I can't believe how quickly Christmas break has gone. I am gearing up to head back to school tomorrow and just realized I have some blogging to catch up on! This was the first Christmas for my husband and I together and we had a busy & fun time enjoying each other's family Christmas celebrations. I began taking online courses last summer to obtain my masters degree in Reading Specialist and it feels like I have spent every spare minute this break working on homework! Yikes! I just finished one of my large case study assignments and now have time to reflect and share about the few weeks before Christmas break. We had a wonderful time celebrating the Christmas season in second grade!
This was my first time incorporating a STEM project into the days before Christmas break. I was a little nervous about the project, but it turned out to be a great learning opportunity for my kiddos! I purchased STEM Challenges for the Entire Year from Brooke Brown's Teach Outside the Box on Teachers Pay Teachers. Here's a link to her store and blog: http://teachoutsidethebox.com/. The challenge was making Santa's parachute! I shared with students that Santa's sleigh had broken and they needed to make a parachute to help him land safely. We spent a few days studying parachutes and drawing/writing plans in partners. Then I let them create! Here's a few pics:
We timed how long it took our parachutes to fall from the top of the doorway to the ground and I then gave partners time to re-work and alter their initial design. At the end of the parachute project each partner group shared with the class what they learned about gravity and drag in order to make a successful parachute.
We found this note on our door the next day:
We celebrated Grinch day with green outfits, Who hairdos and lots of grinchy fun! First Grade Wow has a FREE grinch unit that is so much fun! Grab it here: http://firstgradewow.blogspot.com/ This is always one of my favorite days of the year!
As promised, Santa's elves brought us SNOW DOUGH to play with! Santa's delivery boxes have been updated with some free clip art and mailing labels and pretty red chevron duct tape.
Finally it was time to party! We had some amazing parents who brought the cutest reindeer snack and elf juice! I helped the kiddos make snowman shooters with cotton balls and we had lots of fun & laughter!
