November to Remember

Now that the school year has gotten well underway, students and teachers are buckling down preparing for unique ways to meet learning targets and benchmarks, as well as getting ready for two of the biggest celebrations of the year--Thanksgiving and Winter break, of course! Along with autumn winds come festive seasonal lessons and projects. 2nd grade students designed and created a very unique scarecrow and story to match. Students were to create a scarecrow from a given or self-made template and write a story with a problem and a solution. I was so impressed with all of the unique plots and story lines! Check them out:

Of course, you can't have a scarecrow without a few crows flying around. Using the Kennedy Center's ArtsEdge teacher resources, I found an arts integrated lesson that incorporated drama, visual art, math, science, and reading. First, my students read Aesop's fable, "The Crow and the Pitcher" from the Pearson Reading Street class anthology. We then watched a YouTube version of the same story. Students used a graphic organizer to compare and contrast the two versions. Throughout the week, students designed and created crow sock puppets following the instructions in the lesson plan found here.

On Friday the lesson came together in an engaging multi-disciplinary center time.  
Center 1: Readers' Theater (Drama/Comprehension/Retell)-Students used their own puppets to act out and retell the story.

Center 2: Partner Reading (Foundations/Details/Story Structure)-Students read the story and discussed important details. Students also analyzed the overall story structure using a graphic organizer.

Center 3: Estimation (Math/Science)-Students worked together to predict and estimate how many pebbles would be needed to allow the water to rise to the designated line. Students then tested their hypotheses and recorded the data from their results.

My students were entirely engaged and thoroughly enjoyed each aspect of this week long lesson! They couldn't wait to take their crows home and share what they had learned.

Coming Soon: Eric Carle Author/Illustrator Study Inspired Social Studies Lessons