Snow Globe Writing Activity

For a fun writing activity this week, our second graders imagined what it would be like to live inside of a snow globe. Students envisioned what they would feel in a snow globe, what they would see in a snow globe, and what types of things they would do if they lived in a snow globe.

To begin this activity, we brainstormed as a class what it would be like to live inside of a snow globe. Students had many excellent ideas on what it would feel like, what they would see, and what they would like to do inside of a snow globe. Students stated they would feel the cold snow on their faces or they would feel another child shaking the snow globe; they would see gingerbread houses or many different types of snowmen; they would build snowmen or gather around a nice warm fire. Students then wrote down their ideas for each of the topics on a foldable which they would later glue onto their snow globe.

After writing down their thoughts, students then drew what they had imagined their snow globe would be like onto their paper snow globe The students took their time in adding many colors and, of course, glitter to their snow globe to really make it sparkle! After putting all of these things together, they had a beautiful snow globe which describes, in detail, what the inside of their snow globe would be like. These snow globes are now displayed on a bulletin board in our classroom. Feel free to come on out and see our beautiful snow globes!

Thanksgiving Dinner Math Activity

Before Thanksgiving break our second graders participated in a fun Thanksgiving math activity! Through this activity, students chose what they would buy to cook for Thanksgiving dinner. Students had multiple dinner choices such as rolls, apple pie, turkey, ham, cake, yams, pumpkin pie, etc. In the classroom we had set up a store so that students could actually shop for their dinner choices. Having only $25 to spend, students had to choose carefully in deciding which six, or more, items they would like for their Thanksgiving dinner. 

Students walked around the classroom picking up their dinner choices, then added up their bill total in order to decide if they could purchase the things they wanted or not. After adding up their bill, they also had to figure out how much money they would have left over after purchasing the food with their $25. After buying their dinner options from the cashier (me) they went back to their seats and glued their dinner decisions to their shopping bags while answering questions about their purchases on another piece of paper. 

This Thanksgiving activity was an engaging way to get students excited about their upcoming Thanksgiving meals, while allowing them to exercise their math fluency at the same time. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Story of Samuel and Eli

This past week our second graders have been reading the story of Samuel and Eli in their Bible story books. To make sure that the students fully understood the story, we decided to act it out! Below are two videos of our students reenacting this Bible story. Enjoy!

Opportunity Cost Activity

This week in Social Studies our second and third graders have been learning about how the fur traders first came to Michigan in order to trade with the tribes here. These French traders brought over products from France that they wanted to trade with the tribes so that they could receive something in return that was scarce in France: fur. Throughout this Social Studies lesson our second and third graders have been learning that when you buy something, there is always an "opportunity cost", which is the item that you chose not to buy because you purchased your first choice. This is just as when the tribes purchased something from the fur traders, they always had to give up buying something else in order to purchase their first choice.

In order to make this lesson more understandable, we created a classroom store so students could experience, firsthand, the concept of "opportunity cost". Students were given a certain amount of (fake) money and then given a piece of paper to write down their top four choices at the store. Students then decided on what they would like to buy the most, and they were given the opportunity to actually purchase this item with their money.

After choosing what they would like to buy, students sat down and thought about what their "opportunity cost" was throughout their shopping process. Through this activity, I could see that students better understood the concept of "opportunity cost" and enjoyed learning about it! Ask your child at home to give you an example of "opportunity cost" to test their understanding!

Reformation/Fall Party

I just wanted to say a big thank you to all of those parents who sent in treats for our second and third graders. They greatly enjoyed all of the sweets! Here is a picture of the huge stockpile before we dug in for the party. :)

The exciting part of our Reformation party was when students had the opportunity to nail their own faith statements on a door just as Martin Luther did. The door can be seen below where all of the first, second, and third graders faith statements can be seen. Good job students!

SVSU Grant Worm Bins

Thanks to an SVSU science grant, our classroom has been gifted with some fascinating worm bins! With these worm bins, our second and third graders will learn many things about worms such as what they eat and where they like to live. This week, our students observed plates of "worm soil", which actually included red and white worms along with other types of creatures such as spiders and snails.

Before beginning to look through the soil, we discussed the different parts of a worm such as the anterior and posterior so students could look for these things as they found worms in the soil. Students also made a guess of how many worms, spiders, snails, etc. they would find in the soil. Students enjoyed looking through the soil and discovering the many different creatures! It was very interesting to see whether or not students had guessed the correct number of worms, snails, etc. in their "worm soil". 

To end the activity, students drew a worm and labeled the different parts of this worm to reinforce what they had already learned about them. Also, they listed three observations they made while digging through the soil and discovering the many creatures in it. After finishing this activity, students placed their "worm soil" in our worm bins where the worms will live for the rest of the school year. Students will feed the worms with scraps of their lunches and the worms will in return give us "worm tea", which can have an incredible influence on plants as they grow. Feel free to come to our classroom and discover how these bins work!

Egg Observations

Recently, we have started a new chapter in science which will introduce us to the life cycles of animals and how they grow and change throughout their lives. At the beginning of the chapter, we learned about how animals are born and how sometimes animals begin their life cycle by hatching from an egg. In order to better understand eggs and the different parts of an egg, our second and third graders observed hard boiled eggs in pairs. 

While observing these eggs, students answered questions about them, labeled different parts inside of an egg, and made inferences about what different types of eggs would look like inside and outside. Through this activity, students were able to study the different parts of an egg up close and they also had the opportunity to think about how a hard boiled egg is similar and different from a raw egg. Feel free to ask your child what they have learned about eggs. I'm sure they will be able to tell you many fun facts!