Go NOOOODLE~Brain Break Blitz

I stumbled across GoNoodle last school year and I knew I hit the jackpot! The kids and I both LOVE GONOODLE. The classrooms around mine can hear how much fun we are having and they too have joined in on these amazing brain breaks! Parents have been telling me their kids keep talking about Ice cream, Ice cream, Guacamole...You know I'm sining this right now :)

I have joined a Brain Break Blitz Party and I'm thrilled to share with all of you what is so great about GoNoodle.

Brain breaks are very necessary and very important for students of all ages. I think teachers can also benefit from a little Continental Drift with Sid from Ice Age. Did you know that the average 2nd grader can only stay focused for about 9 minutes? Yes...9 minutes! What's a teacher to do with just 9 minute blocks of time?? You take a brain break and DANCE! Let me say..brain breaking doesn't take a huge chunk of the day, but when we do break, it's truly because EVERYONE really needs it.

Some of our favorite GoNoodle breaks are Ice Cream and Gucamole, Dinosaur Stomp, Wiggle It, Awesome Rainbows and ALL the Zumba dances. After coming in from recess, I will occasionally play Airtime and we travel around the United States and learn cool facts about one of the 50 states. Before we take an assessment, I like to play Flow and this has 3 categories that focuses on Attitude, Stress and Behavior. The calming music and breathing exercises help the kids relax before taking a test.

 

 I know which breaks are the favorites and I have been introducing them to new breaks, but they tend to request their favorites every time. This year, my students earn Torres Tickets and then cash them in so they can select which brain break our class will do. To be in control of selecting the brain break for the class is a very BIG DEAL. Lastly, the kids get really excited when they see the "time bar" increase on the website. This bar indicates how many breaks we completed.

I'm really excited about using GoNoodle again this year. It's one of my favorite activities we do daily!

Celebrating the week

What an amazing first week in 2nd grade! Every year, the first couple of weeks are spent establishing rules and procedures, and building a community within the classroom. Well, we did all that and a little more! We read poetry, listened to 8 stories, wrote about ourselves, danced to GoNoodle, participated in Friday Fitness, made Jitter Juice, took a spelling inventory test, and so much more, including art!  Below you will read what my kids liked the most about this first week of school.

Marcellus-I liked spanish.
Miya-I enjoyed doing the art.
Haleigh-I liked doing sharks and minnows.
Angela-I liked doing PE.
Chase-I liked doing GoNoodle.
Sophia-I liked art.
Trevor-I liked art.
Annie-I liked doing the dance ice cream and guacamole.
Ashlyn-I liked Class Dojo.
Peyton-I liked P.E.
Josh-I really liked Torres Tickets.
Quinn- I liked silent reading.
Luke-I liked doing silent reading and getting to know my teacher.
Emily-I liked learning about cool stuff like art.
Maya-I liked GoNoodle.
Colin-I liked Class Dojo, silent reading, and GoNoodle.
Aekam-I liked learning about reading stamina.
Kenedy-I enjoy doing silent reading and P.E.
Diego-Mostly, I liked doing the dance ice cream and guacamole.
Jessica-I liked GoNoodle.
Kadyn-I liked doing the dance ice cream and guacamole.
Landon-I like the Torres Tickets.
Kyler-I like the Torres Tickets.
Leonardo-I liked doing the dance ice cream and guacamole.
Anderson-I liked GoNoodle.
Robert-I like this whole week.

Making jitter juice

Writers at work!

First art project of the year

Making Friends~Bucket Fillers

GoNoodle~Zumba

Be sure to click on this ACADEMIC UPDATE to see what's happening this week.

Goodbye summer...Hello school

Are you saying the same thing I am..."Where did the summer go?". I believe I counted about 58 days since the last day of school and that sounds like a lot, but I think I may have slept right through some of those days!

Since school ended on June 13, I spent 3 weeks in bed with the flu :(,  1 week on a cruise ship, and the remainder of the days at school preparing for this school year. Besides digging deeper into the curriculum, I got myself a little more organized by purchasing another bookshelf on craigslist. I got it for $20. I love finding these great deals.

This year, I wanted to add something to my room that the kids could sit on (besides a chair) that was comfy, yet can help with storage. After spending time on craigslist and searching the internet on IKEA, Walmart, and Target websites, I still couldn't find what I was looking for. So where did I go to look next?...Pinterest of course! Since my husband is always looking for " home improvement" projects, and my classroom is my "second home", I recruited him to make something. After a trip to Ikea and a few trips to Walmart, this is the new comfy bench my husband built for my classroom. I still need to buy some black storage bins but other than that, I love the way it turned out. Thank you hubby & Pinterest!!

