Butterflies!!

Do you love spring as much as me?  All things critters get me excited.  I super excited to share a unit that is close to my heart.  It's one of my first TpT units and a labor of love.  I hope you find it useful. If you click the graphic below, you can access the unit.

If you are in the middle of life cycles then I have a cute little pack perfect for organizing student observations!  I've used this file for several years!  The excitement never gets old!  

But this is a cute freebie you might also like...

I love spring and all its wonders.  My friend created a cute butterfly book today and shared with me.  Since she isn't part of bloggy world, I asked if I could share! If you click the link, it will take you to the download.

Butterfly Book

In addition to our journals, we create a pasta life cycle!  This seems to be the kids favorite project!  The kids are amazed by the simplest things! If you click the video play button, you will see our cute projects.

Combine the above units with my freebie file entitled The Caterpillar That Ate.

Click the graphic to grab the freebie.

 Click Image Above

Happy Teaching!

Newly added in 2019 (ten years after the butterfly unit was 1st created)
Click graphic below to link.

Spring is Hatching

Several weeks ago, I noticed a nest being created in my flower pot.  No bird, No eggs, Just a Nest!  Then...

A week ago, I noticed EGGS!!!

I checked back and captured the mother sitting on her eggs.

ANDDDD

Yesterday, we had five squawking CHICKS!!

10 Things I've Learned from Teaching

1. Create an Ouch Pouch.  Unless it's a gusher, kids realize they really DON'T want to write about their ouch before receiving a band-aid. FYI, They don't have to ask, they just write and receive!

2. Tell kids what you think you might forget.  They WILL remind you at least 100 times before the end of the day!

3. On the flip side, DON'T inform the kiddos about the things you CAN'T follow through with.  They WILL remind you at least 100 times each day of the week until the end of the school year!

4. Rubrics Change Everything!  Embrace, Create, and Teach THEM. Results will follow!!!

5. Learn the Flamingo when wearing open toed shoes.  It will save you from having your metatarsals from being smashed!  Bless our kidlets little loving hearts! 

6. Students will cut, poke, tear, or misplace their eraser.  I  now cut the pink erasers in half at the start of the school year.

7. Allow students to take ownership of their learning and make decisions on what or how they learn.  The rewards will exceed your expectations. 

8.  Hand a student a camera or video recorder and allow your students to capture their classroom from their perspective.  It will teach you a thing or two and GUARANTEE a GIGGLE.

9. Art is soothing to ALL.  Add more projects to your curriculum. 

10. Anticipate 20 minutes but Plan for 30!!  Murphy's Law...

Experience is not what happens to a man, it is what a man does with what happens to him.  ~Aldous Leonar

Interview Project

Diving into content standards, I recently offered kids in my second grade class an opportunity to conduct an interview of an inspirational individual from our community. Students were given a rubric for presentation and shared their projects with the class. I received permission from this darling's mom to post her interview. It is adorable!

Really Good Stuff

  Little Background

The date of the interview was March 13, 2011.  Kalise interviewed Mrs. Maude of Mrs. Maude's School House Museum.  She was born on February 27, 1942.  This retired teacher and civil rights worker has touched the lives of many children.  Truly an inspirational educator!

The Interview Project

Habitat Food Chains

We completed our Habitats Unit!  For this activity, students had to decide which habitat they'd like to illustrate and then determined the order of their chain.  The kids were asked to write a sentence explaining each stage of the chain. After completion, we linked the chains with yarn and attached to a sun from our ceiling.  I'm thrilled with the cascading look!!!

Brady wrote...
The mouse eats the grass seed.
The snake eats the mouse.
The hawk eats the snake.
A coyote eats the hawk.

Tyler wrote...
The plant absorbs the sun.
The crab eats the plant.
The fish eats the crab.
The big fish eats the little fish.

Devin wrote...
The carrot might think its not going to get eaten but it is.
Crunch! The rabbit ate the carrot.
The rabbit might think its not going to get eaten but it is.
Yum! The snake ate the rabbit.
Now, the eagle won the round!
{Eek, isn't this sooo very cute}

Zemira wrote...
The kelp absorbs the sun.
The sea urchin eats the kelp.
The sea gull eats the sea urchin.
The orca ate the sea gull.
{Ohmiword!  I'm beaming with excitement over the vocab!}

Rainforest Parts of Speech Sort

I created a simple parts of speech sort freebie.

Click Image to Download