Last Trip to Cobble Hill Health Center

Chocolate Factory

In celebration for finishing our class read aloud Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl, we decided we now need to visit a real chocolate factory. Before taking our field trip to Cacao Prieto, a kosher chocolate factory in Red Hook, we learned about the actual process of making chocolate.  Through a slideshow and nonfiction literature, we practiced putting the steps of making chocolate in the correct order and learned new vocabulary words like tempering, conching, and nib. Check out the slideshow we learned from here.

Then, we focused on the who of chocolate making, taking time to recognize each person and each job that is involved in making chocolate. We thought about the farmers and harvesters of cacao beans, the delivery people who ship the cacao beans, and the factory workers and chocolatiers who turn the beans into chocolate bars. We took a look at the Cacao Prieto website and learned about the real workers we would meet, and the history behind the factory. We wrote focused questions to different staff members, such as, “Is it hard to mold chocolate? Do you have to do it carefully?” and “What is it like to work in a chocolate factory?” Our field trip to Cacao Prieto also connected to our social studies unit on communities, where we discussed how places like factories can change a community, as well as the Caribbean community, as the beans come from the Dominican Republic.

On the field trip we saw beautiful roasting machines, conching machines, as well as different chocolatiers. Second graders got to taste 3 different types of organic dark chocolate- original, vanilla, and Dominican spice.

Ask your child to describe one of the machines they saw, or how the chocolate tasted!

Last Trip to Cobble Hill Health Center

We prepeared for our last trip by reading the book Mrs. Katz and Tush, about the friendship that develops between an older Jewish woman and her neighbor, a young boy. We saw how each of the characters in the book learned and benefitted from their relationship.

Our trip to the center was another success. The children performed songs and dances from the Chumash play, and Dalia and Jessica did individual performances. All the children chatted with the residents, showing the social skills and confidence they have gained this year.

We are so proud of the children and the chesed (kindness) they have shown this year in our visits.

Art with Iviva:

As we near the end the school year, Iviva gave us an opportunity to request our favorite art activities. Most of us chose weaving, while some of us made new oil pastel drawings or collages. Below are some images of our works in progress. Most of us have already brought home our portfolios from the spring semester. Ask us to show you all of the art we made this spring.