2nd Grade: Habitat Projects

Over the past few weeks 2nd grade students have been learning about and researching habitats. We started our habitat unit by watching an Animal Atlas video showcasing all the different habitats and animal adaptations. After watching the video we spent some time talking about all the new vocabulary words we heard.

• Hibernation
• Migration
• Camouflage
• Adaptation
• Habitat
• Biome
• Tundra
• Grassland
• Rain Forest
• Forest
• Desert
• Ocean/Coral Reef 

We also practiced hibernating and creating camouflage right in our classroom, it was so much fun! I really enjoyed watching students take ownership of their newfound vocabulary. Did you know that camouflage isn't just "army colors"? Having students experiment with colors, patters, and textures to create their own camouflage was just one of the many things we've done during our unit!

As our unit comes to an end, students have been working in small groups to create animal habitat dioramas using the research they did on the internet and preselected books from our schools library. Here is a link to our Animal Habitat Padlet wall we used to store our websites and videos for easy access: Animal Habitat Padlet Wall

Check out student work in progress!

 I can't wait to see their finished products! 

Ask your 2nd grader which habitat they are working on!

-Mrs. Henderson : )

1st Grade: All About The Moon!

Over the past two weeks 1st graders have been studying the moon. We started our new unit by brainstorming everything we knew about the moon and then read the book The Moon Book By Gail Gibbons.

 

The Moon Book By: Gail Gibbons

 Here are some of our Brainstorms before 

and after we read The Moon Book

After all of my 1st grade classes completed their brainstorms and read The Moon Book, we took some of our favorite facts and added them to our class moon:

  

 

Once we had a better understanding of the moon and it's pattern/phases we created pictures of our favorite moon phase using Tux Paint!

As we continued our journey into the moon we created acrostic moon poems so we could use our new vocabulary as well as some of the new moon facts we learned.

Moon Unit Vocabulary:

• Moon
• Phases
• Craters
• Meteor
• Orbit
• Astronaut
• Full Moon
• Half Moon
• New Moon

 Check out some of our 1st grade poets: 

During our STEM lab time, 1st grade scientists took part in a "Making Moon Craters" lab! In class we learned that craters are formed when rocks or meteors hit the surface of the moon. To make this more concrete, students took part in a lab where they dropped "meteors" from different heights and rates of speed to test their predictions. 

"Making Moon Craters" Experiment

More pictures inside the experiment will be up soon! Unfortunately, due to student photo restrictions most of the pictures from this classes lab cannot be posted. 

Take a look at our lab sheet:

To add to the fun, at the end of our lab we created moon sand and students were able to take some home. Ask your 1st grader to show you their moon sand or what their favorite part of the lab was!

-Mrs Henderson : )