From Start to Finish

Have you ever wondered how something is made?  

Where do we get the resources to make all the things we use every day?  

These were two questions that helped launch a unit of study as we traced the development of a product from a natural resource to a finished product. 

We began with an open sort of items and students were asked to sort them in any way that they thought would make sense.  We learned there was one secret way to sort the times.  

The different ways we sorted

Things we use and Trash

Things that are not flexible and Things that are flexible

Plants and Not Plant

Things you find inside and Things you find outside

One group guess the secret sort:

Things that are made by man and Things that are made by nature

Each group took a picture of their sort using our classroom iPad and then shared it with the class using AirServe to explain their thinking. 

Then we went on a walk around our school to find more examples of natural resources.  We took pictures of what we found using our classroom iPad.  We also read a passage from our social studies textbooks and viewed a video about natural resources to get more information.

Next, some students were given a clip art picture of a natural resource and a man made product and mixed around the room, using a Kagan cooperative learning strategy.  Students had to find their partner by matching the natural resource to the man-made product. As groups found each other, they were given a corresponding book from the start to finish series that explained how the product is made from the natural resource.  

After having time to explore each of the different books in the series, students broke themselves into groups and three and each group selected one of the books they would like to explore further.  

Groups read the book and discussed the process.  They then made a Flow Map (Thinking Maps) to trace the development of a product from a natural resource to a finished product. 

Because we wanted to share our learning with others, each group also created a short video to explain the process using Educreations.  We were inspired byt the book Tomorrow's Alphabet as we created our titles.  We added a QR code to our maps and sent an email out to our campus inviting students to view our work.  

 We also learned how to use the i-nigma app to scan other groups QR code to view their videos.

This unit addressed the following enduring understandings:

People depend on their physical environment, including natural resources, to satisfy their basic needs.

All goods begin with natural resources.

Below are the Educreations projects we made:

Exploring Sound

We explored sound through an open inquiry experience during a recent science investigation.  We borrowed some instruments from our amazing music teacher and the students spent some time examining them to learn how they produce sound.   

Then students explored a variety of materials we lovingly called "junk" and the our creative learners went to work designing instruments.  Below is a video that chronicles our learning.  

Mobile Version for viewing on Smartphone:

Here is a recording of the first live performance of the Superstar Junk Band. Enjoy!

listen to ‘Exploring Sound with @2ndGrSuperstars’ on Audioboo

The Boat Challenge

We received the following challenge:

Create a boat that can float while carrying 10 penny passengers using only the materials provided.  You have 30 minutes to explore and test the materials before you begin your design.  Good luck and happy learning!

To say the students were excited would have been a complete understatement.  Students selected partners and the learning began.  The challenge which took three science periods to complete was designed to enable students to explore the following Texas state standard 

2.5(D) Combine materials that when put together can do things that they cannot do by themselves.

Talk about engagement!

ENGAGEMENT (as defined by Phil Schlechty.)
• The student sees the activity as personally meaningful. 
• The student’s level of interest is sufficiently high that he persists in the face of difficulty. 
• The student finds the task sufficiently challenging that she believes she will accomplish something of worth by doing it. 
• The student’s emphasis is on optimum performance and on “getting it right.” 

Watch the following video which chronicles our learning.

What Happened to the Ice...Continued

We are continuing to investigate the question Olivia presented to us yesterday. We launched our inquiry with a science talk to share our thinking from yesterday.  

To help us with our discussion we used our accountable talk stems and structured our discussion using the Harkness Discussion framework.  Since this was our first Harkness discussion, Mrs. Haney tracked our data using her document camera so we could see how the discussion was moving.  We are learning to share talk time and ensure that everyone has the opportunity to share.  

During a discussion we came up with a vocabulary word to describe what we were observing happen to the ice--melting.  A turning point in the discussion came when several students used the accountable talk stem "This reminds me of..."  Jordan remembered a science lab he had done in Kindergarten and SrRyan shared previous learning about body heat.  This helped us design two investigations we could do in class.  

Half of us investigated what would happen if we put an icepack in a place where it would not be exposed to any sunlight.  They decided the best place would be a locker, and placed the icepack in the locker for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes, they took the icepack out the locker and discovered the ice had not melted much at all.  

The other half of us investigated what would happen if we held an icepack next to a human body.  Andrew decided to take one for our learning team and hold the icepack next to his leg.  He was wearing jeans and he thought he could do it.  (He later said it was an easy task.)  After 20 minutes, he took the icepack off of his leg and we were surprised to see how much it had melted.  (Mrs. Haney is kicking herself for forgetting to take pictures of the icepack.)

Andrew takes one for the team and holds an icepack on his leg.  

We kept checking in with him to see if he wanted one of us to 

take over.  He only let Mrs. Haney take over for a couple of minutes

while he stepped out of the room.  :)

After we were done we realized we had even more questions and planned some future investigations.  We will be synthesizing our learning with another science talk on Friday.  We will keep you posted!  In the meantime, we would love your comments, suggestions, or questions about our learning. Leave us a comment below.  

Analyzing our data from our Harkness Discussion.

Changing Matter

Last week in science, we began exploring how matter can be changed physically.  We started by taking a piece of paper and changing it.  Some of us folded our paper.  Some of us cut (or ripped) it.  We found that no matter which we did, it was still a solid.  While we were in the lab we used one of our favorite apps, PicCollage to record what our paper looked like before and after we changed it.  

The next day, when it was time to share our learning, students learned how to use the Reflector app to sync their iPad with our Macbook.  We were able to have several iPads up at one time and students could compare and contrast the way we changed our matter.  

We are learning a great deal about states of matter and having the iPads in our room adds to the excitement.