To 'Bee' or Not to 'Bee'....What's all the buzzzzzzz about HONEYBEES?

Every school year, in the spring, we study insects in depth in our Kindergarten and 1st grade classrooms. The children LOVE it! They are especially captivated (and sometimes scared) by all the bees we have 'visiting' our playground!  Well, bee-lieve it or not these fascinating insects are really a hit with students! Chances are they have eaten honey on a biscuit or piece of bread or eaten a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios! But they don't know where this delicious food comes from...honey that is....and no, it's not just "from the store"!! They really become great admirers of bees and not so frightened 'cuz they know how to bee-have when they see them and NOT swat at them!
                Here are some fascinating facts to share with your students.

Click {HERE} to download these pages. 

Here are some of our favorite books for read-alouds. They help build background knowledge. Click on the link bee-low the picture to find them at Amazon.com or check out your school or public library! You might be surprised at what you can find about bees! 

Books about Bees

Here is a song about honeybees & honey we wrote.  It is easily sung to the tune "Alouette" and comes with a song chart, song/poem journal take-home page, pocket chart cards for teaching the lyrics and a mini-writing book called "Yum! Yum!".  Students can create their own sentences based on the sentence patterns.  Ex. "I like  hamburgers.  My dad makes hamburgers." or "I like salsa. My mom makes salsa." etc.  

 Click {HERE} to download it at our TPT store. 

Here is a song by Jean Warren that we have been using for many years. It is a fun active song that gets your busy bees up and moving around. There are also stick puppets provided so the children can place their bee puppet on their toes, nose, and arms etc. as they sing the song.  Click {HERE} to download this FREEBIE!

BEE sure to reward your students' reading with a "BEE a good reader" bookmarks.  Click {HERE} to download this file. It comes in color or B/W so you can choose which ones to print. 

It is always fun to sample a few bites of delicious honey when studying bees. Try to get some that is locally made (if you can) and spread it on some crackers or small pieces of bread and enjoy!  

Well, we BEE-lieve you will make a BEE-line to 

download our free files!  We also have some 

Bee-themed products we've created.  Click each picture caption to link to the product page. 

 6 Guided Reading books (at 2 levels) with photos & clipart-C & B/W

Fun song with stick puppets, retelling cards etc.

Sight word Game with EDITABLE cards so ANY words can be added!

Path game practicing "ee" and "ea" words     

Song about farm animals (and BEES!) and the food they provide.

We hope you have a great time studying honeybees!  
We bee-lieve you really will!
Jackie & Kylene

Vocabulary Card Games

Every subject in school has academic vocabulary that students are going to need to learn, so why not make it fun?  In this post I’ll show you 3 common games I’ve adapted to making learning new vocabulary engaging for almost any subject area or grade level.

To start with, when you teach a new unit of study there is usually a set of academic vocabulary that goes along with it that students need to know to help them understand the content.  When you’re planning a unit, make a list of the most important vocabulary words along with their definitions, sentences, and a picture if possible, to help students understand the word.  This is especially helpful for ELL students. 

Once you have your list made, write all your vocabulary words on a set of index cards with the word (and picture if you can) on one side and the definition on the other.  Once you do this you’ll be ready to play any of these games. 

In my class I made all of my vocabulary cards look like tradingcards to increase the engagement with my students.  I’ve made these trading cards for over 80 topics and you can check them out in my TPTstore.

This is a Kagan cooperative learning game that many teachers use with task cards and it works perfectly for sets of vocabulary words with definitions.  The object of the game is for students to quiz each other by giving the definition of the word or using it correctly in a sentence.  Here’s how to play:

1.Give each student a vocabulary card.

2.Have your students pair up.

3.Partner A tells Partner B the vocabulary word on the card.  Partner B tells Partner A the definition or uses the word in a sentence (or admits they don’t know it).  Partner A then acknowledges the correct definition or gives it if needed.  Partner A can also give Partner B a clue if needed by showing them the picture on the front of their card.

4.Partners then switch roles with Partner B sharing their vocabulary word.

5.After both partners have had a turn, they switch cards, find a new partner and play again.

This game will especially appeal to your visual learners!  Here’s how to play:

•Split your students into 2 (or more) teams and place a set of the vocabulary cards face down in the front of the room.

