What Does the Shape Say?

This Smartboard activity can be used as a group activity or a workstation. The student clicks on the name of the shape. If he is correct he will hear a cheer. If he is wrong he will hear another sound.An activity sheet is included. It can be used by an individual student to prove his work or as a worksheet for use in a group to keep everyone engaged in the activity.Click here to purchase before the price goes up.

A Year of Word Wall Words for Pocket Charts

These are word wall words students might use with themes throughout the year. These can be used with a pocket chart activity or in a writing center. 
Themes
Apples
September
October
Thanksgiving
November
Winter 
February
March
Spring
This is a bundle of the 9 word walls I have at a bundle saving price. Buying the bundle you save $12.00.  Check it out on TPT.

Addition Foldables

The purpose of the interactive notebook is to enable students to be creative, independent thinkers and writers. Interactive notebooks are used for class notes as well as for other activities where the student will be asked to express his/her own ideas and process the information presented in class. Requirements vary from teacher to teacher and the notebook can be set up according to the directions of the teacherThe purpose of this is file to give teachers a starting point for setting up their own math notebooks with their classes with beginning addition. The file includes 9 templates and ideas to implement them in your class. I have also included pictures of completed pages to give you some ideas for using the templates. I am working on a beginning subtraction notebook and will be uploading it in a few days. 

Free Sample here

Purchase here

Free Smartboard Graphic Organizer

I use this to assess the addition facts that  we have learned to 10.
Students write all the addition facts that equal the number in the middle of the graphic organizer. Numbers 1-10 .  Click here to down load the Smartboard Activity. More Smartboard activities can be found at TPT

Nameplate Solution

I hate when nameplates on desks start to look bad and the tape starts to roll and get dirty, Here is an idea to solve that problem.  Laminate the name tags and use velcro to attach them to the desk. This makes them easy to change as they get old.

To help you out here is a set of 26 nameplates for student desks. They are all different themes using Thistle Girl Design graphics. There is enough variety to be able to change name tags every week. I've done the work and you take the credit for how cute they are.

26-Different-Name-Plates-Desk-Name-Tags

26-student-nameplates

Roll a Pumpkin Center or Whole Group

This is a smartboard activity that can be played by teams or individuals. The class can also play against the teacher. Kids love this. Players take turns rolling the die and put the corresponding number of counters on the pumpkin (1 per circle). When the pumpkin is filled up, you win! To extend the game you can roll to take them off. Play as many times as you can in the time allotted. This is such a great game for number identification and counting! The kids love playing the boys against the girls.  Available here.

Classroom Website

Our classroom website is up and running.  Please stop by and see if there are any materials you can use in your classroom.  Click on the headings at the top of the pages to take a look around.

Mrs. Kestner's Second Grade

Welcome to Our Pad

Tour Our Room

Welcome to our Classroom!

Take a look around.

This the entrance to our room.

Boggle Center

Computer Center

Guided Reading Table

Guide Reading Materials

Library

Leveled Books

      Each second grader has their own ipad. this is our charging station.

                                                                  Smartboard Area

Incentive Sticker Charts

Do you reward your students with stickers? Use this chart to keep track of students good behavior, number of books read, accelerated reader points or other achievements. Use the left side of the chart to write the students name. If you have a different theme you'd like, let me know and I'll make one for you. No more running to the teachers store. Just print these off. More available at TPT.

Desk Nameplates

I like to change desk nameplates at least once a month.  My kids seem to be rough on them.  I cover them with contact paper and it helps some.  They can't wait to see what the new nameplates will look like. Below are 3 of the ones I've made recently. More can be found in a bundle of 26 different themes in my TPT store.

42 Smartboard Lunch and Attendance Counts

This is a a DVD+R that contains 42 Smartboard Activities to record attendance and lunch counts throughout the year. The files are bright, colorful and decorated with cute clip art. The files contain an attendance file and an attendance/lunch count file for each of the following themes: All Aboard. Beach, Bunnies, Ducky, Farm, Halloween, Leprechauns, Mittens, Penguins, Apples, Pirates, Popcorn(Movie), Space, Wheels on the Bus, Wizard of Oz, April Showers, Retro, Fall, Monkey Business (with audio) and Pilgrims.

