Passion Projects:

Last week, students chose their topic for their passion projects. I have never had such unique project topics as this year! After choosing their topic, students began to research their topic.

This week students will:

• Finish researching and note-taking.
• Begin Paragraphs: Students are moving beyond the 5-sentence "hamburger" paragraphs to write longer, 8+ sentence paragraphs for their Passion Projects. Using the TIDE structure — Topic sentence, Information and Detailed explanation (repeated three times), and an Ending sentence — they will practice developing and supporting their ideas more fully.

I am excited to see how their research and writing skills are growing!

This week, our class will kick off Passion Projects—an exciting and time-honored tradition in 2nd Grade at Westgate. Each student will choose a topic related to Social Studies or Science, such as panda bears, the biography of Helen Keller, or the country of France, etc. They’ll spend time researching their topic, writing a detailed paragraph, and creating a final project to showcase what they’ve learned. Final projects might be a tri-fold board, diorama, costume and performance, model/construction, or PowerPoint presentation. Projects will include non-fiction elements like maps, graphs, diagrams, timelines, photographs, or captions. Students are also welcome to bring in a related artifact or real-life object connected to their topic, for example, a piece of volcanic rock for a project on volcanoes—to help bring their presentation to life. I can’t wait to see their curiosity and creativity shine through!

This week students will:

• Choose 3 possible topics that they are interested in but would like to learn more about. We will do a little bit of research about each topic before deciding the final choice.
• Make our final topic choice and plan out what to research.
• Begin researching and note-taking.

This week, our class will continue our Economics unit “Decision Making.”  

This week, students will:

• Idenitfy goods and services 

• Identify producers and consumers 

• Explain how prices change depending on supply and demand. 

• Take the Economics Post-test. 

This week, our class will continue in our current Civics unit, “Conflict & Cooperation in Our Community.”  

This week, students will learn: 

• Diplomacy is the work that helps countries build or keep good relationships. Countries use diplomacy to solve problems. 

• Treaties are agreements made between two or more countries. I can create a treaty to solve a problem. 

• I can identify how rules help me make good choices and keep me safe.  

• Scarcity happens when there is not enough of something for everyone who wants it. I can give an example of a scarce item or resource. 

This week, we will begin our new civics unit, “Conflict & Cooperation in Our Community.” This unit is a study of how communities manage resources and resolve conflict.

This week, students will learn:

• Leaders and Heroes make contributions to our society.
• Modern heroes and leaders have specific traits and qualities.
• Identify our own leadership traits.
• Analyze multiple ways that various groups work through conflict, such as compromise, authority, and treaties.

This week, we will continue our social studies history unit, “My Community in the Past.”

This week, students will learn:

• Contributions of Immigrants: How different groups of people have contributed to American and Coloradoan culture and society.
• Westgate Timeline: Students will create a timeline of the school’s history to describe its changes over time.
• Denver Then and Now: Students will create a timeline to show how Denver and local landmarks have changed over time

On Friday, students will take the post-test for this unit.

This week, we will continue our Social Studies History unit, “My Community in the Past.”

This week, students will learn about:

• Timelines: Timelines help us see how things change over time.
• Farming in the past vs. Modern farming: Making a timeline about farming tools.
• Fishing in the past vs. Modern Fishing: Fishing has also changed over time, much like farming.
• Contributions of Immigrants: How different groups of people have contributed to American and Coloradoan culture and society.

This week, we will begin our new social studies unit, “My Community in the Past.” In this history unit, students will explore what their community and other communities were like a long time ago. By looking at old photographs and stories, we can ask questions about how our community has changed over time. We will think about how families moved here, how different cultures have shaped our lives, and what we can learn from the past. Our essential question will be, "What was my community like in the past?" We will also consider how understanding the past can help us understand our community today and learn about the special contributions of different groups of people. 

This week, students will learn: 

• Why people move to new places 

• Immigration and Ellis Island 

• Houses in the past 

• Timelines 

• Farming in the past vs. Modern farming 

This week, we will finish up Unit 3, “Geography of My Community.”  

Our focuses for this week:  

• Human Environment Interaction: How can human actions change the environment? 

