Thinking 'Bout Regurgitation

As our unit on owls continued, my little scientists were excited to learn about a feature of birds that are predators - creating a pellet! They used new vocabulary - like 'regurgitation' - as they learned that owls hunt, eat and then digest their prey in two stomachs - regurgitating the pellet containing that which can't be digested (bones and fur). After learning about the process, my students organized their thinking by making a Flow Map.

Then, my scientists worked with their partners and did a little TPR to reinforce an understanding of the process needed to make a pellet. Individually, they made some scientific predictions about what owls eat, and got to the business of discovery. 

My scientists were outfitted with goggles, lab coats, magnifying glasses, tweezers and were given a packet with several bone diagrams to choose from as they did the work. 

First, they unwrapped the pellet, and carefully dissected it.  Then, they sorted bones and then tallied up the different kinds of bones they identified. After they'd tallied the bones, they created a graph to illustrate their findings.

After, they reassembled the bones and then wrote about what they found and how that related to their prediction. Finally, they will prove their understanding by creating an iMovie to teach other students how to dissect owl pellets.

They just loved LOVED working with owl pellets! Better than recess, they said! That's the highest 2nd grade honor, by the way. I loved it too - what a great way to integrate science, math, writing...

Thinking 'Bout Owl Features

My scientists were eager to continue their owl study by learning all about the physical and survival traits of owls.  

They used that knowledge as they organized their thinking into a Brace Map about survival traits and a Circle Map about owl behavior.  

Using their Thinking Maps, and their PK, they took it "Off the Map" and wrote about the features that help owls survive.

Finally, the scientists each referenced owl photographs and then created their own illustrations of owls and then labeled them.

I'm so proud of their learning and the ways they are proving what they know!

Thinking 'Bout Food Webs

I don't know about y'all but with the range of levels I have in my 2nd grade classroom, I'm all about small group instruction across content!

We are all enjoying our small group science time so much! As we continued our study of owls, my little scientists focused on learning all about food webs and food chains. After some brilliant instruction, sparking prior knowledge and reading Who Eats What? the real fun began...

The scientists completed a fun food chain sort as a small group and then independently proved their learning with a food chain flow map. 

Finally, these little scientists compared and contrasted predators and prey using a Double Bubble Thinking Map.

Thinking 'Bout Owls

My little scientists gathered together to discuss what they know and want to learn as we delve into our unit on owls.

My students came up with some great questions about owls and they are super excited to learn all about them. We read a lower level text and a higher level National Geographic magazine to learn more about these amazing birds.

The scientists worked together to create a Flow Thinking Map about the life cycle of an owl and a Double Bubble to organize their thinking about describing an owl.

Earth!

I guess we'd better know all about Earth before we start colonizing Mars! So, this week we are delving deep into our beautiful and fragile planet. 

I love Thinking Maps (I'm a Trainer of Trainers, after all) and I love using them across content to spark my students thinking and to organize their thoughts. 

Today we made diagrams of the earth and made a Circle Map of important words to know - Language of the Discipline. They came out great!

STEM: Spaghetti & Marshmallow Towers

Tomorrow is the last day of school, but YES - we are learning until THE LAST MINUTE! Today my students worked in pairs to engineer a tower made out of only spaghetti and marshmallows. They did a superb job on this totally student directed project!

The sprouting continues!

We have about 5 seeds that are taking their sweet time, but all of these have sprouted! I can't wait to eat some organic cherry tomatoes this summer!

Sprouts!

We were very excited today to learn that 5 out of 21 of our seeds have already sprouted! We are quickly learning about the life cycle of cherry tomato plants and these seeds are cooperating because we only have 8 days left! We have a lot of learn in those 8 days!