Butterfly & Moth Unit

After going to Butterfly World, my students & I always start our Butterflies & Moth Unit. This cover both our life science standard about lifecycles (SC.2.L.16.1 in Florida) & our compare & contrast standard in reading (LAFS.2.RI.3.9). This is how I use it with my 2nd graders.

First we start with a basic Can Have Are anchor chart about Butterflies. Afterwards ask students to write 1 paragraph for each part of the anchor chart. This is a great way to prepare students for 3rd grade where they will be required to write 5 paragraph essays. 

Then we create a diagram with labels for the parts of butterfly. This was a great hands on review (or preview)  of the text features.

In my reading center, students read non-fiction text about the lifecycle of the butterfly and then summarize what they learned. My students read the Lifecycle of a Butterfly Task Cards included in the Butterflies & Moth Unit. However you can use a nonfiction book about Butterflies or have students research on the web. Another great resource my students use is Discovery Education (our school district has a paid subscription). Students listen to short videos about their topic and then write about it. I find that when students use videos for research they actively listen and are more engaged. They can't just copy. They have to listen.

 The culminating activity is to compare and contrast butterflies and moths. Here again students may use the included task cards or they may use information from their research. You can see my unit here.

Butterfly World

Recently my class went to Butterfly World on a Fieldtrip. It is the world's largest butterfly park. I've taken my second graders there for the past three years. We always follow up with my Butterflies & Moth Unit. You can read more about it here.

Students loved looking at their laboratory of chrysalis' from around the world. Some butterflies were seen emerging from their chrysalis while we were there.

 Walking through the gardens felt like paradise.

While the kids were listening to our tour guide, one of the butterflies landed on one of my student's  hair. You can see it on the right on the blonde. We learned butterflies are more likely to land on people who have light colored hair.

We thought this stream was beautiful! Of course all the girls wanted pictures here.

 My students loved jumping on the swinging bridge.

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If you are local to South Florida (or just visiting). I highly recommend going in February. We saw more butterflies than ever this year. You can see a video of Butterfly World below.

Why I started making my own BOOM cards?

After seeing how much my students loved the math BOOM cards I had downloaded, I searched for some Spanish BOOM cards for my Dual Language Students. Much to my surprise there were lots of French BOOM cards but very little Spanish BOOM cards. Of those I found none of them met the needs of my dual language class. If you are joining me for the first time or want to know more about BOOM, click here to learn more.

After making the first one, my students & I were hooked. I was able to add my voice to them which my students thought was very cool. If you are a DIYer stay tuned for my next post that shows you how easy they are to make. If you are not, no worries there are plenty of them already made, a lot of them free too, for you to choose from.

Here is my daughter, demonstrating Boom Cards from the  " Palabras con C" series. Click here for a free sampler.

In the first part students have to click the picture that matches the word. I included audio to help students hear the correct pronunciation of the word to aid in vocabulary development. When the speaker icon is pressed it saids "¿Dónde está ___?" which means "Where is ______?". As you can see in the video below students get instant feedback letting them know if they are correct or not.  



In the second part of the game students have to spell the words. The top speaker icon when pressed asks "¿Que es esto?" which  means "What is this?" The second speaker icon tells them what the object is. Doing this helps students sound out the word and reinforces Spanish vocabulary for those who need it.

The last part of my BOOM cards solves the problem of students saying I'm done & is perfect for centers. I included two different activities, the option one is geared towards beginning Spanish learners and option two is for more advanced students.

Today my daughter preferred to go on these BOOM cards instead of Roblox, making my mommy teacher heart happy.

What is Boom Learning?

A few weeks ago when my students needed to practice counting money. I decided to give BOOM learning a try. My students loved it! They beg me to go on BOOM. In all honesty, I have caught several on BOOM when they were supposed to be on AR or Reflex (digital learning apps that are paid by the school.)

Boom Learning is an online platform that hosts BOOM Cards. Boom Cards are digital task cards. The decks are gamified making it fun for students. They get instant feedback on their responses and teachers get data on individual students. Teachers sign up for free or paid accounts to assign BOOM cards to their students. Their are a few different membership plans.  There are a lot of BOOM cards to choose from.

Here are some of the BOOM cards I have tried with my students.

Counting Coins by Hooty's Classroom: Free

Money at the Carnival by Trinity Music

Money Word Problems by Garden Pea Design

Why Use Performance Standards?