Here are more pictures of the classroom that I took on Saturday. Things are ready for my Second Grade Stars!

 

picture book bins

chapter book bins

Wall of Fame

Front door

Writing center

student book boxes

Birthday balloons & class meeting box (I made these this summer)

Attendance (Pinterest idea)

Class jobs

daily schedule

student work board

Animal Research

It's been quite awhile since my last post and so much has happened. I'm going to share with you what's got my kids so excited about this last class project.

Our last unit of study is in science and we have been learning about animals and plants. When I told the kids we were ending with this unit, they were extremely excited. They L-O-V-E SCIENCE!! In this unit students need to know the sequential stages of life cycles are different for different animals and that many characteristics of an organism are inherited from the parents. We've also discussed how some characteristics are caused or influenced by the environment (adaptations).  We've used "signal words" to help us remember important vocabulary in this unit:

Metamorphosis

Seedling

  

I think the best part of this unit has been the research project the 2nd graders are doing. First, they chose an animal to research and partnered with a classmate who had the same interest. Next, they used the chromebooks to find information about their animal's life cycle, anatomy, adaptations, habitat and more. Once they made their notes, I introduced how to create a Google Presentation. Their is no slacking going on in this classroom! They have absolutely loved making these presentations. Next week, students will be presenting their animal projects to their peers.

  Watch and listen to the video below where 2 kids are discussing which font and size to use for the title on one of their slides and which image to select:
I have been so thrilled to see how motivated and excited the kids have been when I tell them it's science time. I hear grumbling from the kids when I tell them it's time to pack up to go home! Many students have asked if they can do research from home. I naturally encourage them to do research with the help of an adult. If you want to see your child's presentation or other presentations from our class, visit our class website next week and I will have them posted.

Student Blogger-Srivishal

Dear Mrs .Torres, all my friends and relatives,

     Do you know who I am ? Well if you don’t you will learn about me here! I am a Star Soccer Player. I also like to play chess but I always lose to my brother. I have won 5th place in Bay area  National tournament and 1st place in Sacramento chess tournament for my age boys. I have been in chess classes.

    I live with my brother my mom and my dad and a cat. I born in the year 2006 in Mercy San Juan Hospital, Sacramento. My name is officially Srivishal but My mom calls me Kunju(which means tiny  baby bird).My another name is Abhinav.

    Since I watched my brother doing swimming a lot, and I practised by my self while my mom was wacthing me ,when I was 3 years old, even before started learning swimming officially from a coach, when my first coach asked me to jump and swim to the middle of the pool where he was, I was able to do without fear. My coach  and mom was surprised. My coach skipped the beginning session and taught me 2nd session lesson directly.

    I went rock climbing with my brother for his boy scouts,in the year 2012.

       Every year I go to San Francisco to meet my friend he lives in a  3 story house!

I also went paintballing with all my and brother’s friend to celebrate brother’s birthday, last sunday and it was really fun.. My hobbies are to watch cartoon network and play soccer in my backyard.

     

I went to the biggest tree in the world its called the great grizzly in Yosemite last August. Iit was so tall it would take me 3 hours to climb to the top of the tree.

    I went to the science museum with my family and friends too.I i saw dinosaurs, water creatures, and I saw starfish.

     I play tennis and my teacher’s name is John. I learned to jump rope. I did exercises and we did stations. Each station we work or run or we do jump roping. I also like to play basketball. One of my favorite teams that I have been on was called the Otters.

    On Halloween I was spider man and Showmen was Ginga and his brother was a character from anime episode.

      My Grandpa (MOM’s dad) visited us for 3 months from India. He came with us to Bay area chess  tournament  and we had dinner with him in a famous indian restaurant called Poojain west Sacramento.He love me and my brother a lot. We all went to give sendoff to him. We wished him to stay for some more months.

    My Grandpa and GrandMa (dad’s parents) also visited  last year for  2 months and they came to watch my music performance in our school (blackrock drive NCS  auditorium). Me and my brother enjoyed playing Carom board game with them every day. We went to SFO Cruise with them.This  picture is from one of our visit to India with my father’s relatives.

     I went to disneyland I did the bumper car and a bunch of other rides  3 years before.And we enjoyed a lot at Legoland,the Lego boat ride where you are on a ship and you have to shoot down other  ships.

     I hope you all enjoyed my blog  and came to know more about me through my blog.Thank you  very very  much for  your patience!Wish you all wonderful day!! I will meet at school tomorrow.

Bye!