Need a Little Help

Good Evening Blog Friends,
As you know I have moved to second grade. Our first social students unit covers the following standard.




Identify continents, oceans, and the equator using technology, maps, and globes.

· Identifying map elements, including title, legend, and scale

· Identifying intermediate directions

· Utilizing key elements on maps and globes to estimate routes

Example: using a map scale to estimate the shortest route from one state to another or from Birmingham, Alabama, to Athens, Greece

Do you have any good ideas for this? Anything on TpT?

Giveaway

Don't you just love giveaways? This one is great especially if you don't have lots of time to put into decorating your boards.

Head over to Little Miss Kindergarten and enter your chance to win this:

Miss Kindergarten says "I am so super excited to share this with you! I have teamed up with Artskills to offer a fantastic giveaway! We are going to get you geared up for the coming school year with The Creative Teacher Giveaway! If you are the BIG winner of the giveaway, you will get $50 of free Creative Teacher Bulletin Board Products from my favorite line... ARTSKILLS!"

New School Year Resolutions

Clutter-Free Classroom is having a New Year Resolution Linky Party
and I thought I would join in.

It seems that at the start of each new year I always have the best intentions and somehow everything gets jumbled up during the year. With that in mind I am planning on two resolutions. One professional and one personal.

Professionally, I want to create and maintain and usefully and beneficial classroom blog for my students and parents. I would also like to use this blog to communicate with other classrooms. I stated my classroom blog using Ladybug Teacher Files Video Tutorials. This has given me a good start. However, the blog still needs more work. I would love to see some other examples. Teaching Happily Every After has a post on Ways to Spice Up Your Class Website. If you have a classroom blog please go to her sight and like up. If you have any ideas on things a class blog should include please leave me a comment. I will share my classroom blog once I have things looking a little better.

Personally, I want to improve my time management in and out of the classroom. It seems that there is always something going on that we have to fit into our schedules. I want to make sure I have all my priorities in order and that school work doesn't consume my life.

Now, if I only had someone to hold me accountable! Our students come back to school in three weeks so we shall see how it goes.

Head over to Clutter-Free Classroom and see what everyone's resolutions are.

Postcard Exchange Update

We need 19 states to compete the postcard exchange. Please view the list of states available. You DO NOT have to have a blog/wiki/ website to participate! If you are participating in another exchange please tell your teacher friends about us! We are needing teachers from the following states:

• Alaska
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Idaho
• Maryland
• Minnesota
• Montana
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Mexico
• North Dakota
• Oklahoma
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Dakota
• Utah
• Vermont
• West Virginia
• Wyoming

Please feel free to give our postcard exchange a shout out on your blog!

For more information about The Great Postcard Exchange click HERE.

Math Workstations Blog Party Week 7

This blog book study has been wonderful! I have learned so much from all the other bloggers. The resources available now are just awesome! There is something available for everyone. I can't believe this is the last chapter. I can't wait to see how everyone implements this once school starts back in August.

Today my post is in response to Chapter 8: Measurement Work Stations.

Below I will give my answers to the guiding questions on our Math Work Stations Book Mark that I got from Deedee Wills over at Mrs. Wills Kindergarten.


How do you support math vocabulary (math talk) at measurement stations?
Modeling the correct vocabulary and the language you want the students to use is so important. I think that the use of math talk cards and anchor charts will aid children during their workstations. I like the anchor chart on pg 185 as an example.

What student activities help support your student’s understanding of measurement (length, weight, capacity, and time)?
Debbie Diller has provided wonderful examples in this chapter. I love the example where students use a balance scale and measure with standard and nonstandard units at stations. I also like the clock match activity on page 195. I plan to incorporate many of the ideas from the book into my work stations. I will also use many of the ideas other bloggers have shared over the summer.


What is your student’s favorite measurement work station/activity?
I think the students will love an activity called "How Far Can You Jump?" The students work in groups of 2-3 students and jump three times once as a frog, once as a bunny and once as a kid. Students will then measure how far they jumped each time and record. They must chose the unit the to measure. Students will share results with the class.

This chapter's blog book study is being hosted by Lory's Page. Please head over to her blog and her post on measurement as well as many others.

The Great Postccard Exchange Update

Come and join
"The Great Postcard Exchange"!

Click HERE for more information about The Great Postcard Exchange.

You do not have to have a blog/wiki/ website to participate! If you are participating in another exchange please tell your teacher friends about us! We are needing teachers from the following states:

1. Alaska

2. Connecticut

3. Delaware

4. Idaho

5. Maine

6. Maryland

7. Montana

8. Nevada

9. New Hampshire

10. New Jersey

11. New Mexico

12. North Dakota

13. Oklahoma

14. Rhode Island

15. South Dakota

16. Utah

17. Vermont

18. West Virginia

19. Wyoming

We are going to share ideas that we have and any fabulous finds or ideas for finding postcards.

• Carmen (Kansas) emailed me a great book she found and she even got her local Walmart to donate all of her postcards! Way to go Carmen!
• I have started a board on Pinterest for postcards ideas and activites. You can find that by clicking on Pinterest Postcard Ideas and Activities.

Please email me at mechele.barrow@gmail.com if you are interested in participating in The Great Postcard Exchange or have any ideas or activities that you would like to share with everyone!