Now it's time for POW OREO to teach opinion writing.  Love this power point and the strategy!  :) 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Pow-Oreo-Opinion-Writing-Second-Grade-1562683

This set of synonym activities really spark a lot of thinking from students.  :) 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Shades-of-Meaning-Synonym-Activities-1506928

My Math Cafe (morning math board) has been so helpful to my students.  They are now fabulous at word problems because of our Problem of the Day they do every single day.  Each morning I post a new word problem on our math board and I place Avery Printer Labels with that problem underneath the display.  Students come in and they know to place a label in their math cookbook (journal) after reading the display.  Then they reread the problem on the label and work the problem out.  In their journal they must P.E.E.L their problems which means:

P - Picture
E - Equation
E - Explanation
L - Labels

I have made 180 word problems that for display and for journal inserts and they work great!  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/180-Word-Problem-Labels-Journal-Inserts-and-Matching-Display-Problems-1322124

This will be my family's first 5K run to support our kids' cause, Soles 4 Souls.  We are excited to help out at this event and to not only support Soles 4 Souls but also the men's rugby team at Middle Tennessee State University.  :) 

Well, once again I am such a proud mommy!  My big kids Kelton and Layken, as many people already know, have been collecting shoes to become ambassadors for an organization called Soles 4 Souls.  What's new and exciting in their endeavor is that Rutherford Parent Magazine contacted us and they want to help them reach their goal of collecting 50,000 pairs of shoes.  So, on October 25, 2014 Rutherford Parent Magazine will be hosting their 8th annual Kids Fall Fest at The Avenue in Murfreesboro, TN.  It will be from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and will have lots of fun things to do.  We will also be there collecting shoe donations.  For every pair of shoes that someone brings they will receive an entry into The Avenue gift card drawings.  Yay!   My kids are so excited about helping so many people.  :) 

This is such a great deal!  180 word problem labels, 8"x11" word problem displays, and journal inserts to use if you don't want to print the labels.  Yep, that's 180 word problems on the 2nd and 3rd grade levels. 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/180-Word-Problem-Labels-Journal-Inserts-and-Matching-Display-Problems-1322124

Have you ever done something that you know will come back to hurt you but you know it's the right thing to do?  Well, that's where I'm at now.  I have been asked to take on the responsibility of raising my little sister's baby until she is able to care for the child.  The baby is due in early March and I am willing to step in and love this baby with all of my heart.  BUT...I know first hand how difficult it is to give the child back after being the child's mother for several years.  I know this because I, along with my husband and mom, raised my sister's first daughter for the first 4 years of her life and then right when we were about to adopt her... BAM!  Her father, who had very little contact with her, changed his mind and decided to become a dad.  I cannot begin to tell you how we felt.  It was heartbreaking.  However, we are very thankful that over the last 5 years her biological father still allows us lots of visitation with her.  She pretty much spends her whole summer with us along with all of her school breaks.  So, here we go again...To love and let go.

 

Behavior Tracking at its best!  Allowing students the opportunity to improve their behavior promotes positive attitudes instead of a defeated mindset.  I created this adorable owl and chevron set for a friend's owl themed classroom.  I need to make this to fit my cafe themed classroom. 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Owl-and-Chevron-Themed-Behavior-Clip-Chart-1426825

POW TIDE Informative Writing Power Point for First Grade.  This is great!  I also have one for Second Grade.  :) 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/POW-TIDE-Power-Point-for-First-Grade-1414765

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/POW-TIDE-Power-Point-for-Second-Grade-1414747
I made this power point to help me teach POW TIDE which is part of a writing strategy called Self Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD).  It's so cute!  I need to dig out my super hero cape to introduce this.  :) 

This is definitely the best way to teach students what it means to label something.  lol!  My students LOVED sticking the sticky notes on me.  :)  They are going to be pros at labeling their pictures for solving word problems in math. 

It's giveaway time!  Click the link below to go to my Teachers Pay Teachers store and pick out an item of your choice for free.  Then follow me and leave me a comment on this blog with the email address you would like me to send that free item to.  I am trying to gain followers so what better way than to let my followers choose the item they would like for free. This giveaway will last until September 7th.  :) 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Jeni-Sanders

For Parent Orientation I stapled the power point and other important information to the inside of a file folder.  On the outside I decorated it with a wooden spoon.  The parents were all talking about how cute it was.  :)  We're cooking up a great year in the Sanders' Cafe! 

I made this for a friend who has an owl and chevron themed classroom.  It turned out really cute!  I definitely love a themed classroom!!! 
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Owl-and-Chevron-Themed-Daily-5-and-Reading-Cafe-Signs-1403789

The Sanders' Kids are now at 1,175 pairs of shoes collected for Soles 4 Souls.  We are so proud of them!  They will not stop until they reach their goal of 50,000 pairs of shoes.  :)  

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Jeni-Sanders
:) 

Yes, I decorated my rolling cabinet. My students are trying to earn 100 cookies in their cookie jar to get a pizza party.  I also put little card pockets on one side and my students fill each other's buckets everyday.  :) 
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Jeni-Sanders

WOW!  A sweet lady dropped off a bunch of shoes today.  So the count we have so far is 1,093 pairs of shoes.  Only 48,907 pairs of shoes left to collect to meet the Sanders Kids' goal of 50,000 pairs of shoes dontated to Soles 4 Souls.  We can all make the world a better place! 

