Photos from the Pier

I have been trying to figure out the best way to share the details of the plan presented at the City Council Meeting in June, and everything - from videos to slideshows - that I put together seemed to distract from the hard work of these students.  Their work should speak for itself.  So, that being said, here is their work!

The Department of Health made sure that the food vendors
on the pier sold only fresh fruits and vegetables.

The Department of Transportation built a boat dock that
all boats could use when traveling to the pier, but also
allowed for boat rentals for a small fee.

The Department of Parks and Recreation worked with the
Department of Transportation to plant trees along side the
designated bike paths.

The Department of Sanitation built a shack near the dog run
that would supply free bags and scoopers for pet owners
to help clean up after their pets.
Located next to the shack is one of the many restrooms
built by the Department of Sanitation.  They are cleaned daily
and have hand-dryers (not towels) to help keep the pier clean.

The Department of Sanitation built dozens of recycling bins
throughout the pier.  Brown compost bins and black trashcans
are also seen throughout the pier.

The Department of Sanitation worked with the Department of
Transportation to create a boat that would clean the water
along the Hudson River near the pier.

The Department of Transportation built a subway station and
rerouted the A/C/E trains to stop at the pier.

The Department of Sanitation built a compost dump that
is both utilized by the workers at the pier as well as
by those in the nearby community (it is located next
to the West Side Highway for easy access)

This 3-story building was built by the Department
of Health and includes a Senior Center, a dance studio for
all ages, a healthy restaurant, and a rooftop playground.

This boat, built by the Department of Parks and Recreation,
is a museum about the history of the west side of Manhattan. 

This large, glass-bottomed boat gives tours to many tourists
each day.  It was built by the Department of Transportation.

The Department of Transportation built safety
signs and crosswalks to protect both pedestrians
and motorists alike.  Orange bike paths show
where biking is permitted on the pier.

The Department of Animal Care and Control
built a small-scale zoo for students and visitors to
learn about local wildlife and rescued animals.

A sprinkler park for children was built by the Department of
Parks and Recreation

A grassy area for off-leash hours for pets as well as
a meeting space for daily bird watching tours was
created by the Department of Animal Care and
Control.  This was built to take into consideration
the elderly who want to enjoy the pier.

A playground for children was built by the Department of
Parks and Recreation.  It includes a slide, jungle gym, and other
fun activities.  The Department of Health added a centralized
water fountain as well.

Picnic tables are available to those who want to eat at the pier
and spend the day there.  They were built by the Department
of Parks and Recreation.

There are many boats available for rent at the boat dock,
including glass-bottom boats that come with a tour
guide as well as free canoes for day trips.

The Department of Parks and Recreation
built benches throughout the pier to meet
the needs of parents, the elderly, and those
visiting for longer periods of time who
may need to simply sit for a while.

A gazebo is available for guests at the pier.  A nearby garden
grows fresh fruits and vegetables that are later sold at the food stands.
Local bees (on the roof) help pollinate the plants in the garden.
This was all built by the Department of Health and the Department
of Parks and Recreation.

A view of the interior of the gazebo (with benches)
and the healthy garden mentioned above.

A dog run was built by the Department of
Animal Care and Control to allow for
constant off-leash time for animals.

Two beehives were built amongst the trees to help
pollinate the plants throughout the pier.  These
were built by The Department of Animal Care
and Control to also help save the New York population
of bees.

Signs are posted on roadways to improve
safety by the Department of Transportation.

A bus stop was built at the pier by the Department of
Transportation.

A taxi stand, built by the Department of Transportation, is next to
waiting guides for senior citizens.  These guides help seniors
find their way around and tell them about daily programs happening.
The Department of Health employs these guides, also increasing
jobs in the city of New York.

A water slide and swimming pool were built by the Department
of Parks and Recreation for all citizens to enjoy during the
warm summer months.

Again, I want to thank everyone who came to our City Council Meeting, everyone who provided materials for our fantastic model-building, and all of the families of our hard-working students.

This was an amazing year in second grade!!  Looking back through this blog has brought so many great memories to mind as we start thinking towards next school year.  Good luck with everything next year and please, as I've said before, don't hesitate to email me or contact me should you need anything.

- Liz

The Bill Passed!

Thanks to all of the "city council members" who attended our meeting last Thursday.  We presented the Public Pier Bill as well as our model of what we thought Pier 15 should have under this proposed law.  After some serious discussion, presentations from both the high rise developer and our committee, and a Q&A session with the creators of the bill, it was voted on.  It passed - 15 to 4!  I'll post more photos with captions this week, but didn't want to leave our readers hanging about the fate of our vote.