All schools have different ways of doing their attendance and lunch count. These files can be easily adjusted to fit your needs. You must have Smartboard software to use these files with a smartboard. All clip art is copyrighted and may not be sold.

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Animal Habitats Sorting Activity Primary

This activity contains 8 different categories for animal habitats:
Farm
Forest 
Pond
Swamp
Ocean
Jungle
Desert
Polar
It also contains 8 labeled pictures of animals for each habitat. (64 Animal Pictures) All 8 habitats can be used together or as few as 2 can be used to differentiate instruction.
It also contains 2 pages to list the animals for each habitat.
The pictures are clear and vibrant to catch a child's attention. 
Print on card stock and laminate for longer lasting use.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Animal-Habitat-Sorting-Activity

Incentive Sticker Charts

I have created about a dozen incentive sticker charts with different themes.  I have priced them at $1.00 so you can buy several themes.  Not more running to the teacher's store or waiting for a catalog order.  Below is a sample with a Bee and Camping Themes. Others can be purchased in my TPT Store.

18 Drawer Storage Labels

I am always looking for ideas to help me organize my school materials and free up room in my desk.  I saw a great idea on a blog and decided to make it work for me. I purchased an 18 drawer stackable tool box today at Lowes for $19.96. The drawers are all the same size and fairly roomy.

I then made a set of labels that can be taped with double sided tape to the inside of each drawer.

You can download a set of these labels here.   There are 24 filled labels and 8 blank. I hope you can use these and enjoy being just a little more organized.

Reward Punch Cards Freebie

  Below is a Penguin Reward Punch Cards for you to download  for free. I have several of these for sale with different themes.  They can also be purchased in a bundle of 36 different themes to save you money. Stop by my store and see what is waiting for you. If you are unable to find your theme, let me know and I will create one for you.

eduClipper Like Pinterest for Teachers

Pinterest has been well publicized as recently becoming the number three social media platform, and the teaching community is a big reason for their success.  The ability to see an image, lesson, or idea and "pin it" to share with a thousand or so of your closest allies is a feature that has differentiated Pinterest from other social media platforms in a way that has produced unparalled growth. 

While the rest of the world is sharing pins of recipes, home improvement ideas, and holiday decorations, the educational community has created it's own little niche in the Pinterest movement, sharing ideas and pinning just about anything from lesson plans to classroom layouts, planners, organizers and Hey Girl pictures.  Uh oh....Hey Girl pictures?  How am i going to open Pinterest in class without unwillingly bringing up a picture of Ryan Gosling, an angry orange or a dog in a spiderman costume. 

As a Pinterest user, I follow people because they share great stuff, but deep down inside I know that they also on occasion share nonsense, and I don't need to broadcast that to my classroom.  We've all been there before.  That moment where your Pinterest account's "funny" board suddenly becomes not so funny as you accidently show it to a colleague, student, or parent.  You then rapidly click away to act like it wasn't there (but it was) and then wonder if they saw it.  Or even worse, the students simply go crazy on it and you've distracted your entire classroom.  Eventually, you simply avoid using the tool altogether in class. 

Why hasn't somebody created a kid-safe, classroom safe version of this fantastic tool?  A tool with all of the great functionality but none of the nonsense and spam.  One that I can pull up on my whiteboard, iPad, or even send students to link to?

Well now they have!  Adam Bellow of EduTecher.net is putting the finishing touches on eduClipper, a resource for clipping, marking, saving, and sharing great ideas in a school friendly and kid safe forum.  Users can share clipboards to users and non users alike.  The motto of eduClipper is "Clip Anything, Share Anything" and it suits the product perfectly.  Videos, lessons, images, whatever you want to clip and share, you can do it.  You can even share it back out on your regular - non kid safe social media platforms, so there isn't any worry about doing double work.

eduClipper isn't quite ready yet, but you can signup today and be one of the very first to use this fantastic new resource! 

Tally Marks

My students have a little trouble in the beginning with tally marks.  I saw this rhyme on another blog an had to share it.  I think it will be a big help when we start to make tally marks to count.  So simple yet so good.