Class Assignment for Second Graders

This morning I walked in to Mrs. Williams-Santa Ana's second grade college dorm classroom to hear "Las Mananitas" begin sung to me by eighteen wonderful second graders. They were so thoughtful. After the serenade we took pictures and I was given a box of cookies. I'm hiding my prize for a later time!

Right after the festivities, Anthony gave a ten minute lecture on the life cycle of the dinosaur, T-Rex. He couldn't have been more expressive and articulate. He also informed the class of the changes that dinosaurs have gone through and a possibly theory of how they all disappeared. He let us know that some organisms that were around the time of dinosaurs are still around today.

We originally were going to go outside, but we ran out of time. Mrs. Williams made several comments about how the children's behavior had changed since they began their exploration of college life. Many were more attentive and took to writing in their journals. I could see that as I explained life cycles that they were writing notes and their eyes and gestures displayed their interest in what I was saying. This reminded me of the ideas that Paul Tough writes in his book How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character.

Here's what I noticed from the last time we met. They didn't interrupt the speaker whether it was Anthony, their peer, or me. One student and maybe more wrote down questions to ask once the speaker was done. Not all students did that, but it became clear to the class that this was a great idea. When I was done and asked for questions, the students would read or look down at what they wanted to ask and clearly asked.

I shared my blogs, my niece's blog, and challenged them to write a hundred words about the things they learned and wanted to tell others. We would then take what they wrote and publish it a blog written by them and their teachers. The goal was to have them love to write and share their thoughts with others. They were excited, but I could tell concerned with the word count. I have a feeling they don't realize how hard it is going to be for some of them to keep it under the expected word count.

This could be fun for them, their teachers, and me.