I love the Blog Catching Readers Before they Fall.  In her January 22nd post, Playing with the Big Kids, Katie Keier suggested giving 2nd graders an exploration time during the day.  Over the weekend I did some brainstorming and came up with a second grade version of "Guided Exploration." We started on Tuesday morning and we all loved it!  In 20 minutes the following occurred: A students water color painting of an owl led to a discussion with three other students about what they learned about owls last year.  Another student exploring magnets wondered why they "wouldn't stick together like they were supposed to" so we pulled out some books about magnets for him to read.  He discovered that magnets have poles and that opposite poles don't attract to each other.  He also discovered there was a special magnetic rock called lodestone (all of which he explained to me and several classmates in great detail).  Four little ones problem solved and divided up tasks while building different kinds of race tracks with geoblocks.  Another group of students painting with water colors shared techniques that they knew with each other.  This was such an "aha!" moment for me.  I LOVED listening to them share with each other as well as being invited in by them to participate in their activities.  I have a feeling they will be teaching me a lot more than I bargained for during this exploration time.  I can't wait to see what I learn from them tomorrow! Thanks Katie!