2nd year into teaching..

First of all, where did summer go?!? For one, I haven't blogged since the last day of school...I've spent my summer in Mexico, Virginia Beach, and Florida.. I've enjoyed beaches and just enormous amount of quality time with my family, friends, and Milan...Now, I'm forcing myself to get back into normal routine. With the new year approaching, I am filled with mixed emotions! Nervous, eh...excited, definitely..and just overwhelmed with emotions with the new administrations, news RTI, and new kiddos (the fact that I have 23 kiddos on my roster still freaks me out!) You probably think, eh 3 more kids, no biggie...well, sometimes those 3 kids mean A LOT!

Well, since I have spent few days here and there working on "minor school projects." The first official day of work is tomorrow which will consist of meetings and meetings. The kids report August 6th, 2014 so hopefully I'll squeeze few more things in!

 Guided Reading Table with the new Word Wall

 Welcome Sign for Parents/Students (They will take a picture with it,and I will use it for a bulletin board...On the last day of school, I will give the students their picture!) :)

 Tags for Accomplishments (Bookworm, Goal Met, etc) not sure who the credit goes to!

 Library Sticks

 The new-updated library! :)

And, we are ready for the 1st day of school! 

It has ended..

What? My first year of teaching is over.. a year full of happiness, joy, tears, stress, and just the overload of work.. all gone.. to wrap it all up, it has been a great one.. never have I doubted my career choice. I have enjoyed every bit of journey. I can't wait to see what next year holds in store for us!

On the last day of school kids shared what their favorite moment in 2nd grade was.. well, I had my sweet girl with ADHD say "I love you Ms. Stanisic" after I gave her 3rd grade advice. Yes, I teared up badly. Then I had DG say, "my favorite moment in 2nd grade was when I had a chance to hug you every Friday." If nothing, my kiddos knew they were loved, and that was my biggest accomplishment this year. It was a bitter-sweet moment to say goodbye but we all  are ready for summer break.

Sweet Summer treat for my babies (with a bag full of books for summer reading!)

Here is what we did last few days of the school..we read Dinosaurs Before Dark, and the kiddos did the cereal box project in one day.. (thanks to 150 minutes reading block!)

We also had Red Carpet Awards.. They loved walking down the red carpet.. Of course, they posed for camera!

Well, I am ready to enjoy this summer break.. Mexico, here we come! :)

Bucket Lists

Well, as you probably know, I live by to-do lists, agendas, and planners. They keep my stress level down, and they help me stay organized. Besides that, my life revolves around bucket list that kinda makes me content and helps me plan upcoming trips/events/getaway. On that note, Paris is set for Winter 2014.. how am I feeling?! EXCITED! Anyhow, this week in 2nd grade has been chaotic. Kids are winded up daily. However, we did accomplish one thing: bucket lists.

Students were so creative and inspired to reach these things!

Also, we finished our compliments projects. Few weeks ago, students were given 22 flashcards and were instructed to write compliments to each other. Today, they passed and shared amongst each other.. (each kiddo had 22 sweeet comments!) Then, they created compliments poster board where they glued down all the index cards. This will serve as a memory -- for them to remember their kind and fabulous classmates! Check out our pictures!

Well.. 5 more days of school! I am about to board to Chicago! Till next time friends.. :) 

How many days are left?

Yesterday, we started popping our balloons..countdown has begun! We are ready for 3rd grade.. (well, they are. I have mixed feelings, and I am starting to get emotional.)

In number 9, we found an activity that stated "chew bubble gum" and all of the kida went,"ahh we never get to do that in school." Indeed, it was a special moment for them. For me, I had to run to store during planning because I forgot to buy the gum. Yeap, teacher problems.

What does balloon number 8 hold? We shall find out in an hour!

Happy Tuesday y'all! 

Butterflies are free! :-)

Our butterflies finally fully emerged on Thursday. Therefore, each of us got a lolly pop, and made it sweet and sticky. Then, we put the lollipop in the net.. The butterflies landed on it smoothly thinking it was nectar! It worked very well.. except kiddos wanted to catch them and keep them.

& Mrs. Garland had a buddy butterfly that  would not escape.. 

Well, it is that time of year. We have started a countdown. 9 days  of school left.. We are going to pop one balloon a day and do the activity on that day! Activities include extra recess, popcorn party, chalk writing, and pick your seat for a day. Students have been asking about it for days, and I'm excited to see their reactions tomorrow! :)

LBL

Well, this weekend we went to LBL [3-day and 2 night camping trip] with 2nd graders. First of all, the kiddos behaved so well! They were super polite and friendly to each other. Also, we had no accidents or "home sick" crying. On the other hand, I realized it takes way too long for 8 girls to shower. Then, I had to brush, dry, and style hair for hours. Of course, we had to paint those nails too.. It was a good trip, and kids experienced so many things for first time!

          Nature Study and "Owl" Study

       Pond study.. what did we catch?

        Beaver's Dam (9 feet deep! eek!)

Stream Stroll.. Oh yeah, we found a lot of "crab fish" >> EL problems

        Pillow fight.. and the girls won!

       Bonfire, story time, and s'mores.. 

 

And we are on our way back to the school... happy Sunday! 

Wrapping up the week

Lets summarize today.. one student with broken tooth, another one bleeding, another one announcing to the class "My Mother is in jail...so I can't write a Mother's Day letter", two kiddos out of the school uniform, and the list goes on. Well, the good thing..it was Teacher Appreciation Week, and we got spoiled by SHINE volunteers with the yummy lunch! Thank you guys! (On the side note, I have been blessed by a SHINE volunteer who came weekly to work with a group of my students!)

On other hand, we wrapped up ARRAYS. I actually loved working on this standard more than I thought 

I would. I got a little creative, and we this is what we had for the final project..

Each student had to create a "building" that had an array. The student had to write the repeated addition equation. Of course, I had couple of students who were ready to write the multiplication equation.

 & then I had to add the "communities" to our city..so we worked and worked hard to make our communities  that contain many arrays (cars, trees, plants, butterflies, dogs, houses, swings, etc!)

 

And this is how part of our hallway looked with our city and communities..Could not get the other 2 communities in the pictures! Enjoy! :)

 

Well, here we go! 

Only 15 more days of school left! :-)