Instagram Fun and #teachertalktuesday

First of all, I heart Instagram!!! 

It's such a quick and easy way to capture small, special, silly, incredible moments and share! 

I'm so excited Rachelle and Michelle are hosting Teacher Talk Tuesday on Instagram! This is going to be so much fun! 

It took me a while to figure out Instagram, so here are a few helpful tips:

- It's kinda like Facebook but with only pictures!

- You feel like a fancy schmancy photographer with all the filters!

- Tag friends with the @ symbol

- The # is an easy way to search for specific things! 

 Come follow my school adventures 

@ soaring_through_2nd 

and leave your username in the comments! I'd love to follow all of your adventures! 

See you on Instagram!!! :-) 

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FIVE for FRIDAY!

Oh boy oh boy! I can't believe I've neglected this poor little blog of mine these past few weeks, but this time of the year always creeps up and smacks me right in the face little nobody's business. 

I'll be back this weekend with some school stuff. Here's a little look at my week: 

I started off the week with this horoscope:

(Love the wish upon a star part!!! So I did!) ;-)

and these new shoes: 

We are in full TEST PREP PULLING TEETH mode. Lisa over at Growing Firsties created an AMAZING unit to help with this! It's called "Finding Proof" and it's filled with PERFECT passages for my struggling students with comprehension questions that make the kids FIND PROOF for their answers! Can you say Common Core!?!?! This unit is seriously perfect for my struggling 2nd graders and we've been using it all week!!! Thank you Lisa!!!

Our school is also in full swing PLC mode! Are you a PLC school? Lot's of data and figuring out essential standards and deciding what to do for the kids who got it, and what to do for the kids who didn't. I'd love to hear about your experiences with PLCs! 

(I used a Google Form to have the kids take a fractions test...This meant instant data for me!!! = One happy teacher!) 

We started multiplication this week. With arrays. This made me want to pull my hair out....

We're still trekin' along with our forces & motion science and writing unit. And we finally launched our bottle rockets! They actually launched!!!!!

We blogged about bullying. I was so proud...

I think that was more than five, but I'll still link up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday. :)

Happy weekend! Have a great one!!!

                                                                                                    Source: yellowbrickblog.blogspot.com via Noelle on Pinterest

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Gotta Love Sock Puppets

I love stumbling upon those apps that can be used in any subject area in the classroom! And this is definitely one of them...

Sock puppets!!! Who doesn't love sock puppets, right?

Here's a quick video two of my kiddos made this week about fractions!!! 

The kids love being able to choose from different sock puppet characters, and adding backgrounds and props. 

We've used this app to practice spelling words- one sock asks how to spell "cat" and the other sock puppet says "c-a-t". (I didn't even think of this- one of my sweet kiddos did to practice his words for the week!) 

We've used it to pretend like we are characters in a story and are talking back and forth.

The kids can use this app individually or together (love the collaboration that goes on here!)...

The possibilities are absolutely endless!!!

I would definitely recommend having the students write a script before they record, or you could even write a script for them. 

Have you used sock puppets!?!? I would love to hear how you used it! 

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Five For FRIDAY- Yipeeeeeee!!!

Finally! I'm on time!!!!! Love this linky (probably because it's on my FAVORITE day of the week- FRIDAY!!!!) Thank you Doodle Bugs!!!

Happy Friday!

1. I got a new blog design and am in LOVE with it!!! I just needed a little change-up! Thank you Alicia!!!

This was our first week back from spring break and it was a little rough getting back into the swing of things if you know what I mean... AKA- my alarm is really cramping my style! Despite my sleepy self, we did some great stuff in class! 

2. We wrote scripts from the characters' shoes with a partner!

Then we used the sock puppet app (FREE) to record our scripts! 

This was SO. Much. Fun!!!

(I'm going to post more about that app tomorrow!)

3. I've got a new behavior system thanks to Lisa, Rachelle, & Laura! My kiddies are seriously acting like little angels (KNOW ON WOOD!!!) and I am LOVING it!!! 

  

4. We've been working on leaving meaningful comments on our class blog. I was beyond thrilled to start getting some thoughtful comments from the kiddos!!! (Instead of "Cool" or "I like your picture")

5. I found a tooth on the floor the other day. Yes. A tooth. Don't even get me started on this. I am so grossed out by loose teeth, and this just about put me over the edge...

                                                                                          Source: ramshackleglam.com via Brenda on Pinterest

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April Currently and Fun Free Font

I cannot believe how fast the days fly by! Really! First of all, it's already the END of Spring Break!!! 
:( (so sad) Plus it's already APRIL! I can't believe it!
But that means it's time for Farley's Currently!

It's so quiet today- not even the TV is on! It's so nice!

I'm loving all of the fun things I got to over spring break! Like this:

This year, Sea World offered all teachers a free pass! So my teacher be sties & I went! We had such a fun time! 

Plus, I got to see so many friends I haven't seen since Christmas, and got to spend some really wonderful time with my family! It's been the best part of spring break! 

And since spring break is (almost) over, it's only right to get the countdown to summer started:

And my blogging advice (mostly to myself) is to always remember why you started blogging. I honestly started blogging because I had an amazing class and needed some way to document all of the fun and learning we were doing (besides running next door to my teaching partner daily and telling her stories...)

And my little blog was born. 

It's easy to sometimes become obsessed with followers and page views and numbers and sales....but every time I start to think about that, I try to remember why I started in the first place...

Make to sure to link up with Farley before this month flies by too!

And last but not least, I FINALLY got a chance to play with the Font Maker app on my iPad! 

This is seriously SO MUCH FUN!!!

This was the first one I made (just playing around- nothing too fancy) and I can't get over how neat it is to see your handwriting as a font on the computer! 

Feel free to download it by clicking the picture below! :)

 

                                                                                                                     Source: blog.jelanieshop.com via Lauren-Nicole on Pinterest

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Another Fraction FREEBIE!!!

I am so happy to share another fraction freebie with you today! 

If you're working on fractions with your kiddos- this might help you! I know my kids need all the help they can get with fractions!!!

This is for sorting correct & incorrect fractions:

There are two sets of the same cards:

And one with self checking QR codes (in case your class has a set of devices; they can scan the QR code and check their answers!)

There's also a recording sheet and a sorting sheet in case you need it! 

Click on any of the pics to download!!!

Enjoy! I'm headed off to school (for a teeny tiny little bit) to get a few things ready for next week. I'll be in and out in a snap (hopefully)! Have a great day! 

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Fraction Fun Freebie!!!

Before I head up to see my sweet mom to celebrate her birthday today, I have a freebie to share with you! Yipeee!!!

When we get back from spring break (still trying not think about it... I'm so lucky I have one more week off!) we'll be continuing with fractions....

You can use it as a read the room, individual center, partner work, whole group- you name it, it'll probably work! 

There are regular cards:

And in case your classroom has devices- same cards with self checking QR codes! 

And a recording sheet!

Click any of the pictures to download! And enjoy! If you do download- please leave me a comment! Your comments make my day! :)

And a big thanks to Beth at Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs for the cutie (pizza) pie clip art! Love it!!!

We're heading out to have a fun birthday dinner & see the Oz movie! I'm so excited!!! Have you seen it???

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