Photog-catch up and Stoplight Paragraphs

Before I get into my teacher mode....can I get into Mommy mode first???

Well, since I can't hear your answer, I'm going to go ahead and do it...if you don't want to see it - just scroll down - hehe...

The other day, hubs was doing a fundraiser for American Cancer Society at work...so we stopped by to say hi!

Good thing about being a firefighter's wife/kids...you can always get pictures with a truck and firefighter! ha!


Me and my girls!


Daddy's #1 fan!


And we dyed eggs!! (wait 'til you see what I make with these eggs after Easter - hehe)


She's so serious....until....


There it is - MELTDOWN! haha!!


Ok, we're okay again..lol...Look Mommy - pretty eggs!! 



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok, back to teacher mode now.

Sorry for the detour :)

So as you know, we started our Chicks study this week.

We "read" Chicks & Chickens by Gail Gibbons...I say read, but really it was just me pulling out the important parts...lol...it's a pretty heavy book.

We then did a tree map (love me some tree maps!)


But THEN...

we did something I found over at Spend a Day in 2nd

It's called Stoplight Paragraphs...It's BRILLIANT!!

We did the first one together....


And I showed them how to set it up - green is topic, yellows are details (they had to pick 3 details from the tree map), and red is closing.


Then they have to puzzle piece it together....


The next day, we did another one on Chicks.


See the stars?? That was how they chose their 3 details they wanted to use.

Then, they got to work on their strips.


This one (below) is actually from one of my ESOL kids...he told me, "Oh - I get Mrs. Ross...the yellows are about the green, so they're like details about it, right?!"

hehe - it was so cute...with his little accent and everything!


So go check it out - she explains it in her post.
I am a writing teacher - I love to have my kids write ALL. THE. TIME!
And we are a Thinking Maps school, so we do organize our information that way, but sometimes some kids just need something different for it to click...case in point.
 I LOVE this!

P.S...don't forget to enter the giveaway of my Know-It-All Gnat unit! 
Click HERE to enter.
I'll pick the winner before I go to bed tonight (remember, I AM on Eastern time, so my bed time is earlier than y'alls bedtime in CA or TX time zones! lol)

16 comments

Unknown said...

The pictures are too precious!!!!! B looks like a little princess! What a great visual the stoplight method is! Thanks for sharing!

❤ Mor Zrihen from...
A Teacher's Treasure
Teaching Treasures Shop

Kelley Cirrito said...

I love the meltdown shot!!! I got to meet the fabulous Leanne from Spend a Day in Second Grade! She teaches at the elementary school I attended!! I can't wait to use her idea in my classroom! I hope you have a great Easter!!!

Jen R said...

kelley - did you see what was on A's apron??

Runde's Room said...

We had a meltdown during egg dying time, too. We used kool aid to dye our eggs, and all my youngest wanted to do was drink the kool aid. She finally snuck in a sip when I was busy helping one of my other girls, and was horrified that the kool aid was both warm, and not sweetened. I would say lesson learned ... but I'm quite sure it wasn't. ;)

LOVE the stop light idea for writing - something my older kiddies still need to remember.

Jen
Runde's Room

Cynthia said...

Happy Easter! You've been tagged. Check it out here...

www.2ndgradepad.blogspot.com/

Cynthia

Barbara said...

Your pics are very sweet. Your oldest daughter looks a lot like you! I don't mean the tantrum picture -- ha ha!

Thanks for the writing idea. I think that's a brilliant idea.

Barbara
Grade ONEderful

Kristen said...

You have such a beautiful family--I hope you are having a lovely weekend together!

Traci Clausen said...

Gorgeous family! Just gorgeous.
❤Traci❤
Dragonflies in First

Holly said...

Post pics of those cutie pies any time you want. Love the meltdown! HA!

Holly
Crisscross Applesauce in First Grade

Emily said...

I LOVE her apron! Did you have lots of giggles when you had to add 'breasts' under have? My class would have. They're darling like that. =)

Emily @ Second Grade Silliness 

Emily said...

Hey, I just saw Emily won your homophones unit. Who's the other Emily? Is it lucky Emily week? =)

Jen R said...

ha!! Emily - I had to think fast on describing what a chicken breast was! but I was expecting them to giggle, but no one did! I was surprised...and the other Emily...I don't think she has a blog

Mrs. S. said...

Love it! We're beginning egg incubation Thursday! :)

You’ve been tagged!
✿.。.☆♪♫*❤*Melly*❤*☆.。.✿

stapelrsstrategies@gmail.com

Stapler’s Strategies for Sizzlin' Second Graders!

Mrs. S. said...

Check out my blog for tag info... :)

Leanne said...

Glad you loved the stoplight paragraphs!!! Hope you had a fabulous Easter with your girls!

Frank said...

they made their theories, they got to eat one Custom Homework Writing of each to have the option to involve that as their thinking for their theory.

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