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Phew! These last few weeks have been a whirlwind! We had so many days off for snow that it was hard to get back into the swing of things once we finally went back to school. Our school system is on a year-round schedule (9 weeks on, 2 weeks off). So, we went back to school for one week after all of our snow days before our spring break began!
The last week before spring break we worked super hard to get in some much needed review (and new skills). We worked mainly on measurement, verb tenses and biographies.
Biographies seemed to not be clicking with my kiddos this year. I struggled to present it to them in a way that they could understand. I finally came up with an interactive activity idea. Now, this is nothing fancy. I'm sure many of you have done something similar to this in your own classrooms. We basically just got into groups (2 per group) and interviewed one another. We came back together and really hit hard what it meant for a text to be a biography. We came up with some different aspects that make a text a biography and made an anchor chart with them. The next step was for the kids to write their own biographies about the person they interviewed.
Okay, I have a confession. I seriously doubted this was going to work in my class. I was so scared to try it and thought it was going to be a major waste of time. BOY was I wrong! They did so well!! I honestly couldn't believe it! I guess that just goes to show you, if you give them something challenging they will rise to the occasion. You can grab this as a freebie on my TpT store!
Forgive me... My anchor chart skills are not the best! This will do until I can make it more cutesy!
We have also been measuring like crazy people! Being a TpT seller has taught me so much over these past few months. One thing I have loved is being able to use other teachers resources in my own classroom. There so, so many awesome resources for measuring. Here are a few of the ones I have been utilizing in my classroom this week.
This awesome unit is from Amy Lemons (who doesn't love what she makes?!). You can grab it here on her TpT Store. My kids loved the beachy theme (and so did their teacher after all the snow!).
This next little goodie is from Jen Cullen (again, who doesn't love her stuff!). You can grab it here on her TpT Store. Loved her safari theme!
Last, is this gem from Marcy over at Saddle Up for 2nd Grade. She also has fabulous resources for a 2nd grade teacher! You can grab this here on her store.
I also read a blog post from Amy Lemons on a super engaging measuring activity she did with her kiddos -- The Measuring Olympics. Once I read this, I knew I had to try it in my own classroom! I got all of our supplies and waited for the perfect day. I planned on doing this activity with my kids in the morning on our last Friday before Spring Break. My wonderful church volunteer would be there and it would be sunny so we could have it outside. Well.... weather never does cooperate with you when you need it to. It poured the morning of our Measurement Olympics! So like any good teacher would do, we adapted and had it inside! (Pure craziness!) I have the recording sheet I made on my TpT store as a freebie. Grab it here!
Please excuse my messy room! I wasn't expecting to take pictures of it that day! Ha! I pushed all of our desks out of the way and made a big space for us to have our Olympics.
Who can pass up a little Frozen tape as a starting line?? :)
Here are the poems that we used. I found a big pack of these at Wal-Mart for 97 cents! I loved how colorful they were.
That about sums up our last week before Spring Break! I am thoroughly enjoying our two weeks off. The first week my husband and I went with his family to the beach. It was cold most of the time but it was so great to get away and relax a little. South Carolina is a beautiful place!
I hope your March has been exciting and filled with learning!
