Wrapping Up Washington and Lincoln

This week we studied George Washington our 1st president, then we compared and contrasted the lives of these two significant Americans.  To display their thinking students created a chart and used the wonderful portraits they made in art class.

Since Abraham Lincoln and George Washington are two subjects that our students are highly knowledgable about now, I had them pick one to write an informative paragraph on.  This writing was an assessment, meaning the kiddos were instructed to do it all on their own with no help from me.  To make sure everyone would be successful and was clear on my expectations we acted out the paragraph first.

Then they got busy writing away.  I was completely impressed by the caliber of writing our second graders achieved.  They can create organized paragraphs that include a hook, topic sentence, details, supporting details, and a conclusion.  Their writing also shows they can use capitals, punctuation, and spelling appropriately.  So so SO very proud!  Way to go super second graders!  You are all star writers!

Abraham Lincoln

This week we honored an important American, Abraham Lincoln.  The children watched videos, read books, learned a song, performed a readers' theater, made hats, created a timeline, and listened to books all about Honest Abe.  Phew!  Now that I type that out I can see why I felt a bit hummingbird like this week!  I do love teaching about Abraham Lincoln as he ranks top on my hero list.  Our second graders are such incredible sponges, ask them to share some of their knowledge with you!

Honoring Two Significant Americans

This week we were all about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln! You can see from the title I am pulling in academic vocabulary whenever possible. While studying these two important presidents we completed a graphic organizer to keep track of their similarities and differences. Next the students created a Washington and Lincoln Venn diagram to present their findings. Later in the week the students worked collaboratively in writing groups. One student wrote about Washington, one student wrote about Lincoln, and one student wrote about what the two had in common. The following day the students helped each other edit and revise before writing final drafts. I would have to give this project two thumbs up! Tons of  meaningful learning!