Additional Note

I feel like I ought to be contributing to this.... I do enjoy reading.

I recently met up with some others that I had graduated with a few days ago. Getting together and talking about our first year made me think about this blog. Now, as much as I do enjoy the stories I read, I can't think of anything in particular to share. However, I really felt I ought to. This is for teachers!

I love teaching. I do have days that are really bad that I look forward to ending quickly. I do have days where I feel like I am empowering students and creating future citizens of the universe!

One thing I've really learned this year is that students want to be empowered and they want to be recognized. They don't necessarily believe that is what they want, but it's obvious. I've learned that for me to feel like I am doing my job I need to find a way to meet that criteria in some form and fashion. They learn better when they're empowered.

Also, another HUGE important aspect to 2nd grade....

if it's a song or a game their motivation and desire to learn increases 10 fold. ;)

Sweet Birthday Wishes

Every time one of my students has a birthday, they get to sit on my special chair while we sing them a birthday song. Then the special birthday boy or girl can call on three people to ask questions about their birthday.

Last week, a sweet boy in my class celebrated his birthday. He called on one of the girls who asked, "What would you like for your birthday?"

I thought he would answer like most of my other students have: "A PSP." "A laptop." "A cell phone."

What did this boy say when asked what he wished for most?

A simple answer -

"A birthday cake."

Commemorating the Olympics in Miss Hortin's Class

I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!!!

... and I especially love the Winter Olympic Games.

We learned a lot about the Vancouver Winter Games in my class. For homework, my kids brought in newspaper articles about the Olympics. If they didn't have access to newspapers, they could draw a picture of the Olympics and write a sentence to describe what was happening in the picture.
We tallied the gold, silver, and bronze medals earned by the United States.

We also kept a count of the medals earned by a few other countries.

After the Olympics were over, we made a class pictograph about the United States' gold, silver, and bronze medals.

Not too shabby for a teacher with a broken leg, huh? :)

Book Fair!

Book fairs are the silver linings of late nights at work for SEPs. This week at the book fair, I found some wonderful books that I thought I'd share.

I'm a big fan of picture books about American History. Plus, this one is really funny.

This one had me laughing out loud in the middle of the library.

I love the rhyming in this one.

I'm a sucker for any book about the library. The illustrations in this one are beautiful.

Community Building

Community building is an important part of any classroom. When students feel united as a class, they are less likely to be unkind to each other and much more likey to encourage each other to succeed.

With the pressures of teaching the core before CRTs roll around, sometimes it's easy to let community building lessons slide. This year, I've done something simple every week that I think has brought my class together and has helped them learn how to compliment each other.

Each week, we have a spotlight kid. At the beginning of the year, I bought a package of pre-printed posters from Oriental Trading that the students colored and completed. The poster highlights the student's age, family, and interests.

On Tuesday, one student shares their poster. Then they can call on three students to ask them questions about their poster. Finally, I lead the class in singing a song. The words are set to the tune of "Are You Sleeping." It goes like this:

Who knows something

Who knows something

Nice about _________

Nice about _________

Then the spotlight kids calls on the other students in the class who share nice things about the spotlight kid. It's so fun to hear the nice things my students have to say about each other. The spotlight kid always ends up beaming and the rest of the class is smiling, too.

(A special thanks goes out to Mrs. Schlappi, the wonderful teacher who first taught me the song.)

Another day, another chuckle

One of my students asked me the other day, "Miss Hortin, how do you get your cast off at night so you can go to bed?"

Spelling Homework

The assignment? Write five sentences using one spelling word in each sentence.

The word? Stair

The sentence? "My teacher hurt her leg when she fell down the stairs."

Tell me about it.

I love it when I make it into my students' homework.