In previous posts, I’ve shared universal themes and sample outlines for year-long studies in grades K-5 (see more about long-term planning here).
The 2nd Grade year-long theme of STRUCTURES is described here, and in this post, I’ll explain how you might introduce the theme. The introduction sets the stage for an “around-the-world” approach to the study of all kinds of structures. Math, language arts, science, history, technology, engineering, and research skills are all integrated into the unit.
| This video goes into more detail about what is shared here. |
INTRODUCING THE BIG IDEA
This introductory activity, a “Structure Sort,“ is designed to get kids thinking and elicit prior knowledge. There is no mention of the word “structure,” however, until after a great deal of sorting has been done!
HERE are the cards needed and here’s how it works:
Have students work in pairs to sort the cards into categories. Explain that there are no rules for the sorting. The goal is to come up with as many categories as they can in the given time (about 15 – 20 minutes). You might have them write down their category labels, but they tend to remember them when it’s time for discussion.
Students may ask questions such as:
- How many groups do you want us to make?
- When we make groups, can some cards be left out?
- What do we do when we’re finished?
Respond to the first question by explaining that “no rules” means they can put the cards into two groups, three groups, or more, as long as they can explain their groupings. Also, since the goal is to “come up with as many groupings as you can,” they should consider grouping them into many different sizes of groups. Respond to the second question by reminding them that there are “no rules.” Depending on how you’ve run your class, your students may not ask the third question. If they do, prompt them to try to put the cards into pairs or groups of 3.
My students always began with “living” vs. “nonliving,” categories they learn in kindergarten! But with some prompting, students engage in more flexible thinking!
The open-ended format and the questioning are what can ensure that this activity is higher-level. When students seem to have exhausted all possibilities, you might show them a video clip of the classic game show “$25,000 Pyramid” (search in YouTube) and explain that putting things into unique categories can be a game. Ask them if there are any other attributes that come to mind (e.g. size, things that have numbers, things that have eyes, etc.).
Then, you can get them thinking about the names of the items themselves! For example, chair, block, and house are 5-letter words; tree, hive, and cave are 4-letter words). Honestly, you could milk this for weeks. Create analogies, make it a guessing game, or post the pictures on a bulletin board, adding connections as you find them. Be accepting of almost any connections since you are encouraging them to use divergent thinking!
MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES and LANGUAGE OF THE DISCIPLINE
Eventually, lead your students to finding ONE common characteristic. Students may come up with statements such as, “they all are made up of parts.” At this point, the word STRUCTURES can be introduced and students can create a definition such as this one.
HUMAN-MADE vs NATURAL STRUCTURES ~ Explain that some structures are made by humans and others are found in nature. Have students separate cards according to these categories. Ask, “What types of scientists and experts study human-made structures and what types study natural ones?” Find a list of scientists HERE and engineers HERE.
The first two minutes of the video below present a nice introduction to different types of loads experienced by human-made structures. I’d do a quick explanation before sharing the video. Ask students, “What does a bridge have to hold up?” After they name all kinds of things that use bridges (cars, people, trains), prompt them to think about the weight of the bridge itself. Explain the difference between live load and dead load and then ask if anything else falls on or presses against structures (environmental load). (These concepts can be investigated further throughout the year.)
STRUCTURE in ACTION ~ Explain to students that when we arrange things a certain way, we often refer to our arrangement as a structure. In our classrooms, we’ve arranged our furniture and materials a certain way. We’ve also structured our day in a certain way. Games we play have a structure, music has a structure (notes are arranged in a certain way), and even math problem solving is done by arranging numbers and symbols in specific ways.
Have students consider the letter A block pictured on one of the cards. Explain that the block is a material structure, something made by someone that you can hold. On the block is the letter A, which is one letter in our alphabet. Ask students: Is the letter A itself a structure? Does it fit our definition? Is it made up of parts arranged a certain way? Could a word be a structure? a sentence? a paragraph?
In a study all kinds of structures around the world, it’s helpful for students to consider that anything arranged in a certain way can be a structure. For example, in traditional Japanese, words are arranged in an entirely different way on the page, and classrooms are structured differently than they are in the U.S.
AROUND THE WORLD
Listed below are some of the multidisciplinary mini-units that evolved as we “flew” to other continents via Google Earth. Our essential questions helped guide us and math, art, science, Six-Hat Thinking, and S.C.A.M.P.E.R. were integrated into our studies. Click on the subtopics for links to virtual tours, videos, and activity descriptions on my old class blog. We never seemed to have enough time to make it all the way around the world!
AUSTRALIA: International Wall of Friendship / animal (body) structures / Great Barrier Reef (Fact vs Fiction in Finding Nemo movie)
JAPAN: Story of Hachiko and his statue / typical school day in Japan (see video below) / efficiency of space in architecture (capsule hotels and tiny houses) / earthquakes and tsunamis and earthquake-proof structures/ Japanese writing and origami / homemade abacus with math problems
EUROPE: The Caves of Lascaux ~ virtual cave exploration (read more HERE) / cave experiment / excerpts from Journey to the Center of the Earth / Eiffel Tower or other famous landmarks as time allowed
AFRICA: termite mounds, ant colonies (see our ant farm video below) / biomimicry / Mount Kilamanjaro and volcanoes (if time allows).
Obviously, there is no end to the wonderful structures your students can study. If you are inspired to tell us about your 2nd-grade studies, please consider writing a guest blog post! Also, if you are new here, you might like to subscribe for updates to the site, sent about once a month.