2nd Grade Theme-by-Theme Resources for HMR

 

Theme 1 (Silly Stories)

 

Launching the Theme

 

United Streaming:

¯    Humor (clip on Exaggeration and Surprise)

¯    Humorous Verse (clip on Drumming Up Ideas for Humorous Verse)

 

Wacky Web Tales: Create silly stories as a class on the Eduplace site

http://www.eduplace.com/tales/

 

ItÕs My Life: Create a Story: Fill in the blanks to create a silly story to read to the class

http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/body/solosports/create_story.html

 

Silly Songs for All: Download any of 15 silly songs and play with Real Player; collection from Grandfolkies OnLine; includes lyrics

http://www.grandfolkies.com/ssmp.htm

 

Yahooligans Jokes: Page includes the joke of the day as well as archived jokes submitted by children

http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/content/jokes/

 

Selection 1: Dragon Gets By

 

United Streaming: 

¯    Health: Food and Nutrition (clips on The Importance of Eating Healthy Foods, The Four Main Food Groups)

 

My Pyramid.gov: Play the My Pyramid Blast Off Game where students select foods for each meal and activities for the day to see if they have achieved the correct balance of nutrition and exercise

http://www.mypyramid.gov/kids/

 

ItÕs My Life: Food Smarts WhatÕs In It for You?: Site from PBS includes videos, interactive activities and lots of text-based information about the food pyramid and making good choices

http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/body/foodsmarts/index.html

 

Nutrition and the Food Pyramid: See the pyramid created by a first grade class and read their nutrition riddles

http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/nutrition/nutrition.html

 

Selection 2: Julius

 

United Streaming:

¯    Hogs

 

The Joy of Pigs: Watch video clip about pigs from PBS Nature site (requires Real Player)

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/pigs/

 

Barnyard Palace: Pigs: Pictures and information about pigs

http://www.agr.state.nc.us/cyber/kidswrld/general/barnyard/pigs.htm

 

Selection 3: Mrs. Brown Went to Town

 

United Streaming:

¯    LetÕs Explore: Around the Farm (clip on What Does a Farmer Do?)

 

Animals: Learn how some farm animals live in this part of the Kids Korner site

http://www.mda.state.mi.us/kids/countyfair/animals/index.html

 

Farm Animals Around the World: Site for young children about farm animals from Enchanted Learning; click on links for specific animals to learn more about them

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/coloring/farm.shtml

 

 

 

Theme 2  (Nature Walk)

 

Launching the Theme:

 

A Walk in the Woods:  Site for kids from the University of Illinois Extension is a narrated slideshow that shows the text of the narration on the screen and pictures of a walk in the woods, also in Spanish; if you click on the Index link you can start anywhere in the slideshow.

http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/woods/

 

Selection 1: Henry and Mudge and the Starry Night

 

United Streaming:

¯    The Sky Above: A First Look (clip about Galaxies and Stars or Planets in the Night Sky)

 

Backyard Camp Out: Learn what to do camping in your own backyard from Ranger Rick (also click on Nature Quest link on the left menu bar to learn what you can do with a pillbug and the Nature Journal link on the left to download a 4 page PDF journal to keep track of fun nature experiences); teachers could use site to springboard a discussion of some of the suggested outdoor activities to see if the kids have played similar games before when camping out

http://www.nwf.org/gowild/kzPage.cfm?siteId=3&departmentId=78&articleId=818

 

Campfire Songs: Lyrics to many songs to sing around the campfire  (just text; but teachers could print lyrics and share them with students after reading Henry and Mudge and the Starry Night)

http://www.macscouter.com/Songs/CampfireSongs.html

 

Listening to Nature:  Hear the sounds of animals that live in various parts of CA.

http://www.museumca.org/naturalsounds/

 

Constellations: Click on the image of a constellation such as Ursa Major or Ursa Minor to see a larger picture

http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/DIS/OHSICS/planet/constell/constell.htm

 

Selection 2: Exploring Parks with Ranger Dockett

 

United Streaming: 

¯    National Parks: Yellowstone National Park (clips on Yellowstone Park Today, The Wildlife at Yellowstone)

 

Diary of a Park Ranger: Diary of a Wisconsin park ranger http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/ce/eek/job/ranger.htm

 

National Park Service: Pictures and information about national parks, programs, park rangers, etc. (includes a 4 minute flash slideshow set to music of the National Parks in the US called From Sea to Shining Sea that takes quite a while to load. Teachers could read captions to students while showing the automated slideshow.  Click on Nature & Science link off the home page and then the Sounds link to hear sounds from the National Parks

http://www.nps.gov/

 

Selection 3: Around the Pond: WhoÕs Been Here?

