Learning sight words can be tedious, so I love when I find fun ideas to spice it up.  I saw this idea all over Pinterest, so I'm not sure who originally thought of it, but what a great idea!

I had no idea that Jenga games can cost upwards of $15, so I put out a plea on Facebook and was lucky enough to have a friend donate a game to me.  (She said she originally bought a generic version for $5 at Five Below.)  Because I might want to change the words, I stuck orange washi tape on the sides of the blocks and wrote the words on the tape with a Sharpie.  (Washi tape is a kind of paper tape like masking tape.  You can find it at craft stores and even Target in many different colors.)  I really recommend using a Sharpie instead of washable markers because those will rub off on the kids' fingers when they play.

For my second grade class, I used the Dolch sight word list, but you could use any words that you are focusing on:  other sight words, spelling words, vocabulary words, etc.

To Play:
You follow the regular Jenga rules, except that you may not pull out a block unless you can read the word on that block. Don't knock over the tower or you are out!

My students LOVED playing this game and probably would have played all morning if I let them!  I like that it incorporates not only reading, but also strategy and cooperation.  Win-win!

In this week's RAMP session, we reviewed synonyms and antonyms.  Here are a few games that you can use to practice identifying synonyms and antonyms:

Super Word Toss!
http://www.abcya.com/synonyms_antonyms.htm


Synonym Sam’s Lab
http://pbskids.org/lions/games/synsam.html


Synonym and Antonym Puzzles
https://do2learn.com/games/synonymsantonyms/index.htm



Also, if you were unable to attend RAMP yesterday, you can watch the recording here:

To view the recording, click the link below:
View the Blackboard Collaborate recording

The 2014 Winter Olympics will be starting on February 6th and will be held in Sochi, Russia.  I am SO excited to watch them!  I think the winter Olympics have some very interesting sports that I would never get a chance to watch otherwise (like bobsledding, luge, and curling).  And, of course, hockey.  (Did you know that 7 of my Pittsburgh Penguins will be representing their home countries in the Olympics this year?)

There are a ton of free (yay!) activities you can try at home to learn about and celebrate the Olympics.  Here are just a few that I have collected:

Olympic torch treats 

(Make with store-bought cake ice cream cones and Cheetos)

Olympic ring pizza

(You could use whatever toppings you like, but these are bleu cheese, olives, pepperoni, pineapple, and avocado)

Gold medal cookies

(Golden Oreo cookies and Fruit by the Foot)

Paper towel roll Olympic torch

Laurel Leaf crown

I was able to request all of these books from the library for free.  Don't forget to check out the non-fiction section, where you can find many, many books about individual sports and athletes.

G is for Gold Medal

Olympig!

Tacky and the Winter Games

The Winter Olympics

Geronimo Stilton Saves the Olympics (#10)

Magic Tree House: Hour of the Olympics

World Flags Matching Game

Snowboarder XS

Winter Games

Time For Kids
Information about different winter Olympic sports.

Olympics Fun Facts

Winter Olympics Facts
Over 100 pages of printable activities!

If you're like me, you might recall math class with horror.  All of that mindless memorization, skill-and-drill, timed tests....  Yikes!  Luckily, today's kids have it so much better off.  Here are a couple of fun ways they can practice their math skills:

First In Math
You're probably tired of hearing about this program by now, but it really is a great way for students to practice their math facts and other math skills.  They love earning those virtual stickers!  Just let me or your Instructional Supervisor know if you would like to enroll your student in First In Math.

Math Playground
This free website has a wide variety of math games that are sure to appeal to your student.  Math Man, Meteor Multiplication-- there are games for every level of student, all the way through algebra.

IXL
This is another free website that has a plethora of resources organized by grade level and skill.  If your student is struggling with a specific concept, it is easy peasy to find an activity here to help him/her.

We have been having fun in RAMP!  The kids have been very engaged and are eager to earn their PA Cyber Prize Packs.  (I am giving out a piece of a sentence during every RAMP session; students have to collect them all to earn the prize.) 

Here are our upcoming RAMP sessions for the month of February:

Monday, February 3rd, 3:00 pm:  money
Monday, February 10th, 3:00 pm:  synonyms/antonyms
Wednesday*, February 19th, 3:00 pm:  compound words and contractions
Monday, February 24th, 3:00 pm:  writing sentences

*rescheduled due to the in-service day on February 17th

Sometimes rounding can be a little tricky, especially when you are rounding to different place values.  Here are some fun games and other resources you can use to practice.


Remember, we use rounded numbers to help us estimate.  Rounding gives us more manageable numbers to work with.

Just click on the name of the worksheet to go to the page where you can download them for free.

