Beginnings in Philanthropy

November is here and it's community service month. What do you do to help your community? I have a friend who's making blankets for foster children. I love this idea.
Having students participate in activities which will help the community and organizations who give service to those in need, is a great start for creating a philanthropist (Phi·lan·thro·py- humanitarianism, generosity, brotherly love :-) awareness within your students. It doesn't have to be anything expensive or complicated.
With that said, my students wrote letters to soldiers who are stationed in Afghanistan. This just happened to be a quick idea I had since I saw how my friend WO Hernandez would comment about his days on Facebook. Some days it was positive, other days I could sense he needed a pick me up. I began by expressing to my students the need to help others and how soldiers stationed far from home may need a friendly message to let them know how much we appreciate what they do. We also talked about the service soldiers give to keep us safe. My students understood the concept and immediately wanted to write letters to thank those soldiers. It became our writing project mixed in with how to write friendly letters :). I asked parents to also donate little snacks to send to soldiers, and a box was sent in hopes it would get there by Veteran's Day!
Finally, yesterday they received letters and goodies from two of our second grade classes! Here's the picture they took with our poster. I'm truly honor to be a part of brightening up their day! My students will love seeing this pic on Monday!

Don't forget to thank a Veteran this Tuesday (and everyday).
Happy Veteran's Day to all soldiers!
*I have my own personal veteran here at home SSG. DLT and he knows I always appreciate him :).

Apples in the Fall: Scientific Investigation

Or as I secretly call it “Missing our Apple Day in Second Grade”

We had an apple day activity in our class about a week ago. In first grade we called it Apple Day! You know that day, right? J On this day we read Johnny Appleseed books, have students bring any item that comes from apples, weight apples, measure them, taste them, etc., etc…

Now that we’ve looped into second many of the kids began asking if we were celebrating apple day just  like we had done in first grade. I guess they'd heard all the buzz from the now first graders in the after school program- thanks to my besties in first!;).

I of course, missed the idea of having apples, apples, everywhere in my class. We had so much fun last year (well, myself for the past 8 years) where even parents came in and helped out in our many centers. I refused to disillusion my students (ahhem- me!). So, as I promised them we would be doing the same fun activities we had done in first I felt obligated to have some apples in our second grade class as well. ;)

Well, I found the opportunity while going over the first Unit in Science Fusion about Inquiry Skills. In it there is a lesson where students needed to choose a tool to be able to conduct an experiment. I took this as the opportunity to have apples once again in our lives. YEAEEEHHH! So, after we learned about the tools in previous lessons I then had students look at a chart I made and went over which tools were good to use and why. Chart is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz1Ql80v9lTqUktpUTc0WFJDSDA/view?usp=sharing

We also used the page in the Science Fusion lesson 2 to complete our test. They answered questions and then they began investigating. Each chose different tools and began their observations with their apples. Students were really into the investigation and each took their tools seriously as they were making their conclusions. After, we conducted a science experiment where we would choose a liquid that would stop the apples from browning (This was a freebie I found at coast to coast kinder- http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Apples-Scientific-Method-1455667 ).

Ufff! We almost ran out of time! Thankfully, I had my student intern , Mrs. B., who helped with most of the activities and cutting the apples.  Here is a picture of our scientist at work! 

I was very pleased in how our whole activity went and my students showed true scientific skills! “Our APPLE Investigation was a HIT in Second Grade!

Next, how to integrate Pumpkin Day into Second... :)

