Five for Friday and 100th Day!

If you haven't heard, California is suffering from a major drought. Thanks to Mr. Groundhog and his winter prediction, winter finally came and so did the rain! We were stuck indoors the entire day today but I guess I can't complain since we need the rain. :)

Anyways, time for Five for Friday!

We finished learning about fractions this week including this fun activity with our names! Thanks Saddle Up For 2nd Grade!

Common Core is all about academic discussion. Have you been told to do number talks in your class? We have and the kids are doing great! It feels good to see the kids using the strategies I taught them and also come up with some of their own. :)

We also had an academic discussion about fractions that represent one whole. First, I drew a rectangle and divided it into three equal parts. Then I shaded one part at a time, stopping to ask the class what fraction was shaded each time. When we reached 3/3 another student raised his hand to say that it's also one whole. I saw this as a great opportunity to have the kids discuss whether they were equal. They did a partner share first, then we did a class vote. The class was split pretty evenly about whether they were the same or not. Then I had the students share their thoughts with the whole class (the writing in purple were notes I took from the discussion). After that discussion the class voted again and just about everyone agreed that it was the same! I was very impressed and proud of my kiddos! Too bad the principal wasn't around to see it. ;)

Centers on Wednesday included some groundhog synonyms...

...dictionary skills (looking up vocabulary words from our shared reading)...

...reading Scholastic News...

By the way, these "ticket holders" are AWESOME, especially if you want to save paper during centers time. I tried using laminated paper last time but we still had some difficulty with erasing the white board markers. These holders happened to be on sale and were being advertised on Surviving a Teacher's Salary, so I thought I'd give it a try. 

They work really well and the white board markers wipe right off! Click the link below check them out on Amazon. Looks like they are on sale again so now is the time to buy them. I think I might just buy myself another pack! :)

C-Line Stitched Shop Ticket Holder, Assorted Neon Colors, 9 x 12 Inches, 10 per Pack (43920)

Today is the 100th day of school! Hooray!

We don't really celebrate the 100th day in second grade (at least that's what I was told) but I still found a way to slip in some fun math activities relating to 100. My favorite was giving the kids 100 imaginary dollars to buy books from Scholastic. I even gave them calculators to use (which is VERY exciting in second grade). They had lots of fun with it and no one went over $100!

Some kids took it seriously (probably because I told them that maybe they can convince their parents to get some books for them after they have shown their hard work) and were very selective about their book choices because they didn't want their parents to spend too much money on them. So adorable. :)

Finally, we ended today making valentines for our kinder buddies.