Number of the Day

When I was working on my degree, one of my 2-week field experiences was in a 2nd grade classroom.  Every morning, the students completed a "Number of the Day" activity (based on the number of days they had been in school) for morning work.  I was completely amazed by the number sense that the students in the class had.  I am planning to keep most of the routines of the class I am taking over in tact (because the teacher seems awesome), but this is one thing I am going to try to implement.
Here is my take on the Number of the Day sheet.  Click on the picture to download the PDF.

Update

I got some very exciting news today - I will be subbing in a 2nd grade classroom at a school I love until the end of the school year! 
Sorry I have not been posting much lately - life has been a little crazy!  I do have several things in the works though - they will be posted as soon as they are finished.   

Farm Repost

Several people have said they are having trouble downloading the farm things I posted last week, so I am going to try posting them again.  If you are still having problems (with this or anything else on my blog), either leave your email address or send me an email at dana_m_baker@yahoo.com and I will send them to you.   Click on the links below to download the files.

Farm Animal Name Cards

Farm Animal Graph

Animal Cards for Graph:

Sheep

Pigs

Horses

Goats

Ducks

Dogs

Cats

Chickens

Cows

Dr. Seuss Set Available from ThistleGirl Designs!

Have you seen the newest set available from ThistleGirl Designs yet???  Soooo cute! 

Blog Makeover

If you are thinking that your blog needs a new look and you really have no clue about blog design yourself, I cannot recommend Kristen from Ladybug Teacher Resources enough!  Not only is she super nice and easy to work with, but she is amazing at what she does (look at my blog for proof!)  Thank you Kristen!!!

Giveaway at What the Teacher Wants!

Rachelle and Natalie have an amazing blog where they share all their wonderful ideas (it's one of my favorites!). Head over to their site (by clicking on their button) for a chance to win a $100 gift card to The Container Store!!!

Down on the Farm!

About a year ago, I was a long-term substitute for a kindergarten class.  I made a few things for a farm unit that I thought I would post in case anyone can use them.

Farm animal word cards (click on the picture to download).  These can be used as part of a farm word wall, can be hole-punched and put on a ring for students to reference, or the words and pictures can be cut apart and used to play a matching/memory game.

 
Farm animal graph (click on the picture to download).

Farm animal cards to go with the graph:      
Sheep
Pig
Horse
Goat
Duck
Dog
Cow
Chicken
Cat

Exciting stuff...

I was so excited to hit 200 followers last week!  Thank you all for following my little blog.  :)  

I am finally finished with my online classes for the Ohio 4th/5th Grade Generalist Endorsement!  I turned in my last assignment late last night.  I am so happy to be finished!  I have to take another Praxis test to officially get the endorsement (I am taking it in about a week-and-a-half) and I will be all set.  Now I can get back to creating things to post on my blog!

Also, thanks to Kristen from Ladybug Teaching Resources and Ladybug's Teacher Files my blog will soon be getting a very much needed makeover!  (Seriously, if you have not checked out her 2 sites yet, GO NOW!) 

Fun Idea for Practicing Spelling Words

I was on Amazon.com earlier today looking for a few birthday presents for my cousins, and I happened to find Melissa and Doug's Travel Hangman.

I think this is really cool because A) you can't lose the letters or person pieces- they are attached to the board and you just flip them over and B) there is a small dry erase board at the bottom.  Sure, you can just use a piece of paper and play hangman, but this will help to reduce the amount of paper used and I think kids would love using it to practice their spelling words.  It is $10.61 on Amazon's site if anyone is interested.

Note: I am not being compensated in any way for this review - I just thought it was neat and wanted to share.  :)  

I *LOVE* Jon Stewart

Check out these clips:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-february-28-2011/crisis-in-dairyland---angry-curds

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-february-28-2011/crisis-in-dairyland---message-for-teachers?xrs=share_copy

Jon Stewart is absolutely hilarious and I love that he is trying to bring attention to the insanity that is happening in education right now.  However, it is difficult to listen to people talk so negatively about the teaching profession.  One thing that really bothers me is when people act like they know all about something when they obviously do not have a clue - I feel like many people **think** they know what a teacher's job is like, but really they have idealized what they see as the perks of position (such as summer break) until their version is almost unrecognizable from the truth.  I truly hope that everyone realizes what the effect of these actions will be on the education of our students before they have too much of a negative impact.