After several weeks of research, writing, collaborating, and creating, students were eager to show their work. The week leading up to Exhibition was filled with excitement. Students reflected on their accomplishments, wrote scripts for presenting, and decorated their animal habitat. We shared our fears, too. Lots of us admitted to feeling a little shy or nervous, weary of getting tough questions... So we practiced lots and reminded ourselves that we have learned SO MUCH in these few months. Their hard work paid off! On Tuesday night, I had the honor of watching 60 proud, knowledgeable 2nd graders share their beautiful work with you, an audience of about 200. They should feel so proud of their research, their writing, their scientific sketch, and collaboration. Perhaps most importantly, they should feel proud of their bravery and ability to communicate their knowledge to an audience. I have witnessed so much growth, both socially and academically, throughout this project (I hope you can see the same). I look forward to learning beside them the rest of the year. Thank you for sharing them with me! Sadly, I didn't take a single picture during Exhibition - I was too busy listening to students present! If you have pictures that you would be willing to share, please email them to me and I'll add them to the slideshow above. Additionally, students collaborated in making a project scrapbook during a reflection activity (see below). We will be sharing this scrapbook between the three 2nd grade classrooms. Feel free to check it out whenever you're around!
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Over the past 9 weeks, students have been immersed in animal research. It started with fieldwork to the Safari Park and Birch Aquarium. Students took notes on the observations they made, focusing on animal behaviors within their community. With their observations, students wrote informative paragraphs to teach others about how animals help each other within their communities. Finally, students choose one animal to focus their research on. After studying pictures of the animal, they made FOUR DRAFTS of a scientific sketch before adding color (their process is made visible on the wall in our classroom). Last week, students met in small groups to discuss they learned about their research animal. We have groups of wolves, lions, giraffes, bees, ants, dolphins, meerkats, elephants, fish, and penguins. Ask your child about what animal they've been studying! Next, students were challenged to make a connection between their animal community and our own community. For example, "Each ant has a special job that helps their colony survive." The connection to our school community that the ant group made was "We all work together to make our school a happy and successful place." We'll be creating posters to display in our school with these school community norms.
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This is your place to find important information and my place to show off the wonderful things our students are learning and doing. Archives
June 2016
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