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2nd Grade  Project 3 weeks

Stress-Less Showdown: Heart & Mind Harmony

Kylie M
Updated
SCI.2.SEP.7
L4
SS.BH1.b.2
M.2.MD.D.10
Effective Communication
+ 4 more
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Purpose

This learning experience focuses on equipping second graders with the knowledge and skills to understand and manage stress, particularly within competitive environments. Through hands-on experiments, collaborative projects, and personal reflection, students will learn to identify physical and emotional stress responses, utilize relevant vocabulary, and practice calming strategies. The project culminates in a collective mural and 'Peaceful Expo' to showcase their insights and promote healthy competition, fostering empathy, self-awareness, and community engagement.

Learning goals

Students will learn to identify and explain stress-related vocabulary, as well as recognize their own physical and emotional responses to competition. They will develop skills to measure and graph heart rate data, analyze it, and draw conclusions about stress effects on their bodies. Through collaborative activities, students will design and implement calming strategies and create visual representations of healthy competition, fostering effective communication and critical thinking. They will engage in self-directed learning, utilizing reflection and peer feedback, to refine their understanding and strategies for managing stress.

Standards
  • [Wisconsin] SCI.2.SEP.7 - Students engage in argument from evidence, in conjunction with using crosscutting concepts and disciplinary core ideas, to make sense of phenomena and solve problems.
  • [Wisconsin] L4 - Demonstrate an ability to collaboratively and independently build vocabulary knowledge when encountering unknown words including cultural, general academic, and discipline-specific terms and phrases; use vocabulary appropriate to the context and situation.
  • [Wisconsin] SS.BH1.b.2 - Identify situations and places that impact a person’s emotions.
  • [Wisconsin] M.2.MD.D.10 - Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set with up to four categories. Solve simple put together, take-apart, and compare problems using information presented in a bar graph.
Competencies
  • Effective Communication - Students practice listening to understand, communicating with empathy, and share their learning through exhibiting, presenting and reflecting on their work.
  • Collaboration - Students co-design projects with peers, exercise shared-decision making, strengthen relational agency, resolve conflict, and assume leadership roles.
  • Critical Thinking & Problem Solving - Students consider a variety of innovative approaches to address and understand complex questions that are authentic and important to their communities.
  • Content Expertise - Students develop key competencies, skills, and dispositions with ample opportunities to apply knowledge and engage in work that matters to them.
  • Self Directed Learning - Students use teacher and peer feedback and self-reflection to monitor and direct their own learning while building self knowledge both in and out of the classroom.

Products

Students will produce individual booklets containing stress-related vocabulary, graphs of emotional responses, and bodily stress indicators. They will also create mini-posters featuring three calming strategies. Collaboratively, the class will design a healthy competition booklet, incorporating collective insights and data. Additionally, a class mural will be crafted, showcasing themes of stress and healthy competition, which will become part of the 'Peaceful Expo' display in the school library.

Launch

Kick off the learning experience with a dynamic 'Stress Busters' day where students rotate through various exciting physical activities designed to elevate their heart rates. Following each activity, guide them through calming exercises to observe and discuss the physiological changes they experience. This hands-on launch will introduce students to the concept of stress and its management in a tangible way, setting the stage for the exploration of stress and competition within the classroom.

Exhibition

Transform the school library into a vibrant 'Peaceful Expo' where students showcase their collaborative class mural depicting themes of stress and healthy competition. Set up designated times for other classes, parents, and community members to visit, interact with the displays, and engage with interactive elements like heart rate measurement stations. Invite attendees to explore the murals, read through individual booklets and mini-posters, and participate in stress-relief activities guided by the students, celebrating their growth and understanding of stress management.