Second Grade- AFS Study "Our school is our own muesum"

The overarching theme in second grade this year is “story” and how we learn from each other’s stories. In connection with this, our students said they were interested in learning more about the story of AFS. The students started by generating a list of questions that they were interested in learning about our school’s story and came up with a list of people who they felt could possibly answer the questions or lead them in the right direction.

First stop on the list was Dave Wermling, the caretaker of the Meeting. From Dave the second graders learned about the first school buildings and interesting landmarks on our campus. Did you know that Benjamin Lay and his wife were buried in the graveyard?

The next stop was a meeting with Rich Nourie, the Head of School and Frank Benner, the Head of Facilities. During the meeting the second graders were able to ask their questions in hopes of finding answers. Some of the questions included: “What year was the Faulkner Library built?” “Was AFS ever a boarding school?” “Did anyone who plays professional sports ever go to AFS?” 

Luckily, some of our questions were answered but others we had yet to learn about as we continued onto our next stop, which was meeting with Toni Vahlsing, Director of Libraries. Toni shared with us many items from the Archive Room — an array of old photos, yearbooks, documents and even a report card from 1892!

Nuestro autorretratos / Our self-portraits

One of the many ways in which a positive sense of self is nurtured during Spanish class is by providing all students with the opportunity to create his or her self-portrait, autorretrato. By focusing on the study of self-portraiture, my aim is to emphasize the unique and individual characteristics and features of each brilliant child. It is also a community-building activity that helps students to get to know each other. And, it is an effective resource that enhances oral and written communication in the target language, español.

To commence the autorretrato project, we first read Bobbie Kalman’s book, “How we are the same and different?” This book brought awareness to some of the ways in which we are all alike and different such as physical similarities and cultural differences.

Afterwards, many discussions and readings were provided as we focused our attention on one of the most noticeable physical traits we all have the same yet different, nuestra piel (our skin).

To guide our conversations, we began by reading “The Colors of Us” by Karen Katz. In this story, a little girl is going to create her self-portrait and learns that brown comes in many different shades. Shelly Rotner and Sheila Kelly’s book, “Shades of People,” uses vibrant photographs of children of many ethnicities to emphasize the concept that we all come in a variety of shades, even in the same family. “Not colors, exactly, but shades.” Another great read was Sandra Pinkney’s book, “Shades of Black,” which uses stunning photographic portraits and beautiful descriptions of varied skin tones, hair textures and eye color. Her book then led us to read books that celebrate all kinds of hair such as  “I Love My Hair” by Natasha A. Tarpley and “Hairs @ Pelitos” by Sandra Cisneros. 

Our final read was Katie Kissinger’s book,  “All the Colors We Are – Todos los Colores de Nuestra Piel.” This story provided positive exploration and celebration of skin color differences as well as the scientifically accurate explanation of how our skin color is determined by our ancestors, the sun, and melanin.

Next, the students were taught some of the Spanish terminology and concepts associated with self-portraiture. Students learned in español some of the body parts with an emphasis on facial characteristics as well as common eye colors.

Key vocabulary:

autorretrato – self-portrait

piel – skin

cabeza – head

cara- face

pelo – hair

ojos – eyes

cejas – eyebrows

pestañas – eyelashes

orejas – ears

nariz – nose

boca – mouth

labios – lips

dientes - teeth

cuello – neck

hombros - shoulders

Afterwards, a canvas panel along with mirrors and multicultural colored tissue paper and craft items were provided. As the students observed themselves in the mirror to look closely at the details of their facial features, they were encouraged to discuss qué color (what color) comes closest to their piel (skin), to their ojos (eyes), to their cejas (eyebrows), to their boca (mouth), to their pelo (hair), and so on.

By combining what we learned with the personal nature of self-portraits, student learning became individualized and relevant to their experience. Although not all grades are quite finished with their autorretrato, I invite you to stop by and observe those that are done and hang on our hallway wall next to my office, El Palacio. It is an amazing display that truly highlights "the colors of us."

Pretzel Sales Begin in Third Grade!

Third graders are very excited about selling pretzels!  Each year third graders sell soft pretzels to supplement a special activity related to our study of China.  In the past few years, this money has gone toward a class trip to Philadelphia’s Chinatown.  A big part of selling pretzels is counting coins and making change.  Each pretzel costs 75 cents and shoppers pay for them with a variety of coins and bills, so third graders need to be comfortable mentally calculating the money they are being given as well as the necessary change. 

To prepare to sell pretzels, we began with a review of coins and coin values.  Students then practiced counting groups of coins in a variety of ways including multiple games such as coin bingo, a coin board game and a game called, “I Have/ Who Has?”  Third graders also practiced buying and selling pretzels to give each other practice with making change.

Counting coins is a great skill to continue practicing at home.  You can give your child a few coins and have them find the total, or you can have them find change for  small amounts of money (under $1, $5 or $10). 

There are also some fun online games to practice counting coins, including:

Money Bingo

Counting Coins

Making Change

 Also, just as a reminder, there are lots of fun math games for all grade levels EC through 4th at the AFS Lower School math website: 

AFS Lower School Math

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Math is 'Shaping' Up!

Our new unit in first grade math focuses on shapes.  We are starting out by revisiting plane shapes.  The students had to identify and define a circle, square, rectangle, triangle and a rhombus.  It was very tricky to define the four sided figures accurately and took some skilled observations to notice the differences. For homework, they had to find three things at home for each shape.

Once the shapes were properly identified, the students worked on different attributes for sorting them: color, shape, size and thickness. We split into two groups and using sets of shape attribute blocks played Attribute Uno.  They had a blast!!  The first round required being able to add a shape that matched with one attribute.  Round two required two attributes to match and round three required three attributes to match and that wasn't easy!  Then the rounds were repeated until someone called out, "UNO!" and ran out of shapes.  There was so much excitement and they were so good about helping one another find ways to get a shape to match.  When the games finally ended, many students said this was the best math class they ever had and many asked to play it again the next day - which they did!!

It was important to try to stack the shapes in reverse order!!

The students also spent time exploring shapes with Magna Tiles and Pattern Blocks, creating amazing designs and structures.  We will soon begin discovering 3D or solid shapes.

Historical Fiction in Second Grade

This January, second grade students are reading historical fiction in school and at home. First, students explored the structure of historical fiction. In December, the reading of biographies set the stage for this study as many biographies focus on people from a time period in the past. As we discussed the contributions made by these people, we also focused on how the time period in which they lived affected their lives and helps to explain the importance of their work.

The entire grade is reading the historical fiction book Wagon Wheels and learning the story of the Muldie boys and their father as they travel from Kentucky to Nicodemus, Kansas in 1878. The Muldies were a real family who along with thousands of African American pioneers left the South after the Civil War to settle in the West. They first settled in the town of Nicodemus.

We read about the courage of the boys as they lived in a dugout while their father searched for land that will enable them to have a better life, and then of their journey of one hundred and fifty miles to connect with their father.

The trilogy of books from The Prairie Skies series by Deborah Hopkinson is being read aloud to the students. The first book is Pioneer Summer. This book starts in 1855 and follows the story of Charlie Keller and his family as they travel to Kansas from Massachusetts in order for Charlie Keller’s father, who is an abolitionist, to cast his vote for Kansas to be a free state. Along the way Charlie meets a friend whose father feels very different about slavery. Deep discussions have occurred in class as students think and discuss their reactions to the issues and characters in this book.

Students will be selecting historical fiction books of interest to read at home with their families and then talk, write and draw about their particular book.  

We will also be reading an assortment in class of historical fiction books as well both individually and in small groups.