Happy March! It has definitely come "in like a lion" with more snow in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow! We are all looking forward to milder temperatures and Daylight Savings time this weekend. Little by little, it's starting to feel more like spring.
Thanks to Chris McGowan for celebrating Mardi Gras with us today. The homemade king cake was delicious and the children enjoyed the hunt for the baby hidden inside.
FROM MS. ATIYA
Last week we celebrated the 100th day of school! We talked about how 100 days equals 2,400 hours, 144,000 minutes, and 8,640,000 seconds! The kids had a blast reading these big numbers and discussing things they have learned over the last 100 days of school. It feels great to know that the kids actually identified something they learned and were so eager to share it.
We all had a remarkable time at the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater performance.. The kids were so thrilled to be on the Metra train overlooking our beautiful city through the windows. There was a lot of laughing, talking, and cuddling with friends and parents as we anxiously commuted to the theater. The performance was beyond words. The kids all talked about how the dancers were so strong and moved around so easily. We discussed the gracefulness the dancers had and how many hours of practicing allows them to get it just right.
I want to say thank you to all of the parents, aunties, and grandmas for coming and helping the field trip experience go so smoothly. The kids were so excited to have you there. Everyone had the happiest faces and the best smiles around. We all had a great time together and will cherish this experience for a life time.
MS. HARRISON'S CONFERENCE
I spent two days at the Illinois Computing Educators Annual Conference in St. Charles, IL. I am always amazed that this state conference, organized by volunteers, can attract such innovative, smart speakers. I always learn so much and come back with lots of new ideas. Here's one for you and your Lego/Minecraft fans at home. Build with Chrome has partnered with Lego to create an amazing platform for virtual building. All you need is to download the Google Chrome browser for free and go to buildwithchrome.com. Here is their description:
Welcome to Build - the largest LEGO® set the has ever seen. Developed with the latest web technology in Chrome, Build is a place for everyone to imagine, create and explore building with LEGO bricks online.
Choose to build on any plot in the world across your laptop, phone, or tablet. Once you’ve created something, publish it on the map, and share it with your friends.
If you’d like to train to become a great Master Builder, visit the Build Academy. Complete a series of exciting challenges over different locations and you can unlock cool new Lego bricks along the way. Plus, you’ll meet loads of characters from The LEGO® Movie!
I haven't explored it much yet and hope to set it up this week on our classroom desktops. If your child tries it at home, let us know what he/she discovers and creates.
WHAT WE ARE LEARNING
In math, we are laying the conceptual foundation to solve subtraction with regrouping (or borrowing). Instead of just teaching the children a strategy for solving these problems, we are exploring what happens to the tens or the hundreds places when we borrow or "trade." For example, 73 = 7 tens and 3 ones. Once you borrow or trade, the value of 73 doesn't change. It instead becomes 6 tens and 13 ones.
In reading, the children are creating ebooks using the iPad app Book Creator to describe nonfiction features and their purposes. First the children used their iPads to go on a photo scavenger hunt to find photos, captions, a table of contents, index, glossary, map, boldfaced print, etc. Once they have all the photos they need, the children will import them into Book Creator and add text - and maybe audio and video! Stay tuned for the final ebooks to be "published" in the coming weeks!
ADMISSIONS VISITORS
You may have heard about all the visitors we've had lately. I serve on the Admissions Committee and it is my responsibility to host admission candidates. The visitors are second graders whose families hope to have their child attend Lab in third grade. Each candidate spends a half day with us. Your children deserve a compliment for how warm and welcoming they have been. Each candidate has enjoyed his/her visit and is often disappointed to leave after lunch.
100 ACTS OF KINDNESS
Our 100 Acts of Kindness display continues to grow and we invite you to stop by and take a look. To inspire more kindness and reinforce the idea that "kindness is contagious," we watched this video called Kindness Boomerang. Let us know if you catch your child being kind and we will add that act of kindness to our display!
Thanks to Chris McGowan for celebrating Mardi Gras with us today. The homemade king cake was delicious and the children enjoyed the hunt for the baby hidden inside.
FROM MS. ATIYA
Last week we celebrated the 100th day of school! We talked about how 100 days equals 2,400 hours, 144,000 minutes, and 8,640,000 seconds! The kids had a blast reading these big numbers and discussing things they have learned over the last 100 days of school. It feels great to know that the kids actually identified something they learned and were so eager to share it.
