Sentence Surgery!

Hello friends! Hope everyone has had a spectacular start to the new school year :) 

Wow, it's been a long time since my last post! I have missed getting all my creative energy out through this blog. 

I spent this past summer working two different jobs, and I was basically operating at full speed all the time! I barely had time for a social life, let alone to catch up on my blogging! I have been itching to write a new post for months, but just haven't had the time! So, without further adieu, here is my first post for the new school year...

I am starting off this fall with a BANG, as I am now in my LAST semester of college ever!!! I am student teaching here in my hometown in a second grade classroom. I am working with an amazing cooperating/mentor teacher. She has been teaching for twenty-five years and she is a PRO at what she does. I feel so blessed to get to work with her! 

Student teaching is like having a full time job...you're at school every weekday working and collaborating with your colleagues and getting to know your student babies. Even though it's exhausting, I love student teaching! I feel like a REAL teacher because I get to help plan lessons, attend events at the school, and assist in classroom management. It is an amazing experience!

Today, I taught my first formal lesson to my second graders. We have been going over sentence mechanics this week, i.e. putting words in a logical order to be a sentence and using capitalization and period marks in a sentence. Therefore, my lesson today was aimed to be guided practice and application on using capital letters and periods. When planning the lesson, I was trying to figure out how I could make this FUN for the kiddos. Then, it hit me. In our lesson, we would be trying to fix up some incomplete sentences...these sentences needed to be repaired! We needed to do some "sentence surgery" on these poor sentences so they could be perfect.

• First, we practiced correcting some sentences that did not contain beginning capital letters or periods as a class. I drew clothespins out of a cup (each clothespin has the number of a student) to call on students to help me correct the sentence.
• Next, I read a "paragraph" to the class that contained no beginning capital letters or periods (e.g. "today I went to the swimming pool with my family I used to be too scared to swim in the deep end so I would only stay in the shallow end then I took swimming lessons and learned to swim in the deep end"). I made a huge deal out of reading the sentence fast with no breath pauses to emphasize the importance of periods as breathing cues. The kids picked up on this right away and helped me correct the paragraph. We broke things up into proper sentences and kept an eye on capital letters and periods :)
• Finally, it was time for the fun part! I split the students into partners and explained that they were going to be performing "sentence surgery" on these "sick" sentences! We discussed how we go to a doctor when we are sick, so we were going to doctor up these sentences to make them better. 
• I told students that each pair would receive a sentence strip containing a "sick" sentence. Their job was to place Band-Aids on the areas that needed repairs and use a marker to write the correction. They were so excited to do this---what child doesn't love Band-Aids?

Here is an example of a sentence strip that each "sentence surgeon" pair received. Here's a note: I wrote random sentences that I knew my boys and girls would be able to read independently. However, you can make these sentence strips include weekly spelling/vocabulary words, or include your unit! That's the beauty of it---you can kill two birds with one stone!

And HERE'S what my little surgeons did to fix up the sentences! :) They used one Band-Aid to change capitalization and another to add a period.

I love how the last group did several operations before getting it just right! :) Also, I have found that throwing in relatable components to lessons keeps the children engaged. I have no clue how to play the game Mine Craft, but all my kiddos are obsessed with it. They were very excited to see Mine Craft being mentioned in their assignment!

 

The sweeties loved being hands-on with the Band-Aids! I was so proud of how well they worked with their partners and cured their "sick" sentences! I feel like they really have this concept down now, although I know it will take a lot more practice for it to become second nature. All in a day's work, right?! 

• Last but not least, I, the "head surgeon" :), checked their sentences out to make sure they were corrected appropriately. Then, I had the students write their sentences on a piece of paper and turn it in to me so I could have some form of assessment to refer back to. 

Thanks for sticking around through this long post :) I can't wait to keep updating y'all on my student teaching experience this semester! 

Hilary

#tbt Ice Cream Contractions

To begin a culmination of the lessons I have created, I will be doing a series of #tbt (throwback Thursday) posts this summer to share those lessons on my blog! The reason that the posts will be #tbt is because these are lessons I have already created and used in the classroom during my field experience. 

