Today, 2nd grade listened to a beautiful  book by Karen Lynn Williams called Galimoto.  We used this text to discuss geography, different cultures, and the different steps in a “How to Essay.”  Scholars also learned the word Galimoto means “car” in Chichewa, which is the national language of Malawi in Africa.   A Galimoto is a type of push toy made usually out of old wires.

In some countries, such as Malawi they don’t have a lot of stores and money to buy a toy.  So the children make their own toys.  A Galimoto is a good use of what they can make, because it can be a car one day, and the next day they can make it into another toy like a helicopter if they don’t want to play with a car anymore.

As a STEM project, scholars worked to design, build, modify, and create their own Galimotos.  They built a space ship, a car, submarine, and a helicopter!