Was Valentine’s Day seriously just yesterday?!? I don’t know if our day was just so super busy that it felt like two days rather than one…or if it was the fact that I spent my Valentine’s night with my basketball girls at our tournament and didn’t get in until late…but I could almost swear that we celebrated Valentine’s Day ages ago! Ha!
We had a GREAT day yesterday together in second grade. Probably my best Valentine’s Day at school since it all began! Our kiddos were oddly good {it was almost scary} and they worked so very hard! Of course, I would never…EVER…want anyone to think that we wasted a whole day partying…so I must say that everything that we did throughout the day was…100% academic {so there!} Ha!
We began our morning work by creating Valentine cards for our parents. I LOVED Abby’s cute idea, but we just didn’t have the time to make it that detailed. So, here is a little more simplified version. Maybe not as cute, but still pretty darn sweet!
After we finish up our unit on division, we will be transitioning into fractions. I thought it would be a nice little brain break to give the kids a little blurb of what is to come. I had planned for the kiddos to make their own pizza for our party, so in math we made fraction pizzas. The students had to decide how to divide their pizza into equal parts and what toppings they would like to add in each section. I was amazed that one student even understood that placing cheese on 2/4 of his pizza was the same as placing cheese on 1/2. Super awesome teacher moment! Then to tie in a little writing, the students wrote about how to make a pizza {I mustache you…how to make a pizza}. The only direction given was that they had to use fractions when providing the ingredients and in their instructions.
During our shared reading time, we have been working away with using context clues to make inferences while reading. I don’t know if you have taken a peek at Abby’s Sweetheart Snatcher activity…but man oh man…this is too cute for words. I knew that I wanted this activity worked into my plans for the kiddos, so I decided to change a few things around to really stretch their thinking and to make sure that our principal would be identified as our “sweetheart snatcher”. He came in right as school began and played it up…BIG TIME! The kids completely bought the idea that someone in the school had taken all of the goodies out of the teacher workroom. Prior to becoming detectives to solve this mystery, I had the students write two paragraphs to predict who they thought the sweetheart snatcher was and to devise a plan of action to catch this mysterious snatcher! We also created the craft that Abby included in the unit.
After their writing was complete, we split up into two groups and set out on a mission. I still had not mentioned anything about clues. As they walked out into the hall…here is what they found!
Of course…they went absolutely crazy! They did an excellent job connecting the text clues to what they already knew to make a great inference. Here are some pictures of my little detectives working to solve the case! Definitely an all-time FAVE!
Our Sweetheart Snatcher…. {Since I didn’t know what time we would arrive to his office, we used our good ol’ Biebs as our sweetheart snatcher with our principal’s face attached.}
Such a fun little activity. The kiddos definitely grasped the concept and applied all that they learned yesterday as we began a mystery mini-unit today!
To get the little detectives calmed back down, we came back from our sweetheart snatcher chase and read Love, Splat. Then the students wrote a response to literature to describe the many times that they feel or have felt loved. Thanks to Cara for the cute little craft idea!
{I JUST realized that we didn’t add whiskers to these little darlings!} Ha!
After lunch and our activity time, we began our little celebration.
The students made their fraction pizzas by following the directions that they created earlier in the day.
They decorated cookies…one to eat and one to share with my uncle who spent his Valentine’s Day in a hospital bed. He was SO very excited to get his treats from the kids! It made his day and he didn’t even care if they licked their fingers inbetween icing! Ha! It was a great little RAK for the kiddos to participate in on Valentine’s Day!
They also traded their cards and placed all of their notes in their Abe Lincoln hats!
And to keep it all tied in with our little “mustache” theme…my student teacher put together these cute little drinks that were perfect!
Our little celebration was planned center style and we had small group rotations of six! It worked out perfectly and kept everything from going into utter chaos! It seriously was a perfect day filled with learning, fun, and lots of LOVE! :)
I hope that everyone had a wonderful Valentine’s Day! Thank goodness tomorrow is my Friday! :)
Ahh I'm so jealous of your Sweetheart Snatcher day. HOW CUTE! :) I saw that last week but I have a student teacher and don't want to step on her toes right now. Looks like you guys had loads of fun! :) Happy Wednesday!
ReplyDeleteSecond Grade Sugar and Spice
Looks like a fun day!!
ReplyDeleteJennifer
The First Grade Dream
I am so impressed with everything you fit into your days... Everything is so CUTE! :)
ReplyDeleteLove your activities! I might have to steal your "mustache" pizza one! ;)
ReplyDeleteMary
Mrs. Lirette's Learning Detectives
I am loving it start to finish!!
ReplyDeleteJennifer
First Grade Blue Skies
Looks like y'all had a blast! Everything is wonderful, as always!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a ton of fun! I just love your blog to pieces.
ReplyDeleteShannon
I am always so surprised at how much writing your incorporate into your classroom! I am inspired! I feel like there is never enough time in the day and I am always talking about "capitalize and punctuate your sentence!" Love everything you do, Hope!
ReplyDeleteHope - I love your valentine's day ideas and your blog. I'm so glad I found you! I am brand new to blogging and would love for you to pop in and visit me. :o)
ReplyDelete~ vicky
Traditions Laughter and Happily Ever After
Looks like a very fun day! Tell me...how do you get color copies for your students? Does your school have a color copier? If so, I am so very jealous :)
ReplyDeleteJamie at 2nd Grade Stuff