The 2nd Grade Chick

Reposting an oldie but goodie of J reading as a 3 year old!  Love her voice!!  I'm glad I took a lot of videos of her just beginning to talk (and read). My new favorite blog is  Kindergarten Crayons .  Because of Fran, my 3 year old picked up this book (sort of, I was too excited to make the book) and read.  (I was also too excited to put pants on her.)  Her is a video of J reading!  Get this very book  here.

So last year I posted these back to school resolutions.  I didn't do too well.  Every day I will: Eat well-keep track of WW points Exercise 4 hrs. per week Drink 64 oz. of water Vaccuum and pick up a room, do a load of laundry Cook a meal Accomplish one thing on my ongoing to do list, one thing on my fun list Shut off the computer and read at night Here is a rundown of how I did working a measly 12 hrs. this week (last year). Monday-  Did it all, I didn't work. Tuesday-  Roomba battery died, I decided to skip picking up and laundry. Wednesday- I managed to eat well, exercise, and cook. Thursday-  I was exhausted and skipped it all. Friday-  Not only did I skip it all but I said phooey on the WW points and sent husband out for chocolate. All this and I only worked 12 hrs.  Next week I have to teach Jump Start in the morning AND put my classroom together. I'm hoping my Roomba battery comes soon.  I blame it all on that.  How is it

7 work days until the teachers report!! And I teach Jump Start K 4 of those mornings so I have exactly 4 days in my classroom.  We have to be out by 4:00 and we can't go in on the weekends.  I'm  freakin out nervous about getting things done this year.  I snuck in today to do this much.   Walking in! Moving in! Overwhelmed. Do second graders really use this much paper?? A before shot of my reading corner.  How are you feeling about your classroom right now??? I will continue to add to this post as I get things done.  This weekend I will have to work on printing and laminating.

Soooooo, I'm a teacher and do my best to make sure my girls are getting enough education at home.  That being said I am also a very busy mom and yes I use educational TV as a baby-sitter and don't sit down and play with my kids as often as I should.  I never drill them (unless a teacher requests it) and I don't sit down and "teach" them.  What I DO is surround them with education opportunities, answer their questions and just talk to them.  My girls were never formally sat down and taught the ABCs but they both knew them around 2 years of age. Many kids pick them up quite easily at 2.   I surrounded them with ABC books, puzzles, electronic toys and use the computer.  That is one of my favorites in the upper left, and a video of my catching my 4 year old still playing with it.  It is great because she likes to play on her laptop like her mom. Here is one of her reading an abc book at 2.5 and another one of her on starfall  at 2.  We were on this site more

I am joining up with  Mrs. Lemon's Linky Party  Tell me more!  I am excited to join because I am a big fan of Mrs. Lemon's and want to get to know more 2nd grade bloggers.  Which leads me to my first tid-bit.   1.  I have taught Kindergarten for 10 years and I am nervous about beginning a new year at a new school in second grade!  2.   I turned 35 on my last birthday.  3.  My children (ages 4 and 9) are guinea pigs to my teaching ideas.  4.  My four favorite vacations were Hawaii, New York City and Panama City Beach, Florida and Western Nebraska.    5.  The jobs I've held include retail, aerobics instructor, dishwasher, lifeguard, child-care director.  6.  Both my Grandmas were named Rose.  7.  I once hit my head on the diving board when trying to do a back flip.     8.  2 days after I was born a tornado hit my house.  My first home was a hotel.  9.  I danced for 10 years as a child, loved dance and cheerleading in high school and recently learned ho

I'm a simple mom.  I like crafts, but they are messy.  My kids make enough of a mess already.  I do not need to encourage them. BUT when my hubby came home with  this birdhouse kit from Wal-mart , I didn't say much.  He helped J glue it together and then I left her by herself with the paint and the stickers.  I would just rather not watch her make a mess.  I am willing to let my kids make messes, it is just too painful to watch at home.  Anyway I think it turned out great!!

