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:

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.  

Nonfiction Features (Comprehension Toolkit Lesson)

We have been learning about features of nonfiction text and their purposes. We began by reading a Time for Kids article and noticing and wondering about the different tools the author used to share information with us, the readers. We noticed photographs, captions, labels, maps, titles, headings, and maps and discussed how each of these features helped us understand the text.  

Then we wondered if other types of non-fiction (not just magazines) used special features.  Our fabulous librarian Ms. Brant helped us find informational books that would be perfect for us to use.  We went on a nonfiction feature hunt and above are the features we found in our books.  

Our teacher took pictures of what we found using her iPad and projected them. We discussed what we had found and looked at the purpose of each feature. We created a chart that showed examples we found and what we thought the purpose (job) of these features were.  

Later in the week, we each chose four features we wanted to become experts on.  We found examples of those in some of the nonfiction books and magazines we had in our classroom.  We then checked out our campus iPads and used Educreations to share our thinking.  As we worked, we collaborated with students in our class to share what we were learning.  Our learning partners helped us make sure our information looked right, sounded right, and made sense (see our post on cross checking.)  The ideas from this lesson came from the Comprehension Toolkit by Stephanie Harvey (Lessons 2 and 3.)

Below are links to our Educreations:

Emerson

Olivia

Chance

Jordan

Kendell

Nadia

Kathleen

Dylan

Mia

Andrew

Allan

Sydney

Payton

Alex

Caleb

Gianna

Morgan

Serena

Citizen Heroes

Our class has been studying the qualities of citizenship for the past several weeks.  We began our study will the question "How might we, as second graders, recognize and celebrate the citizen heroes who live among us?"  The students brainstormed in groups in realized this question caused additional questions for us.  We narrowed our questions down to three main questions and then decided to tweet our questions to our learning friends and parents on Twitter. 

We received numerous responses that guided our thinking.  

We also read information in our social studies textbooks and shared what we learned.  

 

Then Ms. Casida, our brilliant assistant principal, asked us a question that really made us think.

We thought about the people we have met at Polser and realized that there were many citizen heroes learning alongside us.  Below are our projects that we created to share our thinking.

Dylan

Mia

Gianna

Nadia

Sydney

Andrew

Kathleen

Olivia

Serena

Kendell

Payton

Caleb

Morgan

Emerson

Chance

Allan

Jordan

One amazing thing about our learning community is that each of us are teachers and learners.  Mrs. Haney showed a core group of students how to use the app and then each of them became "trainers" who helped train others.  Below are some pictures of the students collaborating to complete their projects.  Also, one of our students took advantage of our district BYOT policy and brought his iPad from home.  

Mrs. Haney's reflection after this project:

This project was a huge ah-ha for me.  When I first began planning this, what I envisioned was not at all what it turned out to be.  The kids and our learning partners on Twitter took in a different direction than what I initially thought.  I love that one of our parents also tweeted us to share her thinking. Opening our classroom up to learn with others is a professional goal of mine this year.  After collaborating with my colleagues during professional learning and with the support and encouragement of our campus administration, I felt empowered to take a risk and try new things.     

One thing I will keep in mind next time we do a project like this is the background noise when students are recording.  (I am sorry Superstars, I should have had you to into the hall to record.  Serena actually thought of that for next time--great idea!)  Gianna told me something that also made me think.  She said she has always enjoyed playing on the iPad but she really loves learning with it like we did this week.  Excellent point Gianna.  We will have to check out the iPads often this year!

We would love to hear your comments and suggestions to help us learn from this project.