Habitats

One of the classes that I teach two hours a week is 2nd grade science.  I do not have any curriculum for this subject so I've been coming up with my own units and lessons.  Since January, we've been learning about habitats and different animals.

As an end of the unit project, I required my students to create a habitat diorama.  They were incredibly excited to get to work with their partners.  Each group had to read information about their specific animal then what it eats, where it lives, and one adaptation that it has.

I loved watching their excitement and teamwork as they planned, colored, cut, pasted, and drew everything they needed to make their habitats complete.

While projects like these are very common in the US, they are not here.  It was an entirely new concept for my students and the other teachers at our school.

To complete the project my students had to use lots of high level thinking skills and creativity.

After they finished their habitats, each group presented their project to the class.

During the presentations, the other students in the class graded them using a simple checklist.

Rainforest

Desert

Ocean

They were very proud of their work and are very anxious to take their projects home with them.  Once again, they have made me a proud teacher!

“I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.” 

-Haim G. Ginott