Erupting with learning

With the help of a Discovery Education video, this week I had my second graders work on their observation skills. We watched a video of an erupting volcano, with the sound off. Each table group had a blank piece of paper, and after watching the video had a time to write about what they'd seen.

Now that their brains were working~ we watched the video again, with sound. I gave them a moment to read what they'd written, add a few more thoughts- and then: talk time. They did table-talk with their group about what they had observed. 

After a quick pair/share time, the students shared out to the whole group what they saw. Lava. Volcanoes. Eruptions. A helicopter. A beach. An ocean. Fire. Smoke. Steam. Rocks. 

And then, the question: "Why would I show you a video of a volcano this week? How does it relate to what we learned last week?"(Note- I did no "review" at the onset of the lesson.)

S: OH! The Lava is a liquid.

S2: The smoke is a gas!

S3: The volcano is solid, liquid and gas!

Yes! They made a connection to last week. I hoped what they'd learned with me bubbled over into their classrooms.

 And then, I received an email from a teacher tonight. She shared with me: "As the students completed their final entries into their science notebooks and answered opened ended questions on the Solids and Liquids assessments, it was evident that they had absorbed the purpose of  your media lessons on "What's the matter?" and "Volcanoes."  

So these past two weeks, what have I learned? The library is one big learning lab. It matters~ and is a place where students can bubble up and erupt with learning.