Second Story Window

Color Me Rocket

This adorable cardboard rocket (and the company also makes a cardboard house) would be a delightful creative activity for home. It would be fun not only to play in but to put together and decorate. I could see it being used in a classroom library or dramatic play area for young children as well.

Photo from tutus and turtles

Works For Us Wednesday: Transitions

Here are two of our favorite tricks for transitions in our classroom:

1- Poetry. The monthly poem goes up on the wall and we do some shared reading with it to get comfortable. After we're good at it, I started using it at transitions. As the students are cleaning up their desks and coming to the carpet, for example, I'll read the title of the poem out loud and the students join in reading it with me as they transition to the carpet. It's a good time cue as well as the students know they should be to the carpet by the time the poem is finished.

2- Trivia. I had several Brain Quest pads for 2nd grade stashed around my room. If we were at the carpet waiting for the rest of the students, lining up to leave the room, or go home, I'd grab a booklet and start reading trivia questions. It's a great way to engage the students already there and encourage the other students to join us quickly.


Do you have any favorite transition tips?

Featured on: Gettin' Crazy (and Giveaway)

We were featured on Crazi Beautiful's feature "Gettin Crazi." Please go here to read the fun interview we did. And be sure to leave a comment to be entered to win $20 in printable games (4 free games!) We're so excited to be featured.

Testing Review- Easter Eggs

End of year test reviewing can be overwhelming. How can you help the students remember everything you've learned in class all year? Heidi gave me this tip my first year teaching: Make it a fun activity!

Heidi took the questions from the state test review to create this activity. In Utah the test review question website is called Utips. If your state doesn't have test review questions you could write your own based on your state curriculum, in the style of the end of year test.

She formatted the questions into strips of paper that we folded up. We put one question and a piece of candy (Starburst, jelly bean, etc.) into a plastic Easter Egg. We like the ones that have the tops attached so you don't have to spend time looking for the matches.

I've used these eggs for review in a few different ways.

1- Pass out eggs to students. They read the question to themselves and choose the correct answer. Call students back to check their answer. If they picked the correct answer, they can eat their candy. Obviously, if they choose the wrong answer, give them some tips to try again. I always help them until they find the correct answer and get to eat their candy.

After being sure that each of them know the correct answer, I have them quiz each other. I usually have one half of the room stay at their seats while the other half of the room quizzes them. I challenge them to quiz as many people as they can in 3 minutes, for example. Any student who doesn't have somebody asking them a question has their hand in the air to indicate that they are available to be quizzed. It sounds a little chaotic but it's not bad. My students have always loved doing this.

2- Another way I use them is having the students all sit at the carpet. I call them up one at a time to read their question outloud and call on another student to give the answer. After answering a question they get to eat their candy.

I prefer the first method if we have time because every student ends up hearing and attempting to answer most every question. And the student asks their question many times and gets very familiar with the wording and answer. The problem with the second method is that not every student listens to every question. If Billy answers the first question and gets to eat his candy, he's not necessarily going to listen to any of the questions after that.

I filled the eggs up with new questions and more candy every afternoon after school so they were ready to go. I tried to use the eggs for an activity every day for a few weeks if possible.

Normally I don't like to use a lot of candy in my classroom. The reason I feel okay about using it for this is that I don't want the students to have negative feelings about anything to do with the end of year test. So if giving them a little treat when we work on reviewing for the test will make them excited about it, I feel great about that! I always let them suck on a Jolly Rancher during testing too, as something special to look forward to each day.

These are just a couple of ideas for doing test review in your class. We'd love to hear what you do in your classroom to prepare your students for the "big bad test!"

Spring Poem: The Wind

We both love using poetry in the classroom. You can read about how Heidi used it recently here. I'll be posting some more about it later this week when I start a new feature on Wednesday.

Today seemed like a good day to share one of my favorite spring poems, The Wind by Robert Louis Stevenson. I love putting this poem up in the Spring and hearing the students read it over and over. It's a longer poem, but I usually only post the first part (up until the first repetition of "Oh wind...")

The Wind

by Robert Louis Stevenson

I saw you toss the kites on high
And blow the birds about the sky;
And all around I heard you pass,
Like ladies' skirts across the grass

Oh wind, a blowing all day long,
Oh wind, that sings so loud a song!

I saw the different things you did,
But always you yourself you hid.
I felt you push, I heard you call,
I could not see yourself at all

Oh wind, a blowing all day long!
Oh wind, that sings so loud a song!

O you that are so strong and cold,
O blower, are you young or old?
Are you a beast of field and tree,
Or just a stronger child than me?

O wind, a blowing all day long,
O wind, that sings so loud a song!

3 Free Books at AudibleKids

AudibleKids is offering 3 free audio books for children. The books are:

"Gordon" from Sesame Street is the chief story teller at audiblekids.com, so I'm a fan just for that. He's the author of Ricky and Mobo!

If you have a listening center you need to stock in your classroom, downloading some of the cheap tracks for picture books would be an affordable way to get outfitted. Books on CD can be expensive but this is a nice alternative. Check out the great books in the 99 cent specials! The Skippyjon Jones books are in there (my favorite.)

Not a teacher? These audio books would be great to listen to at home! If you have the books already, you can buy the tracks to make your own listening center. Or you can put the tracks on a cd or your ipod to listen to in the car.

I'm a huge fan of this!

Found via faithful provisions.

Useful Product- GoWrite!

One of my favorite products to use in the classroom is GoWrite! Self Stick Dry Erase Sheets. My coworker introduced them to me last year and I found them to be so handy. You can print on them with certain types of printers, but I never tried that.

My coworker used them to make each student a board to hold up for interactive lessons. She liked this method because they could leave them in their desks and she didn't have to spend time passing out whiteboards for a quick interactive lesson.

I liked using it for classroom organization. I cut them into 3x3 squares and made a grid on one of my cupboards. The grid holds information for my students' reading groups. One square has their assignment, another square has the strategy they're focusing on, and the third square holds a correlating writing assignment for those groups who can handle it. It works like a charm! My students learned to check the grid daily and work on their assignments during free time. It helps me keep my guided reading time efficient.

Zither

We used to have one of these when we were kids (although, I don't think we called it a Zither.) I spotted it on Etsy a few days ago from seller HeartandHomeLC and immediately bookmarked it. I would love to buy one again!
I think this is a great way to get kids interested in music and playing instruments. It's a simple independent activity. (Note: the seller recommends this item for children older than age 4.)

Happy 1st Day of Spring!

Did you see Google today??Love it! Read a fun article about it here. Be sure to check out Eric Carle's website as well.

Ultimate Blog Party 2009 & GIVEAWAY

We're jumping into the Ultimate Blog Party hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom!

Thank you for stopping by! We're Heidi and Emily, two teachers (and sisters) who love creating activities and resources for classrooms and kids! Our shop is full of games we created with young children in mind. As teachers we get to see the games in action in our own classrooms and it's a thrill to see children enjoying them. We hope you'll take a peek at our stuff!

And to thank you for stopping by, please leave a comment to be entered to win 3 free printable games ($5.00 value each) from our shop! We'll choose the winner on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 at 9:00 PM EST.

For extra entries into the contest, subscribe to our blog, post about our contest on your blog, or mention us on facebook or twitter. Leave a separate comment for each entry.

Good luck and thank you for visiting!