Lucy Babcock’s second grade class has had a jam-packed year at the Lower School. They have learned firsthand about everything from apples to reptiles to the internet.
On Sept. 26, Babcock’s social studies class finished a unit on Johnny Appleseed by celebrating his birthday. Several second-graders came to school dressed like Johnny Appleseed, even with a pot on their heads. They watched a video on his life, had lots of apple snacks, but best of all was bobbing for apples!
A special visit from Kim Kilgore of Arrowhead Environmental Education Center came next. She brought reptiles like a baby alligator and rat snake or the students to see and play with. A favorite animal was Bondo, a gopher tortoise that was rescued after being hit by a car. After cleaning out infections, his shell was rebuilt with bondo. Students also learned that the gopher tortoise is our state reptile because he shares his home with many other animals.
The second grade class has also embarked on a year-long internet project called, “E-mail newsletter Project 2001-2002.” There are 220 classes participating in this project working in 22 groups of classroom partners. Students are not only from all over the U.S., but from all around the world. Darlington’s partners are from elementary schools in Mo., Ohio, Texas, Ill., Wash., Md., Pa., and N.Y.
Each month, the students compile a newsletter on the topic of the month. For October, they wrote an introduction of themselves and Darlington. “We have eight groups of reporters and recorders covering different areas and topics,” Babcock said. When all the information has been gathered, the class will edit and draft to send by e-mail to their nine classroom partners. “We look forward to hearing from each of them so we can learn more about the many regions of our country,” said Babcock.
