Top Turkey

Hi!

I’m over at Second Grade Freebies talkin’ turkey today.

Head on over for a free {and SUPER EASY math game}!

-Halle

Linking up: My Teaching Tip

Hidy-Ho!

I’m linking up with Miss Kindergarten {and tons of other fabulous bloggers} to offer up one of my best teaching tips.  Well, I at least think it’s pretty neat.

I present to you the Extra Copies Bin!



The Extra Copies Bin was actually my cooperating teacher’s idea, but the minute I saw it in action I knew I needed to have it in my own room one day!

The concept is simple: Anytime my paper passers or mailbox person has extras of any paper, they place it in the Extra Copies Bin.  After a few weeks of training me reminding students to check the Extra Copies Bin, students stop telling me they need a paper and head straight over to the bin instead.  It’s pure magic.

I clean it out every few weeks.  Some of the sheets I keep and file {like the president one above}, others I recycle, and some become free draw paper.  I also love it because I never end up with any piles of papers on my desk {well, almost never}.

This bin has saved me when I needed a lunch menu or school calendar last minute, or when one of my grade partners needs an extra copy of an assignment.  It’s a true time saver in more ways than one.

Here she is in all her glory!

I hope this helped a few of you out there swimming in papers!

Now go link up with your own genius tips so I can steal borrow them!


~Halle

Community Fun

Hi Ya’ll!

I can say that now.  I just spent 4 beautiful days in magical Charleston.  

Obsessed wouldn’t begin to cover it.  I am southern at heart.  I just know it.

The Mr. and I at House of Brews in Mt. Pleasant.  If you’re in town & love craft beer, check it out!! 

As hard as it was to come back from Charleston, we’ve been having so much fun at school, that I didn’t drag my feet in the sand too much…

{I lie. I totally did.}

We’re learning about the 3 types of communities in our classroom.  I always really enjoy this unit, because we do so many fun things to learn about them. 

Time has been an issue all year, so in an effort to save some of it, I whipped up a little communities lesson that combined letter writing with the types of communities {although, there are soooo many activities you could neglect the letter portion all together if it doesn’t suit your fancy}

Here’s a look at what we’ve been up to…





My student teacher used the picture cards from the unit as a sort.  Our kiddos loved it…they love anything that seems like a game.  Skip counting SPARKLE?  Count them in!

After we reviewed communities by doing the sort, it was time to write some letters.



My student teacher handed out the small picture cards {these exact ones are NOT in my unit, but others are}.  She had a visual representation of all three communities.  Students had to use that picture to write a letter to someone about their assigned community.  They were allowed to use their graphic organizers {provided}.





Some of them pretended they lived in their assigned community, and wrote from that perspective.  Others wrote from a more informational angle.  We left it up to them.

Once they were done writing their letter, they used the {provided} checklist to make sure their letter had all its parts.

Then it was time to mail them.





As you can see, we didn’t go the route of addressing the envelope.  That’s a WHOLE OTHER lesson for another time.  {3rd Grade, maybe?}

We also stamped our letters, and sent them to our mailbox for delivery.



The letter portion of the unit was designed to be the culminating event, but we have a little extra time before moving on to the next unit, so this week we’ll be going on a magazine photo hunt for image representations of the different communities.  We’re just having too much fun!

If this looks like something that would be up your alley, click the picture to check it out!  And in case I forgot to mention, it's ON SALE till Wednesday :)



Have a good night {ya’ll}

-Halle