Connected Combo: Learning Adventures

We are starting the year with an “Around the World” theme. We are reading a great book called The Fantastic Flying Journey by Gerald Durrell. As the characters in the story travel the world in a hot air
balloon, we will research the continents cited in their adventures (all seven, of course). Before getting stamps in our passports, we had to stamp out our inquiry ideas. As a class, we brainstormed questions to research about the continents. The students had awesome questions. They asked things like:

What land forms and landmarks are on the continent?

How many countries are in the continent?

What animal and plant life are on the continent?

What languages are spoken there?

We categorized their questions into location/size, attractions, plant and animal life, and culture. Our first continent was where our book characters began their journey: Europe. We read several different nonfiction books and articles on Europe. We charted the answers to our inquiry questions. Later, students used our notes to write their own facts about Europe.

We are also learning many important geography objectives. For instance, we learned about hemispheres. Further, we are constructing a map of the world. After studying each continent, the students will have to make a cut out of the continent for their map. However, they have to make their shape by ripping. NO SCISSORS! This was very challenging activity but it made the second and third graders really look in detail at the shape of Europe. Such concentration.

How I wish I could take the students on a balloon trip over Europe. The students really enjoyed this YouTube video of some spectacular sights. They also loved to look up and "visit" certain landmarks using Google Earth.

The students did notice that there are many castles across Europe. We had a castle STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) challenge. Here is what the students were challenged to do.

They worked hard in groups of three. Each group was able to complete a castle that met the requirements. It was interesting to see the varied ways students came up with for the moveable entrance. Each group had an opportunity to share their castles with the class. They shared what went well with their castle and one improvement they would make. Most students thought that more time to complete the challenge would have helped their designs!