The students of Level 2A continue to improve in all aspects of their English learning. This month, the class focused on the following themes: Cities, Maps, Spring and Summer, and Trees and Forests. Students were able to review material that they had learned in the first semester and expand this learning with new vocabulary and sentence structures. They are also able to apply it to role plays and brainstorms during journal writing. During Cities week, the students reviewed different buildings and people in communities and learned how cities are different from suburbs and rural areas. They learned how cities are planned in order to meet the needs of different people in different neighborhoods. During this week, the students had the wonderful opportunity to go into the community and visit the fire station on an outing. The firefighter explained all of their equipment and practices while working. Students were then able to bring this knowledge back to class and talk about their experience and write a journal about it. In the following week, students used their knowledge of communities and cities to plan out their own city. They learned about structures of maps, symbols on them and colors used to represent different areas. In a Role Play, students learned how to use directional language to guide one another through a city that they formed. During Spring and Summer week, the students reviewed the weather changes during these two months. They further reviewed and learned how these seasons impact animals and certain kinds of plants. The class also focused on clothing worn in different climates and activities that can be performed in each. Students learned about Easter as a holiday of new life and birth. They performed an Easter egg hunt Role Play and used counting language to ask and count how many eggs they had found. They also performed an Ice Cream Parlor Role Play which they used their language skills to ask for the amount, flavor and whether they wanted it in a cone or bowl. During Trees and Forests week the students learned more about the composition of different forests and how to treat nature well. A Role Play on cleaning up a park bench taught the students the importance of the 3 R’s: reduce, reuse and recycle. The students worked in teams to pick up and discuss which bin to classify the garbage in before putting it in the bin. Students continue to work hard on their phonics skills in our phonics books and the beginning of our Songbirds reading books. The students are working very hard and seeing lots of improvements!