Economics lessons

We did a mini-unit on economics. In second grade, our focus is on what a producer and what a consumer is and on understanding what a want is versus a need.

First, we used the darling lesson called Simple Simon Meets a Producer found at Econ Ed. This gives them a good introduction into what a producer is and what a consumer is. Then we talk about ways they are producers and consumers. Each child then wrote a paper listing one or more ways they are a producer and another paper telling what they consume.








After these activities, we begin to talk about wants versus needs. One of the activities I have them do is a sort. There are pictures and they have to sort them by want versus need. This leads to some great discussions. Is a plant a want or need and why? (Some plants provide food and oxygen, for example, but you could survive without house plants. We need shelter, but it does't have to be a huge mansion.) Ultimately, I let each child decide whether something is a want or need. I say that for me, books feel like a need, although I guess I could LIVE without them...but it would be hard, very hard! :) Already they can probably tell that is true for me. Similarly, they wouldn't want to live without their video games, but they could survive.

Golden bookshelf and books about reading

In my classroom, we have lots of books. We use them for Daily 5 and we use them for read alouds. The books are on shelves built into the wall. But on the counter, we have one small but very special shelf called our "Golden Bookshelf". (This idea came from Steven Layne's book Igniting a Passion for Reading: Successful Strategies for Building Lifetime Readers). Each week, I put some wonderful books on the golden bookshelf.

Our school uses Storytown for language arts. So I try to tie the books on the golden bookshelf to that week's main selection...either thematically or by doing an author study or topically.

Last week, our main selection was Arthur's Reading Race by Marc Brown. Arthur doesn't think D.W. can read and says if she can read ten words while they are taking a walk, he will buy her an ice cream cone. We talked about how reading helped her (kept her safe, helped her prove she can read, allowed her to help Arthur) and how reading can help us (be smart, learn new things, have fun, get good jobs, help others, keep us safe).

So for the golden bookshelf, our books were all about reading. Here are the titles that I chose to spotlight this time:

Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco is one of my all time favorite books. Polacco had a hard time learning to read, but a special fifth grade teacher helped her to learn. This is her story of learning to read.

How to Teach a Slug to Read by Susan Pearson gives the mama slug step-by-step directions on how to teach her little slug to read. Many of the steps are true for young children, but some are especially for slugs. Cute.

Miss Dorothy and her Bookmobile by Gloria Houston is a sweet, true story of a woman who wants to be a librarian in a beautiful, big library. But she and her husband move to a rural area where there isn't a library. So this innovative woman helps the town buy a bookmobile which she drives all over so that people can check out books. Gorgeous illustrations and sweet ending.

Edward and the Pirates by David McPhail...One night while Edward is reading, the pirates in his book come to life and think his book will tell them where their treasure is hidden. If you've ever felt a story come to life in your mind...or wished that it would REALLY come to life, this is the book for you!

No T. Rex in the Library by Toni Buzzeo is the story of what would happen if there were a dinosaur trampling all the books in the library. Fun vocabulary in this rhyming book.

Wild about Books by Judy Sierra The library bookmobile comes to the zoo and the animals fall in love with books. Great illustrations and fun story.

Hooray for Reading Day by Judy Sierra In this story, Jessica is nervous about reading aloud to her class. But her dad helps her to know that she can do it and after practicing with her dog, she does a great job. Great for kids that find reading difficult or find reading aloud in front of their peers to be scary.

How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills is the story of a cute dog that is taught how to read by a bird.

Grandparents Day

Today, here in the U.S., it is Grandparents Day. In honor of Grandparents Day and in appreciation for my grandparents and my children's grandparents, here are a few books about grandparents that I love. It is definitely not an all-inclusive list...just a few titles I have enjoyed.

I Love Saturdays y domingos by Alma Flor Ada. It's great for so many of my students from hispanic or mixed backgrounds to read/hear a book that they can relate to. It's great for my own children who have English speaking grandparents and Spanish speaking grandparents. I love that it shows that while some parts of the culture are different, there are many commonalities and that both sides of the family love the grandchild. I love how at the end both sets of grandparents collaborate to give the little girl a very special birthday gift. It could also be used as a teaching tool in a bilingual class... for example, in English we capitalize days of the week but in Spanish they do not.

Grandad's Prayers of the Earth by Douglas Wood and illustrated by P.J.Lynch.
I think this is a beautifully written story...both the text and illustrations. It is spiritual in nature, but not really religious. The little boy loves spending time talking long walks with his grandad. One day he asks his grandad about prayers, and his grandad teaches him what he believes about prayers. His grandad said that all of the Earth is praying...the trees as they reach heavenward, because prayer is a way to reach heavenward and the rocks pray because they are still and silent and all the other parts of the Earth. I particularly love some of his wisdom about people's prayers...He says, "We pray because we are here--not to change the world, but to change ourselves. Because it is when we change ourselves...that the world is changed."

Oma's Quilt by Paulette Bourgeois, illustrated by Stephanie Jorisch. This is a sweet story where Oma has to leave her home to move into a retirement home. (This story touched me as my grandparents were moved into a hospice care facility a few months ago.) Oma does not like it at first, but her daughter and granddaughter create a quilt for her, filled with memories of her past. As she shares her stories and finds a place for herself within the retirement home (helping with the cooking 1 day a week, for example), she is able to accept the changes that have occurred.

