What a zoo!

We have started to dig in to our new project, creating a scale model of a zoo complete with animals and detailed enclosures.

Here are the websites we talked about for your research. Click on the hyperlink below the image for direct access to each site.

San Diego Zoo

National Geographic Kids ~ Animals

Animal Fact Guide

A-Z Animals 

Endangered Species Fact Sheets

Enchanted Learning

(You will not have access to everything on this site because it requires a subscription.)

Wonderstars!

We have been SO busy trying to get our Wonder blog and websites up and running that I haven't posted here in ages! I am really proud of what the kids created - the blog idea didn't work out the way we had hoped so we went with mini-websites instead. It's crazy to think that second graders can create their own websites... they are amazing! Be sure to check out our site: Wonderstars. You'll see that there is a blog with information about the projects and another page of the Wonders.

Everyday Mysteries

We are starting to dig into our Wonder projects! At my Library of Congress website training this week, one of the other participants came across this cool resource in the Kids & Families section.

 

Here's a bit about what you'll find there:

"Did you ever wonder why a camel has a hump? If you can really tell the weather by listening to the chirp of a cricket? Or why our joints make popping sounds? These questions deal with everyday phenomena that we often take for granted, but each can be explained scientifically.

Everyday Mysteries will help you get the answers to these and many other of life's most interesting questions through scientific inquiry. In addition, we will introduce you to the Library of Congress' rich collections in science and technology.

All of the questions presented on this Web site were asked by researchers and answered by librarians from the Library's Science Reference Services."

Rock Collection Project

Vacations are a wonderful time to spend with the family but sometimes all that family time leads to parents who never get a break. ;) If you are looking for something educational and fun to occupy your little one, why not consider starting a rock collection?

In class, we recently read If You Find a Rock written by Peggy Christian. We enjoyed thinking of rocks as skipping rocks, climbing rocks, wishing rocks and splashing rocks. It gave new life to something we encounter all the time and provided us with a fresh perspective. It also got us talking about rock collecting.

To get started, you may wish to visit Salt the Sandbox, a website created by a parent who has two very curious boys. The site details how his boys go about finding, collecting, naming and playing with their rocks. We visited the site together at school last week and the children were excited about the ideas presented. I offered extra credit to anyone who wanted to create a collection and share about it when we return to school in January.

In addition to the ideas on the website, children also have fun sorting rocks (and lots of other items, for that matter.) They can be sorted by color and size or grouped like they were in the book we read, but here are some photos from rock sorts my students have done in the past to give you some other ideas:

However you decide to approach the project, I hope that it will be fun for your child and maybe even fun for the whole family!

Please note: this is not a mandatory project, just a suggestion.

Raising funds for Haiti

A couple of weeks ago, Maya told me that she had heard about the earthquake in Haiti and wondered if we could do something to help, like we did with Feeding America. We decided to talk to the rest of the class about it and see who else wanted to help take the lead. A small group of them meet with me several times last week to come up with a plan. As a class, we did some research about the earthquake and about Haiti so that we could understand why they needed our help. The numbers we discovered were dramatic and the photos, very powerful.

• 3 million people are in need of emergency aid
• more than 217,000 people were killed in the quake
• at least 300,000 people were injured
• nearly 2 million people are living in makeshift tent cities
• at least 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings were destroyed

One of Maya's big concerns was that the money we donate should be given to a reputable aid organization. She chose the American Red Cross.

On Friday the leaders instructed groups of their own, making posters for all of our classrooms and collection envelopes while Maya and I wrote a script to use at the assembly on Monday. They learned that being in charge of other kids and giving directions can be difficult but, in the end, they got the job done.

I am so proud of the children for showing such empathy for these people they don't know. They had so many ideas about ways to help - from giving the children stuffed animals "to help them feel better" to collecting canned goods and water. Several of them spent their recess or free time talking about their ideas and making plans for the project.

Here are the basics about our project:

• We will share our project with the school on Monday, March 1st at the assembly.
• We are collecting coins and bills.
• Collection will run from March 1-12th.
• Collection envelopes will be given to each classroom and to the office.
• The leaders will collect envelopes every morning. (Money will be counted and we will keep track of money collected on a spread sheet during our math time.)
• The money will be donated to the American Red Cross. (We'll use the CoinStar machine at Wal-Mart to donate the coins and bills will be donated online via the Red Cross website.)
• We will provide daily Twitter updates about money collected.
• We will ask teachers to have their students/Families make cards or write letters to Haitians. These will be sent to Haiti via UNICEF.

We hope that you will support our project by donating. No donation is too small - every little bit helps!

Timeline Project

Hello Families!

I sent the following information home with the kids today. We wrote the information together so they were all there for the discussion. They should be able to answer any questions you have but don't hesitate to contact me if you need clarification.
:)Ms. G

Second Grade Timeline Project

Each timeline needs to have the following:

• 5-10 events (also include the year you were born and today on the ends) 
• a photo or drawing of each event and a sentence to explain the event 
• the year the event occurred (the exact date can be included) 
• your name, # and date 
• a title

Also expected:

• write large enough for easy reading
• a clean, neat project
• correct capitalization and punctuation
• neat handwriting
• correct spelling

Your child will be scored in two areas: meeting the requirements of the assignment and their workmanship. The timeline is due on Friday, January 29th. We will hang them in the classroom for a few weeks but all timelines and photos will be returned to you.