To start off my series of #tbt posts...here is "Ice Cream Contractions"! 

Who doesn't love ice cream?! I know I do. Any kind of ice cream will usually hit the spot for me, but when I'm being choosy I love the Cookies & Cream and Birthday Cake flavors from Braum's :) I wanted to bring my love for ice cream into the following learning center I created for second grade (it can work for first grade, too)! 

Here is my learning center: 

In learning centers, I like to have a cover sheet that states what skill the center is targeting and the Common Core State Standard connection for easy reference.  

This learning center could be used as a daily classroom center activity, extra targeting for students who struggle, extra practice for early finishers, and more! It requires 2 students minimum, but can be modified with no huge issues. Contractions (cannot = can't, etc.) are a second grade skill and can be linked to the CCSS here. 

Here are the directions for how to complete the learning center. I like to include directions with the learning center as well!

This learning center is engaging for students because they are getting meaningful practice with finding/sorting contractions as well as speaking them. They are using visual and kinesthetic skills to pair appropriate contractions together. They are also using audial and listening skills to say the contractions out loud. 

My favorite part of this learning center is the ball toss! Kids love games, so why not make learning into a little game? The ball toss locks them in and keeps them focused on pairing those contractions! 

I used one of these squeezie balls in my learning center, but any ball will do! 

Here's the directions for the learning center again: 

• Match all the ice cream tops to their proper cone. 

These just look good enough to eat! 

Another way to do this would be in a targeted teacher-student practice situation. You can give the student a contraction and have them pair it to its proper match given a few choices. This may help learners who are struggling or need things more condensed (Possibly English Language Learners, students with learning disabilities, etc.).

• After you have made the matches, play the tossing game! 
• Toss the ball back and forth with a partner. The first person will say a contraction aloud (example: don't) and the second person will say its proper match (example: do not).
• Use your cone pairs to help you go in order and get through all the contractions.
• Play the tossing game until time is up. 

This learning center is simple, yet fun! It can be added to daily instruction through centers or used for extra practice. 

That's all I have for now! Thanks for reading and have a happy rest of the week :)

Hilary 

I survived the PIP!

Hello all! 

I am writing this post while I lounge on my mother's couch. There's nothing like kicking back and relaxing after the end of a long and challenging semester! And...this semester is worth celebrating, because I have earned a 4.0!!!!! 

Praise the LORD! 

I am so fortunate to study what I love at the university I love! I have wonderful professors, mentors, peers, and family who help me be the best I can be every day. Now, only one more semester until I am a college graduate (and looking for a job)! 

Celebrating the last week of classes with my PIP friends: (from left) Abbey, Lauren, Miles, Tori, and Alex 

I couldn't have made it through this semester without you all!

My last week of classes consisted of finishing final presentations, taking the Oklahoma Reading Test (required for all preservice teachers), and wrapping up my field experience. It was a busy week! 

I just want to say how grateful I am for this Pre-Internship Practicum (PIP) semester. I had the chance to get to know 24 wonderful first-graders and a lot of great teachers. My mentoring teacher, Carissa, was especially incredible! I learned so much from her that I will continue to use and grow from as I move forward. She was so easy to work with, and made me feel right at home in her classroom. I am so thankful I had her to help me create my lesson plans, bounce ideas off of, and chat about life with. I feel like I gained a true friend! 

Carissa and I celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday...Lorax style!

It was so hard to say goodbye to my first graders and Carissa on my last day. The class surprised me with some precious cards, a book they created called "What Makes a Great Teacher", pictures, and some math doubles and triples dice that I will definitely use in the future! Thank you Mrs. South's class! I can't wait to come back and visit soon :) 

This stuff gets me through the day!

My Journey of a Future Teacher has been amazing so far, and I am so excited to keep going! Thank you to everyone who has supported me and sharpened me throughout this time in my life! 

Hilary