Where have I been?!

I'm apparently really great at having both an attention issue and a memory issue. I both forgot I had this blog and whenever I remembered, I would write half of a post and then have a "SQUIRREL!" moment.

I'm going to change. I swear I can! :)

So what have I been up to this year? Here is the year so far in photos!

October:

Kiddos made their own compare story problems and then made them into a solve and check flip game! We posted them in the halls and passerby's could try and figure it out!

Throughout October, I also spent time reading this amazing book, "Freeing Your Child from Anxiety" by Tamar E. Chansky. I found some really powerful ideas and tips in this book. it was great to recommend to parents as well! Really puts things into perspective. 

November:

November brought lots of fun! One amazing reading strategy that we used was using highlighter tape! We used highlighter tape to pre-read our stories. Pink for words we couldn't pronounce and blue for words we didn't know the meanings of. It made the kiddos help each other out more than me stepping in. 

Later in the month, we became surgeons! I printed a bunch of words that could be turned into contractions. The kiddos wore surgery masks and had to cut out the words, make an "incision" where the apostrophe would go, and the use a band-aid as the apostrophe! They were so engaged and definitely know their contractions!

December:

December always feels short and fast with our winter break. One thing I did to prepare us for break was making these amazing take home science kits! The kids loved them and parents even emailed me to let me know how nice it was to have something to do on those boring days! You can find the directions for this project (made by the TPT-er Teach-A-Roo) here!

One amazing thing that we did get done before we headed off to break was our Children's Hospital drive! Every year the kiddos in 2nd grade that donate toys for our Children's Hospital Toy Drive blow me away. My car was packed! And all was paid with their allowance! Selfless, amazing kids.

January:

We got back from break and hit the ground running! First, we spent some time working on our New Year's resolution. We made this adorable foldable, added some glitter, and hung them up for all to see! You can find this FREE TPT find from Rachel Lamb here!

Later in the month, we spent some time working on MLK Jr. We had such an inspiring and beautiful week learning all about MLK Jr. I just love how the students embraced his words and were appalled at what was such a sad time in our history. I love even more that they will continue to carry on his legacy and treat every person with kindness, compassion, and love. "Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." 

February: 

Ah, the month of love. Always fun with the itty bittys. The 100th day of school landed the same week as Valentines. It was BUSY. The kiddos came into our room through this super fun door, we made crowns, and they each got a gift from me to celebrate them being "o'fish'ally" 100 days smarter! :)

When Valentine's Day rolled around that week, the kiddos got this fun little Valentine from me. I love puns, glitter, and light up things. 

March:

In March, we started learning about geographical features. I wanted something that could later correlate with our rock/earth science unit. This foldable did a nice job of just touching on rocks ad formations, while keeping with our social studies work.

St. Patricks Day rolled around and I found myself both sick (really sick) but motivated to celebrate like the true Irish person I am! (Or at least I tell myself I'm Irtish in March each year...) The crayon paper is a note to kiddos that I slip into their report cards. The report cards are hard to read so this is something just for them. The next picture is Lucky Charms graphing! So much fun incorporating St. Patrick's Day fun into our math unit! Bottom left is Lucky Charms Treats! I couldn't taste then but I heard they were great! Finally, that's wasabi. It's one of the many things I tried to use to heal myself that week from what I was told was a cold and ended up being a killer sinus infection.

One major learning project I took on in March was a study on Navajo rugs, Our literacy story was all about goat hair being turned into a Navajo rug. First, we brainstormed what we already know about rugs and then we compared our literacy story to a YouTube clip about Navajo rug making. Next, we talked about symmetry in the designs, designed our own rugs, and read an article about the Navajo Indians. Finally, we took a yuca root and mashed it up to make the soap that the Navajo Indians use to wash the wool! It was a lot of messy fun. 

As a finale to the rug week, we learned that crushed up bugs can make dye (upper left), we wrapped wool around a spindle (upper right), then carded and stretched wool (lower left), and finally felt what straight, carded wool feels like! It was a super fun, hands-on experience that the kids loved! 

PHEW! And now, it's April! My goal is to be a bit more consistent with blogging and to FINALLY get my TPT set up for selling. Right now, everything is FREE...so you should go get at it now.

I also have to laugh for a second because at the end of my last blog entry, I said this: "Teaching Kati Lesson: I'm not setting blogging deadlines for myself anymore. Totally pointless. I would rather devote my time to my kiddos and only blog when I have something really great to share. Trying to come up with things to blog about it too much of a full-time job when I already have a full-time job!" Good to know I stuck to it! hahaha

Teaching Kati Lesson: You should all just look at my more consistently used Instagram. CLICK HERE FOR IT!

~Kati