There are 22 People Missing!!

My room is ready to go.  Organized. Clean. Supplies Purchased.  The only thing missing are my 22 second graders. 

My interactive word wall is ready to go! I am so excited about this new component this year.  It is right next to my book nook which creates a perfect small group area.  So I have three effective small group areas in the classroom.  Two will be areas that are teacher directed.  One with me, the classroom teacher, and the other will be manned by my teacher's assistant.  My new assistant has a teaching degree.  This will be a wonderful opportunity for her and for my students.

The area that has my work displayed will have charts around it. These charts will help students remind them about certain parts of the workshop atmosphere.  

I sincerely hope everyone has a great 2012-2013 school year!!!

Words, Words, Words

Last night as insomnia gripped me, but really to better explain it would be the excitement of my two children starting school and my school year beginning was too much for my brain; so I began to trudge through you tube videos of Taylor Mali.  As I watched him perform his poetry I began to think about my own presentation that I knew would take place on Thursday about word study and grammar.  Then I began to Facebook.  I ran across A DIY Interactive Word Wall tutorial.

Teaching 2nd grade I want my students to interact with words.  As they study the spelling words I want them to be engaged and motivated to learn the uniqueness of the language.  English is not an easy language, but at the same time I want them to learn that "playing" with words leads to wonderful discoveries. 

So my midnight FB find turned into a task for today. I've started the process, but not finished. My teacher's assistant and I worked on many different things today.  But, my favorite is the interactive word wall.

How do your students use word walls in your classroom?