It’s Friday and I should be at a Padres vs. Giants game in San Diego, but I cancelled last minute because this week really wore me out. So instead…I’m spending a Friday night eating Lucky Charms, watching Pretty Little Liars, and catching up on this much neglected little blog for Doodle Bugs weekly linky party.
These last few weeks are flying by and with Open House just around the corner, we are crazy busy in class! This is my first year teaching 2nd grade so we are loving learning about fossils…and dinosaurs!!!
I swear, this resource from Kristen Smith has been a blessing!
It’s insanely jam-packed with writing resources, a ton of research ideas, great centers, fun activities, and so much more! One thing Common Core wants 2nd graders to focus on is research. I printed out dinosaur pages from Enchanted Learning and let my students choose which dinosaur they wanted to study. Letting them choose gives them some ownership and they were so excited to start learning more!
I showed my kiddos how to find interesting facts using the books I purchased. We talked about what would make an interesting fact. I laid out all of my dino books {thank you Scholastic and Dollar Tree} and let the kiddos have at it. I also showed them how to use the internet to research as well. With our new Chromebooks from Donors Choose, it was easy breezy.
These little loves seriously made me feel like a proud momma bear. They were independent, super engaged, and didn’t want to stop when we had to transition to another activity. They were eating.it.up.
Another insanely fun activity was creating fossils using flour, salt, water, and some toy dinosaurs.
This was a first for me so I have a few tips. Don’t multitask, or you’ll end up burning the dough. I’m notorious for burning almost everything I cook. It’s so bad that my Mister jokes that the fire alarm is my timer. Well…keep an eye on the microwave so you don’t end up with a charred one like the one down below!
They had the best time and it was perfect for a little mini-lesson on using adjectives to describe the dough. Plus, their writing after this messy little activity was the best they’d ever done. They all wrote at least 3 pages, which is normally like pulling teeth. They were so proud of themselves!
Testing, testing, and more testing! My kiddos rocked it though! Testing two different grades is a bit crazy though. It made it all worth it when one of my little strugglers thanked me for getting him ready for 3rd grade. It was the most confident he’s been all year.
We’ve has a ton of fun with our Spring activities this entire month. Here’s a peek at what we’ve been up to!
These little directed drawings and watercolors turned our darling. On the back is their creative writing.
I’ve loved my busy week with my little friends this week, but the best thing was getting the go-ahead from my doctor to start “working out” again. I hurt myself pretty bad 18 months ago from a bootcamp workout. There were a bazillion complications, lots of physical therapy, injections, procedures, and chronic pain. Needless to say, it’s been a rough year-and-a-half. I was incredibly active before, worked out 5 days a week, went on gorgeous hiked, and loved to surf. I had a great social life and tons on energy before the accident. I can’t wait to get my life back and feel like a normal person again. And even better…no surgery!!!
I’m still in pain, but was happy to be able to walk 1 1/2 miles. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, especially because I was an avid runner. But it was a huge milestone for me. I took in the salt air with a fully and happy heart last weekend and can’t wait to do the same this weekend!
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SO happy to hear you are doing better!!! You'll get stronger each day!!!
Noelle
I feel your pain my friend…in 2011 I almost shattered my tibia while training for another 1/2 marathon. I was run away from pins and screws the doctor said. I had a pretty pink cast and then a boot for a long time…ugh! I get the whole avid runner thing. I went from running about 7-10 miles every few days to now I can only run about 4.5 at a time or I'm in pain…ugh! I'm glad you are on the right track to be better soon though. xoxox
Vicky