Mrs. MeGown's Second Grade Safari: May 2014

Monday, May 26, 2014

Just ONE Word {End of Year activity and GIFT for your class}

With the end of the school year just days away, I came across a neat activity via Pinterest on Confessions of at Teaching Junkie that would be perfect for our school. Our theme this year is ONE WORD where we, teachers and students, have focused on one word for the year. So this activity is a great way to wrap up the year...

The class will choose one word for each of their classmates and teacher. I know my class will be having discussions of fabulous words to use before we start and will hopefully limit everyone being "nice" or "awesome".

Then I plan to collect each student's paper, compile the words and plug into Wordle or Tagul cloud to display the chosen words for each student. I just made one up using my name...

I'm sure my kids would come up with some different words for me but this took me literally 3 mins to create.

Then you could get simple frames from the Dollar Store to frame each student's word collage and there you have a creative, inexpensive gift for your students!

I think the kids will really like this. ;) I plan to try this next week, so I'll post an update afterwards. :)

This is a FREE activity on TpT now so head over HERE to get your blank template and instructions.

This editable file includes space for 20 names. I would be happy to edit the file (add names/lines) for any of my followers. If you are not a follower yet, become one...Visit my store and click on "Follow Me" right below my name.

CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW MY STORE

ENJOY!!

Thursday, May 22, 2014

End of the Year Classroom Achievement Awards!

Really?! It's almost that time...already?! The end of the year is just 2 weeks away and it's time to wrap it up!

If you are like me and feeling a bit unprepared, here may be one thing I can take off your plate. Do you have your end of the year awards ready? If you have a safari/jungle theme, you might like these...

Get these HERE!

This set includes 25 fun classroom achievement awards for your students. The cute safari style will compliment your safari/jungle themed classroom.

Includes a boy and girl version of each award as well as a black and white version for easy printing! Perfect for elementary students! What a great way to recognize each student and their individual accomplishments. There really is one for EVERYONE!

Here are a few from the set...

The 25 awards include:

Rock Star Reader
Amazing Artist
Brilliant Behavior
Handy Helper
Sensational Speller
Spectacular Scientist
Mighty Mathematician
Wonderful Writer
Terrific Teamwork
Positive Peacemaker
King/Queen of Questions
Mr./Ms. Manners
Excellent Effort
Fabulous Friendship
Technology Whiz
Problem Solver
Rockin' Researcher
Passionate Participant
Awesome Attendance
Wonderful Worker
Marvelous Musician
All-Star Athlete
King/Queen of Comedy
Expert Explorer
Outstanding Organizer

I hope your students love these end of the year awards as much as mine do!

Best wishes and happy (almost) summer!

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Plant Project- A Mini PBL!

In Science, we had just begun studying plants. We began the unit by completing the “What We Know” section on an online KWL chart off of www.readwritethink.org.

We had some good background knowledge of plants but I noticed that the kids did not mention what plants need or that plants had different parts with different jobs. This allowed for a perfect project opportunity!

We developed a driving question…”How can we as 2^nd graders tell about the basic needs of a plant and about plant parts and their special jobs?”

Researching and taking notes!

Using our Technology to answer our driving question!

The kids were then given a menu of options on how to complete their project. Some of the options were to create a song, put on a play, create a poster, a Prezi or a diorama. They got to choose their group or partner, decide on how to research , and lastly how to present the information to the class.

One group practicing their play

The kids had 3 class periods to complete their project. There was a rubric that was designed to hold all kids accountable and actively involved. The level of engagement was incredible. Giving the kids the choice to choose their groups and how to present was very motivating for the kids.

Here are a few of the group's pics from their presentations...

This group did a diorama of a plant using construction paper and a rolly chair!

This group did a play!

A detailed poster explaining their answer and a proud group of boys!

After the 3^rd day, the groups presented their information to the class and I recorded the presentations to be uploaded to their Google Drive Portfolios as well as to our class website. Two of the groups put on a play as the students acted out the plant parts and explained their basic needs and jobs in a fun way. One group did a poster that consisted of a diagram with facts answering our driving question. Another group made a Prezi presentation and another made a diorama out of a rolly chair and construction paper!

I was very impressed with the groups in how well they worked together and how much they learned.

I plan to upload the videos of their presentations soon so stay tuned!!

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Frozen Party Printables!

Not so much a teacher-related post but....

A couple weeks ago, we hosted a FROZEN themed birthday party! It turned out so cute and the kids had a blast. Thought I would share!

Here are a few pics of the set up before the guests arrived!

Our party started at 10:30 so we served some light Frozen-themed snacks.

I made the banner using PowerPoint and added some cute matching ribbon to hang it. I had tons of snowflakes in our teacher storage room and was also able to score the cute little trees!

My 2nd grade team had a Frozen themed booth at this year's Chili Cook Off just 3 months ago so I had saved most of our decor for this party. It makes me happy to reuse!

This sign was also a part of our booth and I was glad to reuse it for one of the games. The kids used toilet paper to wrap around M & N to make snowmen. Scroll down for pics ;)

Hard to see the sign, but this was our "Snowball Toss" area. We had some styrofoam balls left over in our storage room and I got the tin pails in the dollar spot at Target.

Definitely the highlight of the party...Pin the Nose on Olaf.

I had this chalkboard set up by the door with the party favors: Build your own snowman kits

Super fun and easy!

FOOD

Now for the snacks...I didn't capture everything before the kids dug in but you get the idea. :)

My sweet mother-in-law made these! Aren't they precious!?

We called them, "Olaf's Friends"

I sliced the bottom of the styrofoam ball so it would serve as a sign holder.

White Cheddar popcorn from Lonestar Popcorn

Didn't get the pic before the kids dove in...blue jello in cubes looked like ice!

Hershey's Hugs since Olaf likes "warm hugs"

This Frozen Mix was Delish! Found the recipe on Pinterest. Very simple: equal parts pretzels, chex mix, Baby Swiss Cheez-Its, then 1/2 cup peanuts and blue and whiteYork Pieces.

The punch was a hit...Elsa's Glacier Punch was Blue Hawaiian Punch with Sprite.

Melted Snow was another option for our thirsty guests.

GAMES!

Pin the Nose on Olaf...

I had one large sheet of orange foam paper in our closet and cut out noses for the kids. We, of course, had a blindfold since there was no peeking allowed!

M is up!