Halloween's A Brewin' In Our Room

I am sure that Halloween is full force in all classrooms right now. I had to share some pics of what my kiddos have been up to for this spooky holiday. First we did a pumpkin character book project. They had to read a book on their level and create a character from their book from a pumpkin. I have to say they came out pretty darn cute.

Then we have been using my Boo To You Halloween Packet from TPT. Here are some of the games from it we played:

Part of Speech Sort

Web of Facts Addition Game

 

Cupcake ABC Order (please excuse the blur)

 

Haunted Verb Tense

 

Also included is this haunted house craftivity that can pretty much be used for anything. We used it for common and proper nouns since that is what we are studying.

 

 

This by far was my favorite thing we did from my packet. I wrote a story about a cat (included) and after we read it the kids wrote their own story about a cat they made up. They had a candy rubric to go by. So if they had all capital letters correctly they got tootsie rolls, etc. Included are directions and a template to make this cute cat treat holder. When they were out of the room I read their stories and filled their treat holders.

 





We also wrote about a witch crash and made this adorable witch craftivity that I bought on TPT. Notice the lovely banner I made with my Cameo.

 

Everything in my TPT store is on sale through the 31st. You can get my Boo To You packet for just $5.20 right now. I know Halloween is tomorrow but it's never too early to start stocking up for next year!

Halloween Sale Linky

I am hosting a Halloween Sale running from October 29th-October 31st. Everything in my store will be 20% off for those 3 days. If you want to link up please join in!

 

 

Even and Odd and the Gummy Bear Dance???

So I finally completed the famous even and odd street with my class this year. I know everyone has seen this but just in case you haven't you have to click here to get the template for free from The Teacher Wife. Here is a picture of how ours turned out:

Now I have a question for all of you. Have you heard or seen the gummy bear dance? We take a lot of tests on Fridays and yesterday I remembered that I had pinned some brain breaks on Pintrest. (Don't you love that you pin so much you forget about half of it)? Well I pulled this gummy bear dance up expecting it to be too silly for 2nd grade and oh my word they loved it. Remember when you used to go to dances when you were younger and when a certain song came on everyone got up and did the moves to it? Well, that is what it was like in my class on Friday. I press play and the next thing I know all of my kids are standing at the front of the room in a big group doing these moves to this I'm a Gummy Bear song. It was cracking me up. Just curious if it is a Tennessee thing.
Click on the picture to be taken to the video. Try playing it for your class if you haven't already and see what happens. Maybe I'm just getting old and am not up on what's hip any more : )

Common Core Winner and New Freebie Blog

I am so excited to announce two things. One, I have been invited to be a part of the new Second Grade Freebie blog. You can get so many wonderful resources here absolutely free and pretty much a new one every single day. Head on over and check it out. Make sure you become a follower. You wouldn't want to miss out!!

 

Second, it is time to announce the winners of my common core for the whole year packets.

 

 

Congrats ladies!!!

 

If you didn't win and you just really want to own this (which I hope you do) you can purchase it here for 15% off for the rest of the week.

 

Have a great rest of the week!

Plural Noun Freebie and Common Core Math Giveaway

We are learning all about plural nouns and all of the lovely rules that go along with them this week. With it being fall I decided to make a plural pumpkin patch. Each kiddo got a pumpkin with a singular noun written on it. They had to write the plural form and then we sorted them by the rule they followed. Click on the picture for the patterns that you can download for free.

My common core math packets have been a huge hit in my TPT store. There are 4 different ones that cover all math common core standards. Well I finally took the time to bundle them into one packet. Buying the bundle will save you a little and will have you covered in math for the entire year. I worked so hard on these packets and have gotten great feedback on them soooooo I want to giveaway not one but TWO of the entire packet bundles. This is priced at $18.75 in my shop and contains 347 pages. There are several options to enter. You can follow my blog and TPT store for 1 entry each, you can pin the giveaway for 5 entries, and you can blog about the giveaway for 10 entries. You have to provide the names you follow by and the links to your pin or blog post. The giveaway will run from today through the 23rd.

You can click on the picture to see this and previews in my TPT store.

Happy Entering
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pintrest Witch

This post has nothing to do with school, BUT I FINALLY completed a Pintrest project that has nothing to do with my classroom and it came out way too cute not to share with you because it was so simple to make. I'll tell you how.

 

First, you use a foam circle and orange and black tulle to make a tutu. I just hot glued them to the foam. I scrunched up close to the bottom of the tulle and glued it down. Since the tulle is meshy you can hold it down hard enough that the glues comes through to hold the whole scrunched up part in place. Here is what the back side will look like. Make sure you let the tulle hang over a bit.

 

 

Next use purple ribbon and glue for the legs. I used green ribbon with orange polka dots for her socks. You just loop it 3 times like this:

 

 

Use a little orange ribbon to make a bow for her shoe and I used thick, sparkly felt for her shoes.

The you just paint your name on a wooden plaque and hot glue it on. I got the lightest one they had so the hot glue would hold it on. Now, I finally broke down and bought myself a Cameo and that is how I made her shoes. I created a stencil to paint my name. I'm sure a lot of you are more artsy than I am so you may not need the help of the Cameo. If you make one be sure to let me know. I would love to see a picture. Here are some more of my front door. I also decorated some pumpkins with black and orange ribbon and put polka dots on one.

 

 



 

Author's Purpose Gallery Walk Freebie

We are studying author's purpose this week and I wanted to get my kids up and moving so I created the author's purpose gallery walk. I'll explain how it works and then if you like it you can download the freebie below.

I first told them what author's purpose was and gave examples. I then called each student up and gave them a star that said either persuade, inform, or entertain.

They then went and sat in a private spot in the room so the others couldn't see which author's purpose they were writing. They wrote something (on scrap paper) that either informed, entertained, or persuaded. When I checked it for accuracy they transferred it to their speech bubble (that I copied on construction paper) and created a portrait to go with it.

For some reason this picture will not download the right way.

 

Here are what some of mine wrote:

Sorry, again for some reason they are side ways : (

 

You can't really read this one but it was my favorite. She had entertain and wrote about buying an elephant at the zoo and it pooping on the floor. She thought it was hilarious when I read it back to her and said the word poop.

 

 

 After everyone had finished they put them on their desks and were given this sheet that I copied front and back:

They walked around to each students' desk and read what they had written. They decided what the author's purpose was and filled in their paper. The student's name goes on the first line and entertain, inform, or persuade goes on the last last. So it might say: Hudson is trying to inform or Brook is trying to entertain.

 When everyone had their answers they each read what they had written out loud and told the class what their author's purpose was so the others could check their answers. Finally they colored and glued their star on. If you want a copy click on the picture below to get yours for free.

Let me know what ya think!

The Fabulous Product Swap

So it is time for the popular product swap hosted by Jessica over at Mrs. Stanford's Class.

Are you looking for a great way to teach fables to your class? If so, you have to try out the Fabulous Fables Mini Unit from Carmela at Diary of a Teachaholic.

In this unit you will be reading several popular fables and completing a graphic organizer sheet or story map for each one. My kids loved finding out which fable we would be reading the next day. Here are a couple of pictures of her graphic organizers that we used.

The best part is at the end of the unit the students get to make up their own fable about a fox and make this adorable fox writing craftivity.

 

Her 21 page packet it well worth the $2.00. You should definitely check it out for yourself. Make sure you also take a look around Jessica's blog to hear about all of the other wonderful swaps that took place. I would love for you to read what Carmela had to say about my Vocabulary Word of the Day packet.

 

 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I am going to try to since tomorrow is the last day of my Fall Break.