Our Second Day of School

     Today was our second day of school and we were very busy!  We went over our classroom and school rules.We discussed consequences to our actions and how to be a positive member of the classroom.  I started our morning routine with the students yesterday and today I listed the steps on the board.  I was pleasantly surprised by how well everyone did on day two!  

       For math, each student decorated a paper cupcake and

wrote their name and their date.  We talked about pictographs and what they were.  Students then discussed how to create a pictograph using their cupcakes.  The students also filled out a tally chart on the board.  Everyone then used their pictograph and tally chart to answer questions about the class birthdays!  The activity was a hit :)

      In the afternoon we did another STEM activity that I found on Tpt from Lisa Taylor Teaching the Stars.  This activity was perfect after doing our Marshmallow Challenge yesterday!

 Students were familiar with the idea of the STEM activity and were eager to get started.  Students worked together on the Pencil Tower Challenge.  Their goal was to build the tallest free standing tower out of only pencils.  Many students struggled at first and wanted more materials!  After a few minutes and some failed trials, one group decided to use the "log cabin" model.  It was great watching their brains problem solve over and over again.  Once they created a structure using all of their pencils, they had to come up with a plan to make a taller tower the next time.  Over time, two of my groups figured out that using a triangle shaped base was going to give them a taller tower than using a square base.    

 Watching students come to this realization was so exciting as a teacher.  The whole goal of these activities is to help promote critical thinking and to have students continuously revise their plan if the original plan is not successful. Overall, we had a great day, filled with excitement and learning.

~Heather