Martin Luther & The Reformation

We've been busy learning all about Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation this week. 

We began our study by reading Paul Maier's book Martin Luther: A Man Who Changed the World. It's a great book that teaches about the life of Martin Luther. Reformation, recant, indulgences, translated, Wittenberg, Theses - these are big words for 2nd graders. The book does a great job describing what was happening during this time in history. 

They were excited to learn that A Mighty Fortress is Our God was written almost 500 years ago by Martin Luther and we still sing it today. After reading the book and learning the song, we moved on to learn about Luther's Seal. 

We found two Luther Seals in our school: 

And then learned the significance of each part: 

Each child picked five interesting facts to write about the life of Martin Luther: 

And they decorated a brown piece of construction paper to look like the Wittenberg church door, where Luther posted the 95 Theses on October 31, 1517: 

I love how different they all turned out. This student had fun writing all the way to 95: 

The church doors served as the book cover for our Martin Luther project. 

When the book was opened there were 5 facts (we're working on distinguishing between fact and opinion) about Martin Luther, Luther's Seal and an explanation for each part.  

Hopefully it won't be another 2 months until I blog about what's happening in my classroom. Lutheran school teachers: What are you doing to teach your students about Martin Luther and the Reformation? I would love to hear your ideas!

Heather

Ed Surge Meet Up at Google!

Have you heard of Meet Up? I love this website because it gives you the opportunity to find various Meet Up groups in the city where you live. There are various groups for runners, educators, writers, hikers, etc. I've been to a few Ed Tech Meet Ups in San Francisco and all of them have been fantastic. I attended an event last night that put engineers, entrepreneurs and educators in the same room to discuss issues in education. 

Last night's Meet Up was sponsored by Ed Surge and the event was held at the Google campus in San Francisco. If you're not familiar with Ed Surge, head on over to their website to learn more. Weekly newsletters and a frequently updated website keep educators, developers and entrepreneurs up to date on the "latest innovations in education technology." 

San Francisco really is a small city! I was able to reconnect with a teacher I taught summer school with a few years ago. She just started a San Francisco group for the CUE (Computer Using Educators) corporation. Is anyone out there a member of CUE? 

I was also able to spend some time speaking with a representative from Motion Math. Motion Math apps are "fun math games that turn screen time into learning time." I'm always looking for apps to recommend to parents. Some of the games I saw demonstrated last night were perfect for my 2nd grade students. I can't wait to hear their reviews of the app! 

I loved the wall we could write on at last night's event. Ed Surge representatives posed the following question: What challenges in education do you want to solve? Anyone could grab a dry erase marker and start writing. Here are a few of my favorites and ones I would have written if they weren't already on the wall! 

What I admire most about Ed Surge is how hard they are working to bridge the gap between engineers, entrepreneurs and educators. Thank you Ed Surge! You have a happy educator who will keep coming back to your Meet Ups. What a great night of networking and discussing ways to solve problems in the educational system. We're all working together to close the achievement gap and I couldn't be more excited to be part of the conversation. 

The view from the Google office isn't too shabby. I just love this City by the Bay! For those of you who live far away, you can check out a live stream of the Bay Lights here. The lights are on from dusk - 2am Pacific Time. I must say, though, the view is much better in person. 

Heather

Main Idea & Details Game!

I'm always looking for ways to get my students out of their desks and working around the classroom. They love "working around the room" and leaving their desks behind.

I always play the Jeopardy theme song as a transition when working around the room individually, with partners or in small groups. When the music stops they have to be in a spot or I have them return to their desks to do their work and that's just boring sometimes! 

                               

We work around the room a lot during writing workshop time! They just love sitting on the floor and rugs with their pencils, erasers, dictionaries and writing notebooks. 

Our first unit in writing workshop is learning how to write a paragraph. We've been working really hard on identifying main ideas and details. This can be a really tough concept for 2nd grade students. Before we begin writing paragraphs, we take the time to really understand main ideas and supporting details. We'll do a lot of practice like this: 

What is the main idea of these groups of words? 

glue, pencil, markers - main idea: school supplies

California, Indiana, Michigan - main idea: states

Mexico, Canada, United States - main idea: countries

Once they have a firm grasp on finding the main idea of a group of words, we move on to identifying the main idea in a group of sentences. I created this main idea and details game to use in class last week. They worked in groups of three and forgot how much they were learning, because it felt like a game to them! Remember how I said I like to get them out of their seats? They had so much fun working on this activity at different spots around the classroom. You can pick up the game for free in my TPT store here. 

I placed four sentences in each envelope, numbered one to seven. The students discussed them together, identified the main idea and then recorded it on the yellow recording sheet.

I like to make our work in class relevant to their everyday lives so I made up sentences that they could relate to. The group below is working on the Starbucks sentences. Students had to identify the main idea from the following sentences that were mixed up inside envelope number seven: 

He likes regular coffee with cream and sugar.

My dad loves to go to Starbucks before work. 

Sometimes he buys a bagel with cream cheese. 

He always leaves a tip for the barista. 

I know my students really grasp the concept when they can pick out the main idea from a group of mixed up sentences. It's easy for them to identify the main idea/topic in a paragraph, but much harder when they have to read several sentences that aren't in a particular order. 

Do you want to know how much my students LOVED this activity? We only had time to make it through four stations before it was time for lunch and recess. When I said it was time to line up there was a collective, "NOOOO!! Not yet! We're having so much fun!" 

Let me know if you download the game and use it with your class! The game can be played independently, with partners or in a small group setting. For an extension activity students can create their own set of four sentences and have their peers identify the main idea. 

Can YOU identify the main idea of my blog post? I sure hope so or you might need to come spend a day in 2nd grade! :) My students are experts so they can teach you!

Heather