The children have been having a great time learning how to use the LEGO Story Starter sets in S.T.E.A.M. The children choose from a variety of LEGO pieces to develop settings, characters and plots for their stories. They develop their context through building before putting their thoughts and creations into words.
Michelle Mogel, Financial Literacy Manager at TowneBank, visited our class yesterday to share the bank's "Making Money Count" lesson. The lesson was designed to teach children how to responsibly save, spend and share money, and was written specifically for second graders. The children loved the highly interactive lesson which used the book The Berenstain Bears' Trouble with Money as a vehicle to convey the basic concepts of being a producer and a consumer, and of $aving, $pending, and $haring. The children acted out the relationship between a consumer and a producer in a grocery store setting, and learned that money is a tool, that it is a finite resource (which means that it has an end – it runs out). At the end of the lesson each child received his/her own savings book with a quarter inside to help them start saving $5.00 in quarters.
At the beginning of the school year, the children thought about their hopes for the coming year and their dreams for the future. On our first day back from Christmas break, the children were excited to see their friends, return to the familiar routines of our classroom, and ready to learn new things. This positive energy made for an enthusiastic "share" of New Year's resolutions during our first Morning Meeting of 2017. First, I explained the idea of making a New Year's resolution (a decision to do something or to behave in a certain way), "Every day's a new day, and you every day you have a chance to do things better and become your best self possible." Next, I started going over the positive things that the children have accomplished since the beginning of school. Finally, I asked the children to close their eyes and think of things they can do now that they couldn't do last year, and then said, "put on our 2017 glasses and look ahead into this new year, what are some of the great things you want to do this year? What do you want to improve? What will make you happier?" The children offered a wide variety of resolutions including getting better at math or writing, helping mom cook, making one-handed catches and 3 pointers, keeping my room neater – all excellent resolutions! Check out more pictures of the chidlren during our share by visiting our Photos :-) page. |
AuthorMrs. Tappen and her CategoriesArchives
April 2017
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