Patterns!

These snow days are totally throwing off all of my lesson plans! Last week we worked on wrapping up a whole bunch of units we had been working on. Our district has started using a new math series this year, called ConnectED Math by McGraw-Hill. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. The district isn't using the pacing provided by the book, but making their own. It's made it difficult to really use the lessons from the book, which is a shame because they seem okay from what I can tell. Anyways....I've been making a lot of my own math worksheets this year to practice what I teach during math and math stations time. My best lesson of my patterns unit was a very simple lesson on repeating and growing patterns. We practice on the smartboard and then I put the students in groups of 5 students, one group in each corner of the carpet. I gave them a bunch of pattern blocks and they worked together to practice making the type of pattern I called out. It was kind of impromptu but I was really proud of how quickly the grasped the concept! Here's a picture of a growing pattern one of the groups made. They got a little out of control with the length of their pattern! :) 

I'd like to share my first freebie with you! It's a few patterns worksheets I created to go with our unit. They work on repeating and growing patterns and number patterns counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s. You can get the freebie at my TPT store HERE or as a Google Document by Clicking HERE! I hope you enjoy!

My next blog post will be all about Guided Reading! Stay tuned! 

Happy Valentine's Day!

So I had it all set in my head that I was going to do a Valentine's Day post for ya'll. But winter had other ideas. We've got about 12" of snow on the ground here in NOVA, which is definitely enough for me to be enjoying my 2nd snow day! Love that I get to spend the day with my Valentine's! 

So anyway, my Valentine's Day post will have to wait until sometime next week. Instead I thought I would share a few glimpses of my classroom with you. Bear in mind that these were taken earlier this week, which is in the middle of the year. Which means.....it's no longer completely neat and organized :) Also, I took the pictures with my iPhone so they aren't the best quality! Here's a few of my guided reading table/desk and the student desks from the front of the room. 

Here's the view of my whole group area and a portion of my library. I am SOOO lucky to have a Smartboard and ELMO. I'm not sure how I could teach without them anymore!

Here is a look at the student cubbies. They don't keep too much in them, just their math workbooks, vocabulary workbook, and data binders. 

And the back! 

That's pretty much it! I've been in this room for 4 years so it's become my home. I don't change the layout too much anymore since I've found what works best for me. My theme is polka dots, although it's not overwhelming, just accents. I look forward to sharing some of my classroom procedures with you in my upcoming posts! Happy Valentine's Day ya'll! 

My First Post!

Last week one of the vocabulary words in my 2nd grade class was overcome. It reminded me that I needed to OVERCOME my fear of blogging! I've been trying to start a blog for what feels like F.O.R.E.V.E.R. I would come to the page, feel completely overwhelmed, and run away from it for a few months. Rinse and repeat. But I've decided that this is THE YEAR for me to become a blogger. I read and gain so much knowledge from so many wonderful blogs that I want to try to inspire someone else in some small way. Or at least make them feel better about themselves by showcasing my shortcomings. Anyway, this is my attempt! Thanks for coming along for the ride!