February 10 - 14th

This week were were fortunate to have two wonderful assemblies.  The first was by storyteller, Donna Washington.  Her stories were funny, heartwarming and very interactive. You can visit her webpage and also view some stories by clicking below:

  Donna Washington's Website

Our second assembly was a performance by a U of M student group called "Groove" who use trash cans and unconventional materials as drums and musical instruments.



Here's a snip-it:



After watching the performance, the students were eager to try a bit of drumming themselves:

This week we received our first letters from our pen pals at Ann Arbor Open.  The children were very excited to share them with each other and begin writing their responses back.

In Social Studies we have continued our map exploration by learning about different forms of geographical land forms, and how to read them on a map key.

The children noticed that "sea" was not defined or mentioned as a body of water although lake, river and ocean were.  After a bit of research the children discovered that the ocean is sometimes referred to as "the sea" but that the true definition of a sea is a part of the ocean that is partially enclosed by land.

 This week we had the honor of having the Kindergartners from Mrs. Bullock's class visit us and read us their stories from writer's workshop.  The second graders had the job of listening and offering feedback.

Thank you to the room mothers for putting together another fantastic party!  The children had a wonderful time making crafts, eating yummy snacks, and passing out their Valentines.  Thank you to all the parents who donated items and also to those who came to help out!

We said goodbye to Conrad on Friday, as he and his family will be living in Italy for the next several weeks!  Conrad will be back after spring break and we plan to keep in touch 

with him while he is away!

International Night!

This week was all things Germany!  On Monday, we took our field trip with Mr. Kelly's class to Metzger's restaurant.  We tried Knackwurst, Bratwurst, Sauerbraten, Sauerkraut, Spaetzle, Schnitzel, German Potato Pancakes, German Potato Salad, and Apple Strudel.  Everything was delicious! Huge thanks to Stefanie Thomann for joining us on this trip, as well as lending us several items to add to our display for International Night!

2nd and 3rd grade buddies preparing our Germany display:

On Tuesday, we visited the First Presbyterian Church across the street to learn all about the pipe organ. This was the same instrument played by Bach, who the children have been studying in Music class as a part of our exploration of Germany.  We heard two pipe organs, learned how they worked, and got a chance to play a few notes ourselves.

This week we played a traditional German game called "Katz and Maus" (Cat and Mouse).  It is a simple but very fun game:

The children enjoyed learning about Germany and worked so hard on our display with their buddies. Here are some photos of our display, for those who could not make it to International Night: