Sale on Black History Research Pack!

Hey guys, I've been SUPER busy trying to prepare for Open House (this Thursday), so I'm really slacking on the blogging.

However, I wanted to let you know that I've put my Famous African Americans Research Pack on sale now that Black History Month has ended.

If you'd be interested in purchasing it for next year or for just anytime, I guess, then it will be 15% starting tomorrow, March 5th, through Friday, March 8th.

Here is the direct link to the product on my TpT store:
Black History Research Project with QR Codes

My students are all (but 2 who never finish anything) finished with the research part of their project and are totally taking off with their products to share their learning.  It is amazing to watch them be so self-driven about their learning!!  I wish every assignment were this engaging for them.  Sigh.  One lesson, one unit at a time is all we can do, right?

Many of them are making slide shows on Animoto, which is amazeballs and easy if you haven't tried it!

Here's one of their Animoto shows...this is his first draft--he has since made many improvements to punctuation, etc., but how awesome is it for an 8 year old??? His next task is adding some more specific details to his facts so we can learn even more about his famous American in history!



Several are writing and performing puppet shows, and others are making Power Point slide shows and using Apps like Educreations or Fotobabble to share their learning.

YAY for getting my 2nd graders excited about research and getting them working on something because they WANT to!  Yay self-motivation!

Hope you are all having a good week and are hanging in there until Spring Break--holla--my 32nd birthday (I told my kids today I was turning 25, LOL) is coming up on Monday, so I'm definitely going to host a big sale for the occasion in case anyone's looking to do some shopping over Spring Break, haha!

Thanks for stopping by my little blog, and I'll try to post something more interesting soon!

Update to Black History Month Research Unit!

Well, I originally wrote this research unit because our Native American research project crashed and burned, so it's only inevitable that I will continually be thinking of ways to keep THIS project from doing the same.

Hence, this new and improved unit!  I added several historical figures AND (my favorite part) QR codes that link to kid-safe websites for research.  I included 3 codes/websites for EACH person in the unit.

I've sold quite a few of these on TpT and am very excited that people think it's worth buying!  YAY!
If this is something you'd like, check it out at my TpT store or clicking on the images:

Famous African Americans-Research Project for Black History Month

Thanks for stopping by!  I'll try to be back soon for a more fun update!  :)

iPad Frenzy: Sock Puppets App

It's official.  My student teacher, Mrs. O'Bryan, and I are obsessed with the iPads.  We use them almost every day in Daily 5 (Listen to Reading, Word Work, Read to Self), and we are continually trying to find ways to integrate them into math, science, and social studies.

My new favorite App is Sock Puppets.

Make a 30 second sock puppet show about anything!  (My students would chime in: "as long as it's appropriate for school.")  Yes, I've taught them well.  :D

You can choose your own sock characters, choose your background and props, and you can even change the pitch of the characters' voices to higher or lower!  The students had a blast, and it's actually a great way to assess a recently taught skill or content.

We recently made sock puppet shows explaining the difference between needs and wants during our big economics unit.  Check out a student's example below:





Tips for using the Sock Puppets App:
-Watch the countdown timer at the top to see how much you have left to talk.
-Have students write their "script" first to save time and mistakes.
-Have them sit as far away from one another as possible (as you can hear in the video, it gets very loud if they are all recording at once!)  :)
-To make a new character talk, you have to click on it (an arrow will appear above its head).
-You totally do not have to upload them to YouTube!  I only did that for blog purposes and to share with parents, but it is by no means a must, of course!  (Side note: it was quite easy to upload them if you're into that sort of thing-haha.)