Prepping for Second Quarter

Well it is mid-week of my Fall break and I am slowly getting prepped for 2nd quarter.  My lesson planner is ready with fresh pages and ideas.

I tend to base my planning on our Science and Social Studies Standards here in Hawaii.  Our state standards mandate us to teach specific skills during certain quarters.  I know some teachers switch it up to meet their needs.  My second grade team sticks to the quarter goals and we do pretty well with it.

In Science it is all about interdependence between plants and animals in different environments.  Social Studies is the study of Maps and Globes.

So with this I am going to spend October and November with the study of Nocturnal animals around the world.  This is such a fun subject that it is was easy to find resources and make it appealing to my students.  I have been toying with the idea of interactive Science notebooks, but I think I may begin next semester with them.  

I just made a science workbook for my students to use.  It has lots of items in it to help focus on each of these concepts. Everything in here is from my Creatures of The Night pack.

I also plan to use lots of non-fiction readers from Reading A-Z to match our theme.

I also have literacy centers and math center activities to help reinforce the concept. These are both in my Creatures of The Night Pack, but are also available separately if you don't want to purchase the whole pack.  Click {HERE} for the separate bundle.

Some books that I have purchased include the following and my library at school is full of great books for my kids to dive into.

Scholastic News is also another fantastic resource that I use and this month they have a Night Creature issue. Click on the picture to take you to the digital issue.

Social studies will be easy to tie in as we travel around the world in search of nocturnal animals and discuss the location of different habitats.  Our class is also involved in a postcard exchange which kicks off this month.  We will be writing postcards to 49 classrooms across the US and they will be writing back to us. We have a map that we use and color in each state as we receive the post cards.  My students last year loved this activity and were so excited to receive all of the post cards.  They learned so much about each state.

I know October is such a fun and exciting month for all classrooms.  How do you plan for the quarter?Do you have an overall theme, or do you plan week to week?  I know every teacher and school is different in what is required.  I would love to hear what themes or activities you have planned.