Dive in and Explore 2nd Grade!

Things have been crazy busy for me these past few days.  We celebrated all the things we've learned with our parents on Thursday!  I am so happy to report that all 19 students had at least 1 parent or grandparent attend our special morning.


Last year I turned the classroom into the Learning Safari.  This year I changed things up a bit by turning the classroom into the beach/ocean.  We had so much fun transforming our classroom.   Here's some pictures of our great day.  

I love how cute these scuba divers and jelly fish turned out!  The scuba divers went along with our little "Diving Into Summer" Memory Books.  These are at my Teacher's Notebook store if you'd like to check it out.

Our Beach and Ocean of Exploration!  Each child had their own beach/ocean desk.  Parents were seated next to their child.  

Here is what they shared with their parents.  We made some special things for this week and to wrap-up the end of the year.  But the main part of our day is to share their portfolio which is a collection of all our writing projects that we made throughout the year.

We made Summer Name Glyphs and had these adorable crabs holding them.  These became their name tags on their beaches.

Sand Castle Welcome Letters

Since parents help students "build" their futures I tied it into building sandcastles.  Not sure if you can see it close enough but students wrote a little Welcome note to their parents as well as a thank you for helping them with all their work this year in second grade.  

I loved these when I saw them on pinterest… I created my own pattern and made a little "Summer Goals" booklet to staple to the shovel.

Candy Bar Awards - My annual tradition!  I just love handing these out and seeing all the smiles on my students faces.  These are for sale at my Teacher's Notebook Store.

While I hand out the Candy Bar Awards, my students and parents enjoy some refreshments.  I love watching the students serve their parents.  Believe it or not, this is something we have to practice.

  

Students wrote about their Future Dreams "Stepping into My Dreams"

I LOVE how cute they turned out with the glitter:)

We took a "bite" out of math.  Students completed a little sheet that highlighted the main concepts/units we covered this year in second grade.  The sharks are so cute… I just love the blog world and thank all you teachers out there who share your ideas.  These cute sharks came from Ms. Nicole at: todayinsecondgrade.blogspot.com  

My students begged me to do something with Turtles…I have a few students who have a love for them.  So I created these little turtle patterns and "Sea" How I've Grown reflections.

My Future is Looking Bright!

A Whale of a Tale… My students wrote about their very own tale.  So often throughout the year they were given topics or ideas to write about.  This was an opportunity for them to shine and write a little tale about anything they wanted.  These cute whale patterns came from dragonfliesinfirst.com

I don't ever want to take these fish down!  They look so beautiful in my windows:)

Ah… and after that we had Field Day in the afternoon!  Boy was I glad when Friday came….

Penny Timelines

We have learning about timelines.  My students have really enjoyed making their own timelines and sharing them with each other.  In the past I have just cut large pieces of bulletin board paper but always struggled with how to display them and store them.  This year I used a foldable and they turned out awesome!  The best part is my students did most of the folding and glueing and were great at direction following:)

I posted the files to make these as well as step-by-step picture directions on my Teacher's Notebook store.  

Dive Into Summer….

The year is ending quickly and I am just not ready (then again I never am!)  Always thinking of more things I want to do with my class:)  We are getting ready to have our Parent Day in a week.  I decided to take a break from my Safari and do a Beach Party this year.  I promise to share pictures as we get closer and start turning our classroom into a beach scene!

Here's a quick activity you might be interested in doing with your class.  We are making scuba divers and then writing about our year in second grade.  You can grab your own copy of this activity at my Teacher's Notebook store:)