Our study of soils and rocks continues. The children wrote their friendly letters to request a soil sample from a friend or family member. Addressing envelopes with second graders is a test of patience, but my kiddos did pretty well. I shared with them that I had been dreading the task. They couldn't understand why I would be dreading helping students to write addresses on a tiny space with their large handwriting! Nevertheless, they were complete and mailed away. Next on the list is to make our Great American Soil Project booklets, so that we can record our observations between our local soil and the soil we receive.
While we wait for our soil samples to arrive, we've moved on to a study of rocks. What is it about rocks that kids love? In all honesty, I have a thing for rocks, too. I'm sure I inherited it from my father. Before he retired, he'd bring home interesting rocks to give to me. I suppose I come by it honestly. But, I digress...
We had some great rocks and minerals to examine, sort and classify! Next week, we'll learn a little about Mohs Scale of Hardness by doing a scratch test on some rocks and mineral samples. We'll round out the four-day week (Hooray for Good Friday!) with a study of fossils. I'm sure fossils will yield even more excitement than rocks!
Yes, that's right. Our Friday snack was dirt. It was dirt of the chocolate pudding, Cool Whip, crushed Oreo cookies, and gummy worm type. We topped off our week with a little soil celebration to connect the consistencies and properties of real soil to those of the pudding and crumbled Oreo treat. The children weathered (crushed) the Oreos to mimic the effects of weathering of rocks and other components found in soil. We connected the treat our compost bags by adding a gummy worm to the creation.We had some great moms to send in supplies and more who came to lend a helping hand. It was such a fun time that one sweet kiddo asked if he could lick the spoon. (I said no.)
Can you tell the treat from the real thing? :)
Here's a cute song that my students loved to sing along to while we were digging in the dirt:
One of our lessons focused on the reaction of water with different types of soil. So, we made mud balls. Talk about a fun mess! Here are some pictures of our mud balls before placing them into our Mud Ball Museum.
The kids had a blast making compost bags. I thought I'd amuse them with a little joke, so, in my most serious face, I said, "Boys and girls, I have a confession. (long pause) I have worms." Their response? Shrieks and cheers. Apparently, and thank goodness, my kiddos have no idea of the other meaning of having worms. So, the joke was on me.
After a good hand scrubbing to protect the critters, partners observed our new friends. I wanted the children to feel the setae on the bottom of them. They're tickly and fun, and also an important adaptation for these invertebrates. We wrapped it up with adding the earthworms, soil that the students brought from their backyards, a few bits of leftovers from lunch, and some objects like a paper clip, a stubby pencil, a penny and an eraser. We'll compare our 'with worms' bags to one that has no worms to see how earthworms turn soil, make tunnels, and nibble on decomposing organic matter.
I'm not sure I can explain just how much fun we had today. Scientists' Day was a hit with the children! Most of them came dressed in their lab coats (dad's shirt or mom's white sweater). A few had the stereotypical pockets filled with pens and pencils, and a few had safety glasses. Too cute! We started our day with brainstorming about what scientists' do in science notebooks. My favorite was, "Scientists find ways to help the earth because it is a mess." After taking time out for a tornado drill (yes, a tornado drill!), we got on track with STC kit activities with beam balances and Unifix cubes. Since we had already made mobiles in our study of simple machines, the kids were eager to point out the fulcrum, load and lever. I gave them open ended tasks, such as, "Show how you can make this balance." Some had the fulcrum sideways, standing on its end, and upside down. Still, they balanced! We wrapped up the activity with a response chart with the main points of the activity.
We HAD to take time out to finish The Anybodies, by N. E. Bode. It's a wonderful read aloud with many subtle references to other children's literature. My most avid readers picked up on the references right away. All of the children were riveted to this book, and begged for more each time I finished a chapter. I think we all fell in love with Fern, the Bone, and the Miser! Okay, the Miser, not so much. Nevertheless, it's a fantastical escape that my students loved!
Next up, was moon phases in Oreos. The children used craft sticks to shape the filling into the moon phases. They had their moon phases posters, that we made last week, as a reference tool. They named the phases, in order, before tucking the cookies into zippies to save for snack in the afternoon. What SWEET fun this was!
