End of the Year Party

For the last quarter, our second and third graders have been working on earning an end of the year party for their class. Students earned this party through good behavior in filling up their "marble jar". Students would fill the jar by being good listeners, paying attention during lessons, and making sure they are on task at all times. It was especially tough to make sure we were doing these things through the distractions that come at the end of the year, but students pulled through and filled the marble jar to earn their classroom party.

The classroom party consisted of a movie, popcorn, juice, ice cream, and a little end-of-the-year present from me. This present included light up glasses and a large, fuzzy mustache. Students loved wearing this present and they especially loved posing together for an end-of-the-year classroom photo.

I will definitely be missing these goofballs over summer break! Have a great summer second and third graders, I will see you next school year!

SVSU Field Trip

During the last week of school, our second and third graders had the opportunity to go to SVSU and have some fun with SVSU students. We started out in the gym where students paired up with an SVSU student as they went through multiple activities. Students did everything from throwing balls to jumping and skipping from one side of the gym to another. Our second and third graders loved the opportunity to show off their skills in these different activities.

After finishing up with these activities, students had the opportunity to use the colorful parachute. Students loved using this parachute and being able to run underneath the parachute as well as sit in the parachute while it was inflated with air.

After eating lunch outside, students then moved from the gym to the swimming pool. Students played for hours in the SVSU pool. They loved jumping from the diving boards, playing with many different types of pool toys, and playing with their friends in the pool. Overall, this was a very successful field trip and students were exhausted afterward (which is always a good sign of an excellent field trip).

Saginaw Field Trip

This past Friday our second and third graders had the opportunity to tour around Saginaw and learn a little more about the city that they live in. My father, "Uncle Bob", was kind enough to be our bus driver as we toured around the city. The students began the field trip by going to the Castle Museum. At the museum, students learned a bit more about how Saginaw began as a lumber town and grew into the city that it is today. Students also had the opportunity to look at the miniature railroad "cities" that have been placed at the Castle Museum. Second and third graders loved looking at the miniature buildings along the railroad tracks and watching the train move through them. 

There was also a Lego exhibit at the Castle Museum where students had the opportunity to tour through Saginaw buildings built with Legos as well as other well known buildings built with Legos. After watching a video about how the Lego company got started, students toured these buildings and had a chance to build their own Lego creations.

After touring the museum and eating lunch there, our next stop was City Hall. Mayor Browning was gracious enough to greet us and explain what his job was as the mayor of Saginaw. Students loved shaking his hand and asking questions about what it's like to be the mayor of Saginaw. 

To finish off our tour, second and third graders stopped at multiple places to hear a little more history about the changes that have occurred in Saginaw. Students enjoyed these stops, especially because of the beautiful statues that have been placed all over the city of Saginaw for people to enjoy.

Second and third graders learned a lot about the history of Saginaw and how it became the city that it is today. Feel free to ask your child what they learned about our city!

Specialization

Second and third graders have been learning about specialization in social studies. To apply this concept in order to understand it a little better, we did an activity that would demonstrate specialization. In three groups, students represented three different car factories. Two car factories applied the concept of specialization by using an assembly line, while the other car factory was comprised of single workers. The assembly line factories had one student doing one specific job (such as cutting out the car body or gluing the wheels on) and passing it on to the next person in line to do their part and, in the end, finish making the car. The single worker factory had one worker making the entire car all by themselves, one person did all the cutting, gluing, and coloring themselves. To make it even more interesting, I was the manager of the factories (haha!). When cars were completed by the workers, the car was given to me to inspect. If the car was okay, it was taped on the board as a point for that factory. However, if the car was not up to my standards, it was thrown in the trash. All three car factories began at the same time with the hope that their factory would make the most cars in the 15 minutes they had to do their work. Ready, set, go!!

Students worked hard in their factories and, in the end, it was the two assembly line factories that were the winners. After this activity, we sat down and discussed the meaning of this activity. Students noticed that the assembly line factories worked much better and faster than the single worker factory. Students also pointed out that the assembly line workers got really good at the one job that they had to do. This meant that the car that was made through the assembly line was actually a better product because the workers in the assembly line "specialized" in their own job and did a better job than the single workers. We then discussed how Michigan specializes in certain things, such as cherries, while a place like Florida specializes in other things, such as oranges. These two places do the things that they do best and then they can buy and sell the things that they specialize in to other places. After this discussion, students were given a half sheet of paper to write down their thoughts after this activity.

While reading these sentences, I was extremely impressed with how well students understood this difficult concept. Good job, students!