Welcome to my stop on the Spring Has Sprung Poetry in Elementary Blog Hop hosted by Line Upon Line Learning.  My name is Stephanie and I teach 2nd grade in a two-way dual language classroom.  That means my kids are learning to read, speak, and write in 2 languages (English and Spanish).

The kids and I just started our poetry unit.  We started the week focusing on how poets use sensory images to help us visualize when we read a poem.

In Science, in my partner's room, the kids are learning about weather so we focused on topic poems about weather.  The first poem we listened to was about rain.  I had the kids close their eyes and visualize what rain looked like, sounded like, smelt like, and felt like.  Then they wrote a short journal reflection.

They wrote ...
- What was the poem was about?
- Described if the poem used rhyme, rhythm, or repetition.
- Then wrote and drew what they visualized.

I love how she drew a picture of her thinking bubble in the top left picture :).

Then in writing we focused on using our senses to prewrite out a poem.  I gave the kids this little interactive journal flap book and they got to choose one type of weather that they wanted to write about.  Then they closed their eyes and visualized that type of weather.  Lastly, they just jotted down what it looked like, sounded like, smelt like, and felt like.  This was a prewrite, so I always tell my kids not to worry about spelling.  I also explained that "felt like" could also describe your feelings.  Some kids added a heart on top of their hand to represent "feelings".

The next day, after the kids had finished writing in their flap books we started to draft out our weather poems.  We decided to use acrostic poems.  Here is the anchor chart that I created during our mini lesson.

The kids were really excited to get started and a lot of them have great poems.  We are in the middle of the writing process, so the kids still need to revise and edit before they can write their final drafts.

Click on the button below to grab my Senses Flap Books Prewriting Templates.

I working on some weather acrostic poem writing paper and will share it as a freebie on my blog when I'm finished.

Thanks for reading all about how we are using poetry in my 2nd grade classroom.

Click on the button below to head to the next stop in the Spring Has Sprung Poetry Blog Hop.

Michelle from BigTime Literacy shares her favorite collections of poetry and has a wonderful blog!

Also, before you go, I would love for you to check out the post below this one.  I'm hosting an awesome giveaway to celebrate my new blog design.  There are products from 20 fabulous teacher bloggers.  You should go check it out :).

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Stephanie

This is the week after my Spring Break and I'm so glad that it is Hump Day!  And guess what other day it is?.... It is T.G.I.F (Thank Goodness It's Free) link-up day.  Click on the T.G.I.F. button below to see more awesome freebies.

This year I've really tried to get my kiddos to peer edit their partners work.  I teach in a Dual Language classroom and they are always working with their bilingual partner.  I love it!  At the beginning of the year, I created some seasonal sentence cards that the kids could edit with their partner in a workstation.  I love hearing conversations like this one..."I read the sentence but I could only find that week was spelled with an "ea" and it should be spelled with a "ee".  Can you help me find the other mistakes?"  It makes my heart happy when they help each other and have real conversations. 

So, I created this fun little freebie that has classroom themed sentence cards that can be used either at the beginning of the year or year round.  My kids are editing them right now!

Click on the product picture below to head to my store and grab this freebie.

Please remember to check back Friday at midnight to enter my new blog design giveaway.  I've joined up with several blogging buddies to host an awesome giveaway.  You won't want to miss it!!

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Stephanie

This week has been glorious Spring Break!  It's been so glorious that I can't believe it's Friday...whomp whomp!

I've decided to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share my five highlights of my Spring Break week.

 

Click on the button above to join the linky party. 

1.  The biggest part of my week was that I took my youngest to get his first haircut and boy was it hard!  I cried all the way home!  See he is my last baby and I was holding onto the fact that I wanted to keep all his cute baby curls.  I know they will grow back but it's still hard.  My husband has been asking since October to get his hair cut and I kept saying I will on Spring Break.  I never knew Spring Break would get here that fast :(.  My baby really likes his hair shorter though.

 

2.  The boys and I found a super cool kids play place not to far from our house.  Mason went to a party there on Saturday and while we were there I noticed that they have open play hours during the week.  The boys and I went on Tuesday and I was surprised at how it wasn't crowded.  It was a big hit!

