Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Awe, her first research paper

Summer turned in her first research paper today. Yeah, she's seven. Its on the Ocean, which as you know, is a pretty broad subject.

Now, I realize the 2nd grade was long (long) ago for me. As I recall, the hardest thing we did were those dreaded timed math test. everything else was basically projects that included the entire class. Nothing requiring my parents to help me find materials suitable for a seven year old's theories on the ocean as an ecosystem. (OK, so the teacher's blog did give suggestions on where to find info, but still...)

Also, before writing papers, didn't we all learn the process? Like creating an outline so you kind of keep your thoughts organized? I believe my 1st paper came in about 5th grade. I imagine it should have been in 4th grade, but those of you in the same class I was in (Mrs. J) know we did not learn a thing that year. What a dear sweet woman, but she really put me behind.

OH and she had to type it.Which means after an HOUR at the computer, Jason swooped in and finished typing from her rough draft. She's 7. Her typing skill have not fully developed. Apparently she needs more time on webkinz. Or her own facebook page. But it was a good experience for her to get familiar with Word and spell check and all that good stuff.

Here is a sample from her 2 page paper. This is one of my favorite paragraphs:


"We need the oceans. If we didn't have the oceans, we would all die. We would not be the only things to die, animals would not be able to survive. It does so many things for us. It gives us many things such as food, oil and natural gas. Many people like to eat fish from the ocean. Sushi is raw fish. My favorite foods from the ocean are shrimp and fish sticks. That is why we need the ocean. "
Originally, she wrote the word "die" 3 times here. I convinced her to change it to "could not survive". It was sounding a bit morbid.

Friday, she has a visual aid due. Its my job to get that rolling. Hopefully I can just get her started and then keep my hands out of it. Conferences are next week, so I guess we will see what her teacher thinks then:)

I just want to know what we are going to do when we have 3 kids in school and they are ALL assigned challenging projects. I may have to hire someone.

6 comments:

Not your Happily Ever After said...

Just Pray! Pray that the teachers will have pity on us and limit the projects to a couple a year. This Coming from a mom who has three kids in school and two of them have those dreaded projects to do.

Theresa said...

Oh Jennie, I love it!!! Great paragraph,so cute! the fish sticks made me laugh!!! I love how kids think! and I love your suggestion "could not survive." Great idea! I have a hard time keeping my hands out of the kids work, too! you have a smart cookie on your hands!

Kristin said...

2nd grade? Honestly??? Good job Mom taking care of everything and making it all look so simple:)!

Keep up the good work! Oh, and I love the paragraph!!! Good job Summer!!!

hien k. d. said...

love the excerpt! so cute, Jen! i can't believe that she's doing this in 2nd grade, though. it's harder and harder to be a kid these days...

Anonymous said...

I love it that fish sticks come from the ocean. How sweet is she! This assignment seems a bit much for second grade (I don't remember really writing papers in high school, let alone 2nd grade!) but when I met her, she told me she liked homework. Hopefully this writing paper business won't change her mind :())

Life is Love said...

I think that our kids are doing things earlier and earlier than we are. I don't think I was writing papers in 2nd grade at all. Katelyn is in 6th grade and has only done a couple of intense papers. I know Summer will do awesome!