Taste Testers #6: Riley's Snicker Salad

 On Thursday Riley's Snicker Salad was on our school lunch menu.  The class loved it!  I heard one student say he could eat Riley's Snicker Salad every day!  This recipe was a hit!  The class was excited to get leftovers again the next day!

Making Venn Diagrams

 Last week the students had the chance to make their own Venn Diagrams.  They choose a topic with 2 different choices within that topic.  Then the students went around the room to gather their information.  Each classmate was asked about the topic choices and added to the appropriate place in the Venn Diagram.  The final step was to write 4 true statements about their completed Venn Diagram.  I think their favorite part was the chance to be up out of their seats and chatting with their classmates to gather their information!

Classroom Election and a Visit from the Mayor

 Over the last few weeks in 2nd grade we've been learning about the original 13 colonies who were ruled by King George 111 of Great Britain.  We learned about how the people in the colonies felt about this, what their frustrations were, and a few of the events leading up to the Revolutionary War.  Once the colonies were independent of Great Britain, they had to establish a way of choosing their own leaders.  This transitioned into learning about how we vote for our elected officials.  We applied this concept by having our own classroom election for our weekly classroom jobs.  The students all chose their favorite job that they wanted to "run" for.  We held a classroom election for the students to practice their voting skills.  Our "elected officials" carried out their jobs for the week.

To wrap up this unit, we asked Mayor Resseman to visit our classroom to talk with us about his job as mayor.  The students were able to learn about the election process, what his duties are as mayor, how taxes work to pay for things that Lanesboro needs, and why he enjoys being mayor.  It was such a fun discussion! Thank you Mayor Resseman for visiting 2nd grade!

Taste Testers #5: Matthew's Peach Cobbler!

 Another recipe from our cookbook that made the January lunch menu: Matthew's Peach Cobbler.  The students were delighted to not only have the chance to taste test this on Thursday, but they also enjoyed leftovers on Friday!

Taste Testers #4: Asher's Party Potatoes!

 We love that our recipes are on the lunch menu and Asher's Party Potatoes did not disappoint!  They were classroom approved!

Cookbook Money Donation

On Thursday we handed off our donation to Ms. Anderson, the 4th/5th grade teacher.  She is from Spring Grove and knows Grady and his family.  She was willing to deliver it for us.  We were so excited to be able to donate a total of $450!  This total amount came from our cookbook sales, the money that Mr. Semmen gave back to the class to put towards the donation, and a donation made by one of our families.  Each student wrote a little message to Grady that we put in a book.  The class also wanted to include a copy of our cookbook.  We wish Grady and his family well.

Taste Testers #3: Adelyn's Apple Crisp!

 Today on the school menu was Adelyn's Apple Crisp!  The 2nd graders were so excited to have dessert out of our cookbook to go with their chili today!

Record Breaking Cookbook Sales!

 This was a very exciting year for the 2nd graders as we continued to reach every cookbook sale goal we set!  Classes generally go into the sales with the goal of selling at least 100 cookbooks.  We quickly surpassed that, and by the end of the three weeks, we sold 347 cookbooks! We made $451 thanks to generous customers along the way. Thank you so much to everyone who supported our class in this project!  With the money we earned we do four things:

1) pay back the school for printing supplies

2) buy something we need for our classroom

3) buy something we want for our classroom

4) use money to help someone

The first order of business we had to take care of was to pay back the school for printing supplies.  This is such a good lesson for the students as they come to understand that supplies are not free when you are running a business.  We pay back the school two cents for each page copied.  This year our cookbooks were 25 pages, so this meant we paid back the school 50 cents per cookbook.

We invited Mr. Semmen into our classroom today to pay back $173.50.  We talked with Mr. Semmen about what we are doing with the remainder of the money.  Once we had established how much would be paid back for printing supplies, we discussed who we wanted to help with our money.  We decided on a 2nd grade boy in Spring Grove who is currently going through cancer treatment.  The students quickly decided they wanted to donate $150 to this boy and his family.  I was so proud of the class for their generosity.  When the class shared with Mr. Semmen their plan to donate this money to Grady in Spring Grove, he asked us to take $100 back from what we paid the school and add that to our donation.  We are so thankful to Mr. Semmen and Mr. Schultz for making this decision.  Now we are able to donate $250 to Grady!

This leaves a remainder of $127.50 for the class to purchase supplies that we need and some things that we want.  A need that the students have decided on is some sort of new blinds or curtains for our window.  Our current blinds don't work very well, and on really sunny days, there are spots in the room that are too bright.  Some wants the students have discussed are maybe a few new pillows and books.   

Thanks again to everyone for helping to make this such a successful project!  I will continue to update in future posts on what the class has decided to purchase.  If you try a recipe from the cookbook, we'd love to see a picture and post it on our blog!

Taste Tester #2!

 This sweet second grader made "Sully's Chocolate Chip Cookies" from our cookbook over his holiday break.  They look delicious!  Thank you so much for sharing your picture with us!