It was a FANTASTIC Friday in 2nd grade!

If you have been keeping up with my blog posts, you already know that I have been out of the classroom for over 5 years. I am loving my time with these kids. They bring me job each and every day........I totally forgot about how they also bring me GERMS each and every day! After a wonderful breakfast out with the hubs, we hit urgent care! I have middle ear infections in both ears and a super sore throat......and the antibiotics have begun!

Ah, no worries! It is all worth it!

So on Thursday we spent some reading time talking about informational text and it was perfect that our local newspaper runs a special informational text page each Thursday. I have NEVER seen so many kids get so SUPER excited about reading the paper. Seriously, it made my heart so HAPPY!

This week the paper featured the state of Mississippi which was so fitting for our class. We have a little guy in our class that moved to AZ from Mississippi just days before school started. He was my resident expert as I sent them on scavenger hunts for information. I asked them to find things like....tell me the name of the state bird, why is Mississippi nicknamed the Mud Cat state, and who is the capital city of Jackson named after.

We also pulled down the map of the United States found Arizona and Mississippi so we could see the travels that our little guy took by car to get to Arizona. He told us about driving over the Mississippi River. It was just so all perfect! One of the those teacher moments where you *sigh* and think to yourself......yep, this is why I do this.

I also showed them the Mississippi River on the map and told them how when I was a little girl I spent most weekends boating on the same river with my family and how we loved to eat catfish! I also thrilled them with speed in which I can spell Miss-iss-ipp-i! They need to practice!

We also played a math game on Friday.....I called it Math on Our Head. My friend and colleague, Andrea, came to help us play. It was amazing! I wish I would have recorded their giggles and the math language they were using. They told Andrea and I that it was SO FUN! YES! School is FUN, FUN, FUN!

I found the game in this book.

 

Click on the book to see it on Amazon!

One of the authors, Yeap Ban Har, is AMAZING!!! Andrea saw him in Las Vegas this summer. I follow him on Facebook and Twitter! He is always posting math problems. (The game we played is on page 17.) I can't wait to do the other number sense activities with the kids in my class!

This week was such a great week! I am having such a wonderful time planning from the Arizona College and Career Ready Standards instead of following a boxed program. It is powerful to me as a professional to evaluate the understanding of students and to determine when to move forward, or go back to solidify understanding. I love being able to change my teaching based on what the kids need! This is the way it should be!

On Friday, a teacher was hired for the classroom that I have been filling in for and she will start next week. I have been given time with her in the classroom to help ease her transition and the transition for the students. I look forward to supporting her and of course, the kids! I hope she is open to having me come in to be a guest teacher during the year. There is no way I can just walk away from these kiddos! They already stole my heart!

I am looking forward to next week! I have to get ready for open house. I am going to do a scavenger hunt in the classroom for the students to do with their parents! I am off to prepare!





Check out my new Bloglovin' and Twitter buttons! Thank you to Honey Bunch Blog Design! They are so AMAZING!!!! You can visit them by clicking on their logo on the bottom of my page or here!