We ended April with a little extra magic in our classroom, watching our caterpillars go through complete metamorphosis and turn into beautiful butterflies. We had eight butterflies grace our classroom with their beauty, but we only kept them confined for a few days before we decided to launch them into the world and give them a chance to spread their wings. As sad as the kids were about having to say goodbye to our butterflies, they agreed that our little cage was not the proper habitat for our newly winged friends.
That same week, a book project that we'd worked on a few weeks prior arrived early with our new published books! I'm the only teacher in the school that has done this project, and I love how proud the kids feel when they hold our published book in their hands. Not much excites me more than seeing kids get excited about writing. If you've never worked with Studentreasures, I highly recommend them. Such a great experience for kids of all ages.
Proudly holding their certificates that say, "I'm a published author!"
My artistic son, Juan David, drew this precious cover.
I absolutely love it!
Out of everything we do all year in second grade, I must admit that these books and butterflies are two of my favorite things to do with my students. This is my tenth year in second grade, but the last two years, we have not had butterflies (or any live insects) for this unit due to everything getting messed up from COVID. I am glad we did not have to miss out on the magic this year. My last favorite project is to have them write letters of encouragement to each other so they each have a set of letters from every single student in the class. We usually do that in the last week or two of school. This year I have special notebooks for them to do it in. I can't wait! It's always a very meaningful activity that they love doing for each other and also receiving. I love helping kids find their voice as a writer.
I wonder what incredible science adventures await me next year, especially with the beautiful nature all around us and the focus on a Creator. And as far as the books go, that's a project I plan to take with me and do wherever I am with students.
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