My students love using their mixing bowls to keep their supplies in instead of using boxes or pouches.  They store them on their group's shelf.  The mixing bowls were at Dollar Tree.  I also have them put their unfinished work on a cookie sheet that sits on top of their shelf.  Each group tries hard to earn brownie points by doing a great job.  I printed brownies and put them on magnets.  When I see a group going above and beyond then I put a brownie on their cookie sheet that is hanging on their group's shelf.  The cookie sheet is attached with two sided sticky tape.  On the other side of the shelf I attached a small white board that I use to write down skills that the students in each group need to work on.  This is so that when a parent volunteer comes in to tutor they can just read the groups' white boards to see what each student needs to work on.  :) 

The Sanders' Kids are now at 300 pairs of shoes collected towards their goal of 50,000.  Yes, I am proud! 

Early finishers? 

If you have those students who finish their work before the others then they can grab a ring of QR Codes and scan a card to find out what task they will be doing.  I made 12 tasks for each subject (Spelling, Reading, Writing, Language, Math, Science, and S.S.).  That's a total of 84 QR Code Task Cards.  :)  Here is what it looks like in my classroom.  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Early-Finishers-QR-Codes-1385604

Talk about setting a good example...

My little givers have decided that they want to become Soles 4 Souls Ambassadors.  This charity organization donates new and used shoes to people all over the world who suffer from natural disasters and poverty.  My two oldest kids, Kelton (12) and Layken (9) have collected for them before instead of getting birthday gifts.  They have now set a goal collecting 50,000 pairs of shoes to donate and become ambassadors.  They are currently at 272 pairs of shoes collected.  I'm such a proud momma.  They even inspired my students last year to collect shoes for this organization instead of exchanging gifts for Christmas.  I was so proud of my students, too. Wow!  What great little citizens we are raising!!!  :) 

Teacher time...
I have found that having a classroom theme and perfecting it by incorporating your evaluation rubric, standards, and student interests takes my classroom and students to a whole new level. 

My classroom theme is a Cafe / Chef theme.  My students LOVE it and I'm able to do so many creative things with it.  Here are some pictures to give you an idea.  Below you will see Accountable Talk that Sizzles bacon and eggs displayed with real pans. Then you will see a red 6 foot picnic table with a dry erase panel board on top for my students to work out math problems on.  Next you will see my chef themed calendar and convection oven.  My students love to turn their work into the oven.  Top rack is for ELA, middle rack is for Math, and the bottom is for Science/S.S.  The next picture is my small group table.  I covered it in white contact paper and red dry erase dots that give each student his or her own space to work.  I purchased the red dots from Amazon.com.  Then you'll see my personal kids working at the cafe table that is painted red with a dry erase panel board on top.  My students enjoy reading and taking notes in the Reading Cafe.  Then you will see a picture of my built in cabinets that I covered in dry erase white contact paper and I added the CAFE reading signs (C-Comprehension, A-Accuracy, F-Fluency, E-Expand Vocabulary), Fast Math points, AR points, Birthdays, and Schedule.  The next to last picture shows how I put a panel board on the back of my cubbies and I covered it with chalkboard contact paper so that I could create a welcome sign like in some cafes and resturants.  Finally, the last picture is of POW TIDE Pancakes.  I went to a Learning Leader Common Core training this summer and we learned about using POW TIDE to teach students to write informatively.  (P-Pull apart the promt, O-Organize your thoughts, W-Write and say more, T-Topic Sentence, ID-Important Detail, E-Ending)  TIDE is done during the O(organize) stage of POW. Again, my students LOVE this and respond wonderfully to everything we do in class. I'll post more pictures soon.  I have a Teachers Pay Teachers store and Pinterest.  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Jeni-Sanders/Page:1
http://www.pinterest.com/jenisanders/

This is a must do for those of you with a baby girl.  My little Paisley Grace as a mermaid for her 1 year pictures on the beach.  So precious!!! 

My name is Jeni Sanders and I'm a mother to 4 beautiful, smart, kind, helpful, hardworking, and ambitious kids.  I could definitely go on and on with the adjectives to describe them but I will spare you.  lol!  I am also a second grade teacher and I certainly love what I do at home and in the classroom. 

I've created a relevant and meaningful classroom and therefore have tremendous success with my students.  So I thought I would start a blog and begin sharing what has worked so wonderfully for me.  I may jump back and forth between posts about my own personal kids and my classroom kids.  As you know, those are both the very best full time jobs ever.  :)