Another busy week is in the books for 2-2! Read below for a few highlights of our learning!
As our Australia unit came to a close this week, the children were happy to learn about a huge variety of Australian animals from each other's presentations in the classroom. I recorded these videos and uploaded them to the children's individual online learning journals at Seesaw. If you haven't logged in yet, you can find directions of how to login in your spring conference folder.
The children were also eager to watch the commercials that each group created, persuading us to visit their territory. Those commercials can be viewed at the link below. It is hard to choose- the children made each territory look like the BEST one!
Below is a message from our staff regarding our upcoming STEAM night:
STEAM Night donations would be greatly appreciated! We are in need of paper towel rolls, toilet paper rolls and newspaper. If you are able to send in these items, please drop them off in the office for Laurie Wasik, Advanced Learning Facilitator. Thank you!
We learned that the children in Australia often wear uniforms to school- including a wide-brimmed hat to protect them from the sun while outdoors! Our class had a debate as to whether kids should wear uniforms to school or not. They had to make their decision- yes/no/maybe, and then move to the side of the classroom with children who shared this opinion. We listened to the powerful reasons from each side, and then the children were given the opportunity to change their minds. It was fascinating to watch the children convey their opinion and support it with very valid reasons!
During math this week, the children learned about standard units of measure. We attempted to measure our classroom using the unit of "second graders." First we estimated how many 2nd graders we thought would reach from one end of the classroom to the other. We found the median of our guesses before measuring. Then, we tried it! We realized that the children were all different heights! We tried again using the SAME person over and over again, which made a little bit more sense, but then we thought that people in another place might not know our classmates or how tall they are! This led into the discussion about standard units of measure. We identified units in both the US Customary System and the Metric system.
The children practiced estimating and measuring objects in inches, feet, yards, centimeters, decimeters, and meters.
In reading this week, one of the strategies we practiced was "List, Group, Label." The children worked to list important content vocabulary words as we further investigated Earth's Systems. Once they had a list bursting with new vocabulary words, they were challenged to group them according to similarities they could find. Finally, they had to come up with a name for each group. Our lessons this week challenged the children to read carefully, identify new vocabulary words, and then carefully consider their meaning to align these words with others. I witnessed terrific critical, creative, and collaborative thinking during these lessons!
Riley studied the sugar glider.
The children's Australian animal research projects blew us away this week! They were full of pictures, facts, and demonstrated all of the amazing learning that took place. It was clear that the children were supported and encouraged at home as well, which makes this learning that much more meaningful for the children! Thank you for your interest and assistance in our learning at school! We loved watching the children take a firm grip on their own learning and present their new information to their peers. It was another awesome experience as the children begin to build their public speaking/presentation skills!
Nicholas taught us about the bandicoot.
Max shared his learning about the platypus.
Sasha taught us about the kookaburra!
Chloe presented information about the tasmanian devil.
Isabella presented facts about the rainbow lorikeet.
These little helpers asked if they could come in during lunch recess one day this week to help organize our bookshelf. They noticed that the books had been landing in the wrong bins, making them harder to find. I am so proud of these caring kids who want our classroom to be the best it can be! What an awesome classroom community we have in 2-2. :)
Here are a few pictures of the children watching their Australia commercials in the LMC. You can see they are holding pencils and writing- taking a few notes about each territory! They used these notes to decide on which territory they would most like to visit. Mrs. O'Kelly did a phenomenal job leading the way on this research adventure! We enjoyed this learning experience so much- and their commercials turned out GREAT!
Components of a collaborative, flexible learning environment include access to movement and mobility in the classroom. These hokki stools do just that- they provide movement while the children are sitting still! We have been rotating them this week to give everyone a chance to try them out. The kids LOVE them! Thank you to Mrs. Sessler for providing this terrific resource in our classroom and giving the children an opportunity to further engage in their learning with access to flexible seating opportunities in our classroom!
We tapped into a HUGE resource in our building! Mrs. Bolithon, our ELL teacher, lived in Australia for EIGHT years, and she dropped in to share some of her experiences with us while she was there! As we learned and listened, the children were developing more and more questions that they would like to know. We hope that Mrs. Bolithon will find a few more minutes for us next week so we can further investigate!
A pleasant surprise! We received a postcard in the mail this week from Charlie's spring break adventures in the Florida Everglades. We loved hearing about everyone's adventures and were so happy to see everyone back to school this week!
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