Staying Organized with Homework!

So this weekend my project was to tweak my daily homework routine for my kiddos.  One of my teammates had seen a blog post at on of our favorite bloggers, Amy Lemons!  We just absolutely love her stuff and so do the kids!  Any how the post was about how she uses Fluency Folders with her students.  We have sent home weekly fluency practice in our classes in the past, and typically it was just a sheet that was sent home in a regular take home folder.  I checked out the post as well, but decided that it was a little too much for me and my kids, so I did what all good teachers do!  I modified it to fit my needs and my classroom.

It took a little bit of brainstorming and work, and having a second grader, I also tried to think about what would make my life easier as a parent as well.  It was really important to me that the kiddos have everything in one easy to find place.  So here it was... 23 individualized fluency folders.

So what's in it??  I gave each folder 2 plastic sleeves, one is kind of an info sheet for parents, and the other one holds the fluency sheet we use.  They are from Second Story Window and so far we are pretty pleased with them!  

I didn't quite have enough prong folders, so I did use packing tape to tape in the sleeves, I will have to let you know how they hold up.

We also use Words Their Way, so I labeled the front pocket for a place to keep their word sort that they keep at home.

In the back pocket they are keeping their daily reading calendar.  Speaking of those, I have October through December available in my TPT store!  I also plan to put any guided reading books we send home in this pocket.  Some of my kiddos are still working on sight words so I also have some friends who have a list of 10 words to work on. 

So far it seems to be going well.  This our first week with the folders, but the kids are storing them in their backpacks and bringing them to school every day.  I'm hoping this is going make everyone's life easier, especially mine!

too many ideas..

It's been one of those weeks.  You know the kind, loaded with meetings...trying to get into some good, meaty instruction??  Time to start up with Guided Reading groups, interventions, and all the stuff that makes use crazy? I spent a lot of my weekend making sure my guided reading groups were set, and Daily 5 stations had been practiced and planned so that we could independently and quietly work while I met with groups...I can  dream can't I?  So of course my post I had planned for Thursday went by the way side, but I do want to share the fun things we did to remember Patriot's Day.   It is was my very first year teaching in my current district when September 11 happened.  I was teaching half day kindergarten, and when the teacher next door popped in to tell me some airplanes had hit the twin towers I really had no concept of what exactly all that had meant.  Then our afternoon class arrived with stories that no 5 year old should have to tell or talk about.  Some of them had seen it on TV... it was scary and surprising and stunning. For the 10 years that I taught preschool we did not really remember or address Patriot's Day.  It is hard enough for adults to make sense of what happened that day, let alone try to make in relevant to preschoolers.  So it wasn't until I began teaching 2nd grade that I talked about it in school today.  There are so many great stories about that day.  Aside from the typical ones, a favorite of mine is 

by Nancy Carlson.  She actually wrote this book the day after, September 12, 2001. We also make these flag hearts that I got from reading Sunny Days in Second Grade.  I have the kiddos write on the back what they love about America.  Here were a few of my favorites:

We also read a book about Heros from Across the Hall in Second Grade.  This is my son's page at the end.... not sure he exactly got the point of a Hero, but what he wrote is just so sweet!  

If you are looking for some more activities for Patriot's Day--maybe for next year!  Check out my good friend over at First Grade on the Brain!  She has a mini packet full of fun activities!

Here's a pic of my very patriotic class!  Hope you had a great week and thanks to all those Heros out there keeping us safe every day!

Currently September

I'm linking up with Oh'Boy 4th Grade to participate in currently this month!

So here we go...

Listening to The League... My husband is a huge football fan and has spent many years participating in fantasy football.  After a brief hiatus, he is back in the game...in the meantime we have discovered the show The League, super funny in an adult only kind of way.

Loving having a short week!  Entering our 3rd week of school, and having a super busy Labor Day weekend I am glad to have the short week, especially since....

Thinking about seeing Garth Brooks concert this week!  We saw him on his last tour, almost 17 years ago!  I am excited to get to go again on Friday.  Should be a good show!

But of course, I'm wanting to get over this cold courtesy of my new second graders :)

It's not even the first month of school and I am already having a training on Friday...so sadly needing to get sub plans in order for Friday morning.

My 3 trips were easy.... can you tell I love the warm weather??  Hawaii, I've never been...hoping to get there by my 20th anniversary.  California, especially San Diego, is on my list of places to visit.   Lastly, Disney....always Disney :)  It's like an obsession for me!

Link up at 

Open House Notes

We are well into the swing of things now at school.  We just finished up our second full week of school.  This week was especially crazy because we had parent orientation one evening as well.  No matter how much I prepare and adjust my power point, it always seems that I forget some important tidbit that I want to share with parents!  However, I do love meeting moms and dads and letting them know what being in second grade is all about! As a beginning writing project we created a small display for the parents and wrote about ourselves in my Guess Who project.  There are many of these available for purchase, but I created my own and like that I added a line at the bottom asking them what the best thing about them was.  I love seeing all of their thoughts, from being good at football to being smart or being pretty!  Here are some of my kiddos hard at work...

One of my students finished a little quicker so I asked them to draw my picture.  I'm holding a pencil and you can see my desk in the background.

I also used this activity to set the expectation for drawing in second grade.  We talk about no stick people drawing, making sure we are wearing clothes, and adding some detail into our drawings so that we are not floating in space!  Unfortunately our school district does not have art for the elementary students, and loving drawing myself, I try to include some of that into our work in class.  I draw for the students on the board and they can follow along if they like on their own paper to help with their drawings.

These were hanging in the hallway as their parents came into our classroom for them to see and guess who was who!  You can buy this activity in my TPT store!

I also use parent night to emphasize how important our nightly reading is!  We have calendars in second grade that the students fill out and have parents initial.  I check these calendars every Monday.  I have tried checking them once a month, however, I found that some children were not keeping up with the daily expectation.  I created this calendar of September.  It is also available in my TPT store.  Please be on the look out for upcoming months!

It was a busy week!  I know many of you may just be starting school this week!  I hope you can find some of these useful!  

On a more fun note, we are enjoying the "last" weekend of summer with some family fun!

 A BBQ!  My grandmother immigrated to the USA from Germany in 1925.  She went on to become a Kindergarten teacher until she started her family and had 6 children.  She passed away almost 20 years ago.  There are 11 grandchildren and now many, many great grandchildren. Here are many of us pictured along with her sister's family.  Enjoy your long weekend!