Can you clarify what you are looking for and what you mean by bell ringer? I'm not sure what you mean.
Something the kids can work on for the first 5-10 min of class. Since I home school, I have to adjust from being mom to being the teacher. My oldest daughter is in public schools and she said her teachers would put a question or a few on the board and that was what they worked on for the very 1st part of class. I hope this explains it better. I have googled bell ringers and nothing I have found is associated with school. :thanks:
I like those a lot. I'm going to continue to search though since I don't have to have them until August.
Well, honestly, for home schooling, I'm not sure they're quite as needed. Granted, I teach high school, but I use them as a chance to get the kids settled down so I can take attendance, check homework, and take care of any other administrative/paperwork issues. They're a nice warm up on occasion, but if I didn't have the "other stuff" to do, I'm not sure I would use them every day.
I am trying keep my children on a schedule that is somewhat alike. Little things like that, I believe will give them some things to talk about. I have my home school year coincided with the PS system here in our county. My rising 2nd grader has homework too, about 3 times a week. This August I will be teaching 2 and not 1 and I think I will need that time at least for a few months so my daughter and I can get used to one another's teaching & learning styles.
Not sure what the writing abilities would be for 2nd grade, but I love to do Quick Writes for bell ringers. The way it works: Pick a topic & write it on the board. Let's say "What makes you smile from ear to ear". Students have to write 10 sentences about this topic. They get from 10 to 15 minutes to write & then I pick a few to share with the class what they wrote. It's a lot of fun & I have learned so much about my kids through their writings. Perhaps you can do something like this but adjust it to your grade level.
I have my second graders do a math facts sheet and write their spelling words 2x each morning, except Friday-no spelling since they test that day...I alternate addition and subtraction until about October then intro multiplication and division after the spring semester starts but during my student teaching we rotated a math facts sheet, and writing like the previous thread described In my kinder student teaching, we had the kids do rainbow abcs- write each letter in the alphabet with a different color marker, look for sight words or specific letters/blends in the newspaper/magazines and highlight them, read library books and use wikki sticks to find sight words/letters, and math manipulative games
Thank you Thank you Thank you!!! I have been reading and fixing our calender or schedule for the day. This will help so very much!!!
4x4 sudoku (use colors instead of numbers. I taught my 5 and 6 year olds to do them over Easter) crossword? How about telling them to bulid a symmetrical shape using lego? In my old school every day started with individual reading (using the daily five, even the youngest kids could read after being taught how to read pictures). Number sequels -count 2s, 4s etc Riddles Name states and state capitals Color a map using 3 colors. The same color can't be side by side. abcteach has several cut and paste activities to print out. cut up a comic and tell them to glue back together in right order, color thier favorite picture etc. Good luck!
We have a daily math and daily language review paper (about 5-6 questions for each category). After students are done with that, they read silently until it's time for morning meeting.
I am so thankful!!! I don't fit the regular "home school mold" and with my oldest in public school, I want to home school my younger children in a similar way. Thank you for all the information and keep it coming.
