Wisdom for Wednesday-Problems

Welcome to another week of:

I have been reading a devotional every day from the book Jesus Calling by Sarah Young.  If you are looking for a good devotional, I would recommend this one.  One of her devotions talks about making friends with the problems in your life.  I had never heard of that and I have never even thought of it that way.  She talks about how every problem can teach you something and it can transform you little by little into that masterpiece that God has created you to be.  When we have problems we have a choice:   1.  Dwell on it and make it ruin our day or 2.  Look at it as our friend and know that it can help us to grow closer to God and teach us something if we just trust him.  

I think I would much rather take the second route and not dwell on the problems.  

Have a great day!

Telling Time and OI/OY

We have been working on telling time to the hour and half hour.  I found this cute activity from Teacher Idea Factory to practice telling time.  I had the kids draw a clock on their desks (we are lucky to have desks that we can write on).  Then I gave each of them a piece of licorice.  I told him that the licorice was going to be our hands on the clock.  We had to break the piece into 2 pieces (one short and one long for the hands on the clock).  Then we got started practicing the time.  The kids had a blast with it and if they followed directions then they got to enjoy a piece of licorice at the end. 

We have also been working on words with oi/oy and I found this cute activity from First Grade W.O.W.  The students had to come up with words with oi and oy.  They made a list of them on their desks and then at the end they came up with 2 more words with oi/oy and used a mini chips ahoy cookie as the o in their words.  They were more than ready to come up with some words for me because once they did they got to eat the cookies.  

Have a great day!

Choosing to Read, Multiplication, Seeds, and Birds in a Cage!

Happy Saturday!

I'm linking up with Kacey from Doodlebugs again this week to share some random things from my week. 

1

After seven months of coaching and getting home anywhere between 6:00-11:00 p.m., I am trying to make myself leave school at 4:00. I love coaching, but having time for simple pleasure is nice too.

2

I finally have some kiddos choosing to read!

In my room, there is a standing direction that when they complete an activity or assignment they always check their work folders and then move on to "choices." 

Our choices are MobyMax, math games, read to self, fluency games, and word work activities. 

This class always chooses math games and it was driving me nuts. Don't get me wrong, math games are great! But so many of my kids this year need to be practicing their reading!

Anyway, I started a friendly AR competition between the boys and girls and now many are choosing to read and excited about earning points for their team. I still wish they were doing it for the love of reading, but I'm not going to complain! 

 3

Our Birds in a Cage artwork turned out pretty cute.

 Click here for a tutorial.

4

After studying about plants, we planted some seeds. I was a little worried because I had these seeds in the freezer, but they showed signs of sprouting in TWO days! 

The kids are thrilled!

5

And finally, the most exciting thing happening in my room is The Great Multiplication Race! 

Let's face it...a lot of second grade math is building on what they have learned in first grade, but multiplication... 

Well, that is new and exciting!

This pack came from Teacher's Gumbo although I don't currently see it in their store.

My awesome para (remember her name is Jackie :-)) came up with the idea to bind the pages and turn it into a book. We love it! The first several pages are filled with the strategies we've learned and then it goes into practicing them. I didn't really turn it into a "race," but I am allowing them to work at their own pace.

Well, that wraps up my week--at least the parts I have pictures for! ;-) 

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Wisdom for Wednesday - Trust

Hey there! 

I'm glad you stopped by for a little wisdom today…

As usual, this week's quote--actually Scripture--is mostly for me and hopefully someone else will be encouraged by it too.

I've had a little trouble trusting lately…seems kind of silly even as I'm typing it, but let me explain.

As you may remember, I was supposed to have shoulder surgery on March 21st. It got postponed…a snag in paperwork between insurance and hospital, etc.

I was disappointed (well, angry about those sub plans I spent time on!), but I tried to let it "roll." I then waited patiently for two weeks and heard nothing. 

I decided that maybe I should call and check on things Friday, only to find out that absolutely nothing has been done in the way of getting that paperwork taken care of so my surgery can be scheduled. A lot of people saying this or that, transferring me here and there. It is getting a little frustrating to say the least.

Why am I so concerned with when I have surgery?

I am afraid the surgery is going to get dangerously close to some trips I have planned at the first of June. I really do NOT want to be in pain or wearing a sling when I go on them. Nor do I want to wait until the end of June to have the surgery. :-(

Anyway, when I saw this verse (an old favorite), I knew I had to take it to heart and share it with you today!

Photo from this pin.

Praying it blesses you as it did me!

How to Blow a Bubble-Sequencing

I found this cute activity at The Teacher Wife about writing how to blow a bubble.  I had the kids sequence the steps down on paper and then they got with their shoulder buddies.  They switched papers and followed the directions that their shoulder buddy had written on how to blow a bubble.  They thought this was so much fun!  It was fun to watch them read the directions and do each step.  Here they are:

Have a great night!

Reading Groups, Birdie Art, Hail Storm and Too Much to Do!

 Hey there!

I hope you're enjoying your weekend!

I finally remembered to take enough pictures to link up with Kacey from Doodlebugs for Five for Friday again!

1

I love this time of year... My second graders are becoming quite independent and we are in need of "mixing things up" a bit. 

I have them read our main story as a group. I give them a list of questions to guide discussion and they take turns being the teacher as they read. It is fun to wander and listen in on their conversations. They even raise their hands as they wait to be called on by the "teacher!"

2

We had a crazy hail storm the other day right after school. 

3

I thought these birds were a little too simple for second grade, but they were so cute I couldn't resist! Turns out the kids loved making them anyway!

4

This is what happens when you have a particularly draining week...

Those are mostly writing notebooks...but it represents the amount of work I brought home because I couldn't even think about doing anything yesterday after school. :-(

5 

And finally, my to-do list for today...

Isn't it sad?

Notice the 'Buddy plays @ 5' is in my husband's handwriting.

All morning before I had to leave, I was asking, "What time does Buddy play?" Buddy being Buddy Hield who plays for Oklahoma. Final Four is tonight and since my Jayhawks are out, I'll be cheering for OU. And yes, I call all my favorite players by their first name as if I know them! ;-)

Anyway, when I left without my list (to work concessions at a Forensics meet which I didn't put on the list), I asked my husband to send me a picture and he had added that for me. LOL!

Where will you be at 5?

I'll be in front of the TV cheering for Buddy!

Have a great rest of the weekend!

 

P.S. No throwing rotten tomatoes, but someone told me yesterday we only have 29 more days of school! WHAT!?!?!?!?!

Wisdom for Wednesday-Working things Out

Welcome to another week of:

I had a dear friend of mine get me the book called Jesus Calling by Sarah Young.  It is a devotional book for each day.  It is absolutely one of the best devotional books that I have read.  Each day after reading the devotional, I am always saying that is soooo true!!  So this one was the other day.  It went on to talk about how we should stop trying to work things out before their times have come.  We should accept the limitations of living one day at a time.  Instead of dwelling on things and trying to work it out ourselves, we should ask God whether or not it is a part of his agenda for us today.  If it isn't then we need to release it to him and move on about our day.  Wouldn't that be so much easier to release it to God and move on about our day?  If we don't do that then we allow little things (that aren't God's plan for us that day) to take up our  time and energy.  I personally need to be working on letting those things go and letting God take them over because I often dwell on things and it would be so much easier to let him dwell on them for me.  :-) 

Have a great day!