Christmas Around the World: Second Grade Style

I love Christmas. I don't understand those few who don't. It is such a delightful time!

When I was teaching K I did a Christmas around the world unit. It was based around crafts and read-alouds and my students loved it. This year I decided to adapt it for second grade and so far my students are LOVING it. I created a power point about the varying countries we're "going" to: Sweden, Italy, Germany, France, England, and Mexico. I have pictures of each country, a map showing where it is located, and slides discussing the different traditions.

 Check it out here on TPT!

Today they got their passports. On the first page I had them write their full name, address, and picture. I showed them my own passport as an example.

Each day as we got to a new country, the students "stamp" their passports with the flag of each country. They color the stamp themselves with an example on the board. Sweden was today, so that was a pretty easy one. England will be a bit of a challenge. The stamps are so small! (But adorable).  I got them from Sarah Cooley's scrapbook.

I love this unit so much I decided to link it up with 1..2..3..teach with me for her Christmas linky party. Check it out for more ideas for this fabulous holiday :)

Cyber Monday Sale on TeachersPayTeachers!

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody! I hope everyone has had a wonderful and restful Thanksgiving Day. And for those of you who were doing most of the cooking, thank you for making it a restful day for the rest of us ;)

Anyway, I am announcing that I am participating in TeacherPayTeacher's Cyber Monday sale! All of my items are on sale for 28% off! The sale is for 24 hours starting on Monday 11/26.  I just posted two new Holiday Literacy Centers, but most of my things are for the Fall, so you can stock up for next year.

Click here to get my store

By the way, check out my two newest literacy centers:

Pumpkin Pie Diphthong Word Sort

Peppermint Candy Prefix/Suffix Sort

Happy Holidays and Cyber Monday shopping!

Halloween Activity Freebie!

We have been reviewing the parts of speech since the beginning of the year and have finally made it to the most fun part of speech: ADJECTIVES! One of the activities I've created is a halloween madlibs-style worksheet. Students fill in adjectives to make the Halloween sentences more interesting. I'm using this activity in the Jump Into Writing Center. Later students are going to modify sentences by adding both adverbs and adjectives, but for now we're concentrating just on adjectives.

Here is what the activity looks like:

Click here  for the FREE download from TeachersPayTeachers!

Halloween Literacy Centers

October is finally here which means, it's time for HALLOWEEN!!!!

I know that Halloween is at the end of the month, but I am a huge fan of holidays and costumes, so Halloween is right up my alley. Therefore the entire month of October is a Halloween celebration in my classroom. Most of my math activities and literacy centers are based on Halloween and I've made a few of my own Halloween centers.

The first is a pronoun activity. I created this as a review before we dive into reflexive pronouns. Student replace nouns in spooky sentences with subject/object pronouns. The activity I made students can either cut and paste the pronouns, or write them in, depending on how long the activity should take.

Click here for the download!

The next center I made was based on a Fountas and Pinnel phonics activity. (I use Fountas and Pinnel to supplement the basal reading program at my school). Students sort words that end in Y based on the sound the ending Y makes (either long E, A, or I). 

Click here for the words that end with Y word sort!

The most recent center I've made is similar to my Fall Long O word sort, but it focuses on Long E and is Halloween themed. Students sort long E words according to their "long E rule." The words are written on black cats and the rules are written on witches hats.

Click here for the download!

Man I LOVE Halloween!! Check back for many more Halloween activities! Lord knows there will be some more. 

Check out what other teachers have been making at 4th Grade Frolics' Linky Party

Fall Grammar Center

Despite living in California, I LOVE the change of seasons. Those of you who have more intense weather might want to argue we don't have seasons here, but I love getting into the spirit of things despite the mild climate. In general, my September literacy centers have a fall theme. The first I made myself was the Long O Center Freebie where students sort apples according to the Long O Rules.

As I was planning my grammar instruction for September I realized that my students were needing a refresher on the basic parts of speech before I dove into second grade common core standards of adverbs, reflexive pronouns, etc. Thus my Fall Verb and Noun Sort was born!

At the center students have to sort fall leaves into verbs and nouns. When they finish the sort they record their findings. It works as a review for my students, but easily could be used in first grade as they are beginning to learn the concepts.

The students were really engaged in this activity. I think it helped them get into the spirit of fall even though it is still in the 80s outside :)

You can purchase this center by clicking here to visit my TPT page!

Fall Literacy Center Freebie!

Since discovering Teachers Pay Teachers and the enormous amount of materials that are available, I've become a bit obsessed with creating my own! I only recently started,  but it is safe to say I spend most of my Sunday on it. I created this particular center for my students to practice their long O words.  I'm big on having centers with monthly themes, so this one goes for my September Fall theme. Of course, you can easily use this throughout October and November as well :)

I use this center in my Word Work rotation and so far my students have loved it. For the free download click here to download from TeachersPayTeachers!

Man I love Fall!