Tonight's the Night!, September Currently & a SALE

Well, it's 1993 at my house.  We moved into a new place on Saturday and have no. internet. connection. until. WEDNESDAY! Oh! The horrors!

Needless to say, I've been knawing on my fist and watching too much Bravo.

Last week, my school hosted Back to School Night.  It's really a lot of fun meeting the new families, even though you have to speak so fast to get all the information into the 30 minutes segment! This year, I decided to have a THEME.  I was so inspired by this picture I saw on Pinterest (who is Mrs. Cary??):

that I decided to develop my own theme for the night.

It was "Dig into Second Grade!"

(Graphics courtesy of Scrappin' Doodles.)

I used an archeologist theme here in my window.

 All of the parent paperwork had a 'digging' theme.  Parents left a note on a paper that read, "Somebody 'digs' you!" Each parent also took home a little archaeologist girl contact info magnet. 

 And the back of the magnet.  I got these little sticker magnets from Lakeshore.

Each parent left with a bone! I wanted to buy full-size candy bars, but I also wanted to buy other things this month! (Full-size are expensive!) So I stuck with the snack-size.  I think they turned out so cute!

Here's a creative way to make a 100 Chart using Post-Its.  We're working a lot on building number sense right now, and I wanted my 100 Chart to be interactive. Each day, I take a couple numbers off of the chart, and the kids need to figure out what numbers are missing.  I LOVE LOVE student made stuff on the walls.  Their sloppy little handwriting is so cute to me!
I used literature to introduce classroom rules this year with my Heart to Heart unit.  You can pick it up at my TPT shop (along with anything else!) for 20% off until Friday! It's my I Heart Second Grade Sale!

Anyway, I use the 'Heart of the Story' to make a 'Heart of Our Class'.  The rule is tied to the theme of the book.

Students make a craftivity book with a brief summary.  They explain the heart of the story and how they 'in their own heart' an help make our classroom community better.

 

I hung the little books on the wall with a tack and string so parents could take them down and read them.

I'm loving this little kiddo wanted to write so much it didn't fit it the heart!

There's a bunch of other great activities that go with that unit, but I was on a time crunch to get my books ready in 4 days.  I'll revisit these stories in the coming weeks and do the other activities.

You also might remember this post from summer about The Dot.  Here's the display for that project.  Some of my more 'aesthetically astute' teaching friends might be shuddering at the chaos, but I love when work looks student-generated.  Since I let them pick how they want their work displayed on each paper, it isn't always Martha Stewart-worthy.  But I love it!

I also promised in that post that I would have better samples.  Here they are! And believe me when I say I didn't give much more direction than, "Explain why you made the dot that you did!"  These reasons are completely student-written.

Okay, did that sweetie just RHYME!?! Adorable.

Hope you enjoyed the Back to School Night tour! I'd love to hear any great ideas and projects you do for your special night!

PS: Here's my September Currently! I love these little things so much and am linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade again for the September edition.  She's a rockstar for hosting this linky party!

1. Mercy Watson! GREAT for teaching reading engagement. They also have fantastic vocabulary words for writing instruction.

2. Barbara Mariconda's The Most Wonderful Writing Lessons Ever.  I used this book last year and it literally changed the way I taught writing.  I have never had such amazing writers.  Highly, highly recommend this!

3. Mr. Sketch Markers.  In a chart-making, back-to-school world, it's nice to have fun markers.  Now that I think about it, did I list this before? Wow. I must really love these.

Happy 4-day week everyone!!