The Whole Wide World

     My second graders started working on a 'Me on the Map' activity this week. We had tons of fun! I used google earth to help, and it went very well! It seemed like my children understood this concept much more, and more quickly, then students in the past. We were able to start with the big picture (Earth) and zoom in smaller and smaller. Instead of flying into a place on google earth, I used my clicker wheel on my mouse. It allowed me to zoom so much slower, giving the children time to process what was happening. We finally zoomed into our town and I was amazed with some of the responses the children had; "It looks like a spider web." (so true!) "Hey, that looks like a flower!" (and it did - the park is across the street, and the way they have the baseball diamonds arranged, it looks just like a daisy!) 

     To accompany this theme, I purchased a unit from littlestlearners on teachers pay teachers. I give full credit to the amazing teacher at ClutterFreeClassroom who did the hard work for me. (I still have no idea how to make those boxes the right size...) I did make a few changes.... I changed my town to my county and my street to my town, then we did the me page. 

The kids were so excited, I made a huge display outside my door to showcase their work. :) 

     I tried....really, really, really...tried - to make this look like North and South America. FAIL! :) I did stuff extra paper behind the blue background before I taped it all the way down, to give it a 3D effect. 

Here are some more photographs...

     Throughout May we will learn about land forms, so I am planning to add those to our globe! Check back for updates! Anywho - back to cleaning I go. :)