Math and Writing Fun with Doodle Buddy App

It’s our second week of second grade and we’ve been working hard at getting our center routine down while reviewing various concepts.  I wanted to pop in and share an engaging and practical app called Doodle Buddy that we’ve already used a few times in centers. 

Our first math unit deals with writing addition number sentences, so I had my kiddos use Doodle Buddy to create their own picture representations of joining two groups together.  The Doodle Buddy app has all sorts of fun stamps to choose from and the kids can doodle their addition sentence right underneath their picture.  Here are a couple examples.

We also used Doodle Buddy in conjunction with Katie King’s Convention Camp centers to review writing complete sentences.  (Side note: Even though we’re 1:1, I feel it’s still important for children to write with pencil/paper every day.)  

My students chose a stamp and then typed a sentence about it, making sure it had the components of a “Spectacular Sentence."

I love that this app has both a doodle and a text feature.  Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that it’s FREE!

My First Week of Second Grade

Whew!  I made it through my first week and I’m officially a primary teacher again.  I say this every time I change grade levels, but I really think second grade is my new favorite grade.:)  I have an amazing class of only 19 kiddos this year.  I’ve always had 27 or 28, so this is a real treat for me.. even though I know it most likely won’t last. 

This year, each of my second graders will have their very own iPad to use all day at school, and they will even have the option to take it home each night.  I thought this door display would be fitting to welcome people into our 1:1 iPad classroom.  I just love the adorable iPad graphics by my friend Kate and the cute letter clipart by the amazing Megan Favre. 

After going over our technology expectations, the first thing I had my kiddos do with their iPads was take a selfie and set it as their wallpaper.  This way, the students will be able to easily tell which iPad is theirs.

We started doing some math review centers, and I was even able to throw in some QR code activities since most of my students had experience using them.  Several of my students had Amanda from Learning to the Core last year as their teacher, so they were excited to hear that they’d be using QR codes a lot in second grade.  Here they are working on a true/false addition sort from my QRazy for QR Codes pack. 

Since I plan on using QR code scavenger hunts for most of the math skills I teach, I wanted to get my students used to the format early on.  Here’s one of my boys working hard on an addition/subtraction hunt. 

In reading, we’ve been working on building our stamina during Daily 5.  I was super excited to introduce my kiddos to our QR code listening center.  

I made the center into a bulletin board that I will change out every so often with new stories.  Students walk up to the board, scan a QR code, and listen to the story at their seat or on the carpet.  I also plan on having them fill out a response sheet each time they listen to a story.

You can check out this listening center pack in my TpT store.  It comes with 40 stories, a listening center sign, and four generic response sheets that work with any fictional story. 

All in all, it was very successful first week back at school.  The highlight of my week, however, was standing up as Matron of Honor in my BFF’s wedding.  Here I am with the teeny-tiny, gorgeous bride.  

Now I'm off to spend the rest of my Sunday relaxing and resting up for another busy week of second grade!  I hope everyone's having a smooth start to their school year.:)