 

United Streaming:

¯    Habitats: Homes for Living Things (clip on Pond Habitat)

 

Ponds and Lakes: Information about ponds and lakes and the animals that live near them and in them (teachers could share the text and pictures in the Slideshow with students to set the stage for reading Around the Pond: WhoÕs Been Here?)

http://mbgnet.mobot.org/fresh/lakes/index.htm

 

Pond Explorer: Teachers could share Exploring Pond Habitats and Virtual Pond Dip with class when reading Around the Pond: WhoÕs Been Here? (The site is not narrated; would need to read to class but could get input from students regarding which critters they think live in which parts of the pond habitat)

http://www.naturegrid.org.uk/pondexplorer/pondexplorer.html

 

Animals and Nature: Scroll to For Kids (Creature Feature) link and use pull down menu to select appropriate creatures.  On these pages youÕll find facts (to read to class) and audio files and video clips to download (requires RealPlayer)

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/

 

Pond Life Animal Printouts: Information from Enchanted Learning about animals that live in and around ponds

http://www.ZoomSchool.com/biomes/pond/pondlife.shtml

 

Additional online resources for Challenge students: To learn more about the animals from Around the Pond: WhoÕs Been Here?; these sites have pictures and information, but the reading will be challenging for most second graders.

 

Wood Duck: Site has pictures and information about wood ducks

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/woodduck.html

 

Raccoon: Information about raccoons from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/raccoon.html

 

Beaver: Information about beavers from the Canadian Museum of Nature

http://www.nature.ca/notebooks/english/beaver.htm

 

Sunfish: Pictures and information about the sunfish

http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/information/Centrarchidae.html

 

Garter Snake: Information from the Canadian Museum of Nature

http://www.nature.ca/notebooks/english/gsnake.htm

 

Great Blue Heron: Information about great blue herons from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/gbheron.html

 

River Otter: Information from the Canadian Museum of Nature

http://www.nature.ca/notebooks/english/rivotter.htm

 

EEK! Habitats: Information about backyard birds, forest animals, lakes and wetlands

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/ce/eek/nature/habitat/index.htm

 

 

 

Theme 3 (Around Town)

 

Launching the Theme:

 

United Streaming:

¯    LetÕs Explore: In the City (clip on Neighborhoods and Communities)

 

Your Neighborhood: Learn about the post office, fire station, hospital, police station, school and library in a neighborhood from BenÕs Guide to US Government for Kids

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/k-2/neighborhood/index.html

 

Selection 1:  Chinatown

 

A Virtual Journey into San FranciscoÕs Chinatown: Take a tour of Chinatown right on your computer

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/chinatown/intro.html

 

Selection 2: A Trip to the Firehouse

 

United Streaming:

Sound the Alarm: Firefighters at Work

 

Fire Safety: Learn about fire safety, fire trucks, firefighters, etc.

http://www.dos.state.ny.us/kidsroom/firesafe/firesafe.html

 

SparkyÕs Eye for Safety: Click on the object in the picture to get information about fire safety

http://www.nfpa.org/sparky/games/eye4safety/eyeforsafety.html

 

Sparky Says Search For Safety: Click on objects in the picture and Sparky will tell you how to keep safe

http://www.nfpa.org/sparky/games/sparkysays/sparkygame.html

 

Selection 3: Big Bushy Mustache

 

No suggested online resources

 

Selection 4: Jamaica Louise James

 

United Streaming:

¯    LetÕs Explore: In the City (clip on Transportation in the City)

 

New York Underground: Diagram, text and audio tour of the New York underground from National Geographic

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/nyunderground/docs/nymain.html

 

Art and Artists: Links to information about artists, types of art, art time periods, etc. from Enchanted Learning

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/artists/coloring/

 

 

 

Theme 4 (Amazing Animals)

 

Launching the Theme:

 

United Streaming:

