Mrs. Nash's Class

Mrs. Nash's Second Grade Class
Cumberland Elementary
Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin

I read the picture book IT’S FALL, by Linda Glaser. In this story, a young boy describes what happens to animals, plants, and people in autumn. The next day I re-read the book, only this time I asked the students to watch to see how we could use our senses to experience fall in our area. We looked at each page and discussed how our senses would be used to gain a better fall experience as expressed in the book.

The next day we took a field trip to the Audubon Nature Center. Students were asked to pay particular attention to the sights and sounds, as well as other related senses while we were touring the nature center. I explained to the students that we were going to take photographs and write Sensory poems about our trip field trip.

We used a Fuji Film A310 digital camera to capture the experiences. We are not allowed to place student’s pictures on the Internet so only nature photographs were taken.

One the third day I modeled how to write a sensory poem. Then the students were shown a slide show of the pictures that were taken during the field trip. As they watched the show, they were asked to compose their own sensory poem. We then combined our ideas to make one class poem.

Our experience at the Audubon Nature Center!

We saw a crow when we were on the sixty - foot tower. The crow was gliding in the sky it was an amazing and fantastic sight to see. We also saw a squirrel’s cache. How smart the animals are to store up for the winter.

We heard the crow go like “caa – caa”, the sound was loud as the crow soared over our heads. We also heard chipmunks eating a loot of pinecones seeds and a frog going ribbit - ribbit. Do they know winter is approaching?

We smelled leaves and the berries getting burned in the big bonfire. We can’t help but think about how these pieces of nature won’t get a chance to replenish the earth.

We touched a very fuzzy leaf and a pinecone that a squirrel was eating. We also touched a turtle shell and some fur, the fur felt excellent- it was so smooth to the touch.

We wonder what nature thinks of us?

In social studies we are learning how to make VISUAL DISCOVERIES. Student nature pictures were displayed on a large wall containing the visual discoveries they made when closely observing their photographs.

We see milkweed. We see a hole and hairs on leaves. We see something that looks like a fungus! It looks like there is a crack in the tree. There is a bite out of the leaf and some seeds. How did the fungus get there? We wonder if the fungus came from dead leaves?

What do you see?

Michael, Hank

We see holes and fungus and moss. We also see logs, dirt, and soil. We want to know who made the holes and what are they used for!

What do you see?

Nicole, Brady, and Anna

Whitefish Bay Reading Language Arts Standards:
Content Standard #6
Effectively uses a variety of styles appropriate for
the intended audience.
E. Writes in response to literature, personal letters,
and poetry.
F. Dictates or writes with a logical sequence in a
variety of formats.

Content Standard #7
Uses appropriate grammatical and mechanical
conventions in writing.

Whitefish Bay Technology Standards:
Technology Standard # 1
The student will develop the ability to use a variety
of technology tools in order to facilitate and
demonstrate learning.

Technology Standard # 2
Students will use technology to communicate in various
ways.

Technology Standard # 3
Student’s will understand and operate computer systems
and other technologies.