Creating Towers

One of the second grade Science goals is to

combine materials that when put together can do things that they cannot do by themselves such as building a tower or a bridge and justify the selection of those materials based on their physical properties

And boy, do I love teaching this one, especially at the beginning of the year!  We work in teams, so we're learning how to compromise, and be good teammates, in addition to making Science discoveries.  It's always incredibly rewarding for the children to see the results of their work!

Last year, I asked student teams to build bridges and brought materials that would lend themselves well to the task.  The bridges came out great, and the children made wonderful discoveries.  However, I realized that we didn't learn as much about material selection as I had hoped.  

This year, I invited the children to choose what they would like to build and brought materials that I thought were appropriate, as well as those that were not.  This way, the children could make appropriate discoveries about the quality of their materials.  I also included an interactive notebook component, so that I could see each individual's thinking about the materials.  These changes made such an improvement in our learning!

 We discovered that materials are stronger if they have something to hold them together, rather than just stacking them.

We were disappointed to learn that balloons do not make particularly sturdy towers, regardless of how you use them.  This also gave us the opportunity to review properties of matter. :)

 We all agreed that the balloons were the most fun to include and made great decorations.

Toothpicks were shockingly sturdier than expected, but not when they were the only support system for a tower.

We also learned about the importance of distributing weight.  I have a feeling this will come in handy when we try to build these towers again, and improve upon them!

 

 

 

Finally, we completed our interactive notebook page.  I'm all for conserving paper, so we simply did this in our notebooks.  This was the right side.  On the left side, we wrote what we learned from testing the towers and what we would do differently when building our new towers.  Then, we created an illustrated plan of the new towers, including justification for our new materials.

 

I can't wait to see the next set of towers.  They will definitely help me understand whether we've grasped the material selection as I hoped we would!

Two Great Questions

At a recent professional development session, our assistant principal asked two wonderful questions:

If your students didn't have to be there, would you be teaching to an empty classroom?

Do you have a lesson you could sell tickets for?

I always consider what would be fun for students and what would be the most memorable way to teach a topic, but the way these questions were phrased really made me stop and think.

How often do I consider student passions above student test scores?  Am I encouraging students to look for things they love and excel at in each lesson?  Are the students having a fun-filled, memorable second grade year?

As a Title 1 teacher, it can be easy to be swept away by goal setting, data, and test scores.  These are all important things, and honestly, students feel AMAZING when they reach their goals. It is important, though, that I consider who they are as people, too.  What are their goals outside the classroom? What are their hopes and dreams?

Here are a few ways I have helped myself refocus.

Responsive Classroom

Responsive Classroom is incredible, and their Morning Meeting structure is fantastic.  It helps develop more than effective classroom management; it helps develop a true community.  We start each day with a greeting, which gives us a positive way to start our day together.  Part of the meeting is a share time.  By sharing topics of their choice, students are able to give us a peek into who they are outside the school day.  (Bonus: It helps them develop writing ideas!)

Create

Any time we can do something creative with our learning, we do it!  There are so many ways to integrate student creativity into lessons.  Creative integration can be as simple as inviting students to choose the colors for the anchor charts or help develop the word problems.  I've noticed that truly inviting students to create as part of a lesson is a great way to ensure their engagement.  

We've crafted our favorite Truffula Tress to learn about graphing and extend literacy learning.

 

We've created wrist bands as part of a digital scavenger hunt for our aquarium field trip.

Recently, we borrowed the Flip Flop Facts Craftivity from Mrs. Lemmons and modified it to include some team building and creativity.  Students traced their feed and wrote their flip flop facts on each foot.  They were so excited to create their own flip flip feet, and now they really remember those facts!

Pinterest is filled with ideas for adding creativity into the classroom, and I've noticed that many of the printable or crafty items make great inspiration for my own lessons.  It's always important to consider the depth of learning and fit for my own students, so typically, I do not simply print or use "craftivities" directly from Pinterest, but I certainly let them inspire me!

Let them Lead

 I invite student leadership as often as possible.  Students run book talks, morning meeting, problem solving discussions, and more.  This way, they are in charge of our classroom activities, and they have so much fun running our daily routines.

 I always provide a framework for student-led discussions, so English Language Learners are supported as they lead and participate.

Move

Since I am also a music and movement teacher, this one comes very naturally to me.  We move as much as we possibly can.  We've done some Brain Gym, Total Physical Response, incorporated sensory input, and simply danced it out as often as possible. 

I also create songs, chants, and dances that relate to our content areas.  It makes me laugh when students come back to visit and ask if we have done a particular song or chant yet.  These seem to be memorable!

Find Balance

Above all, I've noticed that if my personal life and work life balance are out of whack, my teaching suffers.  I am the type of person who could easily spend every waking moment in my classroom or working on school-related tasks.  However, this results in a huge drain on my creativity!  So often, great lesson ideas come from real life experiences, and our personal experiences help us better relate to our students.  So, I work hard to keep my weekends for family, friends, and personal life.  This way, when I'm modeling writing, I really do have something to write about! :)

Classroom DIY - Fence into Wall Display

When we moved into our house, the fence was falling down.  We knew it would have to be replaced and were excited to have so much wood to use for crafting!  As I sat looking at the finished product, I realized that this would also be a great classroom project.  

We are using it to hang pictures of our wonderful family and friends.  In the classroom, it would be awesome for pictures of class events to inspire student writing or as a wall of fame to celebrate student successes.

This would definitely not fit in my current classroom, as I have been blessed with walls full of cabinet space.  However, I am thinking of a few giant classrooms I've had the pleasure of working in.  There was always extra space available in my double-sized classrooms.  This would have been a great addition to our decor!

It was remarkably easy and almost free, since we happened to have almost everything on hand.  We started by picking the best fence pieces.

Then we tested all the sandpaper we could find.  We liked the look of the 100 grit (top) and were shocked at how different it looked.  About a million other ideas came to us when we saw that!

Then we sanded it, so it wouldn't hurt anyone or mess up the look of the paint.  This awesome guy is the brains behind hanging the fence on the wall.  I married a genius, I tell you!

I, of course, had a blast.  DIY project?  Home improvement project, and I can't mess it up?  YES!

I painted it with colors we had from painting various parts of the house or samples we looked at when we were trying to pick colors.  Then we hung it up.  Please forgive the horrible glare!

We used Gorilla glue to attach 3/4 inch clothespins to the center and outer edges of the fence posts.  We attached the twine to each one, then hung pictures with the rest of the clothespins.

We are really enjoying this in our living room.  If you have a giant classroom to decorate, this would be a great way to do it!

Happy DIYing!