The Squeaky Door by Margaret Read McDonald, illustrated by Mary Newell DePalma is a retelling of a Puerto Rican song "La Cama". This is a cute cumulative story in which the squeaky door keeps scaring the young boy so grandma keeps adding more animals to his bed.

Grandpa's Teeth by Rod Clements is a funny story where Grandpa has dentures. But they have disappeared. And Grandpa suspects everyone... so everyone in town has to smile wide. Hilarious, great fun!

Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say has beautiful illustrations and is another beautiful story. It is based on Say's grandfather's life...leaving Japan to come here to the U.S., then returning to Japan to marry. His grandfather loved both countries and longed to be in both places.

The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco. (In fact, so many of Polacco's books deal with her relationship with her family...mom, dad, grandparents, that you could pick up most of them and they'd fit this theme. And in my opinion, they are all WONDERFUL!) This tells the story of her great-grandma who came from Russia with only a babushka and a dress. The dress was later turned into a quilt, along with pieces of other family member's clothes. The quilt was used for weddings and other celebrations for several generations.

Abuela by Arthur Dorros and illustrated by Elisa Kleven is another fun read. Rosalba goes for a ride on the bus with her grandma and imagines that they are flying through the air, seeing the sights of New York City. Has Spanish words peppered throughout. Fun!

Art Project-Paul Klee

This week we did another art project. This time the idea came from my friend and teammate, Brenda. It was inspired by the book Paul Klee by Sean Connolly (part of the series The Life and Work of...about many different artists.) At one point in his career, Klee used letters and numbers in his artwork and felt that through his art and music, he was in a sense creating a new language. So the students created artwork inspired by Klee. In one painting, it was like a mosaic with letters in each square, and a few of them spelled out words (such as mom) but most were just random strings of letters. So we duplicated this.

I gave each student inch square graph paper. They were to write a letter or number in each square in black pen. Then they could color the squares with crayons. They could spell out real words and many of them did...or just add random letters. Also, I pointed out how Klee often colored a square more than one color.

Here are our art pieces in the style of Klee:

Art Project-Piet Mondrian

This activity came from the book Discovering Great Artists by MaryAnn Kohl and Kim Solga. Mondrian grew up in Holland. He studied to be an artist. At first he painted landscapes and portraits. But after a visit to Paris in 1910, he began creating abstract art...geometric designs. He hoped his pictures would express thoughts and feelings.

I modified the directions from Discovering Great Artists just a bit. Here is how I did it.

I cut strips of black construction paper in advance.

Then I read aloud a little bit about Piet Mondrian to my class and showed some samples of his work on my smartboard. I then put a white piece of art paper on the white board and modeled the project. I glued strips of construction paper onto my paper to make a geometric design. Then I showed them how to color small sections to add visual interest. (We used markers, not paint.)

Then I had students return to their seats and create their own geometric designs after the style of Mondrian.

Here are some photos of their artwork. I think they turned out quite nicely.

Make Ten Go Fish

Here's another game to play with number cards or face cards with the J,Q, K and Joker removed.

Game can be played with 2-4 players.

Deal 5 cards to each person. Place the rest of the deck face down.

Each person sets down any pairs that add up to ten. (For example, 1 and 9, or 0 and 10). Then add enough cards to again have 5 cards in hand.

First person asks another player if they have a card (that will add up to 10 with one of the cards in their hand). If the other player has that card, then they hand it over and the first player places the pair down.

If the other player does not have the requested card, they say "go fish" and the first player draws a card. If it makes a match that equals ten, they place it down.

Then it becomes player 2's turn. They draw one card from the pile. Then they ask for a card from another player. Play continues until all cards are gone.

The person with the most matches/pairs is the winner.

Math Games: Addition and Subtraction War

I am hoping to update each week with an easy math game that can be played at home to practice and improve math skills. Most of the games can be played with number cards (cards labeled with 0-9 and a dot pattern) or with a deck of face cards with the King, Queen, Jack and Joker removed.

Addition War:
Divide the cards into 2 piles. Each person flips over the top two cards and adds them together. Then the person with the highest sum or total gets all 4 cards. For example, player 1 gets 5 + 7 = 12. Player 2 gets 3 + 6 = 9. So player 1 takes all 4 cards and sets them aside. If there is a tie, both players flip over their next two cards and the winner of that round takes all 8 cards.

Keep playing until cards in your pile are gone. Then count how many cards each person collected. The person with the most cards wins.

Subtraction War:
Divide the cards into 2 piles. Each person flips over the top two cards and subtracts the smaller number from the bigger number. Then the person with the highest answer gets all 4 cards. For example, player 1 gets 7 - 5 = 2. Player 2 gets 6-3 = 3. So player 2 takes all 4 cards and sets them aside. If there is a tie, both players flip over their next two cards and the winner of that round takes all 8 cards.
Keep playing until cards in your pile are gone. Then count how many cards each person collected. The person with the most cards wins.

Make Ten Concentration

Use number cards 0-10 (or face cards with J, Q, K and Joker removed). Place cards face down. Turn two cards over. If the numbers add to make ten, you keep the pair. If not, flip them face down again. The second person then goes, trying to make ten. Continue playing until all the pairs of ten have been matched up and all cards are gone. The winner is the player with the most cards.