In the spirit of Thanksgiving, this week we read "Sopa de Piedras."

Monday, we discussed and read the story.
In the story three soldiers come to a village looking for food. None of the villagers want to share their food for whatever reason.
So the soldiers go to the plaza, put a Stone in a pot, and begin to cook "soup." Little by Little, the villagers come, and to make the soup better, they each bring an ingredient.
It results in a delicious pot luck soup for the entire village to enjoy.

After, the students illustrated the ingredients that the villagers had brought, and added to the pot. (CCLS Literature 1)
Tuesday, we created a graph of the ingredients students brought in. For first-time graphs, I thought the students did an excellent job. (CCLS Math 1.MD.4)
Wednesday
Our big celebration!
 |
| Preparando la sopa |

All morning long students prepared for our Thanksgiving lunch; cutting and peeling vegetables, mixing and stirring ingredients.
After lunch students enjoyed their feast.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Nuestra investigacion de la nacionalidad empieza con los simbolos. Los estudiantes ya saben muchos simbolos; por ejemplo, el signo de McDonalds, corazones para amor, y una cara feliz para algo bueno. Pero en este unidad, los estudiantes pensaran sobre los simbolos de nuestro pais, y tambien de Puerto Rico.
?Que es especial sobre tu ciudad?
"I like Chucky Cheese y las tiendas y el cine. Es especial porque me gusta."
Jeremie
"My ciudad is fun. Puedo jugar. There is an ice cream place almost across the street. We also play there."
Yanmarie
"We got to eat everywhere. We can go to Wendy's and McDonalds. We always have fun with our friends in school."
Chrisbellyz
"Buffalo is on the TV. My Dad and I always like it. In Buffalo, we can play games."
Aiden
"A veces, vamos en el parque con mi Tia y mi hermana. Siempre esta especial porque esta llena de lugares especiales como los parques y el zoo."
Julietsie
"I go in the park and my Mom and my Dad and my sister. I like the slides."
Lelany
"I like the park because I like the games when Buffalo wins. The bad teams lose. They win the game again, then they come out again. I like hockey."
Marciano
"Voy a la playa en Bufalo. Y la picina. Compro comida. Voy con mi hermano y Papa."
Marcos V.
Esta semana la tema es la amistad. Cuando los estudiantes trabajan en sus centros, ellos están pensando y creando cuentos sobre amistad.
Melangell
"Me and Brookelynn are best friends forever. I am here anytime she needs me. She is kind to me and that makes me happy as she is."
Shastalyne
"The animals live in a tank. Burro esta jugando el pato. Ellos están comiendo con la familia.
As our year came to a close, we had a significant amount of students in the class choose to publish books.
This was a desired result I had intended for all students, but I did not push those students that did not feel ready. Some students needed a little help. For example, their story began in the block área, and they may have needed some help documenting it.
Other students were quite content on creating a new story every day, using different médiums to develop their story, in lieu of actually creating a book.
I would like to thank the students for their hard work this year, their creativity, and their passion that engaged them through the last day of school!
Here is a little collection of the authors in salón 120 after presenting their books to the class:


Congratulations and best of luck to you in second grade!
Yesterday students traveled to the Burchfield Art and Nature Center. What an incredibly lovely day we had!
After lunch, we explored the creek. Wilberto and Shaytara mastered the art of skipping stones.
Next, we began our hike. We traveled for a while down the path, when it ended. Soooooo......we decided to cross the creek. (Not my best responsible teacher moment but the students sure were having fun!)
I yelled at the students, "Be careful, don't fall in!" Well guess who was the first to fall in? Yup. It was me!
On the other side of the creek we discovered an adventure wonderland!!! Fueron colinas y mas colinas. They were meant for dirtbikes, I believe. Our students sure had fun climbing them!
We ended the day in the sun on a hill. Some students took the opportunity to rest, some decided to roll down the hill, and others worked together to créate a fairy house.
A successful outing and a beautiful day. Nature is a wonderful way to spark children's curiousity and créate wonder about their environment.