Rounding to the Nearest _____. by Have Fun Teaching

Rounding to the Nearest _____ by Super Teacher Worksheets (only a couple of these are free)

Rounding Worksheets by Kids Know It Network

Soft Schools Rounding Game

This is a good game for beginning rounders.  Round to the underlined digit.


Half-Court Rounding

This basketball themed game has several different levels-- rounding to the tens place, rounding to the hundreds place, and rounding decimals.  (Students can choose their own levels.)


Glowla's Estimation Contraption

Round the numbers to estimate the sum.  (You may want to have a piece of scratch paper handy if you're not too confident in your rounding abilities just yet.)

As our school administration likes to tell us, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a day ON, not a day off.  Our children are so fortunate to live in a society that, while definitely not perfect, has come such a long way since Dr. King's time.  Dr. King's message of acceptance and compassion is an important one to revisit and stretches far beyond the civil rights movement. 

Here are some resources you can use to learn more about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Reading Rockets website (one of my favorites for reading resources!) has a fantastic list of books to read on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  From biographies of Dr. King and Ruby Bridges to stories of people striving to improve their communities, there are books here for a variety of interests and ages.

Click HERE to go to the list.

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  You can find the best resources on the Teachers Pay Teachers website, and many of them are absolutely FREE!  (You will need to sign up for a free account to download files.)

Here is the link to all of the FREE Martin Luther King Day resources.  You can filter the results by rating, grade level, etc.

A few of my favorite free resources:

Martin Luther King Jr. Poster Activity FREEBIE

Martin Luther King Jr. Vocabulary Cards Freebie

Martin Luther King Jr. Facts and Opinions (Freebie)

Martin Luther King Day MLK Foldable Pack *Freebie*

If you live in the Pittsburgh area, there are a couple of activities you can do for FREE on Monday, January 20th:

The Carnegie Science Center is offering free admission and free parking to everybody on the 20th.  It seems that they are even throwing in an Omnimax movie!

The Pittsburgh Glass Center on Penn Ave. will have free glass blowing demonstrations on Monday.  They are also offering several mini workshops for a small fee.


The Schenley Park Ice Rink (in Oakland) has free ice skating from 1pm - 4 pm on Monday.  They will also have educational activities and art projects available.

You can see a more complete list of activities in this Post-Gazette article.

Monday, January 20th is an in-service day for teachers, so students have no school.  You are more than welcome to work on your curriculum that day, but why not take a FREE field trip?

The Carnegie Science Center has completely free admission and free parking on the 20th!  This even includes an Omnimax film.  You can click here for more information:

http://www.carnegiemuseums.org/events_detail.php?eventID=1794&dateYear=2014&dateMonth=1&dateDate=20

My goodness, this weather is crazy!  I hope you are all staying safe and warm at home!  One of the advantages of cyber school is that you never have to go out in the cold if you don't want to.  :)

While I was checking your spelling tests, I thought I would look for some fun ways to practice your spelling words.  I stumbled across a teacher's blog called All Students Can Shine.  She has some wonderful free resources, including these fun Spelling Tic Tac Toe activities.  They are helpful for both your spelling and sight word practice.  Enjoy!

Welcome back to school!  I hope you had a fun winter break.  I hope you aren't buried in snow today!

In honor of the snowstorm, I decided to round up a few books about snow that you can read online totally for FREE.

http://www.wegivebooks.org/collections/featured

The snow-themed books they have here are:
The Mitten by Jan Brett
The Hat by Jan Brett
The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Snowmen at Night by Mark and Caralyn Buehner

One of the crafts I love to make in winter are paper snowflakes.  They are pretty, but boy do they make a mess!  Luckily, I found a cool website where you can make virtual snowflakes.  They're much easier to cut and are mess-free.

http://www.thekidzpage.com/freekidsgames/games/snowflake-maker/

I hope to see you all at our RAMP session on Monday, January 6th at 3:00!

I hope you all had a relaxing winter break!  What a way to welcome us back to school-- hopefully the snow did not hit you too hard.  

This month's topic is Reading Comprehension Strategies.  In second grade, students are still learning how to read, but third grade is generally the pivotal year when students start to read to learn.  Here are some links and an article with tips for aiding your student in reading comprehension:

Seven Strategies to Teach Students Text Comprehension (on the Reading Rockets website)
I LOVE the Reading Rockets website.  It offers very useful, easy-to-understand advice.  This particular article suggests study skills such as graphic organizers and summarizing to boost comprehension.

Comprehension Strategies (from the Busy Teachers Cafe website)
This website offers a list of six strategies along with MANY links to other resources for each strategy.  There is a ton of helpful information here, but it may take a while to explore it all.

Reading Strategies article
This article details critical reading strategies, as well as offers instructional strategies you can use in teaching your lessons.  Click the link below to download it.