 

3.  Both of my boys are huge fans of all things with wheels, so we also went to ride the train that is near the zoo.  We were super lucky because right when we pulled up in the parking lot, the train was also pulling up in the station.  We didn't have to wait at all!  Also, let me mention that I'm not a fan of selfies but since I've been losing weight they aren't so bad.  I still have awhile to go but I'm getting there.  So far I've lost 17 total and I started on January 20th.

4.  Today has been a catch up day for school stuff.  I printed out the stuff for my new spring sentence editing station.  Now, I just need to cut them and laminate them.  You can click on the picture to see them in my store.

I also made a sentence editing starter pack as a freebie.  You can grab it by clicking on the picture below.

5.  This week I also planned on finishing my Texas unit that I've been working on since last year.  Let's just say that this unit doesn't want to be finished.  I've stopped and started so much.  I need to finish this!

Instead of finishing this unit this week, I finished the freebie under number 4 and updated 3 of my sentence packs.  I also started working on some writing foldables for my kiddos.  Next week we start our poetry unit and the kids will be writing poems that create sensory images.  I'm going to start off the week with this foldable where the kids can write a list for these 4 senses.  I think they will like it!  Anything to get them writing....right? :)

Well those are five of my highlights from my Spring Break.  Thanks for reading and I hope you grabbed my freebie that is listed under number 4.  I'm in the process of getting my blog redesigned, so hopefully my next post will be about that :).

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Stephanie

Tonight I'm linking up with the wonderful ladies from The Primary Chalkboard for their Read Across America Linky.  Just click on the linky button below to link up your blog post.

Today is all things Seuss....

The kids and I started to celebrate all things Seuss today because I was out sick yesterday.  Ugh strep throat is the worst!

This week in LA I started my drama unit and I had to be a little creative with tying that together with Seuss!  We decided to do a little reader's theater Dr. Seuss style.  The kids are still working on their rough drafts, but I must say I'm in love already.  Here is one that I just love!

I love that the mouse says, "Squeak, squeak, eat the food!" I accidentally cropped it out but the fox talks at the bottom and says, "Please eat with me!"  I laughed and told this group that the fox should say, "Ring ring ring a ding ding!"  They thought it was funny anyways!

The kids will continue writing out their scripts and will then practice acting out their plays during the rest of the week.  They have already said they are super excited to make masks and perform their play on Friday.  I love when they are this excited about reading and writing!

We are also dressing up each day this week to celebrate a different Dr. Seuss book.  Today was Oh, The Places You'll Go!  The kids had to wear either a destination shirt or a college shirt because we are all college bound :).  Next year, I'll have to get a cute destination shirt to wear.

I have a few more things Seuss that I would love to share but I'll save them for my post on Friday. 

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Stephanie

Ok, so I've been horrible at updating my blog.  I mean the worst!  Can you believe my last post was from August?  I blame it on starting a new grade level.  I love Second Grade but it's been keeping me so busy!

Anyways, it's one of my favorite times of year Read Across America Week.  Every year, I cook green eggs and ham with my kids and make oobleck.  They LOVE it!!  I also love just celebrating how fun reading is.

So, I've decided the best way to jump back into blogging is to join a weekly linky!  The ladies over at Primary Chalkboard are hosting and you can link up by clicking on the linky button at the top of this post.

Up first is my favorite children's author...

I was super lucky to meet my favorite author, Judith Viorst, just a few short weeks ago.  I love all of her books and how easy they are for the kids to make text to self connections with.  I mean who hasn't had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day!

She also has a set of early reader chapter books that my Second Grade girls are loving!  They are about a spoiled little girl named Lulu and they are super fun.

My all time favorite book is...

I still remember listening to this book when my Kindergarten teacher read it aloud.  I thought it was so funny when Sylvester wished to be a rock and then he was "stone-dumb".  I still laugh out loud when I hear it!

My students' favorite book is ...

This is a new book for me but so far this is the book that my Second Graders have loved the most.  We learned about legends a few weeks ago and I ran into this book.  It tells the story of how crows become black and why they make the cawing sound.  They were on the edge of their seats!

And last but not least my boys' favorite book...

My boys love construction vehicles and this is the book that they request the most.  It's the perfect way to say goodnight to my two little boys.

I hope you enjoyed listening to my favorites and my kids favorites.  Remember to link up by clicking on the linky button at the top of this post and share your favorite author and books.

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Stephanie