Meet the Admin at TCE

What a great night at TCE. Parents had the opportunity to come out and meet our new administration at Taylors Creek. I loved being able to catch up with my colleagues and see the smiles of my old students as they told me about their summer adventures. One student even brought me a gift from the beach. Looking forward to a great school year!

Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs! Oh My!

As our county embraces technology, be sure to keep up with my classroom happenings, educational apps, and hands-on activities easily.

Follow me on twitter: https://twitter.com/tidbitsviapitts

Follow me on blogger: www.mspitts2ndgraders.blogspot.com

Like my Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/tidbitsfrommspitts

My Go-To Apps for 2nd Graders

I can't believe my summer break is almost over. Two more weeks and it will be school time again. Where did the time go for this teacher?!? Well since our county is full steam ahead with technology this year I wanted to share my 3 go-to apps for reading, logic, language, creation, and math for 2nd graders.

Well here goes and I hope you find my list helpful!!!

Reading Apps

  
Accelerated Reader: Great for taking AR tests and checking for comprehension.
Storia: Great for reading and listening to ebooks.
Bitsboard: Great for learning vocabulary, learning to read, and much more.

Logic Apps

    
5 Dice: Great for putting those math skills into action.
River Test: Great way to wake up the brain and think outside the box.
Blue Block: Great logic game for all levels of learning.

Language Apps

  
Spelling City: Great for spelling and vocabulary review.
Opposites: Great review of antonyms.
Jumbled Sentences: Great review of sentence structure.

Creation Apps

  
Tellagami: Great for making videos through the use of personalized avatars.
Popplet: great for making graphic organizers.
iDiary: great for daily journals.

Math Apps

    
FlashToPass: Great flashcard review of math facts.
Math VS Zombies: Great game for addition review.
Math Slide Addition/Subtraction: Great review of math facts


There's my list. I hope you enjoy. Feel free some apps you find helpful in your classroom. Have a great rest of the summer!

Students Reaching 100 AR Points!

I can't believe this school year is almost over! My little 2nd graders are almost 3rd graders. Time surely does fly by when you are having fun. Well I'm happy to report that I have some amazing readers in my classroom. Some have even hit the 100 AR point club. The incentive in my room for reaching a 100 AR points is getting any book your heart desires on the teacher. So far I have 3 students who have reached 100 AR points. That meant I got to go shopping for books! :)

I am so happy that my students love to read because this teacher loves reading too!

Congrats Kavian, DaiJour, and Alysia for reaching 100 AR Points! Way to Go!

Congrats DaiJour!

Congrats Alecia!



Congrats Kavian!

"Keep reading because it will take you places you never imagined!

Flavorful Synonym Rolls w/ FREEBIE Worksheet

Synonyms! Synonyms! Synonyms! We love synonyms after today! Check out these Flavorful Synonym Rolls we made! Be sure to check out how I taught the lesson and grab up the worksheet FREEBIE below.

 

I introduced synonyms today by reading: Pitch and Throw, Grasp and Know: What is a Synonym? My kiddos love this series so of course they enjoyed this book.

 



After discussing synonyms, I introduced a thesaurus to the class. We compared and contrasted the dictionary and a thesaurus. Next, it was time for us to be bakers. Each student was given a cinnamon roll with a word in the middle. It was each student's job to find flavorful synonyms in their iThesaurus on the iPad  to complete their Flavorful Synonym Rolls. Just add a little glitter and you've baked up some Synonym Rolls.

Want to use the worksheet in your classroom? Grab it up HERE! Enjoy!

***I made the cinnamon rolls out of construction paper. It was easy peasy! :)

Those Angry VERBS w/ FREEBIE Worksheet

Well it's that time of year again...time to teach nouns. Well my absolute favorite way to reintroduce verbs to 2nd graders is using Angry Birds (considering verbs were introduced to them in 1st grade). I saw the idea on Pinterest and fell in love with it.

I opened the lesson up by reading: To Root, to Toot, Parachute: What is a verb?
This book is awesome. My kiddos were completely engaged during this book. The illustrations are great and it makes verbs real to each student.

After a class discussion about verbs, I decided each student earned their time to play Angry Birds on the iPads. They were so excited. They had one guideline: Tell the teacher what verbs are used during the game. However, they could not use the fly or flew (Too easy).