At the beginning of last school year my school was introduced to Learning Scales. Our  hearts stopped, it was one more thing in the ever increasing list of requirements teachers must meet. Through-out the year we had PLC's that helped us understand Performance Scales and how to use them in the classroom. Then in December we were told each grade level would be given 1 teacher workday to write Performance Scales together. I knew that one day was simply not enough. By this time I was beginning to see the value in them. You see Performance Scales help students self assess themselves to see where they are for the focus standard and help teachers provide support & differentiate instruction for all learners.  During Winter break I began the task of writing the Kindergarten standards for my team. I wanted to understand them before meeting with my team to write more. I got hooked the more I wrote them the more I understood the standards and saw their potential.  I carefully selected picture cues to match each standard. By the time I met with my team I had already written all the Kindergarten ones.  Here's a sample of Kindergarten Scales for you.

 You can read how to write your own here. 

My team loved them. These scales and the picture cues helped my kindergarten students understand what was expected of them. I used their standards based tests to show them where they were. As a teacher I loved how they allowed me to think in advance what task or expectation I could give my high achieving students to challenge them. My friends who taught other grades begged me to write some for them. 

So this summer I challenged myself to write the LAFS & Common Core Performance Standards for K-5th. I really wanted to finish all of them by mid August. However as I started to write the first grade standards, I found some standards that I simply didn't understand and had to research them to understand them and help students understand them. There was also the curve ball that I had to have surgery this summer. It was minor and luckily everything went better than expected. But I did lose a week of writing because I was tired and sore after having surgery. 

I also decided that quality was more important than quantity. Yes, I will keep my commitment of writing all of them. On Friday I finished all the first grade versions.  Hooray!

I plan to write all the 2nd & 3rd grade Performance standards by the end of August. 4th grade by the end of September and 5th grade by the end of October. 

Leave a comment below with your grade level and email by August 15th so I can let you know when your grade level is finished. Here's my promise to you if I don't meet the deadline I promised above for your grade level I will send it to you free provided you leave me a comment by August 15th.

 

What are my customer's saying about them?

"Yesssssss!!!!!This was absolutely what I needed in terms of looking at each standard with the Marzano alignment! You seriously saved me hours of work. The standards are super clear and easy to use. I also love that the evidence of student learning is on there- what a great way to give a concise picture of where the kiddos are at. Thank you so much!" -Kelly G. 

"I have a K/1 split so I bought the Kinder scales as well as this one. They're both fabulous. I'm going to get a lot of use out of these. Thanks for all the work you put into making them! :)"
-Kelly G. 

"I love this resource! This will help me to assess my students' level of understanding for each standard, while at the same time providing them with expectations and goals to move them forward to the next level. Awesome!"
-Davina T. 

"This product makes it so easy to incorporate scales! It has the standard, learning goals for each level, and student evidence at each level in an easy "I can" statement. I have no excuse for not using scales anymore! Thank you!!"
-Audrey

  

It's A Whale of A Sale!

I am teaming  up again with Cyndie Dunn from Chalk One Up for the Teacher & almost 80 other TpT sellers for Week 2 of Oceans of Deals, Steals & Giveaways. We are doing this every other week during July & August for 4 weeks of deals, steals & giveaways. Read on to find out what's happening each day.

MONDAY MADNESS 

$1 Deals.  You can grab either my RAINBOW CHAMPS posters or my Editable Open House Powerpoint shown below for only $1 on Monday July 18th only! Click on my products below to see them in my store. You can read more about how I use CHAMPS in my class here. Search #MondayMadness on TpT for all the $1 Deals.

 

 

2 FOR TUESDAY

Check back on Tuesday for 50% off deals. This week I will be featuring my Bilingual Color Posters & Bilingual Alphabet Set. Both were a big hit last year & include posters in both English & Spanish. They are perfect for Dual Language classes or ESOL classes.  Click below to see them in my store & search #2forTuesday on TpT for more 2 for Tuesday Deals. 

WACKY WEDNESDAY  

We are going "wacky" on Wednesday with Flash Freebies throughout the day. Make sure you follow me on Facebook & Instagram so you don't miss mine.

 

THRIFTY THURSDAY

Bundles are on sale on Thrifty Thursday. I am featuring my Dual Language Bundle on Thursday for 50% off. Click below to check it out on TpT and search #ThriftyThursday for more bundle deals.

 FREE STUFF FRIDAY 

On Friday and through Saturday at midnight, you can enter to win one of these $50 gift cards so you can get your shop on to one of these fabulous places! You can enter by clicking on the Giveaway tab on my Facebook page. (You need to access it from a computer.)

 Check out the ocean of deals, steals & giveaways from the sea of "fin"tastic sellers below.

An InLinkz Link-up

My Top 5 Magical Moments At the TpT Conference

In linking up with Ha from Happy Days in First Grade for My Top 5 Magical Moments from TpT Orlando '16.

