Christmas in July Day 5: snowed in with freebies

Today's dealio is one I've updated fairly recently...I tend to update things I use year after year!

each year for the past 4 years [since I've been teaching second grade] my team has a "snow day"

we live in southern NC, snow's a HUGE deal to us!

I'm sure if I lived anywhere north of here I'd hate the stuff!

But we take an entire day, decked out in our jammies, and pretend we are snowed in at school.

that includes reading by flashlight-because if you live in NC or anywhere south of here, you know the power is going out! 

SO here's my Snowed in at School!

 so here's a peek inside!
this one is loaded-you could actually do a week long snow theme with this!

above are literacy activities including a reading log specifically for the snow day

fact and opinion writing about the best snow day activity-ours is always making a snowman because we don't really get enough to do much else! I also included an awesome activity online that I learned about from Christina Bainbridge! Kids can put themselves right in a wintry wonderland!

and there are 2 visualizing activities [one funny poem, the other more serious]

above is my favorite-a snowman shaped book review! I made a great bulletin board with this one!

and there is also making paper snowflakes how to writing.

and for some math I have snowman shopping and a snow day snack! yum cream cheese!

I have posted about our snow day a few times-you can see more here and here [and some freebies too!]

tomorrow is the last Christmas deal!

and next week is a whopping ol surprise!

A Peek at my week {don't hate!}

I'm linking up with DeeDee again this week to share my plans!

If you saw last week's, well we are still wrapped up in penguins! We will finish up tomorrow.

as you can see, I have a 2 day week! Ah, sometimes having a calendar that meets the demands of high school exams is so sweet! There are a few freebies in here too, and I'll link them up later on! My groups will not be meeting with me this week since I am benchmarking, so there's some independent work in here, which they need desperately.

On Wednesday we will be nestled in our jammies for Snowed in at School day! You can read more about past ones here. This is something we've done in our grade level for the past 4 years. The whole day, we focus on all things snow. And this year it coincides with our weather unit perfectly. I love when that happens. I pick and choose things from the unit each year, and since I am benchmarking, we won't get to a few favorites. We will have our read-in with flashlights and mittens in the am. They will choose their favorite book and make the snowman book review (my favorite activity in the unit!)

After math, during science time we will be doing a whole group close read using Nicole's Snow Science article then making the craft to go along with it! It's perfect!

And at the end of the day we will make snowman bagels. Because I love bagels. I also love cream cheese. and kids love Cheetos. So we are all happy!

what I'm using this week
2nd grade common core morning work
Pattern Block Penguins freebie
Penguin writing freebie
Penguin trading cards and booklet
Snow Much Fun with Science and LA pack
Snowed in at School pack

If you want to have a snow day, stick around! Nicole and I will be doing a giveaway soon!

The Peanut Man freebie

Not with the top hat Mr. Peanut, but George Washington Carver Mr. Peanut!
We have a story in our basal, A Weed is a Flower, based on his life. He is quite simply an amazing human being.
So today's post is short and sweet. We are reviewing facts and opinions this week and I made this little assessment for Friday.
It can be used with any text about Carver.

gwc by

graphics from Creative Clips and my cute graphics

Today was Snowed in at School part deux! I can't wait to share what we are working on.
so here's a preview

And I leave you with a fun little tale about the new kitty, named Polly by the way
We do not have any little extra spaces in this house, so we closed up all the bedrooms and such and left her out in the living/dining/kitchen areas last night.
Woke up this morning and went out to check on her.
Nowhere
I mean it
Middle Lamb and I searched for 15 minutes before leaving
I mean this isn't a mansion or anything
we looked everywhere
I got home this afternoon convinced something had happened last night and Mr. Lamb had taken care of things and not told me
SInce I has been looking in every nook and cranny, I broke out the Swiffer. Can you say dust bunnies?
I could have made a new cat!
Well, i hit something under the very back of the couch
it was Polly
We are pretty sure she was stuck, but after lots of coaxing we have convinced her to let the adults hold her
She's quite content until we get up with her
love her

Snow Day Winner!

