Cloudy with a chance of .....

Hello Everyone!!
We had a fantastic week!! Integration all the way!  In science we were studying weather and clouds.  I shared my cloud unit a few days ago, but I wanted to show you how things turned out and more!
After a study on wind, we made our "Flutterflies," and took them outside to compare how the moving air affects even the lightest of materials.

We celebrated cumulus clouds and Charles Shaws book, "It looked like Spilt Milk" by creating our own clouds. Mix shaving cream and white glue, plop, swirl, dry and write using the patterned text! Thank you, Charles Shaw, for the inspiration! 

We made out "cloud watchers" and went outside to study as scientists. After discovering those amazing clouds we recorded out observations in our science journals.

We tried to understand what happens in clouds for rain to occur.  We were amazed by the "Rain in a cup" activity.

It's raining!!!

One of the last things we did was read, "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," a favorite of kids.  We used this text as a springboard for our own weather reporting. The kids created a picture of themselves and we used the amazing AP "Chatterkids" to make a mini movie of our weather reports.

This was a great way to have fun with language, weather, practice fluency and creativity- all wrapped up into one lesson!  The kids had a blast and will remember this for a long time!!

All these activities (except for the Chatterkids) are available in the Clouds unit. You can get that

 IF YOU CLICK HERE!

Up next?  Our Cinderella unit and a study of the moon!!  Hold on and thanks for going on this ride with us!!

Thanks, also, for stopping by and don't forget to leave a comment!!

Have a great weekend!!

Joyfully!

Nancy

Curious Clouds

Hello Everyone!
What a great day to start a study on clouds!!  Dark clouds this morning releasing a deluge of rain! By 1:00 beautiful clear sky with just a few cirrus clouds!  Perfect example of our ever changing skies.
I'll share our Cloud Unit in a second, but first I wanted to show some pics of our whole group math lesson. We are continuing our study of place value.  After all the activities we did last week, it was time to see how all of this fits in relationship to other numbers.  I pulled out our bigger than life 100 board and handed out some mystery picture clues.  Each clue described a number in place value (tens and ones).  The kids took turns putting their cards on the number for which their clue stood. When we finished putting all the clues down, a cloud was revealed!

Use your imagination!  It looks like a cloud, right??? The kids loved working together to create it!! I'm not even sure they realized they were growing their number sense!!!

I did put together a little integrated cloud unit.  We are going to try to get most of this in this week!!

The unit also includes some poetry, another science activity and more!!

You can get it if you click HERE!!

Stay tuned for more cloud fun later in the week!

Until then, have a wonderful week!! Thanks for stopping by for a peek!! 

Joyfully!

Nancy

Place Value Pick Up Sticks

Hello Everyone!!
Thanks for stopping by today!   I love this time of year.  Beginning of year assessments? Check!  Big beginning of year events? Check! Setting up routines? Check! Getting volunteers lines up? Check! Ahhhh! Feels good!  I think this week will be a fairly calm one.  
In math this week we are working on place value up to 99.  Teaching kids that the tens and ones places really stand for a "value" of the numbers can be a challenge. Last year my teammate found a great little activity on "Sunny Days in Second Grade.blogspot.com" and I couldn't wait to use it this year to help with place value.  I changed it up a bit and am calling it "Place Value Pick Up Sticks."  We started with a whole group lesson using some large (ruler sized)  sticks.  I put 10 orange stickers on one side of 10 sticks. Then I put one green sticker on the other side.  We took turns dropping the sticks. After the sticks were dropped we organized them into "tens" and "ones." That's where the dots come in. I wanted them to see the tens, and see the ones. We talked a lot about the "tens place" really meaning groups of ten, and when we write a 5 in the tens place we are really working with a value of 50. Then, of course we put the "ones" in. the kids wrote their findings on whiteboards.

Next week I will be putting a smaller version of this activity in a math tub.  The game will use popsicle sticks with dots drawn on them.

I know the kids are going to love it.  I might even get the kids to make their own game pieces!

If you think you might want to try this, check out sunnydaysinsecondgrade.blogspot.com.  If you want a quick printable of my version of the game including directions on how to create the large and small sticks as well as a recording page for your kids...

CLICK HERE!!! :)

Have a great rest of the week!!! I'll be back soon!!

Joyfully!

Nancy

Hello Everyone!
Next week we will begin a science unit on seasons and then weather. With the start of fall, I wanted an easily accessible book I knew the kids would love, but also learn something.  Splat the Cat came to the rescue with his new book based on the character by Rob Scotton. "Splat the Cat and the Pumpkin Picking Plan" fit our needs.


You know I also love to integrate, so I created a quick little unit based on this book.  The unit includes an interactive science component on seasons, some poetry, some word work, a hands on visual connection and a few more little goodies.  Here are a few pics.

For your free little mini unit, CLICK HERE!!

I hope you can use even a small part of this pack.  The book can be found at Target or WalMart, as well as your local bookstore or on-line store.  Have a great week!!

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to leave me a comment!! 

Happy Fall!!

Joyfully!

Nancy

Money Game and Family Wants and Needs

Hello Everyone!
 We have been working hard this week on identifying coins and telling their value. Today we created a whole group game to help with cementing those ideas. We made a "Bigger than Life" gameboard (you know my love of those shower curtain sized gameboards!). We divided the board into 25 sections with tape and then filled each section with either a coin, the coin's name, the value, or the value words.  We taped paper coins to a foam die. The kids took turns rolling the die and covering something on the board that matched with the coin rolled. We played until we had 5 in a row covered!  The kids were completely engaged for the entire game, helping each other and cheering when we finally had 5 in a row.  A smaller version of this game will become a math tub game for next week. 

You can get a printable of this game including large cards for the whole group lesson and small game board for math tubs.Simply CLICK HERE!!! :) It's FREE!

(I am hoping that google docs is cooperating.  Every time I upload things lately, it looks different. Remember, you can always e-mail me and I will send you the doc that way!)

Next week we will begin a reading/social studies unit on family wants and needs.  I have shared my "Me and My Family" before, but I added some elements using two favorite books, "A Chair for My Mother," and "The Relatives Came."

 

 You can get this printable!  You don't even need to save!!
All you need to do is CLICK HERE!!! :) I hope!!

Ok!!  I've got stuff to do to get ready for our SCI FRI tomorrow!! Magnet fun!! Yippee!!
Have a fantastic Friday!!
Joyfully!
Nancy