Colonies, Clusters, and Communities

A collaboration between Shelby Fuentes, Chelsea Pasfield and Grace Kegley (Second Grade Team)

with Brandon Lee (Engineering), Rina Vinetz (Art), Shelley Lee (Science) and Mike Amarillas (HTHNC Engineering)

 

Exhibtion Reflection

The journey to the exhibition of our work was incredible. Students were driven each day to finish our products and to thoughtfully think out ways to display and tell about our learning. I was struck by the way each child stayed in their presentation space and clearly and articulately spoke of all they have learned. The excitement and professionalism demonstrated by each child was felt in the room. It take incredible bravery to stand up and speak in front of almost 200 strangers... and our students were incredible! I'll let the student's do the rest of the talking... Take a look at these exhibition video and project photos below.

 

 

Project Photos:                                            Exhibition Video:                                                      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project Description

Students are studying animals to learn how they behave and care for one another within their communities. This project was inspired by the New Generation Science Standard about Social Interactions and Group Behavior: How do organisms interact in groups so as to benefit individuals?

 

Students will research a variety of animal communities through fieldwork, experts, non-fiction texts and online resources. Then, we will take what we have learned about animals and apply it to our own class and school community. Students will use their knowledge of animal behaviors in communities to create school wide norms.

 

Essential Questions:

 

• How do animals act in their

            communities to help and protect each  

            other?

• How can we use those characteristics

            to build guidelines for how we should  

            care for each other in our classroom?

 

Final Products

 

• Informational Writing: Individually, students will write informative paragraphs connecting research on animal communities and how it can apply to our classroom culture.

• School Norm Banners: In small groups, students will establish school norms based off of a researched animal behavior and data collection within our school. They will design a banner to be hung throughout the halls

• Kinetic 'School of Fish' Art Installation: The 2nd grade classes collaborated with science, art, and engineering to create a kinetic 'school of fish' art installation to represent the school community.  All second graders collaboratively designed and created scientifically-inspired ceramic fish.  A student-designed kinetic prototype became the basis for final large-scale kinetic mechanism, produced by Mike Amarillas' HTHNC Engineering students..

Teacher Reflection

This project was exciting because it brought all three second grade classes together. Students built quality relationships across the grade level as they had the unique opportunity to work together. As teachers, we designed this project as a way to collaborate across the grade level and incorporate engineering, art, and science in meaningful ways. As difficult as it was to collaborate with six separate teachers, we think the final project will be well worth the effort.

 

Student Reflection

I like the project because I like to see how animals work together. Also I like to see how animals move, swim and hunt together. My favorite part of the project was when we did our field work. I learned that animals stick together and help each other.