Grade Two Library fun

“A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called “leaves”) imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time ― proof that humans can work magic.” -Carl Sagan

The Grade Two’s are experiencing the value of discovering new information through literature. We used the following poem to research the functions trees perform.

We used a picture mind map and a “live” tree to enhance our learning. The focus and engagement were astonishing. As we know, in brain research, learning only happens when learners pay attention. The learners are being taught to quickly identify and focus on the most important item in a complex environment, sustain attention while monitoring related information and ignoring other stimuli,  access memories that aren’t currently active, but that could be relevant to the current focus; and shift attention quickly when important new information arrives.

The relaxed environment of the Library and the teaching aids made this interactive learning experience fun and rewarding.