A 2-2 update and a HUGE thank you!

It is hard to believe that we have reached the last stretch of the school year. The children and I are working to make the very most of our last few weeks together! 

We have been:

*reading poetry; looking carefully at how the poet uses white space, stanzas, repeated words and phrases, and figurative language to carefully craft their poems!

* writing poetry, trying to incorporate these interesting poetry into our own work!

* working with decimal points, money amounts, and using the calculator to tabulate the price of various items

* investigating solids, liquids, and gases- and even considering unknown substances such as mousse, foam, and the content inside fire extinguishers! On a tour of the school, the children noticed several items that were a combination of solids, liquids, and gases

* learning about needs vs. wants

* discovering the important elements that create a prairie

* learning about the first people that lived in the Arlington Heights area- the Potowatomi Indians, and how they used the land to fulfill their basic needs.

We projected poems on the white board to search for key poetic elements.

We read poetry on our own and with our buddies to carefully process and understand each poem, using the "clues" the poets provided with their writing choices.

We took a tour of the school, searching for examples of solids, liquids, and gases! We found footballs, basketballs, water bottles, fountains, an awesome mud puddle, and cars in the parking lot to add to our notes!

Quin particularly enjoyed STEAM night last week! He brought in a camera that he took apart to investigate the pieces and better understand how it works.

A HUGE thank you to the children and families in my class! I was completely spoiled with a beautiful scrap book full of pages created by the children, a glowing garden of the sweetest 2nd grade faces, the most beautiful flowers, 21 little chalkboards that filled my bucket with amazing words and phrases, as well as additional chocolates, gift cards, and even a manicure treat! I can't tell you how blown away I was by everyone's thoughtfulness and generosity. A super special thank you to Mrs. Lokun and Mrs. Pawlik who took time out of their busy day to drop into the classroom to spend some time with the class preparing such an amazing gift. I am ONE LUCKY teacher!! Thank you!