•Have a student from Team A come up to the white board (or SMART board), take a card from the bottom of the deck and read it silently, and try drawing it.

•Students from both teams guess the vocabulary word being drawn and whichever team guesses correctly first gets a point.

•Then a player from Team B comes up and the process starts over. 

•Whichever team has the most points when all of the cards have been used wins.

This game will especially appeal to your kinesthetic learners!  Follow the same steps as above for the Drawing Game but instead of having students draw the picture on the card have them act it out while teams guess what word they are acting!

It takes a bit of time to make a set of vocabulary cards for a subject, but once they’re made you can use them for these games year after year.  If you’d like to save yourself some time check out the trading cards in my TPTstore.  I’ve already gone through the trouble of picking out the key vocabulary for almost 80 different topics, and finding pictures, definitions, sentences, and more to go with them.  The trading cards come in sheets of 8 that just need to be printed out, cut up and they’re ready to go.

I hope you enjoy using these games in your classroom.   If you want to find out more ways to use trading cards in your classroom check out my site TeachingWithTradingCards.com.  You can also connect with me on my blog at  MrElementary.com .

Top 5 Tips for Mastering Multiplication in a Month

Every year it is the same. I give my new 5th graders a 25 problem single digit multiplication assessment and it is obvious by the results, most do not know their facts.

I know it was taught in previous grades, but yet the retention by many just isn't there. For my first few years of teaching I basically just drilled all students expecting them to master the facts in a timed pressure cooker. What I wasn't realizing was that some students just don't learn that way. I finally changed my ways about 15 years ago and started offering different strategies to my students.

Below I will highlight my top 5 tips to mastering multiplication in a month.

1. Make up Raps
Yes, you heard me right. Allow the students to make up a rap about the facts they are having trouble with. It is amazing how much more they will retain if they are given the freedom to create their own raps/rhymes about the facts they struggle with. I have a created a rap for the 6s, 7s, and 8s. You can download it for free here.

2. Game Boards
This one is quite simple. Grab any old game board where students have to shake dice to move forward. The catch is that whatever number is rolled on the dice relates to counting down in the flash card pile and solving that problem. For example, a student rolls a "5." The student would go to the stack of flash cards, count down to the fifth one, and solve the problem. If s/he gets it correct, the game piece stays on the spot. If the answer is wrong, the game piece goes back to the starting point before the dice was rolled.

3. War

This is by far my students' favorite game! Break your students up into partners. Take out the kings, queens, and jacks. Leave in the ace as a value of 1. Deal out all the cards face down equally to each player. Then when a players says "go," each person flips up a card. Whoever multiplies the two numbers correctly first wins the cards. Play continues until one person has all the cards. To add a little challenge you can use the kings, queens,and jacks as well with values higher than 10. 

4. Practice strips
These are real easy to make. Basically, you type out the multiples of each number up to 10 in rows in a Microsoft Word document, making sure to leave spaces between each set of numbers. For example, on one line you would have: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, and 30. Then on the next line: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, and 40. When you have finished with the facts you want, you cut them out into strips, copy them on to card stock, laminate them and then bind with a ring at the top corner. Now you have made an easy flip book of multiplication facts for your students! Click here to download this free resource.

5. Practice at Home
Students still need to practice their facts. At the beginning of the year, I send home the flash cards that come with our math curriculum. But you can find free flash cards online as well. Have parents make it a special time with their child. You may want to  Click here for some free flash cards to download.

There are so many other great tips out there to mastering multiplication. We'd love to hear what you use in your classroom!

Click here to purchase our super bundle of multiplication intervention activities with over 50 pages or resources included.

Quick and Easy Spelling Games

 Happy Thursday everyone!  It's Lisa from Second Grade Stories and I am happy to share that I am just one more wake-up away from enjoying my spring break!  Those days leading up to break can definitely be crazy it's amazing how close we are to the end of the year!  With that in mind, I thought I'd pop in today and share some easy and no (or very little!) prep ideas for practicing spelling.

 

 

This post is all about keeping it real.  Some days you just need something simple and quick to do during those spare moments when there isn't enough time for a full activity - but there's zero time to prepare!  These spelling games are always a hit with my second graders.  We use them to practice weekly words, review word wall words, as a center or small group activity ... any way you choose, they're easy to do and fun! Let's get started!

