Week 6 Second Grade
Snake (Fiction, Level 6, Stage 2) by Judy Ling
The Human Body (Non-fiction, Level 6, Stage 2) by Melvin Berger
Appalachian Mountains (Non-fiction, Level 6, Stage 2) by Jan Mader
World Almanac Library of the States: Georgia (Non-fiction) by Eric Siegfried Holtz
Snakes, mountains, human anatomy, and our home state – that’s what we studied this week, and with the AlphaSkills activities, it was super fun!
The activity I want to highlight this week is the science activity for The Human Body. The guidance for before reading the book provided the following instructions: Start a graphic organizer to find out the student’s prior knowledge about the human skeleton, muscles, heart, breathing, digesting of food, and the brain; guide him/her to include the purpose of each as he/she shares what they know about the human body; and ask questions about the body such as, How do you know that you have a skeleton? (feel the bones in your hands, fingers, elbow, etc.) How can we know how fast our heart is beating? (feel your pulse, then jump up and down and feel your pulse again) Was our heart beating faster or slower after you jumped? What happens when we breathe in deeply and then breathe out? (hold your hands up to your nose and mouth to feel the warm, moist air). My second grader loved this because he was able to experience the book before reading it. Then, when we read the book he had such a complete understanding of the content because he had already formed his own ideas about the concepts.
The guidance for after reading the book provided the following instructions: Finish the graphic organizer and guide the student in making a book titled My Body where he/she can complete the sentences, My skeleton ____. My muscles ____. My heart ____. When I breathe, I ____. When I eat, my food _____. My brain ____. Draw pictures for each sentence. This, of course, was Malachi’s favorite part of the week because he absolutely loves to illustrate anything, especially when it’s something he can’t see with his eyes and he’s able to use his imagination. He learned so much this week about his body that he didn’t know already, and he talked about it day after day, showing off his book to whoever would take the time to look at it. As usual, I love seeing him so excited about learning!
For more information about the AlphaSkills Read with Sarah curriculum and our family, see the AlphaSkills Blog Introduction.