Youth Art Month: YAM!!!

This is the second year in a row our school has celebrated Youth Art Month better known as "YAM". We have a very excited and motivated art teacher, Mrs. Hall. Our theme this year was "Two Birds of a Feather YAM together. Check Out Youth Art Month:

*Yammy: Each class went by and stuffed "Yammy" with different color tissue paper. Check out the finished product. So cool!!!

There were so many fun and educational activities that got the students excited about "The Arts".

Here are a few:

Flash Mob during lunch

Bring your "feather friend" to lunch (paper bird)

The great backyard bird count

Bird Art during Mrs. Hall's Art Class

We created a peacock inspired bulletin board

Fine Arts Night:

Parents came to our classroom to view their students art work from the year. Our class created portfolios with their picture on the front. We punched a hole and tied ribbon through all of the artwork. We then hung them all in the hall as if they were on display in an art gallery.

The entire 2nd grade put on a awesome performance. They sang all "bird themed" songs such as; Rockin' Robin and I believe I can Fly! It was the best!!! 

As we near the end of this school year there are tons are of events happening here at APS. So stay tuned for more......

For the love of Technology

 The word of the decade is..Technology, it is EVERYWHERE. I am pleased to say we use technology on a daily basis in our classroom. I have added a tab to our classroom blog called "Learning Links". You can click the tab to find several links to great educational websites. The list will be updated and grow as time goes on. One link I want to explain a little it Spelling City. IT IS GREAT!!! I can type in our weekly spelling word and students have endless opportunities.

  Check out Spelling City!!!!

Another AWESOME piece of technology that we love is our I PAD. I wrote a grant earlier this year. Our school board funded an IPAD for our classroom!!!! LOVE IT! I do not have a personal IPAD so I am still "playing" and find new APPS everyday. The IPAD is ALWAYS in use.

Our Technology Team has hosted an "APP Party" or "APPY Hour" (if you wish :))! It is a fun time for teachers to share their favorite free and/or purchased APPS. They also share about APPS they are not pleased with or are not what they thought they would be! This is so helpful for people that are not "IPAD Savy"...um ME!

What are your favorite APPS for the classroom? What is your favorite website or piece of technology for the classroom?

Starting Over & This Week...

So, if you have not noticed..within the last couple of weeks my blogposts have disappeared. I was trying to delete/add various things and I must have told the computer to delete ALL OF MY BLOG POSTS! :( So sad! I will just pick up from where I left off and hopefully will find a way to recover past posts.

This week in our classroom:

Grammar Focus: Capital Letters

 Math Focus: Measuring

Inches,Yards, Centimeters, and Meters

We had a little trouble grasping the "Estimate" concept. We were guessing rather than make an "educated guess". So I created this page to help reinforce this concept. We first gather all of our objects. Next, we estimate in inches. Last, we measure in inches.

Complete the same process for the bottom half of the page but with centimeters.

We also compared the lengths.

You can grab a copy of this {Freebie} here. 

There are there is also a blank version where students can choose their own object. Click {here} to download.

Afternoon Lesson:

We are currently reading the book, The Wizard of Oz.  It is a very long book so we are taking it a chapter at a time. We are reviewing story elements as well as Realism and Fantasy

The students are retelling each Chapter as I record their info on the board. At the end of the day, I type up the information and add it to our "Yellow Brick Retelling Road:"

I am also in the process of making several printables/craftivities to incorporate into this book study. Here is a peak at a part of the sequencing book I am currently woking on. Check back soon for the finished product! :)