I am a Scientist!

WE LOVE SCIENCE!  It is one of mine and my students favorite subjects.  Everything is hands on and at this age kids are SO curious about the world around them.  As I moved up to 2nd grade this year, to a much smaller room, I knew that not having my science area was a non-negotiable to me!

To start off, we of course made our journal.  I used these cutie FREE science notebook labels.

  I also just found these and these.  Wish I had found them earlier!

AND we will be doing these next year:

I can't stand the cuteness of that!!  :D  So Fun

  I love to do a read aloud for every subject.  It can be a little tricky at times to find a R/A that is not too wordy and long in science.  This book is a great introduction.

This year I also bought an Albert Einstein to sit on our science shelves.  Keeping his eye on the students as they work at the science table.  :P

He's pretty darn cute!  He's got wild, crazy hair.  I like that in a scientist!

I guess because I used to be a Kinder teacher, I just like to dress up.  So, I donned my lab coat, safety googles and sat down to introduce my students to science and science safety.  

We signed our safety contract (found it here for FREE) and drew a picture of ourselves with our safety gear on.  

I love how this sweet angel labeled her "smile".  "Because I just love science, Mrs. Cameron!"  Preciousness.

All about me!

Several years ago, while I was teaching 1st grade, I made this All About Me poster to introduce myself to my kidos.  I used to be an obsessive scrapbooker back in the day so I dug through my old scrapbook supplies and whipped this puppy together. I still love how it turned out!

We started our day reading/watching this:

I say watching because I couldn't find my book at the last minute!  So we watched a youtube version of it.  I'm not a BIG fan of youtube read books.  Unless you watch them ahead of time you just never know what you're going to get.  I always think to myself that I should make youtube recordings of myself reading but seriously, who has the time for that!  :D 

I always love to send home an "All About Me" bag every year as a way for the kidos to share things that are special to them with their classmates.  What has notoriously always happened in the past was that the bag would be filled with mostly toys.  I found this cute FREE note to attach to their bags.

I wasn't sure if it would be "enough" variety for the children but they really did an amazing job last week sharing all about themselves.  We completed our All About Me unit with this awesome All About Me app from Simply Second Grade!  Love, love, love how it turned out!

l-o-v-e the gymnast!  (#6)

First Week of Math

I love me some Amy Lemons at Step into Second Grade.  Because I am brand new this year to 2nd grade, her blog has been a life-line for me!  I'm planning on doing everything Amy does!  She's a Texas teacher and a rockstar up there with my Cara Carroll and Reagan Tunstall!  :D

I can tell that Amy really likes to teach Math.  She comes up with some amazing ideas to get kidos engaged in a fun, interactive way!  Love that about her!

We used her great ideas on Tools vs Toys.  The kidos loved sorting the items and it really has struck home with them.  Not that I haven't caught an occasional little one building a tower with his base ten blocks but for the most part they have been really good!  :D

We also used her AMAZING idea of Silent Puzzles!  Wow, that was a big challenge for us to do the first week of school but we did it.  Collaborative grouping is such a great way to engage learners.  You really see leadership that bubbles up to the top or the followers that just do whatever someone tells them to do or the one that wants to only work by themself.  It's all very telling to me.  

Erin Condren Rocks!

Y'all, have you heard of Erin Condren???  Her planners are insane!  She has teacher, wedding and life planners. Because I have to do all my plans on-line for my administration, I decided to stick with the life planner.  Oh, the color choices, stickers, colored pens and extra goodies that you can order to personalize your planner made a very "non-planner" person (me)  want to salivate!

Go to Erin's website, customize your cover, choose your layout and start planning away!  The choices are endless!  And you get your planner quick!  I was amazed that with everything that I had personalized, I received my planner 4 days after I had ordered it on-line!  

I also have ordered some more fun stickers for my planner from Planner Press through Etsy.  Excited for them to come in.  :D

BTW, I thought that you could only get Erin's planners on-line but just saw that you can pick up some of her products at Staples!?!  F-U-N!

What the Teacher Wore

I'm quite often asked where I get my clothes or jewelry so I thought it would be fun to post from time to time about what I wear for school! I've always LOVED fashion and dressing up! When I was in college I was the girl running in high heels from dorm to class! Haha! 

So, as a lower elementary teacher, I've never felt the need to dress down just because I taught a lower grade. 

My feeling is, if you want to be treated as a professional, conduct yourself as one and dress like one. ;D

Navy linen jacket: Target , White high low blouse: my teenagers closet ;D,  Navy and White striped skirt: Old Navy 

Shoes: Prada, Necklace: Africa 

Photo Credit:2nd grader :D

Math Camp Teacher Workshop

This past summer, I also got the chance to share a fun and exciting way to get kidos excited about their upcoming district benchmark.  See my previous blog post here to see what it looks like "live".  :D

You know it's a K-1 workshop when there are tents, sleeping bags, camping sounds playing over the PA and smore's for a snack!

We had so much fun engaging teachers in a way that hopefully will get them excited about bringing Math Camp to their campus!

Guided Reading Workshop

In August I had the honor of teaching a workshop for my district.  I was so excited to share my passion for Guided Reading with my colleagues but was very nervous about presenting!  So, I channeled my inner Cara Carroll and Reagan Tunstall, put on my Kendra Scott earrings and gave it my best!  :D 

This year our district administration decided to change how we structure our literacy time.  Specifically, our Guided Reading time.  The new goal:  Read with Every Child, Every Day!  To me that is a home run!  If anyone wants to know more specifics about how we will accomplish this very lofty goal, give me a holler and I'll be glad to share!  In the meantime, we are diving into a whole new way of doing things!