How many of us played Jeopardy in our classrooms through a PowerPoint presentation? Have you ever done a WebQuest with your students? What if we combined the two?

I’m currently working on designing Powerpoint presentations that can be transferred to Google Slides and accessed by students. Students can click through the presentations, read information online to help them learn, and complete projects.

This week I created one for landform models for second grade. Students research national parks with different landforms and pick one they would like the school to visit. The school (or classroom) then votes on which park they would like to visit the most based off their models and a persuasive paragraph about why we should visit the park.  This makes it authentic and gets students motivated. With students being able to click through the slides, the project also promotes independence.

Go to my TPT store to download the free lesson here. If you like it and would like me to create more, comment! Feel free to tell me any topics you’d like to see! Habitats and Matter are on there way! The graphics are by A Hughes Design.

Thanks for visiting,

Emily

 

 

I recently learned about Literacy Shed during a tech conference. It’s a free website that holds a collection of themed videos that can lead to powerful discussions and writing in your classroom.

It can be found here https://www.literacyshed.com/home.html. Pick your video, create your discussion questions, and go!

I did one for “For the Birds” that can be found under the “Anti-Bullying” Shed. It can also be found on Youtube because it’s a Pixar short film. We watched the film twice. Once to watch it, and once to really pay attention in order to answer the discussion questions. My students worked in groups to complete these questions.

Here is the video on Literacy Shed.

Here is the editable discussion sheet to go with it.

We also have a Kindness Catcher in my classroom where students put compliments to other students, and we share them with each other. Students love compliments, and they love even more getting them from each other and giving them to each other. If you need more positivity in your classroom, this is an easy way to add it! I use a dollar store bin and label it “Kindness Catcher” with a shipping label. You can create the papers for compliments. When you do, just make sure students have to put their names and the other students’ names on the papers for accountability. Mine just have a smiley face and a to: and from: with a large space for writing. For kindergarten, you can pre-make compliments that students can give to other students.

This year was my second year teaching second grade, and the end of the year is always a time of mixed feelings and craziness. Hence forth, why I’m finally blogging and it’s July! Oh well! This year was even more mixed, as I am moving to new district and a new grade. Say hello to a new 5th grade ELA teacher! Keep reading in the next month to learn about the transition of cleaning out my room (it’s all in my parents’ basement right now…thanks Mom and Dad!), moving into a new room, and my scholastic shopping adventure for books other than Magic TreeHouse and Arthur. I’m so excited, but I wanted to share some of our end of the year activities I did with second grade.

Here’s what I gave my students at the end of this year.

You can find a variety of free versions of this here. The cute bubble gum kids are by MyCuteGraphics.com operated by Whimsy Clips L.L.C.

Here are some other end of the year activities and field day activities that we did too.

TPT1

TPT2

TPT 3– Field Day

TPT4

There are a ton of end of the year fun activities and packets online, and my kiddos love them!

So, as you saw SSR in the title. It’s not Sustained Silent Reading, although we should all be doing plenty of that this summer! I’m talking about summertime stress relief! Here’s a picture to help take some stress away from my camping trip this week to Pictured Rocks in Munising, MI. I also always put a fake bonfire on a ChromeCast and light a bonfire smell candle. If you have never done this while working, you need to! Or put a river or aquarium or nature up! It’s one way I’ve learned to de-stress this crazy year. Also, massages. Just massages. And lots of them.

Thanks for reading as always,

Emily