Mini Unit

When I started this project I had a tough time coming up with the topic and grade group. I decided to base the mini unit on a book. I then chose the second grade…Mrs. O’Brien class. I have had a particularly good rapport with this group and they were excited about my idea. I chose the book Listen to the Wind…The Story of Dr. Greg & Three Cups of Tea. It is a true story of a man who gets lost in the mountains of Pakistan and saved by a village with no school. He learns about their children and live of learning and decides to help them build a school. The village is on a mountain and is very difficult to get to, so getting supplies to the new school site was a challenge.

I went to Mrs. O’Brien and proposed the unit based on this book and their current unit of simple machines. She thought it was a great idea and set aside time for me to implement the unit. We started by reading the book together and brain storm about how to help Dr. Greg get supplies to the school. They suggested the Lego kits and wanted to try to get supplies to the mountain top.

We created a concept map of what they wanted to do and how to achieve their goals. Then we took the materials and students into the back of the tech lab. The students wrote game plans of how to get the supplies up the mountain side and drew pictures of the simple machines they would be using to accomplish the game plans. It was so much fun watching them choose and purchase their supplies and work in their groups. We worked together one day on the book and brain storming, two days on the simple machines part and another two days on reflection and assessment.

Later after it was finished I sat down and thought about the whole experience. I thought the book part was great. They had great ideas. The implementation of the simple machines part was chaotic and crazy and the students had a hard time with it. They did not understand how to create the simple machines and that caused strife with in the groups. Fortunately they had a great time and learned about the difficulties of solving a complex problem.

I would probably have given them more time and not added the bricks. Too Heavy! I also might have done this project with older kids if they had been doing a simple machines unit. It was sweet and fun but the second graders really did not get it. When we created the assessment concept map they came up with great reasons why it did not work and how hard it was to work in a group. It was still fun and I would do it again.