Miner, Miner, 49er!

We just learned about how the California Gold Rush of 1849 and building of the Transcontinental Railroad led to immigration and emigration. My greatgrandfathers actually came to America from Germany and Poland to work on the railroad! I had to throw in the fact that the San Francisco 49ers, who our NY Giants beat in the NFC Championship, were named because of this event!  We read a couple of books about the Gold Rush from Scholastic, checked out Way Back from PBS,  and went on a Gold Rush Virtual Field Trip.

 

Students were so interested that I put a few books on my birthday wishlist:

Dear America: Seeds of Hope, The Gold Rush Diary of Susanna Fairchild

Children of the Gold Rush

Dame Shirley and the Gold Rush

By the Great Horn Spoon (Newbery Medal winner)

The California Gold Rush: An Interactive History Adventure

The best part is you can choose which way the plot and endings go!

Check out this BrainPop video!

StarFall Gold Rush video

Trail of Tears and Oregon Trail

We have been learning about immigration and colonization in social studies. Our reading story from two weeks ago, Yonder Mountain: A Cherokee Legend really helped set the tone as we learned about how immigrant settlers from other countries decided to take Native American land in the west and midwest, eventually sending them on the Trail of Tears.

We then refocused on settlement and emigration to the West. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to introduce my students to Oregon Trail, a game I loved as a child. (I mean, really who didn't?) Play the original game for free here or buy from Scholastic for $12.00 here.

I found some great books on the topic and hope to receive them soon! I especially like Joshua's diaries because it makes it easier for boys to get excited about reading.

Dear America: Across the Wide and Lonesome Prarie, The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell

Westward to Home: Joshua's Oregon Trail Diary Book One

A Perfect Place: Joshua's Oregon Trail Diary Book Two

The Wild Year: Joshua's Oregon Trail Diary Book Three

To learn about traveling Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, click here.

Click here or here to read more about the Trail of Tears.

Click here to read more about the Oregon Trail.

  
Check out my next post on The California Gold Rush!

The Extra Good Sunday

This week's reading story was called An Extra Good Sunday. It's an excerpt from Ramona Quimby, Age 8.

My students have been working so hard, I wanted to show them the new movie Ramona and Beezus! It's based on all of the Ramona books, including Age 8 and Beezus and Ramona...and the girls just loooove Selena Gomez! Click the pictures to figure out where to buy them.

Here's the trailer to the movie:

and some behind the scenes bloopers:

How well do you know Ramona? Click on her to take a quiz!

Click the picture to visit the author's website!

Scholastic has a great Beverly Cleary pack if you're interested in doing an author study!

For more Journeys reading resources, click here.

Vocabulary Word Wall

I just came across these from when I used to teach second grade. I created cut outs and wrote our vocabulary words on shapes that would help students make connections to them when they look for them on the word wall. For example, the teddy bear words were from Corduroy. The pink "glass slippers" were from Cinderella. The yellow shoes are from The Elves and the Shoemaker, and so on... It's easier if you have a die cut machine! Maybe next year I'll have time to create some for our new reading series!

More Multiplication Memory Tricks

We're finishing up our second multiplication chapter before going on to division. Some of my students are still stuck on certain facts. We'll be working on fact families as we go forward, but here are some more finger tricks and videos!

A little song for second graders learning to multiply 1-5

Pairing pictures with multiplication facts

12 Times Table

Cha Cha Slide Multiplication with ActivExpressions!

Old-school School House Rock Multiplication

Nine Trick

There are just too many to post! I can guarantee you'll find one that work for your class, regardless of their musical preferences.