Classroom Job Auction

I will auction off classroom jobs every Friday.
The purpose of this is for students to become fluent in counting money.

All students will begin the school year with $2.00 in coin manipulatives. These coins will be kept in a zip lock bag. We will call this bag our “Money Bag” .

How will the students earn money?

• Good Behavior
• Having A Clean and Organized Desk
• Completing and Turning in Homework
• Being a Good Citizen
• Coming to school 5 days in a row
• I will also randomly assign tasks that will receive money
  

Students will pay fines for committing the following offense:

• Ending the day on the red card
• Misbehavior in hall, lunchroom, bathroom and bus
• Acting out in classroom, library, computer lab and PE class
• At times students will pay a fine for not reading at night, failure to complete and turn in homework and not returning various forms and notes
  

Rules:

• Do not trade, loan, borrow, steal or give money away
• Do not take money bag out of the classroom
  

If any of these rules are broken students will not participate in the job auction for the next four weeks.

Top 3 Things Linky Party

Simply Second Resources is having a linky party! She wants to know the top three things we are going to work on in our classroom.


In My Second Grade Classroom This Year
I Want To Focus On:

Our class blog--This is something that I just started. My goal for this blog is to be a resource for parents and a place for students. This will replace our class webpage. I want my students to interact and follow other second grade class blogs. I would like for us to communicate with others. This blog should also have resources for students to use when they are at home. Feel free to check out our class blog--please remember I have just started this. I welcome any feedback you have to make this a better blog for students and parents. Let me know if you would like to communicate with my class via -blog, skype, email, etc.. I am open to any ideas!

You can find us at: teambarrow.blogspot.com

Math--In my classroom and my school we will have a focus on math. We will be closely looking at instruction, instructional strategies and state standards. In the fall our faculty will complete a book study on Number Talks by Sherry Parrish. I am also going to try to implement math work stations according the ideas presented in the book Math Work Stations by Debbie Diller.


Technology--I must incorporate more technology into my lessons. I have a Mobi and a Mimio. I received Mimio training in June. I just now received my Mobi and I am not sure how to use it. I need to find out quick because school starts next week. Do you have a Mobi or Mimio? I need some advice and lesson ideas.

What 3 things do you want to work on in your classroom this year?
Head over to Simply 2nd Resources to join the linky party!

Very Exciting News

I am beyond thrilled to let you all know that I will be a contributor to the second grade blog Me and My Gang. Be sure you follow via--blog, facebook and twitter!

This blog was created by "Teamies" Mrs. Schroeder and Mrs. McCumbee. Be sure to also check out their blogs as well.




I just went to a Rascal Flatts concert in late July and I can't help but to think of this song:

I look forward to collaborating with all the second grade teachers.
I am planning for my post next week---Job Auction!

My Door

I pinned this bulletin board on pinterest.
It is from bulletinboards.com. It was submitted by Kayla Johnson. She found the idea from Mr. Cayer who has a site of bulletin board pictures.

I loved the idea so much I used it for my door decoration this year.
This is my interpretation of the board. I used our school team colors of red, white and black. The window in my door is broken and I am not allowed to cover the glass so the door looks a little odd.

To create this door:

• I covered the door with construction paper in the colors I wanted. I used three colors and alternated them on the door. I chose the pattern red, white, black.
• I then added a boarder(yellow) just to define the space.
• I used a T-shirt pattern out of a book that I had to make a template. I then traced the T-shirts on red, white or black construction paper.
• I glued the T-shirt on the construction paper with the pattern-- red shirts on white, white shirts on black, and black shirts on red.
• I then added numbers and names. I chose to put the children in alphabetical order with corresponding number. This will be there number for the year.
  

Job Chart

My Classroom Job Chart for the 2011-2012 School Year

I basically used Amy Lemons idea with library cards. I placed the library cards in an extra pocket chart I had. I will place the students name on the top of cut black construction paper using premade labels. I used Amy's classroom job labels. Check out her site! Every job imaginable is listed.

This is a quick header I made for my board.
Job Chart Title



Check back next week! I am working on an idea to auction off my classroom jobs!

Big News, Update and More

Big News In The Blogging World

A group of second grade teachers coming together to share and collaborate with each other. However, this can benefit everyone! Head over there and check out this new blog!

Update on the Postcard Exchange

We need the following states:

• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Idaho
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Minnesota
• New Hampshire
• New Mexico
• North Dakota
• Oklahoma
• Rhode Island
• South Dakota
• Utah
• Vermont
• Wyoming

Contact me at mechele.barrow@gmail.com for more information.

More Exchanges....

I have agreed to participate in a gingerbread exchange in November. This seems like a lot of fun. What you do is have the children make a gingerbread man to tell about your state. You will then send them out to the other participants in November. In return you will receive a gingerbread man from the other participants. This will be great coming off the postcard exchange, students will know where the states are located, now they can learn additional information about them.

She needs the following states:

• Alaska
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Indiana
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
  
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Minnesota
• Montana
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
  
• New Mexico
• North Dakota
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Dakota
• Vermont
• West Virginia
• Wyoming

If you are interested please contact Cristal at HalversonC@stmarymf.org.

Christmas In July Book Exchange

I participated in the Christmas in July Book Exchange.

Here is what arrived in the mail from my new friend Jacqi.


I received a host of ideas from this book, including, a class book idea, grammar fun, creating a comic strip and contraction action. She even sent me examples from children! How cool is that?

I sent my book to Jacqueline (Jacqi) over at It's all Good n'da Hood. I sent LaRue Across America by Mark Teague. I chose this book because so many of us will be participating in postcard exchanges. LaRue travels acrosss the US (about 12 states) writing postcards to Mrs. Hibbins.

You can give your children a blank map and have them color in the states that LaRue visits or you can plot the states on a map. I chose to send a sequencing activity. Students will look at the landmarks and put them in order by how they traveled in the story. Students can also choose landmark cards and make a travel brochure.

LaRue Across American Sequencing


Thanks to Randi over at How About Them Apples?, Nicole at First Grade OWLS and Jackie at Here We Go Loopty Loo for organizing the book exchange.