Spring is just FLYING by!  There is so much going on in my classroom and at home that I wish there was a pause button in real-life.  We have butterflies growing, we just finished our spring play, and I feel like there is so much more I need to get in before school lets out in FIVE short weeks!  And on the home front...my sister is getting married in SIX days.  I absolutely cannot wait!  However, I am so NOT looking forward to toasting in front of a couple hundred people....talk about butterflies growing.  And on top of that, I'm trying to buy a house! (Does anyone else find this process completely exhausting?!) So this girl is ready for some slower times ahead!
Back to some classroom happenings...
We finished up our life cycle unit this week.  Oh my goodness how my 2nd graders loved watching the caterpillar's grow!  So fun.  We are letting them go tomorrow, hopefully it stays warm!  On Thursday we made fun hats showing the life cycle of a frog.




You can download the activity from my TPT store now!  Just click the link below :)

                                   

Also, we finished up our study of fables on Friday.  We had a class debate on who was better: the tortoise or the hare?  The kids got so into it!  They were using evidence from the text and thinking of all sorts of good things to say!  After the debate we finished with a little persuasive writing and craftivity!  (I'll try to get these uploaded to TPT tomorrow...they are on my school computer and I am at home :))



And in celebration of Earth Day....I have a FREEBIE for you all!  Maybe you can find a way to incorporate it into your day tomorrow or sometime this week!
                          
I'm off to enjoy the rest of my Sunday!  Hope everyone has a great week!  (Only 5 Mondays left!)

We have been studying fairy tales like crazy, and let me just say, my kids are LOVING it!  We've read a few as a class and my students are reading others independently and discussing them in their book clubs.  One of our grade level standards is to compare and contrast different versions of the same fairy tale.  So tonight, I'm here to share with you some favorite versions of mine!  I start out by reading the "classic" version first and then we read a newer or different version.

First up the classic...Cinderella!

This is my favorite version of the classic story of Cinderella.  The pictures are awesome too!
My favorite re-make version of Cinderella is....

Oh my gosh, you guys, it is SO funny!  The kids laugh so hard (and I might laugh pretty hard too).  Bigfoot Cinderella's stepsisters make her smell good and wear flowers, when all she wants is to be dirty and stinky.  After reading this my class starting checking out books all about bigfoot and if bigfoot is real, so great!

Next up is Hansel and Gretel!  This is my personal favorite.  I don't know why I like it so much because it is actually really creepy, I think I love how much my students hate the witch!

My favorite classic version.

I recently discovered this version that takes place in an African jungle.  Holy moly, the pictures are so fun!  It also goes along perfectly with our study of the 7 continents.

This last one is pretty classic, but the pictures are funny, funny, funny!

And just for kicks, a pretty cool version I found of Jack and the Beanstalk, which my boys are just loving, is a graphic novel of the classic tale!

Hopefully you and your students might be able to take advantage of some of these!  I'm off to bed to rest up for some second grade play rehearsals tomorrow!  Have a happy Wednesday!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!  I had such great intentions to publish my post on Friday, but time just slipped away from me and the weather was so AMAZING I couldn't bring myself to my computer!  So here I am...two days later updating you on my week :)

1. I busted out the Play-Doh this week for my students to build 3D shapes with.  (And to work some fine motor skills....even in second grade we need to practice this!)


2. I found these super cute tin buckets from the dollar section of Target....for 30 CENTS! Not sure what I will use them for, but a girl can never have too many extra containers on hand.


3.  We kicked off our week back from spring break with our unit on Fairy Tales. We are LOVING it.  To spice things up a little bit, on Friday I had my students write a letter to a character in one of the fairy tales we read.  You guys, these letters were hilarious!  My personal favorite was the letter that one of my students wrote to the "stepmom/witch" in Hansel and Gretel.  It was one of our read-alouds this week and during our whole class conversation all of my students thought the stepmom was also the witch because when Hansel and Gretel return home to their father the stepmom has died....has anyone else heard this theory?  Great inferring by some second graders!  And of course after we wrote the letters we had to make some crowns for fun!




4.  What's New in Grade 2! is on Instagram!  Go follow and join the fun!


5.  Spring has finally sprung!  The weather the past few days has been amazing!

Ok now I'm off to bed.  This weekend was full of busy-ness!  I hope everyone has a great week!

Oh boy!  It has been a while since my first post.  I got wrapped up in Parent Teacher Conferences, snow days, field trips, and data and didn't have much extra time to sit down with this little blog of mine!  Now that it's spring break (and there are 10 inches of snow outside my window!) I've got some updates for you!  We kicked off our study of fractions last week.  In 2nd grade we learn about halves, thirds, fourths, sixths, and eighths and equivalent fractions.  I started the unit by reading the book "Fraction Fun".  I only read some of it to my kids because some of it was just over their heads!  


 Thanks for stopping by!  I'll be back later this week with some reading response fun!

Today I had a SNOW DAY (does it get better than a snow day??) so I thought it was a perfect time for me to say "Hello!" to the blogging world!  I've been inspired by teaching blogs and teacher bloggers alike, so I decided it was time for me to join the fun.  I spent my first year teaching first grade and now I am more than halfway done with my second year of teaching in 2nd grade.  I am no expert on anything, but I can't wait to share some of my tricks and ideas with you!  So I hope you'll join in the fun!  

Power Word Posters