4.22.2013

Waiting, Wondering, Hoping....

Waiting, wondering, and hoping...all VERBS that have to do with us and our butterfly larvae!  I found out today that there is a delay because of the cold weather here in good ol' New York, and they should be shipping today or tomorrow.
And yes - we are working with VERBS this week!  The class had fun coming up with verbs for different parts of our day - waking, brushing, chewing, running (to the bus stop!), riding, walking, unpacking, writing.....
Tomorrow, we are playing a little guessing game after we spend time brainstorming in groups.  Basically, the groups will be assigned a topic and will brainstorm verbs that go along with that topic (i.e.. birthday party - singing, opening, laughing, eating, playing....).  Then, they will report out their verbs to the large group who will try to guess their topic.  Fun, huh!?  They will love it and will get some good verb practice in in the meantime!  The link to the file on TpT is below.
Hope your Monday was great!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fun-with-Verbs-a-brainstorming-activity-and-guessing-game

4.21.2013

Can you spell METAMORPHOSIS?

Can you say disappointed?  My class waited anxiously all.week.long for the butterfly larva to arrive and they never did!  I hope they are just a few days behind, but I will be tracking them first thing tomorrow!  In the meantime, we have been busy learning about the stages of the life cycle.  One thing I have been really focusing in on this year is vocabulary.  My students just love learning BIG words and impressing adults by knowing the meaning of these words.  This week, we had fun with the word METAMORPHOSIS.  They couldn't get enough of it!  I created a Making Words for the word METAMORPHOSIS so they can manipulate those letters and get to practice sight words and vowel patterns.  Can you believe there are over 1100 words within metamorphosis?  Don't worry...I narrowed that list down to the ones I felt K-2 teachers would find the most use with.
Cross your fingers for us and think positive so we get a special delivery tomorrow!
 Making Words Freebie - Metamorphosis


4.14.2013

Time for Butterflies!

It's an exciting week in second grade!  Our butterfly larvae will be arriving!  I always love this unit because the students are so motivated and engaged.  From the minute the larvae arrive to the moments that we set them free---it's just so great. The students will name their larva and make observations and then we start learning about the life cycle of the painted lady butterfly.  We touch on butterfly body parts, migration, and the differences between moths and butterflies.  A favorite activity is when we see what it's like to look through a compound eye.  You can download this at my TpT shop with directions on how to make your own class set of compound eyes without breaking the bank.  :)
Stay tuned for some great pictures of all things butterflies as we have FUN in second...and for much more than a second! ;)
Click here to purchase: Butterfly Compound Eye Activity
Click here to purchase:  All About My Larva Writing Activity

Want to know more about raising butterflies in your classroom?