Next, they were instructed to complete their Angry Verb worksheet. Directions consisted of:
-Define a verb.
-Write one sentence stating what the Angry Bird did.
-Highlight the verb in the sentence.
-Color the Angry Bird.

Last, early finisher got on Study Island on the iPad and completed a verb review assignment that I posted.

Check Out These Angry VERBS!!!!

Like the worksheets? Well I made it one afternoon and feel free to grab it up and use it with your kiddos. Coloring Page HERE! Construction Paper Add-ons HERE!

We Loved Celebrating America Recycles Day!

America Recycles Day was on November 18th and we received a treat. Mrs. Rearley came out and did an America Recycles Day presentation for us. My kiddos loved it!

Mrs. Rearley opened with reading a fabulous book: Here Comes the Garbage Barge. If you haven't read it, it is worth checking out! I love the story as do my students! Here is a cover preview.

After the story, we learned about the 3 R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We even got to play a game that helped us distinguish which items we can reduce, reuse, and recycle in our everyday lives.

 

 Lastly, Mrs. Rearley introduced us to the 3 R's song on YouTube! We love it! Check out the song:

Well that sums up how we celebrated America Recycles Day! A big thank you goes to Mrs. Rearley for dressing up and helping us celebrate America Recycles Day!!

TCE 2nd Graders Visit Hinesville Fire Department

There's nothing like a taking a field trip in the middle of the week!! WooHoo! Well after celebrating Fire Prevention Month in October, we decided to take a visit to the Hinesville Fire Department.
Check out our photos below and see all the fun we had.

Who ever said bus rides have to be boring!?! They've never been in Ms. Pitts' class. We had the best bus driver ever! He turned on Kids Bops for us to listen to on the way to the Fire Station and we of course sang all the way there. The bus ride was over before we knew it and was beyond awesome!

We finally arrived and the Hinesville Fire Station Tour began. We took a tour of the station. My students really like seeing where firefighters ate, slept, and relaxed before a fire call. They were full of questions. After touring the station, we got to check out the trucks. Each student even got to walk through the fire truck.

How about we even got to see the pole they take from the kitchen to get to the fire trucks in a hurry! My kiddos thought that was sooooo cool! I thought it was pretty cool too. I couldn't believe they still do that. :)

Well that wraps up our Hinesville Fire Station visit! We are so thankful that our local heroes took the time to visit with us! Our community involvement is out of sight! :)
 

Character Pumpkin, Crazy Hair Day, Red Ribbon Week...Oh My!!!

What a busy week we have had in 2nd grade at TCE. From trainings to all the festivities at school, this teacher was beyond busy.  Here are a few things that kept me on my toes this week:

Character Pumpkins
Each class had to create a class character pumpkin for the Fall Festival that was yesterday. Our class chose the book the Lorax. I have to say it came out beyond cute!

Each class in the school did a wonderful job. Some you wouldn't even think they were pumpkin! Here are some other class pumpkins that really catch your eye as well.

 

 

Crazy Hair Day
Our PBIS monthly reward for our school was Crazy Hair Day. Of course...I had to participate with my students. Everyone needs a blue wig. :)

Red Ribbon Week
Also, we celebrated Red Ribbon Week this week. What Fun! Saying "NO" to drugs was echoed throughout the school this week. On Friday, we even made a human chain pledging to never do drugs. The students loved the fact that out principal was the roof.

 

Well that wraps up our rather busy, fun week!

Until next time...

We Love Sparky the Fire Dog...and the Free App!

As we all know, Fire Prevention Month is in October. We had so much fun learning about Fire Prevention today. We started today's lesson by listening to Sparky's Birthday Surprise on the iPad.

 

Did I mention the app is FREE? Yes...FREE. Also, it comes with a story, music video, games, and much more! It is worth checking out. It had my students engaged the entire time. After the story and a few games on the iPad with Sparky, we started on our Fire Prevention worksheets. Made by Clever Classroom, these worksheets were adorable. Grab them up here.

Last, we even had a special guest today, a firefighter. My boyfriend is a firefighter so he came out and helped me today with my lesson. The kiddos were able to try on his gear and ask him questions about firefighting. They loved it! He even bought them goodies, hats and coloring books. Check out these awesome pictures! We had too much fun today!

We are truly fired up about learning!

What a day!