Through the random number generator, aka my 4 year old, the winners of Snowed In At School Pack are Sara Soucy and Lisa K!

thanks Sarah Cooley for the sweet snowmen!

When asked his favorite number, he said "FOUR! oh, SIX!"
So, you both get it!
Congrats!
check your email
in the meantime
the pack will be $3 this week!
I'll be having my snow day Friday!
I can't wait to share

oh, and in case you wondered about the weather
it's about 65 degrees here today...and yesterday we had that 2 hour delay for freezing rain
no wonder we are all sick!!

45 minute school days and a giveaway and freebie!

{this giveaway is over}

yep, you read that right!
Friday we had a planned early release for 10am due to impending freezing rain
well it started around 8am
remember, this is the south
we are not prepped for anything white on our roads
so our principal announced that we would be releasing at 8:45
now, we have to serve lunch if students come to school
no exceptions
not even a 45 minute school day is an exception
so at 8:30 we enjoyed uncrustables {yum-O!}, raisins {yuck-O!}, and milk
they were already bagged since we were planning on the early release

so what do you when you only have 45 minutes?
well, if you rock like me, and I know you do
you progress monitor FIVE kids
I mean, I don't normally get that done in a week!
and we started on our community maps {I'll post more later!}
and we got our spelling sorts glued in since I was planning on giving the test
this is how we study on Friday mornings...glue, quiz a partner, test
wow-za!

And today we had a 2-hour delay
but alas, there was nothing that resembled precip
but I am not complaining
we had lots to catch up on

so I got home around 10am Friday and banged out the finishing touches on my newest units
really they are old units
but I revitalized them
but more on that later
But to celebrate-here's a little freebie from my Snowed in at School pack on TpT!
and if you like this-leave a comment telling me you do! I'll pick a winner tomorrow!
Happy Snow Days!!
{sorry-my goggle drive is too full so I had to use Scribd!}

snowday_freebie by

Our First Snow Day, winter cleaning, and a giveaway

Our first snow day of the year! yay!

ok, don't judge the south-there happened to be snow falling all night and a few inches in the early am.

and our district is huge and rural.

there's a lot of "back roads"

and better safe than sorry, right?

and I had taken off the past day and a half because I had no voice 

imagine teaching a day with no voice. 

I felt like Steven Hawking!

I typed what I wanted to say on the screen

it was a hoot

until I started actually feeling sick, too. Then I was stuck at home hacking and what not

that was not fun

so I got a FREE sick day!

and a day or so to work on updating a few files

 and look at this!
every day on the way to and from school we get to drive past the dam
this is one gate out of 10 fully open
it's rare to see
so after lunch I took the kiddos down to the bank
it's is really awesome to see
of course it's all closed off too, so the extra thrill of breaking the rules makes it fun, too!

ok, onto the winter cleanup!
I recently did an overhaul on my TpT store.
Everything that was $1-2 is free now!
that's 58 items
So go check it out!
I'm also updating some of my older files
you know
pre-kg fonts and borders besides the ones on word days
so stay tuned for more!

and here's what I worked on on my snow day!
Snowed in at School!
I love this file.
It's been on TpT for the past year and it got a little facelift
I added 20 more pages to be exact!
All the graphics are also updated and it seems a little brighter to me now
I always have a "snow day" on the last day of January
We really do not get snow here in southern NC as you can see
So it's fun to bring in mittens, sip cocoa, and have a snow day blast!
You can read about our previous snow days here {and some freebies, too}
but this year's will be the best yet!
I am thinking of dragging it out a little!
and I'm linking up with Denise to share some snow day love, too!

this little baby has a few of my favorite winter activities!
The Best Snow Day activity opinion writing with a tech twist!
Bagel snowmen-I adore cream cheese!
and making snowflakes!

and here's a little giveaway
Tell me YOUR favorite snow day activity and I'll pick a winner to get this file for free!
Be sure to leave your email in the comment too!
I will use the random number generator or my kids to pick a winner tomorrow afternoon!
Congrats Commenter numero 6, Heather! Check your email!

