Carla's 2/3 Crew

Happy Birthday and 400 Followers

2011-07-21T19:02:00.001-05:00

Great Give Away a Sunny Days in Second Grade. Go and check it out!

Mother Goose

2011-07-02T19:05:00.000-05:00

First Grade a la Carte is celebrating 500 followers with a free Mother Goose Game. She is also having a giveaway AND a sale at her TPT store. Check it out!

Place Value Activities

2011-07-02T14:31:00.033-05:00

I have been preparing for next year and wanted to make nicer signs for some place value games and addition/subtraction games...so here they are. I print the numbers 0-9 on four different colors of card stock. I have four teams and give each team a set of different colored numbers. I call out a number and they must make it (17, 138, etc). Each team that can put the number necklaces on and get into the right order, gets a point. I tried this without place value signs on the ground and it was difficult for my second grade math students at the beginning of last year...so I made place value signs to go with the number necklaces. I have also used the place value necklaces in addition and subtraction team games. I call out a problem and the team must agree on the answer and then put the correct number necklace on. Again, I do this in the beginning of the year to review basic facts.

I plan to print these out (when I decide which set to use), laminate, and string some yarn through the two holes I punch into the top edge. WhaLa...number necklaces. If this sounds like something you would like feel free to download them. Click on the picture to download. Let me know if any of the links don't work (I am having a disagreement with linking things). Link for sign language 5 should be fixed.

BUILD Math Workshop posters

2011-05-30T13:55:00.002-05:00

I just finished some posters for my math workshop next year. Hope someone can use them. I got the idea from a PT poster and decided to design these.
Build sign
Be A Math Writer
Use The Computer
I Can Do Paper Practice
Learn Math Facts
Do A Math Game

I made them in Print Shop 2 and uploaded them as pdf files...but be sure to download/print them as pdf files (my first time trying to upload and share Google Doc items).

Last to Know

2011-05-29T20:15:00.000-05:00

Alright, I'm probably the last person in the blogging world to know about this site, but...I just spent tons of time finding lots of things I can use for the beginning of the year...and they were free (WOW). The blog is First Grade...a la Carte! Check her out...but plan on spending lots of time wandering the archives. Have fun

Aches and Pains

2011-05-28T20:48:00.000-05:00

I love my job...but right now (and for the last month) I have been packing up my classroom. Our public charter school rents space at Concordia Language Villages and so we move out in the spring and move in about four days before school begins in the fall. It does keep the clutter down, but everything must be packed and then loaded into a semi trailer to store for the summer. There isn't any popping in to school to pick up something you forgot you needed for planning. I guess I must like it because I've been doing it for 11 years. I hope to get back to posting on a regular basis. Until then I'll keep stalking other bloggers.

Confuzzling

2011-03-21T12:51:00.004-05:00

I figured out how to add pages to the blog, but I can't figure out how to allow comments on the other pages (?). This is definitely holding the wagon train up! Stay tuned.

Great article about Homework - Reading for the Fun of it

2011-03-07T06:40:00.000-06:00

Sharon Taberski has an interesting article on her blog called, "Homework - Reading for the Fun of it." Check it out, here.

Pioneer Family Names Above In Red

2011-03-02T19:41:00.000-06:00

Beginning March 14, our crew will begin a simulation about pioneer travel from Independence, Missouri to the unorganized territory of what would become Minnesota. The "pioneer children" will be blogging about their journey. This past week we have visited two settler cabins and a prairie schooner. The students picked 1840 Victorian names and selected a family name. They will document their journey in a digital scrapbook and add their journal entries about the trials and successes they encounter on this blog. Please feel free to follow along and give them feedback. We look forward to "seeing you" along the trail.

Donors Choose

2011-01-24T20:51:00.000-06:00

Wow! I just had my first project posted by Donors Choose. I'm very excited. I am asking for 5 Nook ereaders. My second and third graders are going to really be motivated to read using these cool devices. Our 21st Century learners really do need to be motivated by different kinds of learning opportunities. To view my project click Mrs. P's project

Talking Rocks

2011-01-21T19:37:00.000-06:00

We decided to have some fun with the rock descriptions we wrote...so we blabberized them and uploaded them to our wiki. Check them out, they are unique. The original site is called blabberize.com.
http://carlas23.pbworks.com/w/page/35252883/blabberized-rocks

Alternative Assessment

2011-01-18T12:27:00.000-06:00

I have set up a "wall" for our crew to post what they have learned about rocks and the rock cycle at
http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/carla23 . Students may visit here either from home or at school to add their knowledge about our expedition topic. I'm trying this method of assessment as a test and I may use this rather than the traditional KWL method! Maybe, who knows.

Just Had To Share

2011-01-17T08:47:00.001-06:00

We have been writing descriptive paragraphs about the rocks we have been studying and I wanted to take it a step further. I gave the students cameras with microscopic lenses and told them to focus on something on their rock that they described in their paragraph. They then had to change the description from a onlooker point of view to the rock's point of view (I, rather than "the rock"). We will be taking these photos and making the rock give the description using "blabberize.com." I will post those creations also, but I was so amazed with their work...I just had to share! We will share the original writing with the photos in our Celebration of Learning where the parents and community attend.

The students worked with a partner giving advice and reviewing the photos . Once the photos were loaded onto the computer the students chose the final photo that "will tell its story." My initial instructions were to photograph their rock "up close" and make sure they photographed the detail they explained in their written description. The rest was up to them...except I wanted them in focus.

Updates

2011-01-13T19:18:00.001-06:00

I have been waiting for my computer to get repaired (actually get rid of a bug) and I am trying to learn some of the "neat" blogging activities shared by Ladybug on her blog. I will be updating soon and moving the items from my website to this site...Yeah!! Check back soon for the new and improved blog.
Peace, Carla

Welcome to Our Crew Blog

2010-12-27T19:39:00.001-06:00

Our crew is part of Schoolcraft Learning Community, a public charter school. We are a second and third grade multi-age classroom. Schoolcraft is a K-8 Expeditionary Learning school. Below is our main building where administration, our lunch room, and our classroom is located. The other classrooms are in cabins located in two different spots on the campus.