¯    A First Look at Mammals (clip on The Great Diversity of Mammals both on Land and in the Water)

 

Animal Printouts: Search the Enchanted Learning site by the letter of the alphabet to find information on many different animals

http://www.EnchantedLearning.com/coloring/

 

Biomes of the World: Search the different biomes to learn about the animals that live there

http://mbgnet.mobot.org/

 

Selection 1:  Officer Buckle and Gloria

 

United Streaming:

¯    Working Dogs

 

Sparky Says Search For Safety: Click on objects in the picture and Sparky will tell you how to keep safe

http://www.nfpa.org/sparky/games/sparkysays/sparkygame.html

 

Selection 2:  Ant

 

United Streaming:

Junior Zoologist: Insects (clip on Ants and Bees are Social Insects)

 

Ants: Learn about different types of ants from Orkin

http://www.orkin.com/pestlibrary/pestgroup.asp?category=ants

 

GakkenÕs Photo Encyclopedia: ÒAntsÓ: Pictures, diagrams and information about ants and ant behavior

http://ant.edb.miyakyo-u.ac.jp/INTRODUCTION/Gakken79E/Page_02.html

 

Selection 3:  The Great Ball Game

 

United Streaming:

¯    Bats and How They Live

 

Bats in the Desert Southwest: Facts, information and pictures of bats

http://www.desertusa.com/jan97/du_bats.html

 

Bats 4 Kids: Click on What Do Bats Really Look Like and If They Fly Why ArenÕt They Birds

http://members.aol.com/bats4kids/

 

 

 

Theme 5 (Family Time)

 

Launching the Theme:

 

United Streaming:

¯    All About Families

¯    What is a Family?

 

ItÕs My Life: Family: PBS site with links to information about sibling rivalry and family vacations

http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/family/index.html

 

Family Tree: Printable family tree

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/books/backtoschool/Familytreepage.shtml

 

US Census Bureau: PhotoZone: Families: Photos of different types of families and some statistics

http://www.census.gov/pubinfo/www/photos/families.html

 

Selection 1:  Brothers and Sisters

 

ItÕs My Life: Family: Click on the video about sibling rivalry

http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/family/index.html

 

Selection 2:  Jalapeno Bagels

 

No suggested online resources

 

Selection 3:  Carousel

 

No suggested online resources

 

Selection 4: Thunder Cake

 

United Streaming:

¯    Investigating Weather (clip on Thunderstorms, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones)

 

How Far?: Simulation to learn how to determine the distance from the storm

http://www.greenwing.org/newgreenwing/activities/lightning.htm

 

 

 

Theme 6 (Talent Show)

 

Launching the Theme

 

What Artists Do: Pictures and information about careers in art

http://artswork.asu.edu/arts/students/careers/careers02.htm

 

Selection 1:  The Art Lesson

 

Make Your Own Art: View pictures from real artists and then make your own art on the computer or on paper on site from the Museum of Modern Art

http://www.moma.org/momalearning/artsafari/make_your_own_art.html

 

Art and Artists: Links to information about artists, types of art, art time periods, etc. from Enchanted Learning

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/artists/coloring/

 

Selection 2: Moses Goes to a Concert

 

United Streaming:

¯    No BodyÕs Perfect: EverybodyÕs Special (clip on Being Hearing Impaired)

¯    Musical Max

 

Welcome to the San Francisco Symphony for Kids Site: Learn about the instruments of the orchestra and compose your own music

http://www.sfskids.org/templates/home.asp?pageid=1

 

A Basic Guide to ASL: Video clips of signs for words in English, the alphabet and numbers that effectively illustrate the signs (but site has distracting advertising)

http://www.masterstech-home.com/ASLDict.html

 

Sign the Alphabet: A quiz from FunBrain

http://www.funbrain.com/signs/index.html

 

Selection 3:  The School Mural

 

A Virtual Tour of Cave Paintings: Take a tour of cave paintings from Harcourt

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/cavepaintings/cavepaintings.html

 

Precita Eyes on Youth Murals: Pictures of murals made by youth in San Francisco

http://www.precitaeyes.org/youthmurals.html

 

Mural Arts Program: Virtual Mural Tour: Click the M on the map of Philadelphia to see murals painted there

http://www.muralarts.org/tours/virtual.php