Lady Liberty

Do you know how big Lady Liberty's foot is?  Our 2nd graders do!!
This was an absolute terrific lesson-- my kids are still talking about it!  This lesson is from the wonderful author Deanna Jump! I also added a bunch of my favorite activities, too!   We study America's National Symbols in 2nd grade!  American Eagles, the Flag, Liberty Bell, and the wonderful Lady Liberty.  We started off the lesson by prompting the question: "Do you think Lady Liberty's foot (from heal to toe) is bigger than our second grade (shoulder to shoulder), smaller than, or equal to?"
I had the kids create a graph that illustrated our hypothesis.  Then we took a 25 foot piece of butcher paper-- colored the whole paper green-- then created a GIANT foot- toes and all!  Then we stood all 24 of my students shoulder to shoulder-- and WALA-- we were much shorter.
I love to incorporate literature into all my lessons-- not just in reading class!

We read the following stories; The Story of the Statue of Liberty, L is For Liberty, The Statue of Liberty (Step Into Reading, and The Statue of Liberty (Welcome Books).  When we read the stories, I had the students write down as many facts or interesting information that they could remember from each story.  Then we created a HUGE graphic organizer listing all the facts that they could remember! 

For an independent reading activity-- I took two of the books- The Statue of Liberty (Step into Reading) and The Statue of Liberty (Welcome Books) and I placed in our reading center.  During independent time-- they were able to go back and read the story by themselves.  When they were done reading independently-- they need to find the following (And they had a page to fill out-- where they listed the page numbers and completed the activities) they had to find the Table of Contents, Glossary, Index,Captions, and Key Vocabulary.  They listed page numbers, and answered questions in regards to comprehension on the sheet.

Writing~  What does the Statue of Liberty stand for?  And what does the Statue of Liberty mean to me?
The students drew a picture of the statue of Liberty and then we posted their responses under their picture!

Math~ First each child created the 7 point crown-- then they wrote a math fact that had a number seven in their math problem.  For example-- 7+8=  , 7+7= , etc.....  They placed the answers on the back of the crown!

Teachers Pay Teachers

If you are like me-- just before a lesson I super google the subject in which I am teaching to see who has a better idea than what I am using.  Did someone come up with a better way to teach the subject?  Does someone have a better resource to introduce the subject?  How else can I differentiate the unit?  Any fun activities to strengthen the needs of my students who need to be challenged? 
A fellow teacher introduced me to Teachers Pay Teachers!  Holy cow!  This is a free website for teachers to sign up.  This site is unbelievable!!  You have to check it out!  There are thousands of FREE resources to download and use immediately in your classroom.  There are also thousands of items that you can pay for.  But here is the best part-- yes-- better than the FREE items!  For all you creative teachers-- you can post your lesson plans, introductory lessons, unit lessons, smart board presentations, PowerPoint, worksheets......etc.  and either offer your lessons for FREE or you can charge other teachers to use your items. 
So don't wait-- get out there and start searching for ideas on this site!  You are guaranteed to find something that you can use!  The site is super easy to navigate!  Have fun and start searching!!

Super Cool Authors & Creators:

Creative Chicky!  (Alot of Free activities for 2nd- 4th grade-- super great literature circle ideas and 2nd grade spelling activities)

Smartboard Smarty (Super terrific smartboard lessons-- I have purchased a lot of second grade interactive math lessons)--  my 2nd graders Just Loved Them!

Racheal Miller~ Really great ideas-- Just love ideas and creativity-- and best of all they are all FREE-- yes-- you read correctly-- she has some really cool Animal Unit Songs, Bingo for long and short vowels, and a really really cute "End of the Year Class Yearbook"  --- I am totally doing this at the end of the year!

Michelle Walker--  Really cute download lessons-- I just love the Symme-tree and Snowflakes-- my 2nd graders loved the math center activities-- a lot of thought went into the lessons!

Deanna Jump--  This lady is AMAZING-- I have purchased SO SO many lessons-- I cannot even decide which one is my favorite!  I will be posting some of her great ideas and how I used them in my classroom later!  She is MY absolute favorite! 

Lisa Rombach-- Love Love her "The Flag" lesson!  A lot of thought went in to this lesson-- very interactive lesson!

Hope King~  Created a Really cute Spooktacular Halloween Math Centers

Rachelle Smith~ Another really creative teacher who created Halloween Unit with Literacy, math and art!

Swimming into Second~  Common Core Standards for Second Grade-- this is fabulous!  I downloaded this and placed in on my webpage for my students and parents-- a really great resource to reference!

Anna Brantley~  Really cute Pirate Fun Math and Literacy Center Packet--  my students had a ball with this one during our annual piracte day at school! 

This is just a few of my favorite authors!  A lot of these authors have FREE items-- some authors offer their items for FREE-- so that they get some followers-- then later on they start charging for their items!  A lot of authors also have webpages-- which is wonderful- then you can follow them and find out when they post items and FREE items!  It is very addiciting-- so watch out!  That is the only warning I have about Teachers Pay Teachers!  Once you start searching it is hard to walk away! 

If you have not signed up-- do it now-- and use this link as a referral:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Signup?ref=4boybaby