Life of Thompson: Snow Globes and Adjectives

Christmas break is over.

It's a new year and the 2nd semester at school.

The first few weeks back are always tough. Trying to get back in the swing of things in the middle of winter don't really mesh well for me. But....get back in that saddle I must.

Here are some things Class 202 have been working on during the first weeks of 2014.

A few years back (before Pinterest) I was searching winter writing ideas/activities and came across, "If I Lived Inside a Snow-globe". I loved the idea and now we do about this time each year.

I start out by reading a couple of books. I can't remember which books I've used in the past because this year I found this book on Amazon. It is PERFECT!

And also this cute book. It's not about living in a snow-globe, but about a little boy who is obsessed with making a snowman. Except where he lives hardly ever gets snow. It's very cute.
We can SO relate! We have been experiencing bitter cold temps lately, but NO SNOW! That's just not right.

I found several craftivities that go along with it that have the students making their snow-globe out of paper plates. Again, super cute and right up my alley!

Although, one variation of it was to use a ziploc and actually add water and glitter and staple between the paper plates. I haven't gotten quite THAT brave yet.

Last year, I had the students just do the whole glue and glitter thing. This year, we used foam plates because I like the way their markers look pastel and winter-y.

In Grammar, we're on adjectives.

I don't know why, but every year, every class has a difficult time understanding adjectives. They always want to use or choose a verb instead.

We always talk about how verbs show action and they're what you can do and adjectives are describing words.
Adjectives tell you more about how something looks, feels, the size, shape, smell, etc. Maybe in their little 2nd grade brains, it's just having to change their thinking and trying to recognize each part of speech in one sentence.

But adjective activities can be fun. Here is one of the first ones we've done.
Of course, I sought out my fav blogger, Amy Lemons. I can't remember where I got the cut outs, but here's a link to her page for ideas.
http://stepintosecondgrade.blogspot.com/2011/10/adjective-activities.html

I know I went a little overboard with posting pictures of this one, but they really got into drawing themselves and I have to say, they did a great job. I can look at most of these without looking at the names and know which student it belongs to. They turned out so cute!