 

 

Magical Moment #1

Meeting Deanna Jump after years of following her blog online was magical. In person she is very sweet & down to earth. She made my day when she told me that she had heard of my store & even seen me on the TpT dashboard. As it turns out she taught in the same county that I currently teach in.

Oceans of Deals, Steals & Giveaways Week 1

I have team up with Cyndie Dunn from Chalk One Up for the Teacher & almost 80 other TpT sellers for Week 1 of Oceans of Deals, Steals & Giveaways. We are doing this every other week during July & August for 4 weeks of deals, steals & giveaways. Read on to find out what's happening each day.

MONDAY MADNESS 

$1 Deals.  You can grab either of my CHAMPS posters show below for only $1 on Monday July 4th only! Click on the CHAMPS posters below to see them in my store. You can read more about how I use CHAMPS in my class here.
Search #MondayMadness on TpT for all the $1 Deals.

 2 FOR TUESDAY

Check back on Tuesday for 50% off deals. This week I will be featuring my Alphabet Posters in with red vowels for primary grades & Exotic Animals Cursive Alphabet for Intermediate Grades. Both feature gorgeous real pictures. Click below to see them in my store & search #2forTuesday on TpT for more 2 for Tuesday Deals. 

WACKY WEDNESDAY  

We are going "wacky" on Wednesday with Flash Freebies throughout the day. Make sure you follow me on Facebook so you don't miss mine.

THRIFTY THURSDAY

Bundles are on sale on Thrifty Thursday. If you are a thrifty 1st grade teacher you are in luck. Your choice of Common Core Or Florida Standards Performance Scales Bundles are on sale today. If you don't teach 1st grade don't despair there are lots of other deals. Head over to TpT and search #Thrifty Thurday.

 FREE STUFF FRIDAY 

On Friday. Enter to win one of 7- $50 Gift Cards! Yes I said SEVEN $50 Gift Cards are being raffled off! All you have to do is visit our stores & follow us by clicking the green star. Every store you follow gives you another chance to win. GOOD LUCK!!! 

 

Check out the ocean of deals, steals & giveaways from the sea of "fin"tastic sellers below.

An InLinkz Link-up

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

4th of July Minute to Win It!

Do you want to spruce up your 4th of July Party? 

 

First grab some 4th of July Party Hats that will be a hit with all the kids!

To get them simply sign up for my newsletter here. 

 

Then, play Minute to Win it Games that will engage your guests. Both young old!

 

I played Minute to Win it Games with my Class for our End of the Year Party. The kids, parent volunteers & I all had a blast. So I'm doing an encore of the games with my family for our 4th of July Party.  

We played:

1. Go Fishing: Fish are cut out of tissue paper & you need to fan the fish to the finish line.

2. Balloon Race (one of our favorites): Put a balloon or beach ball between your legs & have a race.

3. There She Blows: Blow a cup with a straw across the table.

4. Nose Dive (one of our favorites): Transfer a cotton ball from one plate to another using your nose.

5. Tower Power: Make towers alternating dixie cups & paper plates.

6. Noodling Around: Pick up pasta using a spaghetti noodle.

7. Face Cookie (another one of our favorites): Move a cookie from your forehead to your mouth using only the muscles in your face.

We got most of our Minute to Win It games from this FREEBIE on TpT. 

Here are 3 videos of Minute to Win it Games that are Perfect for your 4th of July Party!

 

  Join me in celebrating the 4th of July by playing Minute to Win It . Let me know which games you played.

 

 

 

Get the PERFECT POINT!

 A Sharpener Loved By All

Classroom Friendly Supplies' sharpener has intrigued me for years. However as a kindergarten teacher I needed to sharpen big pencil who were not compatible until now! I was very excited when they sent me my own sharpener to review! My own children who are 5 & 8 years old loved it. They quickly found all the broken pencils in our house to sharpen. Kids love it because it is easy to use and provides a perfect point every time. I loved it because it is quiet. Below is a video of my 5 year old demonstrating how easy it is to sharpen a pencil.

Both of my kids begged me not to take it to school & keep it at home. Since it was the end of the school year, I agreed to let them keep it at home for the summer. At home & at school I have gone through so many sharpeners that did not work. The electric ones were noisy and seemed to eat pencils rather than sharpen them. The most frustrating part is when the sharpened point breaks with its first use after using the expensive electric sharpener. My children & I have been using the Classroom Friendly Supply Sharpener for a month now & have yet to have to resharpen a pencil because it breaks immediately after sharpening. This sharpener provides the PERFECT point every time. I will definitely be buying more for my classroom before school starts & of course I will keep one at home! 

You can get your own here!