I gotta hit McDonalds before 10:30 to get my hot cakes!

A Completely Random Post {but with a Freebie!}

This week has been a flurry of finishing tidbits from our “Snow Day” last week and preparing for student-led conferences tomorrow night!
Not to mention Monday was the 100th day and I did not get to half of what I needed wanted to do!
No to mention my iPhone camera has been extremely finicky this week and not even opening at times…I really depend on it and iCloud to get pictures from here to there.
I love iCloud photo stream! bad!

One thing I had to get done was my bulletin board.
We have to have a book theme for Reading Night {also tomorrow night…} and lucky for me my fav February board is The Crayon Box that Talked.
I found a great poem and lesson online last year that I loved
Then I bought Amy Lemons’ Black History Month pack and combined the ideas.

love this one. I am unique because I listen to Korean music and no one else in my class does.

This is my favorite “boy one”! I drew flames for one and they all had to!

I ended up stapling them to a heart centerpiece so they were popping out a little. I love how it turned out. Though I need to add something to the sides…

As mentioned, we did finally have our Snow Day last week.
In near 70 degree winter weather mind you
blah!
One of their favorites was Christina’s Dream Snow predictions.
I knew all those boxes of transparencies would come in handy one day!
No one had the book, but I read Snow Day earlier and we were noticing how the objects that got covered could still be made out. Then we ended up watching Dream Snow on YouTube…
Gotta love it!

  

 
cute! and educational…their clues are pretty adorable

On to the freebies…
I want to share how I have my students stay on track at their conferences
I am not involved whatsoever other than my presence in the room.
I send home an invite a couple weeks before explaining how this is their child’s time to shine, etc.
They RSVP
We go through our data binders feverishly each day the week of…
Then I have a drop-in session from 3-6 pm to accommodate parents who work and those who may not
The students will get these brochures tomorrow and make sure they can 1. find these items and 2. explain how we use them to become smarter!

here’s the inside that serves as a checklist

and here’s the outside where we sign our names and write our class promise from the beginning of the year.

Now I did put this in GoogeDocs, but keep in mind it’s pretty much tailored to me!

My kiddos are also completing a 100th Day Reading Challenge-they are to read 100 minutes, easy…
the caveat…they have to draw the clock hands and figure out the elapsed time…
we just finished our time unit so it worked out perfectly.
Here’s the log in Google Docs {click picture to download}

60 Degrees with a Chance of Snow!

 

Yep...that's our forecast for tomorrow here in Southwest NC. What month is it? Will we have any snow this year? Probably not it seems, but this week we are having a snow day! or more of a snow hour at the end of each day because Mrs. Lamb needs to do a lot during class!

I love snow days! But since it looks like we are in for a warm winter, we are just going to be snowed in at school! Last year I had an entire Snow Day on the last day of Jan. and the kiddos LOVED it. {see our slideshow below!}

This year I am doing one thing per day and having our read-in on Friday. Most of what I do can be found in my Snowed in at School packet, but I am adding some little goodies from all your blogs here and there!

I ended today by reading Snowmen at Night {love any book with hidden pictures} and we brainstormed some ideas for what they may just be doing when no one is around. 

{insert cute little kid made circle map here tomorrow}

Tomorrow we will begin planning for a imaginative narrative If I Were a Snowman stories

Other wintry goodness coming up...
Christina Bainbridge's Action Verb pictures and hidden snow picture clue writing.
Don't you LOVE her?!

Until later, here are some writing freebies.
I did not include directions or anything since these are pretty much all over the place!

click the pictures to download these freebies