Hello, Spring!

Hello!

We were so excited to welcome some warmer temperatures this week at school! I think we have all seen plenty of boots, hats, gloves, snow pants, and scarves to last us until next winter! The kids were very happy to run and play outside without all of those layers.

Thanks for checking in to see what we've been up to in 2-2 this week, here goes! 

 We learned about the schools in Australia. We learned that at many of the schools, the children wear uniforms! They also wear a large hat when they go outside to learn or play to protect them from that hot Australia sun. This led us to an interesting debate- should kids wear uniforms to school, or not? The children in our class had to choose a side- literally! They were asked to stand on the side of the classroom that represented their point of view. The picture above is of the kids who think we should NOT have uniforms. They stated persuasive reasons that included: kids should be comfortable at school, they should be unique, and this is AMERICA, we should be able to wear what we want!

 The other side of the classroom felt that uniforms are a good idea. They show unity, it is easier to get dressed in the morning without having to decide what to wear every day, and all of the kids will look the same- so no one will feel bad for not having "cool" clothes. No one will be teased. Great reasons!

 The back of the classroom was for the kids that were undecided. They could see both points of view!

 After listening to everyone's persuasive reasoning, the children had the opportunity to change their minds and switch sides. Some kids stayed in their original position, but others were persuaded and changed sides!

 In the library this week, the children started organizing the notes they have taken about their Australian territory. They decided who is going to discuss which topic in their commercial and began to create a structure for their commercial!

Here Carson and Filip are putting their organizers in the order they want to discuss them.

Ben, Olivia, and Nikolas wrote down all of their topics, and they decided to take turns "signing up" for each section they will share in the commercial.

Adrian, Ola, and Lucy make sure their webs are full of information. They are jotting down the categories on their commercial planning page!

 During math, we learned about customary units of measure. We tried to measure our classroom using students in our class. We realized that this wasn't an accurate way to measure, because everyone is a different size! We decided it was a better idea to use a CUSTOMARY UNIT OF MEASURE, which is the same size every time, and it is recognized by everyone. We brainstormed units of US linear measures including: inches, feet, yards, and miles. The kids came up with measures from the metric system, as well.

 Here we are using yard sticks instead of 2nd graders this time!

 The children wrote amazing persuasive pieces about a favorite place that they have visited. They included persuasive terms, descriptive words, and opening & closing statements. Their work turned out AWESOME!

 James convinced all of us to zip up on a cold winter day and head to the Shedd Aquarium to see the animals, or a 3D movie! With popcorn! 

 Olivia described all of the fun and great food that can be found at the Great Wolf Lodge. I loved her poster with the paw prints all over it!

Mia enticed us with a trip to the Bahamas! Did you know you can rent a moped and zoom all over town?

Carson reminded us that Michigan is ONLY 2 hours away, and has beautiful white sandy beaches!

Jack let us know that we should go to Yellowstone National Park right away so we could see a number of animals, and the Old Faithful water geyser!

Lucy encouraged us to pack our bags to head for DISNEYworld! The food, rides, and fireworks sounded so tempting!

Filip let us know about an incredible place to see sea animals including the adorable otters or the the colossal beluga whale- the Georgia Aquarium!

Nikolas explained all of the excitement involved with car racing by describing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway! You can pitch a tent, wake up and have pancakes, and then go right to the track to see the cars coming out of the garages!

Kassie told us about all of the fun at Great America! She described rides including the Batman and Superman, but that's not all! You can also go to the amazing water park to cool off or have a bundle of sweet treats, including Dippin Dots and funnel cakes! Yum!

Matthew described his memorable trip to the Bahamas! He made us want to pack our bags and head to those warm sunny temperatures!

Mark reminded us that the Blackhawks aren't the only event that takes place at the United Center! You can go there to see the Chicago Bulls, concerts and the circus, too! While you are there, make sure to get some tasty snacks!

We read a text this week about the moon. Buddy reading was a perfect activity for this story, not only to help us practice decoding the challenging new words we encountered, but also to help us process the content.

More persuasive poster presentations! Ben told us that THE place to be was Aruba! You can take a banana boat ride where the water will splash in your face, or you can go deep sea fishing and catch a barracuda!

Adrian let us know that if we like water slides, the place to be is the Wisconsin Dells. There is also a game room and go carts if you get tired of all of that fun in the water!

Rahul, our world traveler, chose to persuade us to visit Panama! Rahul let us know about an unbelievable hotel that has a pool with a cafe in the middle of it, a bridge where you can get a terrific view of the canal, and Monkey Island where the monkeys will come up close to your boat!

Ola told us about all of the beautiful art at the Art Institute in Chicago! You can view art, or go to the children's room to make some art yourself! How fun!

Kelly described all of the fun that takes place at Disney world. She told us about Splash Mountain, the tasty chicken fingers, and the parade and fireworks that blast into the sky at night. Let's go!

Jaimie filled us in about the most terrific park in nearby Palatine! It has a twisty slide for the big kids to zoom down, and a baby slide for the little ones! It also has a sandbox and talking tubes that your voice will echo through! What fun!

What kid doesn't like toys and candy? Noah explained that every toy, game, movie, or piece of candy you could ever want can be found on one of the three floors in the Toys R Us in New York City!

Angelica also described all of the excitement at Disney World! I can't wait to go and see the castle light up at night with all of the fireworks blasting overhead! Wow!

It was Nikolas's week to shine as our star student! He brought a cool experiment to share with the class.

Nikolas attached a balloon to the top of a plastic bottle. He placed the bottle in hot water, and then in cold water. The children were so excited to see the balloon inflate in the hot water, and deflate in the cold water! They realized that there was steam coming from the hot water, which could have caused the balloon to inflate.

Nikolas shared a cute story with his classmates about Froggy playing soccer!

We were so happy to have a visit from Nikolas's mom! Nikolas is a bright, interesting boy who pays close attention to details. The children and I noted how neat his cursive handwriting is during class! We are lucky to have Nikolas in our class this year!