Miss Beery's Car Factory

This week our second and third graders have been learning a bit more about economics in social studies. To understand a key concept in economics, "specialization", a little better we participated in an activity where my classroom was turned into "Miss Beery's Car Factory". I was the boss at this car factory (a very mean boss who didn't pay her workers...) and the students were organized into three groups to be my factory workers. Two of these factory worker groups "specialized" by having a job for each of the workers. For example, one worker cut out the car body, another colored the tires, another glued on the tires, etc. These "specialization" groups had a type of assembly line going on, while the other group of factory workers didn't have any "specialization". So, this group of workers had to do all of the jobs by themselves rather than work together and form the "interdependent relationship" we've been studying. Students were given these instructions and they were told they had 20 minutes to make as many cars as they could...BUT, the boss had to approve their cars in order to be counted. If the cars were not perfect, the boss would throw out their cars and they wouldn't be counted for their team (I'm a VERY mean boss...). The three groups were told that the group with the most cars made once the 20 minutes were up would be the winner!

After the 20 minutes ended, the results were on the board. It was obvious who the winners of this activity were. The groups that "specialized" had many more cars made than the group that didn't "specialize". We talked about how much easier it was for the groups who had their own specific jobs and formed the "interdependent relationship" to create the cars than the other group. Students loved participating and working in "Miss Beery's Car Factory" throughout this activity and they now have a better understanding of these important social studies concepts!

Special Friends Day

Today our second and third graders had a great morning with their special friends! We started our morning as normal and then went to chapel with our special friends. After chapel, our second and third graders had the opportunity to make a turkey craft with their special friends. For this turkey craft, second and third graders glued together a turkey made with colorful handprint feathers and then they tried to think of what turkeys would want people to eat instead of turkey on Thanksgiving and wrote this type of food on a sign that their turkey would hold: "Save a Turkey! Eat more ________". Second and third graders wrote many different types of food on their turkey signs like pancakes, candy, and bacon! While they were making their craft, they also had a snack of donut holes and juice. Second and third graders had a blast having their friends and family members come to visit their school and participate in making this craft. These cute little turkey crafts are now decorating the wall outside of our classroom; feel free to come and check them out!

Later in the afternoon, second and third graders had the opportunity to participate in a read-a-thon in our classroom. For this read-a-thon, second and third graders could bring a stuffed animal, blanket, or pillow, along with a flashlight. Students were then told to go somewhere on the floor in the classroom with their items and a good book. We stayed in these different sections of the classroom and read for a whole 30 minutes straight (I even participated)! We had fun turning off all of the lights in the classroom, turning on some flashlights and lamp lights, and reading our good books during this relaxing afternoon!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall Celebration

Yesterday our second and third graders had fun celebrating Reformation and Halloween. To celebrate, we wanted to join our chapel buddies, the sixth graders, for some fun STEM activities. Second and third graders paired up with their chapel buddy and worked with them as they figured out the best way to solve two different STEM activities. In the first activity, students went to Mrs. Smith's classroom where they were challenged with building the tallest tower out of toothpicks and candy corn. While half of the groups were in Mrs. Smith's classroom, the other half of the groups were in my classroom. In my classroom students were challenged with building a catapult using a spoon, rubber bands, and popsicle sticks. After building these catapults, students had fun testing them out in the gym to see which catapult could launch a piece of pumpkin candy the farthest. Halfway through our time, the groups switched classrooms so that all groups could participate in both STEM activities.

Second, third, and sixth graders had a great time celebrating together as they participated in these fun STEM activities!