Happy Holidays!

There is much to post about; penguin research, circuit building with dough (yes!  it's possible!), learning geometry, and new highlights from Genius Hour.  We will get back to regular blogging activity (with some new, very excited, very young bloggers here to help me pick up the slack!) in January.



Until then...



Happy Holidays from the teacher with the cutest students in the school/state/world:

Scribble Bots

We have been learning about electrons in second grade.  No kidding:  we've been attempting to wrap our minds around the concept of something so tiny being something so incredibly powerful.


What better way to become Masters of Electrons than by creating our very own circuits?

We constructed very cool Scribble Bots. Our Scribble Bots consisted of a few key components:  a double A battery, electrical wire, and a 1.5 volt motor.  We used empty salt cans as the "body" of our mighty bot.  We attached some markers onto the bottom of the bot in order to get some color involved.

It was an awesome lesson in teamwork.  Thomas Edison once said, "I have not failed.  I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."


Let's just say that we worked just like Thomas Edison himself on this project.  Lots of duct tape, struggle, laughter, planning, and ultimately success.

The mingling of science and art is not to be missed!

Learning with Primary Sources

A second grader's day is a busy one.  We have to master verb tenses.  We have to write clearly, yet creatively, when composing our spider reports.  We have to finish up our marble ramps before Mrs. Hall takes back the much-needed classroom space.  We must find time to talk to God and share our opinions about being the best disciples of Jesus that we can possibly be.


(We also have to cram in some of that much anticipated "recess" thing, too.)



In our constant attempts to work smarter and to achieve as much new learning in a day as possible, social studies can get pushed to the wayside.  This shouldn't be:  social studies is a key way for us to learn about the past while collaborating and solving problems that might face us in the future.


Today, we utilized a very impressive, very puzzling primary source.  Students were given 12 small pieces of a map.  Puzzle pieces, if you will.  Their task?  Piece everything back together, while analyzing all of the strange language and symbols prominently featured.

Soon enough, evidence of learning started to be happily chirped around the classroom.  "I can see continents!"  "There are tiny flags!"  "There's a map key!"  "The map is surrounded by a border of numbers!"  "What is that strange language?!"

The map in question was drawn by Martin Waldseemuller in 1507.  It is the first document known to name America.  It is, quite literally, priceless.

It was astounding to watch these learners transform into analysts and keen observers.  Soon enough, maps started getting pieced together.

We figured out that strange language (Latin).  We figured out who those two curious fellows featured at the top might be (they have navigational tools... maybe they created this map?)  We also worked to understand why some parts of the map were much more detailed than others.  (Why would Europe be so much more accurate than America or Asia?!)



My favorite part of the activity occurred when Johnny and Ana-Sofia wandered over to our collection of maps.  Without any prompting, they were excitedly piecing together the similarities and differences between old map and new.

I had never tried this activity with second graders before; shame on me.  Their determination, insights, and enthusiasm blew me away.  I can't wait to bring more primary sources into the hands of these investigators.

Second Grade STEM: DIY Marble Ramps

Our various and sundry building materials have been arriving in a steady flow.  It's so much fun to witness the looks of sheer glee when heavy brown boxes arrive in our classroom each afternoon.  We are stockpiling batteries, circuits, and magnets aplenty.  We will soon learn to program simple bots that consist of a motor, a battery, recyclable materials, and lots of ingenuity.


Today we learned what STEM stands for.  It was definitely a learning moment for me today, when I realized how often I throw around this beloved acronym, all without making sure that students know what it really is.  We slowed down a bit today to discuss how the components of science, technology, engineering, and math really work so well together.


Then it was time for physics.  We got deep - I mean, really deep - as we discussed the concepts of force, matter, and acceleration.  There was heated discussion about how many atoms are in our own bodies.  We even tried to ascertain how the earliest scientists discovered the existence of atoms.


Heavy, I'm telling you.  But I don't think I've ever been in such an excited classroom - it was so quiet and focused that I think I could hear neurons firing.

Then it was time to test these new concepts.  We split up into three groups.  We had the following materials available to us:

dowels

pegboard

cups

pipe insulation

pipe corners

any recyclable material that could be found in the classroom

Our mission, which we gladly chose to accept, was to construct a ramp capable of guiding a marble from top to bottom.