Are you a teacher mom who struggles to keep her cool at the end of the day with your own kids?  Let's discuss... CONFESSION TIME—We’ve been yelling more than I care to admit this summer, time to go back to school anyone??  So I signed up for this awesome webinar call ed Get Kids to Listen without Reminding or Yelling' Presented By: 'Amy  McCready ' .  It was a very nice reminder to me (someone who has taken many classes on how to care for and discipline children).  It is also seemed to be a great starting point for those that do not know the importance of positive attention and positive power and she is even available as an online coach! I really liked what she had to say.  I like the idea of positive parenting but there are some things that push me into my uncomfortable zone.  My goal is to discipline without punishing.  It is a struggle and I’m learning the way. Many times I resort to what I know, yelling, it is quick and gets the des

Half price ($3) for one week only!!  Click on my Teachers pay Teachers button to get yours now! This poetry notebook was designed to go with Houghton Mifflin Journey's Kindergarten curriculum. It is meant to go in the same letter order as Journeys and uses poems mostly found in the curriculum (although not in order). I had to bring in a few traditional ones in order to complete each letter. It is also good for your students to see the poems more than once. The Handwriting portion includes pieces from Zaner Bloser AND Handwriting Without Tears. Just like reading and math, handwriting is best taught in many ways, and exposure to many different fonts is a good thing. As the letters are introduced, the alphabet is practiced by filling in the missing letters (only the letters previously introduced) . At the end of the notebook they will be practicing the alphabet on their own. To get further practice, download my free alphabet sheets. You could insert these between each po

My hats are off to all you TPT sellers!  Creating is hard work!!  I started this blog last July with ONE measly idea on something to put on TPT.  My hubby taught me some basic stuff and so I was off.  I created exactly two pages of my 26 page poetry notebook before throwing in the towel putting it off until later.  Well here it is later, one year later and I opened up my freebie.  You see I picked handwriting not knowing how TOUGH it is to produce.  Now if you are OCD you will notice misalignments in my page.  I did my best, seriously.  My idea was to merge Handwriting Without Tears and Zaner Bloser together to create abc practice worksheets.  I am 13 pages into the Poetry Notebook and I am hoping to have it done SOON!!!  You will be the first to hear about it. :)  Anyway to get this 3 page freebie visit my store below.  TIA!!  Graphics by Dilly Dabbles and Babystar Design

While the girls are at Grandma's I went to Wal-mart BY MYSELF!  :) I went to get the $.97 glitter letters to spell read because I read  this post from The Bubbly Blonde.   I love her letters but as a busy mom that takes super shortcuts I was going to go fast and easy.  Well, while I was at Wal-mart I saw this super cute, matches my Dots on Turquoise decor PUR-FECT-LY!  So I threw two pillows in the cart.  The pillows (which reminded me of my classroom colors) clashed very much with the blue, pink and silver glitter letters so I put them back and picked up wooden ones to paint matching colors. The shortcut is my girls will paint them for me.  And so the back to school obsession begins........... Yes, I may steal that chair and the rug to match out of my girls' room.  They want new stuff right? And, they painted these within minutes of arriving home!  

The girls are away at Grandma and Grandpa's and my brain is shifting into school mode!  I am desperately trying to crank out my brain child, a poetry notebook based off of Houghton Mifflin Journeys.  (It's done you can get it here. )You probably already know there isn't an easy way to figure out the letter order!!  Well I just took the guesswork out for you.  Here it is! (Oh and I included the sight words too.) Lesson 1- Letter Names, SW I Lesson 2-Letter Names, SW like Lesson 3-Letter Names, SW the Lesson 4- Mm, SW and Lesson 5- Ss Lesson 6- Aa, SW see Lesson 7- Tt, SW we Lesson 8- Cc, SW a Lesson 9- Pp, SW to Lesson 10- Review Lesson 11- SW come, me Lesson 12- Nn, SW with, my Lesson 13- Ff, SW you, what Lesson 14- Bb, SW are, now Lesson 15- Review Lesson 16- Ii, SW is, how Lesson 17- Gg, SW find, this Lesson 18- Rr, SW will, be Lessson 19- Dd, SW go, for Lesson 20- Review Lesson 21-Oo, SW make, play Lesson 22- Xx, Jj, SW said, good Lesson 23- E