Cause and Effect and Nouns!

Today was a really fun day in the classroom! We survived our second to last Dare lesson.  I'll spare you the details but the general idea of the lesson was about second graders, alcohol and a tree house.  Talk about the fun ole time.  

One of my favorite things about blogging is the sharing of ideas and resources.  Today we used Courtney's cause and effect organizer for a fun cause and effect activity.  I had the students buddy read the story and then I gave them a slip with two events of the story on it.  They had to determine which one was the cause which one was the effect. 

A proud teacher moment occurred when I saw several students visit our anchor chart and review our cause and effect words to figure out which event was the cause and which was the effect.  For example, this student used the word so to determine the cause and effect.  "The goose with one foot returned with a friend SO the girl is excited and happy."  

Here they all are hanging up in the hallway! My kids really enjoyed this activity, thanks for sharing your organizer, Courtney!

 In language, we've been studying nouns.  We don't follow Treasure's grammar anymore with the adoption of our new writing program.  We use Being a Writer, which I really enjoy.  It's been a challenge fitting in our writing lesson and teaching necessary language skills but we're making it work!  I had my kiddos do a noun hunt with our weekly story, A Goose's Story, and then we added the new nouns they found to our anchor chart. 

My kids really enjoyed this activity and were so engaged, carefully glancing through each page to find nouns.We then glued everybody's notecards on another anchor chart to display in our classroom.

Tomorrow is my second of eight biweekly all day meetings on the adoption of the Common Core.  I am loving the experience but creating good sub plans is always a difficult task!


Hope your Wednesday's were wonderful!

TPT: Goose's Story and Cause and Effect Anchor Chart Freebie

I hope all of you had a great Monday!  Even though I dread Mondays, they are actually often some of the best days I have in the classroom and today was no exception.  We had a really great day.  With the exception of DARE time.  I hate DARE.  It's like a really, really bad version of show and tell that lasts for a half hour.  Except it's lead by a police officer who hypes up the kids on stories about stranger danger and has the kids act out "screaming like a little girl and running away" if a stranger approaches them.

I only wish I were kidding.

Academically, we spiraled back to cause and effect.  I treat the mini story from Treasures as a mini lesson and after reading "Bill Helps Geese Survive", we made this anchor chart.

Again, pretty charts aren't my thing but that's not the purpose.  ;)  I have uploaded the typed portions of my anchor charts to Google Docs if you're interested. Just click {here}.

I also finished my small group resources for Goose's Story last night! Woohoo! I've been loving using these in the classroom the past few weeks. Click the preview image to check it out on Teacher's Pay Teachers.

Lastly, my kids have been reusing some old anchor charts to draw on during indoor recess.  Which is brilliant because I despise having indoor recess games because I often find the pieces all over the room.  Today they made me this sweet Valentine's Day card.  ;)  Won't lie, it made my day.

 

Signing off to blog stalk ya'll now!

Click Clack Moo Leveled Readers Freebie

My district uses the Treasures reading program and it can be a love/hate relationship at times.  However, this week, I am loving it as the comprehension skill and the story actually align very well.  Tonight I'm sharing with you the set of graphic organizers I designed to use in my small groups this week.  Not only does this freebie help my students practice our weekly comprehension skill, it also helps me structure and organize my small groups more effectively.  Double win!

Click here to download your FREE copy.

I also found out the hard way this year when blog surfing, apparently the leveled readers that accompany each of the stories in Treasures can vary.  So if you plan on using this with your class, please read over the story titles, located in the top right hand corner of each page, carefully!

If you download, please let me a comment below, just so I can get an idea of how many teacher friends might be able to benefit from a resource like this. :)

We did several FUN science experiments as part of our winter unit today and my kiddos are so jazzed to make their own snowflakes covered in snow paint on Friday.  I can't wait to share the recap of the fun we've been having with you soon! 

Click Clack Moo Cause and Effect Flip Book

I've been working, working, working on my winter unit tonight but I wanted to take a break to share a cause and effect freebie that my class used today.  My district uses the Treasures reading series and this week we are reading and loving Click, Clack, Moo and for once Treasures got it right, Click, Clack, Moo is a wonderful story to use for cause and effect.   I love using flip books for cause and effect.  To use just copy the book 1-2 sided, have your students fold their paper in half hotdog style, lift up, and cut along the black lines.  Click on the picture of the flip book to download to your own FREE copy!

Happy Tuesday! :)  We're slowly but surely getting back into our routine!