Force, mass, and acceleration.  All wrapped up in a tiny (and exciting) bundle.

Reading to Learn

It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that my second grade students enjoy constant challenge.


Challenge can certainly be tiring.  Challenge makes a student push in order to rise above perceived boundaries and limitations.  Accepting a challenge is definitely akin to choosing Robert Frost's preferred road.  The road not taken is a rather mysterious one.  In choosing to take it, we are welcoming a challenge.


I witness my students take that challenging route every single day.  It's so exciting to watch the problem solving and creative collaboration in a classroom full of thinkers who are reading to learn.


We begin our morning with binder work.  We greatly enjoy curating our work in this "grown up" format.

Sometimes, we become actors and actresses in impromptu Readers Theater performances (quickly assembled props included)

We practice auditory comprehension and inference skills when we are visited by Mystery Readers.

We collaborate with our reading teams.  Assignment deadlines can be rather brutal!  We work feverishly (and happily) in order to comprehend and problem solve.

We are huge fans of the fantastic resources in our school's library.  

During Genius Hour, we collaborate and utilize many different resources to better understand the problems we are trying to resolve.  

In short, it is a fine time to be a second grader.  It is even more exciting to witness firsthand the challenges that these students take on each new day.

Becoming Scientist-Surgeons: Owl Pellet Dissection

Science should be as relevant and hands-on as possible.


I think that most teachers and students would agree wholeheartedly with that statement.



So, what do you do when your science curriculum focuses on the study of nocturnal animals for a hearty and intensive 5 weeks?



You get adventurous, that's what.

Did you know that there are over 200 different types of owls in the world?  These owls inhabit every continent with the exception of Antarctica.  They make their homes in trees, burrows, even airport runways.  Owls have hairlike feathers around their faces that serve as "feelers", much like a cat's whiskers.  A snowy owl can hear a mouse under 18 inches of snow.  A barn owl can hear a mouse scurrying at 90 feet away.

Amazing owl facts aside, we wanted our hands-on science.  And we got it, in the form of tiny, icky (yet totally sterilized) owl pellets.

We learned that owls do not chew their food; they often swallow small prey whole.  Due to their peculiar eating habits, they must do something equally peculiar:  they must regurgitate bones.

An owl's gizzard acts as a mighty churning machine.  The gizzard works to form the pellet of indigestible materials.  In order to grab another meal, an owl must first cough up the old pellet.

We dissected barn owl pellets in brave teams.  We utilized tweezers and pipettes in order to glean what sort of bones were inside.  Our surgery styles were varied and impressive!  We organized the bones using provided charts as we tried to figure out what types of small mammals that our owls must have eaten.

Some fears had to be addressed and overcome.  Within minutes of beginning surgery, we had a bunch of fascinated scientists on our hands.  Icky stuff, yes.   But high quality, high interested learning, too!

  

Genius Hour

We launched our first ever Genius Hour with a pep talk from Kid President.  (check out the link!)


He implores us to be awesome.  He asks us to get up and do something.  He quotes that excellent and well-known verse from Robert Frost.  The path less taken might be a little scary, and full of bramble, but it is the Awesome Path.  We should take it.

You may or may not have heard of a little company called Google.  Google is a place where thinkers are allowed to Be Awesome.  Google allows its engineers a specific amount of time to work on "pet projects".  They use this time to work on whatever creative dream that they want.  Both Gmail and Google News are projects that came from this pet project time.

Daniel Pink gets it.  In his book, Drive, he writes all about motivation.  His research has shown that the human brain functions best when it is allowed personalized inquiry time.  In short, when you allow a person to choose what they would like to learn, the result is astounding.

Genius Hour will take place in our classroom every Friday afternoon.  Our projects are varied and incredibly ambitious.  Johnny will complete a podcast about Malala, the brave Pakistani educational advocate.  Josie and Mia are going to demonstrate how volcanoes erupt.  Diego and Andrew are exploring those creepy yet cool creatures of the deep.  Ana and Skyler are creating a television show to demonstrate helpful ways to make friends in school.

As always, these young minds astound me.  Whether they are excited to explore space or launch a social justice group, they are choosing the path less taken.  They are choosing to Be Awesome.

The level of excitement blended with ultimate focus was at all-time highs last Friday afternoon.

Is it any wonder that we can't wait for Genius Hour this week?