I'm still here!

Hey Everybody!  I am still around.  Life just got really busy the last few weeks.  We just celebrated Christmas a couple of days ago.  It was one of the BEST Christmases ever!!! My son, Gavin, who is 3, finally understood what was going on.  We started off with our elf named Joe.  He LOVED finding crazy Joe everyday.  

Then we visited Santa and he about lost it!  We started talking about leaving cookies for Santa and we decided the reindeer needed something too.  He decided on crackers and cheese.  How funny! 

He woke up Christmas morning and went straight to the tree.  It was all so magical!  It was also my daughter, Norah's, first Christmas.  She of course didn't understand yet, but she thought the paper was pretty tasty!  I hope everyone had a great holiday and you are enjoying the break from school!!

~Stacey

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Work on Writing

I introduced "Work on Writing" this past Monday.  This was the first time for me, and I have to say it didn't go as smoothly for me as "Read to Self" and "Read to Someone".  My expectations were not clear enough, so that will be something I address next week.

This is where the students sign up for their Daily 5 activity for the day.
Currently they only attend one a day.  These signs are courtesy of The Teaching Reef on TPT

I haven't started taking groups yet, so I had students breaking their stamina to come up and have me read their writing.  They were very excited to write and share, but my kiddos are not at the point of sustained writing for longer periods.  Small steps at a time!  They also would "finish" with writing and want to change to "Read to Self".  I allowed it, but now I am second guessing myself.

I created Monthly Writing Prompt Cards to spark their creativity, and they are really excited to write about the topics.  

I would suggest laminating the cards and binding them with a ring to keep them all in one place. 

I did have one or two kids ask if they could "free write" and I did allow it. 

On Friday, I created a December Traveling Journal.  It is a regular spiral notebook. I created a cover, December word list, and a note with 3 writing prompts to choose from.  I also wrote an example story, so they could see what my clear expectations were.  Every day a student will write in the journal using one of the prompts.  My goal is to include the journal in our classroom library as well as share it with the other 2nd grade classrooms.  My ultimate goal is to have the other classes write in the journal too.  I had my first student write in it on Friday.  She didn't finish yet, but so far it is a really cute story!  I look forward to reading the finished product!

Inside of Traveling Journal

Check out my TpT store for my Monthly Writing Prompt Cards.  I will also be posting the Traveling Journal activity next week!

**UPDATE**
My Monthly Writing Journal prompts are posted on TPT.  You can read about it HERE!  Combine both of my writing activities to keep your kiddos interested and writing all year long!



~Stacey

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