Thanks for reading, Lymari

Literacy Centers/ Guided Groups

I began my literacy centers on the second week of school. My looping students are experts with this.
 I would normally begin on the third or even fourth week. During those weeks I would have introduced a few centers a day and make sure students understand the process in the movement  and the work I expect at each center.  
Let me explain my old way first:
In first grade I did my centers as "free" choice  (not really- but the kids thought so:). I had 12 centers in one week, crazy right? This worked wonders in my class. First, I made the literacy centers based on the lessons for that week. So, based on Journey's, Lesson 1 had it's own set of centers.. etc. Centers ranged from independent reading, art, writing, word work, pocket chart (words of the week), read around the room, magnet letters, games( related to phonics), listening center, poetry center, buddy reading, journal writing. Not seat work as a center!
Why? Well, throughout the years when I had center rotations like everyone else does: teacher, seat work and some sort of center, my lowest group would always have issues completing seat work and centers. They always had millions of questions, they couldn't help each other (hence the low group), and they would interrupt me at guided reading or someone else at other areas. And yes, I tried to partner them up; tried "ask three before me"... never worked. So, I decided to pair my center groups based on mixed levels. However, before they go to centers they had 10-15 minutes to complete their seat work at their seats, with my guidance. Then we would all start centers and I would call different groups from what ever activities they had.
So, lets say Group 1 had low, middle, high, low average students together. If I called the high group for guided reading, my low kids still had someone "high" to help them at centers. NO MORE "WHAT DO I DO AT THIS CENTER, MRS. DELATORRE?!" and I could teach my guided group with hardly any interruptions. Now, this took time to plan, lots of thoughtful work went into every center making sure students weren't just doing busy work.
This year, I am doing it a bit different or maybe the same way I tried to avoid for almost 8 years. Why go back to the old ways? First of all, my students are all( mostly all) at grade level, and we all seem to understand how centers work in our class. Second, my new teammates in second grade don't seem to like much of the many center ideas. So, I'm sort of on my own when it comes to the planning. Since 12 centers are a bit extreme for my planning, we started with just 7 this year.
Here is a picture of my centers this year:

I made those on word. I created the surf boards with the colors on paint. The chart serves it purpose and it's helpful for the way I'm having them do their centers.
We have three rotations: Teacher, Centers (2 times).  (You can see it on my google documents.) https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz1Ql80v9lTqU3lMZEJhZkw5Z0U/edit?usp=sharing
Seat work is before we go to our rotations. It still works for me this way and I can keep track of who is finishing their work. I can give immediate feedback on the lessons' classwork. This year computer is doubled. I decided to do it this way so they had enough time to log in and complete i-ready lessons. The day the computers do not work they have some free choice activities to complete. In reality I have to plan for only 6 centers :); half of what I had last year!  Also, most of the centers stay the same; or I have to do little planning. Here is a sample of the chart I created for this year.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz1Ql80v9lTqZk9lanNxdXNfaXM/edit?usp=sharing This helps them, and myself, keep track of their work.  
Thanks for reading,
What do you do for your center rotations? How do you group your lowest students?

Classroom Pictures

Finally, I've been able to download some pictures of my room! It's been a crazy beginning of a year (looping is a breeze), but reality is that changing grades is not. The difference is big and second grade has a demanding curriculum with the "New" Florida State Standards (formerly Common Core Standards) Well, anyways.... as I get used to the change I have to make sure my classroom looked different for my buddies... here are some pics. What do you  think?

 

My calendar is not as interactive as it used to be in first. I find we don't have time to introduce many things. So, I have a calendar person (helper) who changes the calendar daily. He/she changes the number of the day. The students complete their morning binder related to the calendar. I love the binder... I don't have to make copies and they love working with erasable markers.  The lovely helper chart plus calendar are from www.surfinthroughsecond.com . I did add the tree and other monkey pics on top of her animal pics to keep my monkey theme (I've had this theme for more than 8 years!).  The little tags you see on the dog poster are also from Corinna Gandara's TPT store.  These are a hit! They love getting their beads every time the get COWABONGA. Now, the dog sort of goes with my theme; surfing monkeys/ animals/kids, I love dogs... I have a beagle. So, in my head, I guess it all makes sense, lol.

This is my Common Board  as we call it here in our school. It has the behavior which is part of the tags awards. They go up or down depending on behavior. I used to have bucket full of bananas. It was cute and worked well as well. They would loose bananas or get them back. It complemented my Bucket fillers activity you see below the board. I truly love this activity and we do it every now and then. This class knows it well and we did it a lot last year. This year we haven't found the time to write notes to each other. I have to make that a priority this week. Do you know the Bucket filler's activity? It's a wonderful heart filling activity to do with your class all year; go here to  research a bit about it http://www.bucketfillers101.com/faqs.php 

This is the back of my room. We have two white boards which I find a little unnecessary. So, I use it as a bulleting board. In first grade, I used it as a word wall with magnetic words. It worked great. This year I have to post kids benchmark tests. Here you see the two charts I will use until I find something more appealing to the eye. The surfboards are for my A.R. wall. Although, I changed it and added waves to the right of the picture. I will re-post soon with that. Did I tell you my class buddies are avid readers! We won the A.R. (Accelerated reader)  challenge last year with more than 3,000 points which meant we read more than 6,000 books; and  yes they were first graders! I'm so proud of my kiddos. Wonder why I looped? :) I will share more about my program of sending books home in another post.