We all had a remarkable time at the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater performance.. The kids were so thrilled to be on the Metra train overlooking our beautiful city through the windows. There was a lot of laughing, talking, and cuddling with friends and parents as we anxiously commuted to the theater. The performance was beyond words. The kids all talked about how the dancers were so strong and moved around so easily. We discussed the gracefulness the dancers had and how many hours of practicing allows them to get it just right.
I want to say thank you to all of the parents, aunties, and grandmas for coming and helping the field trip experience go so smoothly. The kids were so excited to have you there. Everyone had the happiest faces and the best smiles around. We all had a great time together and will cherish this experience for a life time.
MS. HARRISON'S CONFERENCE
I spent two days at the Illinois Computing Educators Annual Conference in St. Charles, IL. I am always amazed that this state conference, organized by volunteers, can attract such innovative, smart speakers. I always learn so much and come back with lots of new ideas. Here's one for you and your Lego/Minecraft fans at home. Build with Chrome has partnered with Lego to create an amazing platform for virtual building. All you need is to download the Google Chrome browser for free and go to buildwithchrome.com. Here is their description:
Welcome to Build - the largest LEGO® set the has ever seen. Developed with the latest web technology in Chrome, Build is a place for everyone to imagine, create and explore building with LEGO bricks online.
Choose to build on any plot in the world across your laptop, phone, or tablet. Once you’ve created something, publish it on the map, and share it with your friends.
If you’d like to train to become a great Master Builder, visit the Build Academy. Complete a series of exciting challenges over different locations and you can unlock cool new Lego bricks along the way. Plus, you’ll meet loads of characters from The LEGO® Movie!
I haven't explored it much yet and hope to set it up this week on our classroom desktops. If your child tries it at home, let us know what he/she discovers and creates.
WHAT WE ARE LEARNING
In math, we are laying the conceptual foundation to solve subtraction with regrouping (or borrowing). Instead of just teaching the children a strategy for solving these problems, we are exploring what happens to the tens or the hundreds places when we borrow or "trade." For example, 73 = 7 tens and 3 ones. Once you borrow or trade, the value of 73 doesn't change. It instead becomes 6 tens and 13 ones.
In reading, the children are creating ebooks using the iPad app Book Creator to describe nonfiction features and their purposes. First the children used their iPads to go on a photo scavenger hunt to find photos, captions, a table of contents, index, glossary, map, boldfaced print, etc. Once they have all the photos they need, the children will import them into Book Creator and add text - and maybe audio and video! Stay tuned for the final ebooks to be "published" in the coming weeks!
ADMISSIONS VISITORS
You may have heard about all the visitors we've had lately. I serve on the Admissions Committee and it is my responsibility to host admission candidates. The visitors are second graders whose families hope to have their child attend Lab in third grade. Each candidate spends a half day with us. Your children deserve a compliment for how warm and welcoming they have been. Each candidate has enjoyed his/her visit and is often disappointed to leave after lunch.
100 ACTS OF KINDNESS
Our 100 Acts of Kindness display continues to grow and we invite you to stop by and take a look. To inspire more kindness and reinforce the idea that "kindness is contagious," we watched this video called Kindness Boomerang. Let us know if you catch your child being kind and we will add that act of kindness to our display!
MAPLE SUGAR FIELD TRIP
This Thursday, we will take our annual second grade trip to the Chellburg Farm/Bailey Homestead at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. While there, we will travel back in time to see how three different groups of people, living in three different time periods, collected sap from sugar maple trees to make sugar and syrup. Those people are the Potowatomi Native Americans, the pioneers, and the Chellburg family.
Please see the document below for all the important details:
This Thursday, we will take our annual second grade trip to the Chellburg Farm/Bailey Homestead at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. While there, we will travel back in time to see how three different groups of people, living in three different time periods, collected sap from sugar maple trees to make sugar and syrup. Those people are the Potowatomi Native Americans, the pioneers, and the Chellburg family.
Please see the document below for all the important details:
Be sure to ask you favorite second grader how many gallons of sap it takes to make one gallon of syrup. You might be surprised by the answer!
Have a good week!
Have a good week!