• Unit 3 Post-Test 

BONUS: We will also learn what an election is and how elections work. We will touch on why voting is important and the impact it can have on communities as well as the world. We will hold a mock election where the students will get to fill out a ballot about which is the best pet (dog, cat, or fish). 

This week, we will begin Unit 3, “Geography of My Community.” In this social studies unit, students will explore how communities manage, modify, and depend on their environments. Students will learn about the differences between renewable and nonrenewable resources and how these resources impact the way communities develop and thrive. They will understand how communities manage and use nonrenewable resources, such as fossil fuels, and renewable resources, like solar and wind energy, to meet their needs. The unit will also explain how the environment influences why people settle in certain areas, such as the availability of water, fertile soil, and favorable climate conditions. Students will identify examples of how human activity influences the environmental characteristics of a place over time, such as urban development, deforestation, and pollution. Additionally, they will explore how culture and lifestyle are impacted by environmental characteristics, such as how climate affects clothing and housing or how natural resources influence local cuisine and industry. 

Our focuses for this week:  

• Places to Settle: How does the environment influence why people settle in certain areas? 

• Renewable and Non-Renewable Resources: What are renewable and non-renewable resources in the places people settle?  

• Characteristics of Communities: How is our way of life impacted by where we live? 

• Rural vs. Urban: How is our way of life impacted by where we live? 

• Where People Live: How can human actions change the environment? 

We are continuing our geography this week. We will build on our knowledge of map tools that we learned about last week.

• Our focus this week:
  • The Globe
  • Different types of maps and their purposes
  • Natural, human, and political features on maps

We will begin a new unit in Social Studies this week. This geography-focused unit will have students explore the world around them using maps and other geographic tools. Through engaging activities and hands-on learning experiences, students will become familiar with the basic elements of geography and the ways in which maps can tell us about the world. By the end of this unit, students will have a solid understanding of basic geography concepts and skills. They will be able to use maps confidently and appreciate the diverse features that make up our world. This foundational knowledge will prepare them for more advanced geographic studies in the future. 

• Our focus this week: 

• • Introduction to maps: What is the purpose of a map? 

• • Map tools: Map tools include a title, a compass rose, a map key or legend, and symbols. How do map tools help us understand space and place?  

• • Cardinal Directions: How does a compass rose help us understand space and place? 

• • Creating maps: Students will analyze a map of our classroom, and then create a map of their choice – their bedroom, the playground, or their backyard. 

Donation request:  

I am trying to put together a hands-on timeline of the telephone. I have a rotary phone from the 1950’s, a corded push-button phone from the 1980’s, and the school’s classroom phone.  

• I am looking for a donation of a “Fisher-Price Toddler Pull Toy Chatter Telephone with Rotary Dial and Wheels” that students can use to see how the rotary mechanism works. My antique rotary phone is currently broken, and I can’t allow students to touch it.  

• I would also like to have a cordless phone that was popular in the 1990s.  

• Lastly, I would love to have an old Nokia or early cell phone. 

If you have one of these phones and are looking to part with them, our class would love to give them a new home! 

Last week, we concluded our Social Studies unit by participating in an action research project. As a class, students identified an issue in the community and researched ways to solve the problem, including speaking with members of our school community.

The issue that the class decided to help solve was that students at Westgate bang on the walls in the hallway, lean on the walls as they walk down the hall, and tear down work that is on display on the walls in the hall. We think this is a problem because it disrupts the learning in classrooms and does not respect the work that kids have displayed in the hall. The class identified Ms. Seybold, Ms. Schilling, Mrs. Kahn, and Ms. Kinslow as community members who could help us understand the problem. Mrs. Kahn and Ms. Kinslow were able to come in and give us some insight into what it is like to have an office in the hall, and what things they have tried to stop it from happening. Our class came up with several solutions, such as:

1. Tell people to stop.
2. Report someone doing it to an adult.
3. Check the cameras to see who is doing it.
4. Create posters reminding kids not to do it.
5. Give consequences to those students who do it.

At the end of the week, students created a poster with a partner to hang in the halls in hopes of helping to solve the problem in our community.