On Your Mark, Get Set...

There are officially 6 weeks left of the school year. 6 WEEKS! Where did the time go? Seriously?! I cannot believe it. I had a slight panic attack when I realized this the other day. I feel like I have so much more I want to teach my students! They are my very first class, its going to be hard and strange to have them leave my class!

At the same time, I can definitely see that these kids are ready for 3rd grade. I look back and see all they have learned and how much they have grown. My students are now effortlessly writing paragraphs, reading substantial chapter books, telling time, labeling possessive pronouns and object of the preposition in sentences, writing in cursive, and memorizing various dates in history, among  lots of other work they have completed.  They are ready! Almost...we still have 6 weeks left!

My students have been very busy, especially as of late. Lots of projects have come up in this later part of the year. It has been fun to dig into these projects and to see the students really enjoying them and the learning aspect that comes along with it!

One of the projects we started and completed before Easter was our Flat Stanley project. This was a 2nd grade tradition here at RTCS that I was not about to let go. This activity is based on the story of Flat Stanley. If you are not familiar with said story, here's the abbreviated version: Flat Stanley gets flattened by a bulletin board falling on him while he is sleeping. The book follows his adventures as his flat self gets to do cool things, including being mailed to visit his relatives! Enter in our project. My 2nd graders made flat/paper versions of themselves then mailed it to friends or relatives. They then took pictures of the flat child doing all sorts of different things, which the students then get mailed back, make into a poster or book, and hang them up at school. It was an awesome project and so fun to get to see where all the flat students went!

Here are 2 of the flat students!

Another project I had my students complete was a sort of mini project. We have been studying various important events in history in both our social studies and reading areas. One of our lessons last week in social studies revolved around the various symbols our country has. I had each student pick one of the symbols we talked about, make their own version of it, and write a paragraph in cursive about why this is an important symbol in America. They were not too thrilled with the cursive aspect of this assignment!

While that part did not excite them, they were ecstatic to get to use their creative energy. The projects ended up looking great! The paragraphs were also wonderful as well, with their cursive skills shining! It made me very proud to look at their beautiful handwriting that they have been acquiring this year.

The American Flag and a Bald Eagle

The Liberty Bell

Our last big project of the year will be the students writing their own book. This one is still in the beginning stages and will require creative thinking and great grammar, along with a lot of patience from myself! It will be a wonderful experience for them and most of my students are really excited!

So now I have my last weeks mapped out, projects wrapping up, and getting to the last chapters in many books. They're getting ready to go! I will say this again and again...I just cannot believe it! I am already reminding myself to cherish each hug and hilarious moments, all the light bulb moments, lessons, and projects, even amongst the days that I am feeling frustrated and/or tired. I love 2nd grade and I love this class. I plan to soak up every moment I can these last 6 weeks!