Lego Science

We recently began a new unit in science where we have the opportunity to study changes on the Earth. We began by studying fast changes on Earth, such as volcanoes, earthquakes, and landslides. Now we are working on learning about slow changes on Earth. These slow changes include weathering, erosion, and deposition. These are three difficult concepts for students to understand, so to help them understand what each step is, we demonstrated these concepts by using Legos!

I had four different Lego "rocks" built up with the same amount of Legos on each "rock". Students were then separated into four different teams and were given the task of breaking apart these Lego rocks. Students began somewhat of a relay race in their teams as they broke apart the rocks one piece at a time. One team member would run to the Lego rock, break off a piece, run back to the team, and deposit it with the team members. This game continued until all of the Lego rock pieces were broken off and there was no longer a Lego rock on the other side of the room. Once teams had all of the rock pieces, they then formed a new Lego rock to finish the relay race. Of course, to make the relay race a little more interesting, I changed it up on them and sometimes said that they had to skip to the Legos, hop to the Legos, walk backwards, etc.

One day we did this relay race in the classroom and another day we did the relay race in the gym. After going through the relay race both days, we discussed each part that they students just demonstrated. As students broke off the Lego rock pieces they were demonstrating weathering, as students brought the rock back to their team they were demonstrating erosion, and as they were building up a new Lego rock they were demonstrating deposition. Students loved participating in this Lego Science and having fun learning about weathering, erosion, and deposition!

100th Day of School

To celebrate the 100th day of school last week, our second graders did a lot of fun activities that went along with the number 100 to celebrate this special day. First, our second graders had the opportunity to imagine what they will look like and what they will do when they are 100 years old. Students wrote down these ideas; such as they would have wrinkles, grey hair, and they would drink a lot of coffee when they are 100 years old. After writing, they paired their writing with a picture of themselves that we put through an aging app so that they really looked 100 years old. Second graders thought these pictures were hilarious! Student writing and student pictures are now hanging in our classroom window, feel free to come and check out their pictures and writing!

Later on in the day, second graders also made 100 day crowns! To make these 100 day crowns, students either drew 10 pictures, stamped 10 stamps, or stuck 10 stickers on 10 strips of paper coming out of the crown so that students could see that 10 tens equal 100. Students enjoyed wearing these 100 day crowns throughout the day. Lastly, we did an activity where students tried to do certain activities in 100 seconds. Students counted how many jumping jacks, sit ups, squats, etc. that they could do in 100 seconds just for fun. Below are a few pictures of students doing these activities in the classroom.

Our second graders definitely enjoyed celebrating the 100th day of school in our classroom!

SVSU Field Trip

This Monday, our second graders went to SVSU for a fun motor development day field trip. For this field trip our second graders had the opportunity to play games with the SVSU students, run around the track in the SVSU gym, and use the parachute. Below are some pictures of our second graders enjoying their time throughout this SVSU field trip.

National Read-Aloud Day

This week our second graders celebrated National Read-Aloud Day with their sixth grade chapel buddies. They did this by going down to the library, listening to their sixth grade chapel buddy read them a picture book, and then they listened to people read a story in different languages. They heard the story "Three Billy Goats Gruff" read to them in German, Spanish, and African Egyptian. Then they had the opportunity to listen to Mrs. Brandt read the story in English, while a few second graders and sixth graders acted the story out. The second graders loved going to the library and doing these read aloud activities with their chapel buddies. Below are a few pictures from this fun day: