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!

SVSU Field Trip

This past week our second and third graders had the opportunity to go to SVSU in order to participate in a motor development day led by SVSU students. Students enjoyed interacting with the college students, playing multiple games with them, and learning about how to make health-concious decisions throughout their lives. Below are just a few pictures of the fun that we had at SVSU during this field trip. Enjoy!

Scarcity Activity

Today our second and third graders expanded their knowledge of scarcity, a term we have been studying in Social Studies, by participating in a group activity. In this activity, second and third graders were placed in groups of 3. In these groups, the students needed to build their own houses out of the materials they were given. Each of the five groups were given different building materials.

By participating in this activity, students better understand what the term "scarcity" means and how the Native Americans dealt with scarcity. Students understood that they had to "adapt to their environment", just as the Native Americans did, and they had to use what was given to them in order to build their houses. However, students soon figured out that they could also do something else that the Native Americans did when they didn't have something they wanted: trade. Groups quickly understood this "trading" concept and they began to trade with each other to get things that they wanted for their houses.

Though the finished products aren't extremely stable, I am very proud of how the students worked together in order to finish their houses. After participating in this activity, students discussed the difficulties they had and how trading was extremely helpful in their building process. Through this activity, students have a better understanding of scarcity and how the Native Americans had to survive and adapt according to their environments.