Last week our class went on the annual second grade field trip to Chellberg Farm in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. There we learned about the process of making maple syrup. We also learned about the history of maple syrup and evolution of the technology used to make it. Finally, we had a tour of the Chellberg family house and tasted a bit of maple syrup. It was a fun day out in the woods, something most of us are not used to!
Our student business project culminated last week with our final open store day. Thank you to the many parents who were able to attend and shop! On Friday the young entrepreneurs calculated their profit, paid rent, and allocated their money to three categories: spend, save, and donate. Next week we will choose a charity that we will donate our money to. Some options are animal shelters and adoption centers, World Wildlife Fund, cancer research, and Salvation Army, to name a few.
For the last several weeks the second graders have been reading biographies. We have focused on determining importance in what we read. Because nonfiction texts have so much information, it's important to determine what is most important to remember. We have been using the attached chart to help us. The students have been taking notes as they read and differentiating between important facts/main idea versus interesting details. They have also been telling the main idea on the online learning journal, Seesaw. This app was shared with parents at parent/teacher conferences. Feel free to check out your child's work, comment on it, and/or like it. We will continue our biography work after spring break. On April 26 from 1-1:45 we will culminate our biography unit with a Living Statue Gallery to which we will invite parents. Mark your calendar!
In the past two weeks we've had two different parents in the classroom sharing something interesting with us. Last week Rich Copans, Maxwell's dad, taught the class more about business. He taught us how to calculate revenue and profit. The class played a trivia game with Rich and everyone walked away with a share in one of many stocks (pretend shares, of course!). We had a great time and learned a lot. Thank you, Rich! More recently on Friday, Hania Al-Hallaq, Bayaan's mom, gave the class an Arabic lesson. She began by reading The Gruffalo in Arabic. Bayaan also read us a story in Arabic! Afterwards, everyone learned how to say My Name is... I am a boy/girl in Arabic. Thank you, Hania and Bayaan! If you have something to teach/share with our class, please let Ms. Gillespie know. We would love to have you!
There will not be a newsletter next week due to spring break. Thank you to Lizzie and her family for taking Cookie! Best wishes for an exciting and relaxing break. Safe travels!