The Venus Flytraps explored the Second Avenue Subway and its artwork.They engaged in a scavenger hunt, which involved searching for the art work created by Sarah Sze, Chuck Close and Vik Muniz at each of the different stations. The students further explored the art of picture taking by playing with the distance between the camera and the art on the subway walls. They were able to touch the art and discuss the art techniques and the materials the artists used to create their work. Additionally, the Venus Flytraps enjoyed riding the subway! This week the Venus Flytraps visited the Transit Museum in Brooklyn. It was both an exciting and educational trip. Students were greeted by the museum educator and led downstairs, into the old subway station. "I can't believe this use to be a REAL subway station!" were many of their reactions. At the museum the Venus Flytraps had a chance to create their own vehicle! They decorated their subways and buses with stickers and even got to add wheels as the finishing touch. They soon were all driving their buses and subways along the large subway map. After this, the Venus Flytraps all got a turn " riding" an old New York City public transportation bus. This was a very exciting moment. Educator Marie led the group through the museum space showing images of the old street cars, which were pulled by horses. The most exciting part of the trip was learning the history of the different New York City trains. Students made observations about trains from the past and trains in the present. Many of them agreed that our trains today are more comfortable than they were in the past. The Venus Flytraps learned some fascinating fun facts about the Red Bird train, an old out-of-service train that was sank into the ocean and is now serving as a surface for the corals to grow. The Venus Flytraps will continue to learn how transportation has changed over time. While the Venus Flytraps continue learning about how community workers meet our needs and wants within our community and why they are important, they went to visit Big Daddy's Diner. At Big Daddy's Diner, they toured the kitchen, prep kitchen, and the big refrigerator. They also met the chefs. In addition, the Venus Flytraps made their own milkshakes in the kitchen, after eating a delicious lunch! They really enjoyed learning about a restaurant and being their own chef! The Venus Flytraps became 'experts' on a community worker from our community. They learned why a community needs specific community workers, and how they meet the community's needs. After doing research on their community worker (firefighter, chef, police officer, sanitation worker, construction worker, and doctor), they presented their community worker to another classroom. The students were very excited to present and dress up as their community worker. They shared what their job is, the tools they use, and why they are important in their community. The students really enjoyed becoming 'experts' on their community worker and sharing all they learned! During social studies, the Venus Flytraps have been learning about community workers (sanitation worker, doctor, firefighter, police officer, chef, and construction worker), with a focus on what the community worker does and why they are important. In order to become experts in the community workers, the Venus Flytraps went on a field trip to a local fire house, to meet real fire fighters. The kids learned about their work, about the tools they use, and about safety and protections from fires. The class watched the fire fighter slide down the pole, they sat in the fire truck and got a chance to spray around with the water fire extinguisher. The Venus Flytraps also had the opportunity to meet two police officers, who came to visit at school. They asked many inquisitive questions. Here are a few: "Why did you become a police officer?" "Who is protecting the people on the streets while you are here with us? The highlight of the visit was when the police officers let the Venus Flytraps sit in the police car. Every child got a turn in the car, spoke on the car radio, and checked out the front and back seats. The Venus Flytraps were very excited and enjoyed meeting the community workers! The Venus Flytraps celebrated National Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss' birthday, with a special visit from "The Cat in the Hat." They enjoyed listening to the book "Put Me in the Zoo" by Dr. Seuss read by "The Cat in the Hat" himself! The Venus Flytraps learned that the characters and illustrations make Dr. Seuss' books special and different from other kinds of books. They also got to make hats, just like the Cat in The Hat's hat. The Venus flytraps celebrated the 100th day of school in their pajamas! Double the celebration! They were in their pajamas because whole school was celebrating the reaching the Rockin Reader reading goal of 200,000 minutes! That’s a lot of reading! On the 100th day of school, the Venus Flytraps made hats, worked on counting by 10s until 100, and having fun discussions about what they would do if they had $100! Some Venus Flytraps would save their money, while others wanted to spend their money on toys and ice cream. The Venus flytraps are looking forward to another 100 days at school! The Venus Flytraps headed East of Gillen Brewer and found themselves at the East River. While heading to the river, the students used their cardinal directions to lead us to our final destination. While looking at the East River, the Venus Flytraps observed what they saw. Some observations included a bridge, Roosevelt Island, a boat, and some buildings across the river. Here are some pictures of our fun adventure! The Venus Flytraps enjoyed showing off their New York City Community knowledge to their VIPs during BINGO! The VIPs were impressed with all the information the Venus Flytraps have learned in social studies so far. The BINGO boards consisted of our needs and wants, central park, directions, and other vocabulary words discussed during social studies. The day ended with some special reading time between the kids and their VIPs. Here are some great pictures from our fun VIP Day! During social studies, the Venus Flytraps are studying how our community meets our needs and wants. To begin our explorations, the Venus Flytraps took a community walk around our neighborhood. During the walk, the students observed many different vehicles on the streets, garbage cans, the subway station, and restaurants.They were able to differentiate between apartment buildings, stores, and banks. It was so exciting to observe what our community has to offer. The Venus Flytraps will continue to explore our community and how it meets our needs and wants! |