Hike and Scavenger Hunt Activity - Part 2

This is one of the activities that our team completed as a follow up to our hike.  This is an activity that one of our teachers found online, and we each tweaked it a bit to fit our class needs.  I made boot templates from a coloring sheet, so each of the students could choose a color and create their own boots.  The writing portion of the project was completed first, and I was so pleased with the work the students completed.  I encouraged complete sentences, descriptive language, and multiple items, and I received above and beyond that.  I was so proud of these kids as they did high quality work the last week of school, amidst the excitement and changes in their daily routine.

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Nature Hike Scavenger Hunt

After a couple of weeks of report cards, assessments, and packing up, I'm finally back to blogging!  I have so many new things to share, it may take a couple of weeks to get it all posted!
This is our last week of school, and each day has a theme.  Tomorrow is Camping Day.  We are going to make s'mores in the sun, read about camping in our state, and go on a nature hike.  To make the hike more engaging, I just created a scavenger hunt worksheet.  This year, our science units were Air and Weather, Plants and Animals, and Balance and Motion.  For the hunt, I asked questions that would encourage the kids to think about topics we studied.  After the nature hike, the students will use the items they found to create an acrostic poem, and a short essay about everything the saw, heard and felt.  It should be a good time, and a great way to help them stay on task when they are so excited for vacation to begin. 

Nature Hike Scavenger Hunt Download

Happy Hiking!

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Plants and Animals in the Springtime ...

I have been away from the blog for a bit, but I'm fired up and ready to get back to work!  So much has been going on in our classroom and at home, the blogging had to take the back seat for a short time. 

Our class has been studying Plants and Animals in science, and we follow the 2nd grade Foss Science curriculum.  The kids have been so excited about every aspect of the unit!  We have grown grass, alfalfa, wheat, oats, and plant cuttings, and just this past Thursday, we planted terrariums.  By the second day, we had sprouts!  It has been a good time for all of us, especially since we have worked hard to incorporate parts of the science unit into literacy and math as well.  As an extension activity the week we focused on the parts of a plant and their jobs, the kids made potted plants out of construction paper.  The front is a beautiful plant, while the back is a diagram.  At the end of the activity, the students were given labels.  They then had to label the various parts of the plant.  Since we hang all of our projects from the ceiling, this double sided project worked great.  Here is an example:

I used online coloring pages to create tracers.  The students came up with the idea to make it a "double flower" on top.  They each cut out 2 petal pieces, and then glued the stem between them.  When they attached the petals, they did not line them up perfectly, but "in the spaces", which made the flowers quite attractive. 



Here is a pic of the first plants the kids planted.  We "mow" the grass once a week, and take measurements.  We also make predictions for how much the plants will grow.  We have even gone outside of the curriculum and started experimenting with different locations and amounts of water to see what happens.  Their enthusiasm for this unit inspires me! 

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Update on the eagle cam!

UPDATE: Right after I posted our eagle project and information about the eagle cam, I found out that the Decorah eagles now have 2 eggs in their nest!  We hadn't been on in a few weeks, but I made sure to show the kids as soon as I heard.  Since we are now entering a new Foss science unit on Plants and Animals, I am going to continue to show the eagle cam from time to time enhance our unit.  The eggs are supposed to hatch in about 34 days, so I know the kids will be eagerly awaiting the big day!

You can find the cam at http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheaglesPin It