Movie Premier Success!

Today was our class movie premier to end our Hollywood thematic unit. We had an absolute blast! 

Our "stars" walked down the star walk of fame before entering the "theatre"!

They were happy to see the popcorn popped by the machine!

After watching our class created movies, we presented the actors and actresses with "Oscars"!

You can really see how much fun we had by the aftermath! Haha!

Our Hollywood themed unit was so much fun... I can't wait until next year to try it again!

Grab the unit here!

Using Haiku Deck to Take a Virtual Field Trip!

Tonight I was so excited to explore an amazing ipad app called Haiku Deck. I've been seeing it around for a few weeks, but I'm not going to lie, the name kinda threw me off. I had no idea how AMAZING it was going to be. Just this evening I quickly put together a little slide show to "explore" Hollywood through pictures. I loved the simplicity and ease of the app, but I really love the fact that I can quickly make a slideshow and not run into the chances of innapropriate pictures popping up on the internet/smartboard. If you would like to check out my Hollywood slide show, just click on the picture below:

Another really cool feature is that you can take your own pictures to add to the slideshow. I'm thinking my next Haiku Deck project will include student work! Have fun with your new app... It's really making our Hollywood Unit that much better!  

Teaching Schema, Characters and Narratives with Hollywood!

You can't start out a Hollywood Unit without knowing who does and doesn't like popcorn!

Good readers always use thier schema to make connections to the characters in a book.

 Beginning stages of our hallway display! I downloaded a free "Hollywood" font and cut the letters out by hand. I really need to get one of those cameos!

"Stars of Georgia" on display! 
To integrate social studies with the Hollywood theme, we study the "stars" of Georgia. These posters and much more can be purchased here.

We are using the ipad app "Toontastic" to create our own cartoons. We discussed setting, characters, problem and solution. The kids really love this activity!

How can we call it a Hollywood unit without making a movie? We are also using flip cameras to video our very own classroom movie. The kids came up with the big problem and solution and I helped with writing the script.

The Hollywood theme has been a blast in our room! If you are interested in the unit you can get it here!

Back to School Sale and New Unit!

Visit my tpt store for a back to school blowout! 

Road Trippin' Through the Common Core:

A reading and writing unit that teaches the 5 w's and h as well as beginning, middle and end.

Includes posters for who, what, when, where, how and why!

As well as graphic organizers to help your kids organize thier thinking!

Get it here... Don't forget it's 28% off!

Teacher Week '13 Day 2: Classroom Digs!

I'm linking up again with bloghoppin' for day 2 of teacher week '13: Classroom digs! I know I've already had a classroom reveal and I intended on taking more pics today, but with the chaos of the first full week of school, I totally forgot! So here it is again:

This is my room from the door. Very clean... very simple! I don't like clutter at all, so the more clean, colorful and simple, the better for me. Each table has it's own shelf that includes each child's book box and crayon boxes. We have shared materials as well on each table.

This is the kidney table/guided reading table. Well... I guess you really can't see the table, but you know what it looks like! I keep my guided reading books and materials in the colorful drawers behind the table. This table also serves as my desk.

Empty bulletin boards! In my years of teaching, I've noticed that children don't really use premade posters and bulletin board sets. I leave the bulletin boards completely naked and ready for our anchor charts and student work.

This is my new chevron bookshelf! I really wish I would have taken a pic of the book organization actually on the shelf rather than just the cute painting! haha maybe next year!

Teacher Week '13 Linky Party!

I am so excited to participate in my VERY FIRST linky party! It's all about me, so here I go...

1. I teach in a small town in Georgia. Even though we are a "small" town we have seven 2nd grade classrooms!
2. I grew up in Alabama!
3. My favorite thing to do on a saturday is barrel race!

4. I'm married to a cowboy!

5. I help organize the Wednesday Night Kids program at our church!
6. I have the CUTEST 3 year old ever!

7. I love my family!
8. I'm really, really scared of snakes.
9. I've taught for 10 years.
10. I LOVE MY JOB! 

I survived!

Well fellow teachers... I survived the first day! I'm exausted, but had a wonderful day of candy themed fun! Today we used bubble gum as our candy of choice. The students graphed who can blow a bubble, wrote how to blow a bubble and even created a craft of us blowing a "bubble". Check it out:

I saw somthing similar to the really cute bubble gum picture graph on pinterest this summer! One of the first grade teachers at my school gave me the how to writing idea... genius! The personal graph is part of my candy back to school unit.

Hope any of you other teachers who had your first day had a wonderful one!

Nonfiction Text Features

I'm so excited to teach the nonfiction text features through a thematic unit about roller coasters! Besides learning about nonfiction texts, the students will learn 6 major science terms with experiments to go along with them. It's going to be so much fun! 

You can get the unit here!

Classroom Reveal!

I've been working, working, working all week on my new second grade classroom. As usual, I kept with my candy theme, but really tried hard to keep it simple and clean appearing. Here are some pics:

 This is my room from the door. It looks pretty simple, but once the little people get here it will be full of fun and excitement!

My blank bulletin boards! I always start my year off with blank boards. Before you know it, they will be filled with anchor charts and evidence of learning!

This is my guided reading table/area. I keep my sets of books in the colorful drawers. I also use this area as my desk. Above the blue bulletin board it says, "reading is thinking"... taken from the all time best book ever written! 

 Last, but not least... my newly painted chevron bookshelf! Isn't this the cutest? I love it! One of the girls at my church painted it and it makes me happy every time I see it.