Reading Strategies Chart Freebie

I must be getting excited to get back to school because I have been thinking about it a lot lately!  I have been cruising Pinterest like crazy, and getting all kinds of good ideas for what I want to do this year.  I made this a couple of years ago and I have found that my students refer to frequently during guided reading time.  I hope your students find it useful, as well. 

Click here to get it!

Growth Mindset Vs. Fixed Mindset

I've had a lot of frustration this year with students that aren't willing to try.  I often hear, "I can't" or "I don't want to" or "this is too hard."  There have been several nights when I have laid awake thoroughly depressed over my inability to motivate them.  Then I stumbled across something interesting on Pinterest (yeah, Pinterest!) yesterday: the concept of growth mindset vs. fixed mindset.  I spent the next two hours (oops! forgot about dinner) reading everything I could find.  It all started with a post on Twitter that someone had pinned, and ultimately led me to an excellent PowerPoint presentation by Eve Coates on Teachers Pay Teachers.  I showed it to my kids today, and it was amazing!

In clear, concise, kid-friendly language it explains how in order to learn you need to do hard things.  But it also goes into how hard things can be fun and engaging.

It talks about making mistakes, and how mistakes can actually help your brain to grow.

My second graders were thoroughly engaged throughout, and it led us into a wonderful discussion on what it means to be a successful learner.  My only regret is that I didn't find it sooner in the year!

After watching the PowerPoint, we made a chart to remind us of what growth mindset language and fixed mindset language sounded like.

Normally, I would share, but I can't since I used copyrighted images of Calvin.  It will have to suffice to say that it was easy to make with images that I found on the internet.  Once I made it, I printed it on my school's poster printer.  I added the speech bubbles as we had our discussion after watching the PowerPoint.

Oh!  I also found some great videos having to do with growth mindset and persistence here.

TpT is having a sale!

Teachers Pay Teachers is having a sale!  Click on the picture to pick up some good deals beginning on Wednesday.  I have also discounted everything in my store an extra 10% for added savings.

Contraction Surgery

I had a classroom full of surgeons today!  Contraction Surgeons!  We performed surgery on a variety of words to practice making contractions.

We had a great time diagnosing, cutting, and repairing bone words to create contractions!

I've updated it a bit since the last time I did it with my students (you can see that post here).  I put together a pack of the materials I used for this lesson.  You can find it here in my TpT store.  I also have a fun independent contraction center on sale for just a $1. 

Measurement and Lady Liberty

Wow!  The days are flying by, only four left to go!!  We had a ton of fun today recreating the Statue of Liberty's foot (and I always forget to take pictures while we're working - urg!).  We used our recently acquired measurement skills, along with some interesting things we have been learning about Lady Liberty and created a visual for everyone in our school to see.  I got this idea from the America Math and Literacy pack that I bought from Deanna Jump on TpT.  It makes for an amazing visual:

It runs almost the entire length of the hallway.

And the class next door to us did her hand-equally impressive!

I also learned a cool trick.  The hallways of our school are made up of the ugly cinder-blocks you see in the pictures, and we have always struggled with being able to display things in the hallways because nothing sticks to the bricks.  Someone told me to try hot glue, and it worked!!  Now, I just have to see if it comes off . . .

Happy Birthday Presidents Washington & Lincoln

In my last post, I talked about the Winter Art and Writing pack that I had bought from Reagan Tunstall over at TpT.  I used the pack again for President's Day and this is how they came out!

The pack doesn't include Lincoln, but I used the jacket from the Martin Luther King, Jr. project and added a simple stove-pipe hat and a beard (feather boa trim that I bought at a fabric store) to make Lincoln.  You can't see it very well, but below their face is a paragraph they wrote about the president they are depicting (we have been working on writing a paragraph).  They are so cute!  Thanks Reagan for the great ideas!!

Awesome TpT product!

I recently bought a product from Teachers Pay Teachers that was awesome.  It is a winter writing and art pack by Reagan Tunstall that includes activities for torn paper snowmen, Emperor penguins, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Tacky the Penguin, Froggy's First Kiss, and George Washington.  I bought it in time for Dr. King's birthday so that is what we did, and I think they came out beautifully.

I can't wait for President's Day; the George Washington activity is adorable!