Now I Know About....

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Home : 2005 : February : 7

Now I Know About....
By AmberM

I do not understand T.J.'s post. Huh?

One thing I used to do with my second graders was put them in groups of three or four and let them choose a topic they wanted to know more about. Usually the groups chose a sport or
an animal. Then the first day we went to the library and found books on our topics. The second day they each read and wrote down two new to them facts they learned from their books. The third day they organized what they wrote and rewrote the facts in a logical order to make a group book, now compiled of the eight or more interesting facts.
The fourth day they illustrated, made a cover

page with Title "Now I Know About (Topic)" their names as authors and illustrators and bound the book. Day five we listened to the great non-fiction "Now I Know Abouts" books.

I graded on a rubric their writing and group participation and effort.

Another fun activity I did over a weeks time was have the students make their own class newspaper. After looking through real newspapers, we chose who was going to do each section. We had the front page with the paper's name, date etc, formatted like a real paper. They worked in pairs. We had school news, classroom news, editorials for and against a topic, An interview, (one year they interveiwed the janitor, it was too cute!) A Sports section with the results and action of the high school's basketball team (we are a K-12 school) An advice section where one child wrote the senerio and the other child played like Ann Landers. Also a weather section with the days weather a prediction for the week and a weather map.
Then we all wrote a classified ad to sell something.
We all wrote a birth announcement(Which were also cute to see the names they chose and the weight they put down for the babies...like 40 pounds!)
We all wrote obituaries...They came up with fictional people and some very unusual ways of death too!
We compiled it all together, made multiple copies and put them on sale for a nickel to teachers, staff and the older students. All proceeds from the sale went towards a popcorn/coke party!

Again I graded on a rubric for Language arts and social studies.

I teach first now but just remembering all the fun I had with my second graders make me miss them!

Second Grade should be a fun year for reveiw and enhancement of what is done in first grade....Enjoy your class and your teaching!