Lumineers




Walk Down This Mountain By:  Bebo Norman
It's a Christian song- might not be your thing, but it's really really good!



On My Own  From:  Les Miserables
(Have you seen the movie?  Loved it!!)

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Fly Away By:  Sugarland I love love love Sugarland!  This is not their most popular, but I LOVE IT!
Dynomite  By: Taio Cruz I know this isn't new or anything- but I just love it! Ok, well congratulations if you made it all the way to the end of this post!  I hope that you liked some of my music choices!   I realized these aren't even new songs.  I've been listening to Christmas music for so long, I don't even think I know what is on the radio now!  As you can see, I love a wide variety of music!  I'd love any suggestions!!
Don't forget to about my sale going on until Monday!

Click here to go my store!
Click here to go back to the post where you can win two free items from my store!  All you have to do is be a follower and leave a comment telling me so!
Happy Sunday!! Have a great week!