 

 

Any time you can add a familiar game into the mix, the activity is just guaranteed to be successful!  This one is simple - players take turns asking each other to spell words.  If the word is spelled correctly, that person gets to make their "X" or "O" on the board.  If not, it's the next person's turn to spell a word.  The first person to get three in a row wins! This game is great because it needs no directions and you can play a bunch of rounds in 10 minutes.  Sometimes students have their spelling words with them, sometimes I project words on the Smartboard and sometimes we use Word Wall words.

 

 

I have to admit - I made this game up on a whim one day a few years ago and I use it all the time - and it should probably be called "Spell and Roll" because that's the order you do it in.  Again, partners take turns asking each other to spell a word.  If the player is correct, s/he rolls the dice (use any dice you want) and earns that many points.  Players keep track of their points and the first player to a designated number (we do 25) is the winner.  I've also had them go the other way and start with 25 points and subtract each time - first person to zero (exactly to zero, if you want!) wins.  A little spelling, a little math... it's all there!

 

 

This third game is relatively new for us - but it's fast becoming a class favorite.  It starts like the other two games, spell a word correctly and you get to do something - this time it's roll the dice and see which kind of bunny part you get to add to your drawing.  The first time, everyone starts with the basic body.  On roll #2, it's the eyes.  Each number corresponds to a different kind of eyes - or ears, or mouth, or whatever parts you choose for what you're drawing. The first person to draw their full bunny wins.  Really, everyone wins because if you're drawing a bunny there just isn't any other way to go.

 

Yes, I drew those parts.  Don't judge.  I am NOT artistic, although when my kiddos overheard me say something about having drawn the sheet, they were mighty impressed with my mad skills as an artist.  I just love second graders.

 

If you really want, you can download the bunny parts sheet by clicking the image below. 

 

I did not fancy it up.  I did try to make the drawings a little nicer.  And to top it all off, my printer started acting up so I couldn't scan the sheet and I had to take a picture of it with my iPhone and then insert it into a document. So the borders and the title look great but the actual image is a little on the fuzzy side.  You can make your own 6x6 grid and have your kiddos make a bug, or flower or something else cute and adorable.  If you do, can you share it with me, please?  My artwork needs an intervention and bunnies are not going to cut it after spring break.

 

 

Top 5 Classroom Activities for the Madness of March Basketball!

It's that time of year when students, and teachers get excited for the college basketball tournament. We have our Top 5 ideas for you to incorporate basketball into your classroom.

1. Have a Shoot Out
Yes, that's right. Students will have a shoot out in the classroom! Have each student crumple a piece of paper into a ball. Then, have a garbage can placed about five feet away. Have students compete against each other. You could even make a bracket for this! Then when are down to the final four, make it a big deal and announce their names like an announcer would do at a game. When the winner is found, crown him/her the shoot out champ!

2. Cinderella Story
Every year in the tournament, there is a team that wasn't expected to make it. Or there are teams that beat a higher seed in the first few rounds. Have your students think of other Cinderella stories where people overcome obstacles. This may involve some research using trusted websites. When the students have gathered their information, have them write a "Cinderella Story" about overcoming the obstacle.

3. Geography
For a fun activity, you could give the students the lists of the teams in the tournament. Then, with a blank United States map, they would have to find the city and state of each team. You would need to use a website that would have this information such as: http://www.ncaa.com/ and search for the school in the search bar. This would be a great way for the students to practice their geography skills!

4. Buzzer Beaters
Students love to compete against the clock. Have a timer or some sort of buzzer in your classroom. Then come up with some fun activities to see if students can do them in the allotted time. An example could be, sharpen 5 pencils in a minute, or see how many times they can write "Buzzer Beater" on their papers in a minute. Fun, and exciting for the students.

5. Teamwork
Playing a team sport like basketball requires working together and complimenting each other's talents. Take some time during a day this week, and stop what you are teaching. Have a beach ball on hand that is full of air and ready to go. Divide your class into teams of 3-4. Then get a stopwatch and time how long each group can keep the ball up in the air without hitting the ground or any other object. Have a timer keep track on the board. Then do a second round to see if the team can improve their time. Your class will love it!

We hope you enjoyed our Top 5 list. For other printable activities that you could use that are classroom ready for a small fee, click here.