Second
graders studied The Great Molasses Flood of 1919, and discovered that
molasses is not always slow. In fact, during this great disaster in
Boston’s North End, the molasses was traveling up to 35 MPH, destroying
everything in its path.
During this expedition, Second graders
first learned about different liquids through their science unit. They
learned about the concept of viscosity—some liquids move faster than
others. They also learned to observe, and they learned how to ask
questions and design experiments to get answers to their questions.
Second
graders also dove into history for the first time. They constructed a
historical timeline and started to explore the concept of “a very very
long time ago” like when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, to “long ago”
like when their parents were born. While they were enthralled with the
details of the Great Molasses Flood, they were also very intrigued by
the idea of what life was like in 1919. They looked at pictures of
Cambridge from that time period, and examined similarities and
differences between then and now. They also created individual timelines
of their own lives to parallel the historical timelines in their
classrooms.
Throughout
this expedition, students were working hard on building their skills in
reading and writing non-fiction. They read several historical accounts
of the Great Molasses Flood, and also read a great deal of other
non-fiction to develop these skills. In writing, they worked on writing a
retelling of the historical event as well as writing engaging captions
for pictures they had examined.
The project culminated in a
curriculum share with parents on January 23rd. Students displayed their
own personal timelines, their science research about liquids, and
historical pictures with captions they had penned themselves. They hope
to eventually share some of their learning with other students and
teachers across the district who may think that learning about liquids
is kind of boring… these students have found this to be anything but
true!