The afternoon held even more science fun. Literacy block focused on reading the biography of Alexander Calder and discussing his love for creating mobiles and other art pieces. In addition to connecting their experiences with creating mobiles to the the work of Alexander Calder, the children read other books about balancing and weighing.
Following literacy block, we jumped back into the hands-on activities. The children used equal arm balances to compare the mass of a spoon, ping pong ball, plastic cup, and other objects to a standard unit -- a Unifix cube. This activity had the kids collaborating, thinking and hypothesizing! We wrapped up our balance activities with a challenging activity that involved the children determining which of five film canisters had six marbles in it.
Our day ended with and exploration of magnets and show and tell of the simple machines items the children brought from home. We had Barbie convertibles, Hot Wheels, clip-on earrings, trucks, and much more!
I have been AWOL. It seems like things have been speeding along, and I've pretended that I didn't have anything to share. I do! Here goes... My Class --
I have a fabulous class. They're conscientious, focused and absolutely precious! I catch myself watching them in awe while they're coming into the room in the morning. I dubbed last year's class, "BCE", because they were the Best Class Ever, and I meant it. This year's class is another BCE, but in a completely different way. We are truly a little school family. I love that we can talk about scandalous topics (such as, why turd isn't a word we use at school or why it's not appropriate to say that someone has a jelly booty [not sure HOW that topic came up at lunch]), and we can be silly while singing and dancing to Rebecca Black's Fridayas our Friday morning ritual. I have such affection for these kiddos, and yet, I feel like I'm barely holding it together with my responsibilities most days. My guess is that you know exactly what that's like. The wonderful, heartwarming experiences clearly outweigh the frustrations that have very little (if anything) to do with the children. RTI -- Our district is gung-ho with response to intervention. I suppose most districts are these days. It's all about the data. Don't get me wrong, I love poring over data to look for trends, successes and red flags. I have a couple of students who need some shoring up in math and literacy, so I've been working with these students during the thirty-minute RTI period. It's such a challenge to juggle keeping everyone focused on their particular work, while helping my RTI friends polish skills. Yet, it's so important to provide these students with this focused instruction. I can see it making a difference. One resource that I have found to be really useful is Turbo Math: Sea Buddies. It starts a child on a kindergarten level (identifying groups of fish or other images, more more than the group shown, etc.) and moves a child up as progress is made. This is exactly what my two friends need! They need that mental practice to move toward subitizing sets larger than three or four. I can see their confidence growing, and that is exciting for all of us!
Speaking of iPads and apps... my friend, over at The Wanderlust Teacher, is teaching her second graders amazing skills with iMovie and book trailers. Her energy rejuvenates me! Her fearlessness in the classroom is so much fun to watch! I'm honored to call her my colleague and my friend. You'll be wowed by their trailers!
What's New in Our Room --
We've been studying the phases of the moon. Below is an example of the poster that the children made.They really have become quite fascinated with all things space! I took advantage of this enthusiasm by having them take notes and sketch the phases while they watched a video about the moon. I love that they view note taking so seriously! We'll wrap up our moon studies this week, but we can't do it without a special activity. I bought Oreo Cookies today. You guessed it! We're making edible moon phases later in the week.
Our next scientific encounter involves forces, simple machines and magnets. Later in the week, we'll be having Scientists' Day, during which the children will dazzle the class with a mini presentation about one of the topics we've studied this quarter. I can't wait to see their presentations.
Until we meet again... hopefully sooner, rather than later...
I expected my students to return from Thanksgiving, well, all hyped in anticipation of the holidays. Not true. They've been calm, focused and completely pleasant! It's another thing to be thankful for! Dodger, the Elf on the Shelf, popped in yesterday. The kiddos have been excited to guess where he'll be next. He surely can think of some creative places and poses! He is smart; he places himself high enough to ensure that his magic stays intact. Little hands can't reach the LCD projector!
We've been working on our study of states of matter. As you can see from the photo, it's messy, but so much fun! The children are doing a great job of working cooperatively.
In this experiment, students are exploring what happens when two solids are mixed. They had to figure out how to separate the gravel and kosher salt, once they were combined. There were some very crafty problem solvers. Tomorrow features mixing liquids with solids. Messy? Yes. Engaging? Absolutely!
