School and the City

I just had my first - but definitely not last - Scholastic Book Fair Warehouse Sale experience. It was completely overwhelming and completely FABULOUS. I didn't go for anything in particular, so I forced myself to use a basket instead of a buggy. I ended up with 44 books for $70! My score included 10 Magic Tree House books, which would have cost $70 on their own at a regular Book Fair or bookstore. I knew close to NOTHING when I walked into the warehouse, even after Googling "Scholastic warehouse sale advice" (to no avail). I suppose I'll share some tips with you before I start making my shopping list for the August event.  DO locate a warehouse sale near you  and write it down in your planner or on your calendar (or tell Siri to do it for you).  DON'T wait until the end of the sale to stock up, like I did. Today was the last day of a 10-day sale at my local Scholastic warehouse. Although I certainly had no trouble stocking up o...

I totally cannot take credit for this bookmark idea. This fabulous strategy was shared with me by a coworker who learned about it at a balanced literacy workshop. Shoutout to whoever started this - you are incredible! During my conferences with students during our reading block, I have been using neon index cards to make personalized bookmarks for my kiddos. I write down a reading strategy or skill that I want them to work on and draw a quick little sketch to go along with it. On the back, I write "To: [student name]" and "Love, Miss Payne." These bookmarks are GREAT for so many reasons: 1. The kids adore them. It makes them feel special to be getting a personalized note from me. 2. The bookmarks are empowering because it helps students take charge of their own learning by reminding them what skill they should be working on every time they read. 3. It is an easy way to differentiate. 4. They are functional because they are B...

Gooood morning!! I am currently on spring break (hence the happiness), but the weather is crummy so I begrudgingly decided to think about school for a just  a little while. My April has been SO busy. I've missed blogging! I'm excited to share some insight this morning and to do some blog hopping! *   *   *  I want to share a little bit about how I encourage my students to extend and enhance their learning at home. My second graders are absolutely bursting with curiosity! Whenever I introduce a new topic, especially in science or social studies, we get way off track because my kiddos have so many questions they are dying to get answered! I do make them wait until after my lesson, but afterwards I spend a good chunk of time answering their questions. I love that they love to learn! To give my students extra opportunities to research and deepen their knowledge of academic concepts at home, I offer optional enrichment projects about once a month. I like to...

Happy April - It's officially my birthday month!  We had fun celebrating April Fools' Day in second grade today. One of my kiddos got me before I could play any tricks of my own! Before the bell even rang, I found this guy on my chair at my kidney table. EEEEK! Don't worry, I got to play some tricks of my own. First, we took a " Following Directions Test. " I told the kids that it's super easy - all they have to do is follow directions! (This is true, but easier said than done...) I remember taking one of these trick tests when I was in third grade. I'll never forget it! Then, I told my kids that we were going to do word searches for fun word work today! I told them that the first one to find all of their spelling words would win a piece of candy. Little did they know, NONE of their spelling words were actually hidden in the word search. I had them going for a good 5 minutes... by then some kids were getting too frustrated and...

When I was student teaching, I actually had to write an economics unit for my kindergarteners. I have also taught an entire economics unit to my second graders this year. The following books are my favorite read-alouds for teaching wants / needs, goods / services, and saving / spending.  Those Shoes  is about a boy who really wants the shoes that all of the cool kids at his school have. It is a great way to introduce needs and wants.  I am actually using this book with my students on Wednesday this week. There's a read-aloud video of it on YouTube. Love it! I like to use If You Give a Mouse a Cookie  to practice identifying goods and services. We make a T-chart and categorize all of the things that the mouse asks for as either a good or a service. Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday is my all-time favorite book to open discussion about saving and spending. It is hilarious to read about Alexander trying to keep up wi...

Through the trial and error that comes with the first year of teaching, I have discovered one of my new best friends in the classroom: MUSIC. Music! Through college courses, chats with veteran teachers, PD seminars, and blogs, I have gathered many ways to use music in the classroom and have tried them all. Music works so well with my current class. Here's how I use music on a daily basis: 1 - Phonics and Math Concepts I use YouTube videos to help teach my kids new spelling patterns as well as mathematical concepts. There are videos out there for EVERYTHING! The videos usually have catchy songs that students sing all day long - helloooo memorization! For phonics, my favorites are BreakThruChris and TheElectricCompany . Right now, we are learning about "Bossy R." I crack up every time we watch! HaveFunTeaching and HarryKindergartenMusic both have tons of awesome math videos. "Coins in My Hand" by Harry is a favorite in my classroom. Again - ...

In second grade, we recently finished a BIG balanced literacy unit on characters. First, we learned about character traits. After we discussed character traits for a few days, I had students write down some of their own character traits on paper frames. They loved it.  Next, we had a discussion about how like we are growing up, characters are growing up, too. Although we may still want things we can touch like toys and games, we also want things that we can't touch. We have to put ourselves in the character's shoes and determine what it is that they really want.  To see if my kiddos understood, I had them draw a quick self-portrait and write a sentence or two about what they wanted. I was amazed by how quickly my students grasped this concept! Some of the things that they want in life are so precious!! "I want to be a good person." "I want to make my family proud of me." "I want to be a very good citizen." ...