This is our class library! I 'm excited about it. The reason I'm excited is because in our school this side of the room was made for the teachers' desk. I decided to move the desk out of the way and placed it on another side of the room, and this little nook became my new library space. The bulleting board will showcase an author every month plus the reading skill of the week. This month is for the author Cynthia Rylant- Henry and Mugde Books. The monkey is Charlie our Mascot. :) Oh, and the fans are not a part of the decoration; this year my room has ac problems :(.

I hope you've enjoyed the tour of my classroom. More pics will follow.  Thanks, Lymari

 

 

I Survived the first day!

So, my first day with my buddies went better than planned. I have to admit, when planning the first day you have expectations of completing at least 50% of what you said you would do... But reality is that most of the day you are trying to figure out how the kids go home (if parents weren't clear at Meet the Teacher) or any new kid you weren't expecting at your door. Besides the millions of phone calls from the office or otherwise parents letting you know how their student will go home. Well for me I have to share that LOOPING is the best decision I've ever made! My students were so happy to be back and so was I. Our day began by telling each other one or two things we did In the summer... While I was taking attendance and doing some paper work ;). The kids were eager to share some of their adventures; I gave them about 10 minutes to get their "talking" out. Immediately I began explaining our new classroom theme "surfing monkeys" :). They absolutely loved it! They were happy to see our mascot Charlie (stuffed monkey) still in our second grade class. He was dressed with a more mature look :). We worked on our class rules where they decided on 5 additional ones for our poster (we have SHARK rules in our school). They loved having to create the rules and using the interactive activities for rules (I will share the wonderful resource soon-it was a freebie). One of the rules was keeping the classroom clean- I kept telling them how if this was a rule they really needed to follow thru and they said they would... We will see how that one goes, :-). The best part of looping is that I didn't have to repeat myself or explain my expectations. They now me and I know them. It's such a blessing. We  spent our afternoon creating the surfers from Surfiin'thrusecond.com (Corinna has really great/cute ideas). I will post all our weekly creations and activities soon. Tomorrow, I'm planning on using one of the activities from the book Comprehension Connections by Tanny Mcgregor. I found it as a resource used at Lifein4b.blogspot.com. I'm in hopes that these new strategies will help my second graders become thoughtful thinkers :) when reading. More info on that activity and more soon. Thanks for reading...

Getting Ready for the Challenge!

I have been looking for soooo many ideas throughout the web and I have found many great ones to begin my new year with my not so new class. Looping is exciting but it has become a "challenge". My admin has asked me to do trainings on Marzano, attend in school training to re- create task cards for our one year old reading program -Journey's.  Creating the task cards are no biggie. I will begin sharing those soon for those interested in using those in their second grade class.
My biggest challenge is re-creating my classroom. Many teacher friends have told me to keep it the same, but I just can't seem to want to do the same thing with my buddies. I know they will get bored by looking at the same "old thing", lol! We'll maybe that's just me.

Here's are some pics of my classroom in process... I only have until this Thursday to complete my class before kids show up for "Meet the Teacher". :-/

I have a new round table! I didn't know what to do with it at first, lol! It will be our writing center... Thinking of some fishy ideas... 

This is going to be my new reading area. I'm inspired by Corinna Gandara at www.surfinthroughsecond.com for the beach theme. I have bought many of her cute things for my new theme.

Newbie Posting...

I'm a new blogger looking to explore this new tech world outside of my classroom. This summer I've been "stalking" teacher blogs and I've been bit by the blogging bug. I love blogs that inspire me to change or tweak my teaching style so I hope I can do the same. So here I am trying... My most important goal right now is to get this blog up and running. Trying to understand all this technical "mumbo-jumbo" (quoting my daughter) is not easy at all.
In the process I've been looking for Looping ideas. YES! I am looping after teaching first grade for 8 years. I've decided to move up with my "Buddies"- Hence the name of my blog. ( Couldn't think of anything else more appropriate at this time). I've gone mad, maybe... but it's exciting to do something different. Although, I did teach second grade for 5 years before I moved to first. I guess I like to flip-flop around my primary grades.  I do have to admit second grade is my favorite. First graders are a blast to teach but in the beginning they can be very dependent  (needy ;) of the teacher.
For now, I will be on a trial and error on the blogging world so please excuse my mistakes and monkey business I might get into :).
Looping Lunatic, Lymari