102nd Day of Second Grade

Are you ready for a fun new way to celebrate the 100th day of school? We've got you covered! 

By 2nd grade our students have already celebrated the 100th day a couple of times, so we are mixing things up with the 102nd day of second grade! We are celebrating Dalmatian style complete with a classroom transformation and Cruela DeVil costume!

To set the stage to engage, we purchased the following items:

Amazon:

Blow up fire hydrant and Dalmatian

Fire truck pop up tent

Black and white polka dot baking cups

Cruela DeVil wig and gloves

Dollar Tree:

Fire hats

Dog bowls

Walmart:

Dalmatian fabric

Angel food cake mix

White cake mix

chocolate chips

Home Depot:

Astro turf

We used the dalmatian fabric to cover tables to give the classroom that dalmatian feel. (I even used a little extra to make a scarf to complete the Cruela outfit). 

The astroturf was used to cover the table at the dog park center because we all know dogs like to play in the grass!

We even bought a few dog bowls for organizing the supplies at the centers because you can't have a classroom full of dogs and no dog bowls, right?!

To label each area, we had the center posters printed as colored engineering prints at Staples and hung them at each center.

For the fire station we had the blow up fire hydrant and dalmatian, the fire hats and the pop up fire truck tent. The students could wear their hats and take turns in the fire truck while they conducted their dalmatian research.

We started the day by having the students make their dalmatian ear headbands and dog tags.

Once they were all transformed into adorable little puppies, we started our centers. Our students rotated through the following centers:

Listening Center with the Summary Writing
Dalmatian Research with QR Codes
Dog Adjective Sorting with QR codes
Double Digit and Triple Digit 
Addition and Subtraction with Regrouping
Dalmatian Cake

At the dalmatian cake center we made 3, 2, 1 cakes and saved them to eat while we watched

 102 Dalmatians.

We finished off our day with an opinion writing about the movie. We brainstormed likes and dislikes together, then they did their writing and completed their dalmatian craft.

Grab our opinion writing and dalmatian cake freebie here. 

It is such a fun day and the students are so motivated to complete all their tasks! You can check out all the activities here. We hope you have as much fun celebrating and learning as we did!

Assessing with Chatterbox and ChatterPix

Are you looking for ways to incorporate technology into your classroom? Chatterbox and ChatterPix are a great way to start.  Both are free apps and really easy to use.

Chatterbox is very basic and only has three steps for the students to complete.

1. Choose your picture. They can either take a picture or choose one from the camera roll. You are going to want a picture with a face on it.

2. Adjust the eyes and mouth to line up with your picture

3. Record what you want it to say.

ChatterPix has four steps and a few more options to allow for more student creativity.

1. Choose your picture. They can either take a picture or choose one from the camera roll.  You do not have to have a face on it for this app.

2. Draw a line for the mouth.

3. Record what you want it to say.

4. Embellish. This is where they get to get creative. They can add filters, stickers, frames and text.

Sounds pretty easy right? It is! 

So now you're wondering which one you should use? It really depends on how much time you have and what you want your students to get out of it. 

On Friday I had limited time, so I needed limited choices. We have been learning about landforms and I wanted my students to demonstrate that they had learned three facts about a landform, so I chose to have them use Chatterbox. 

Here is what I did...
I divided my students into groups of three, assigned each group a landform, had them read a book about their landform, write down three facts and draw a picture of their landform with a face on it. 

Now comes the fun part. Once they had completed their facts and picture, they were ready for Chatterbox. 

They open the app and took a picture of their drawing.

Then they move each piece of the face to the correct location. When they touch the piece to drag it, a magnified bubble pops up so they can see where they are moving it.

After they set the face, they are ready to record. All they have to do is tap the microphone and start talking. I had each of my students read one of the facts that they had written down. 

(The microphone pics up all the background noise so I let my students go outside to record. They thought that was pretty exciting.)

After they finish recording, they can adjust the pitch. My kiddos had a lot of fun listening to the different sounds of their voice, but for sharing it with the class I had them set it in the middle so we would be able to understand it.

When their video is complete, they tap on the share icon and it will save the Chatterbox as a video on their iPad.

I had my students present their projects to the class and I also had them add it to their Seesaw portfolio.

This is one of the finished projects. Click the picture or here to watch.

Now I'll share an example of a ChatterPix that I made to show you the differences.

Just like in Chatterbox, you open the app and either take a picture or choose from your camera roll. 

In ChatterPix you do not need to have a face on your picture because you can add it in the app. You simply draw a line for the mouth and record. You can not change the pitch of your voice in this app. I'll let you decide if that is a good thing or a bad thing. 

Here is where the choice and more time comes in...

 You can choose filters, stamps, frames and text. This is great for allowing your students more creativity, but it definitely requires more time for them to explore their options.

For my example I added the sunglasses stamp and text to label my picture.  

Once you have completed your video, you just tap on the share icon and save to your camera roll. This app also allows you to share to facebook and youtube. There is another version called ChatterPix Kids that doesn't have the sharing to social media options if you prefer not to have those options available.

This is my completed ChatterPix video. Click the picture or here to watch.

As you can see, both apps are a great way to integrate technology. They are highly motivating and engaging and allow a lot of options for students to demonstrate their learning.

Noon Year Party!

We celebrated the new year with a Noon Year Party! I got the fabulous idea from Chris Pombonyo. You can check out how he celebrated here. 

We started our day off with a countdown clock projected on the board.

To add a little new year fun to our math, I used a subtraction scoot I already had, to build a noise maker. 
I divided my students up into groups and had them work together as a team to solve the problems. Each time they got four answers correct, they received a piece to their noise maker until their noise maker was complete.

What new year would be complete without setting goals? We spent some time reflecting on goals that they had already accomplished in 2016 and what new goals they would like to set for themselves for the new year.

How could we call it a celebration without balloons, party hats, and a toast?! 
Five minutes before noon we grabbed our noise makers, put on our party hats and headed to the carpet to countdown to noon. My kiddos were so excited for the balloons to drop!

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Happy Noon Year!!! 

We finished our celebration with a sparkling cider toast and a cheer to the noon year!

This was such a fun way to celebrate the new year and welcome the students back to school after winter break. It would be a lot of fun at the beginning of a new school year too!

Noon Year Party Invitation

We are celebrating our return from winter break and the new year with a Noon Year Party! 

To build excitement for our celebration, I created this fun party invitation. I love how festive it looks printed on bright paper! Are you having a Noon Year Party to celebrate the new year or the start of a new school year? 

Grab the free invitation here. 

How are you celebrating the new year in your classroom?

Keepin Udderly Smooth This Fall

Happy Fall Y'all! I L.O.V.E. fall! The cool weather, pumpkin everything, the Hallmark Channel Christmas Movies (don't judge) and lots of fun classroom projects! 

The only down side is that all the cool air and construction paper can wreck havoc on your hands. So I have a handy little teacher tip for you. (did you see what I did there?) Keep a bottle of Udderly Smooth Hand Lotion next to your paper cutter! Then every time you prep a project, you can moisturize and keep your hands from drying and cracking! 

I hope this helpful tip helps you keep your hands looking fabulous this fall. Check out these other great ways to use Udderly Smooth in your classroom.

Want to win some Udderly Smooth for your classroom? Enter the giveaway below for a chance to win a prize pack and a $50 Walmart gift card!

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