In other news, the year is winding down in second grade.  We're spending a lot of time reflecting on our favorite parts of this year, talking about our hopes for next year, and realizing how much we've grown this year.  Tomorrow we will be visiting the third grade classes to ask the teachers and students questions about third grade and tour their rooms.  I can't believe we're almost third graders!

Public Pier Bill Open Forum

The Pier 15 Plan

Developers proposed building two large, luxury high-rises on Pier 15.  While it has been abandoned for a long time, not all citizens in District 3 were fans of this plan.  We took their concerns to City Council and were told to return on June 19th with our own plan.  Both the high-rise developers and the staff at the Make the City Better Show will be presenting their models and ideas for the future of Pier 15 at 1:45pm on Thursday, June 19th.  

To create the plan we wanted to present, we first worked in our NYC government departments to figure out what we needed to include in a public plan.  The Department of Transportation said we needed a bus stop, bike paths, a subway station entrance, a boat dock, cross-walks, and lots more.  The Department of Sanitation voiced the need for a compost pile, trash cans, recycling bins, hand-dryers in the bathrooms, and more.  The Department of Health urged us to include water fountains, bathrooms, food carts/stands that sold healthy food options, a vegetable garden, and places for people to exercise both young and old.  The Department of Parks and Recreation said we needed green space, play grounds, a swimming area, many trees, and park benches.  The Department of Animal Care and Control wanted a dog run, a pet medical center, green space and trees for wild animals, and free bags for pet clean-up. 

After each department planned their ideal pier, we came together with our hundreds of ideas and created one large plan.  

Then we got to work.  We saw the model's base for the pier on the West Side Highway and began building what was needed.  We labeled the larger items on the model and then created a map key for the small items that showed up repeatedly on the map (such as bathrooms, trashcans, and water fountains).  

We'll share the finished model on our blog after we present on Thursday.  The developers will also be presenting - we'll see which plan the citizens choose for Pier 15!

Pollination

Our brassica plants are growing so quickly!  We are charting their life cycle and we were all stumped about what happened after they grew flowers.  How do they make seeds?

We did some reading and learned that pollination was necessary for our plants to create seeds.  We don't have (thankfully) any bees or too many insects in our classroom, so we did the next best thing - we did the pollinating ourselves!  We worked in pairs to pollinate our plants using a q-tip.  We then added to our observation papers to keep track of what is happening to our plants.  I wonder how/when seeds will appear on our plants!

Sirovich Senior Center

On May 30th we had a visitor to our classroom - a parent came to discuss her work with the Department for the Aging within the NYC government.  We know a lot about how the Parks and Recreation Department helps people enjoy the city, and this was a great time to learn about how another department helps people over 60 years old enjoy the city as well.

After doing a Q&A, we walked to the Sirovich Senior Center on 12th Street.  This center is open to all members of the New York City community over 60 years old.  We toured the center and saw lots of great amenities - from indoor gardens to art studios, from dining halls to dance classes, from cooking classes to Tai Chi, the seniors were busy at the Sirovich Senior Center!  It was a great tour and we learned so much - especially from the seniors themselves!  We learned a TON about ceramics from a group working on beautiful pottery pieces and we even learned a folk dance with the senior dance class.

Listening to our guest speaker before going to the Senior Center 

We observed Tai Chi classes.  The auditorium
was soon used for a folk dancing class that we
were able to participate in.

Listening to the director of the center talk about
upcoming events and activities

We learned so much from these three seniors who all taught us
about pottery and the art of patience to create something beautiful

American Ballet Theater

Today we headed to Lincoln Center's Metropolitan Opera House to see the American Ballet Theater's Young People's Ballet Workshop.

The American Ballet Theater Company put on a great show showing both principle dancers, dancers in training, and even public school students.  All of the pieces were inspiring to us as dancers, especially those choreographed and danced by students from local schools - including students our age!

We had a great day experiencing the ballet and enjoying dance.

Growing plants without seeds

Over the past few weeks we've been exploring, observing, and growing plants that start from seeds.  We have brassica flowers, wheat stems, and green grass growing all around our classroom - and they all started from seeds.  Today we heard that you can grow plants without seeds!

Some of us thought of some great examples - an onion left in the drawer too long suddenly sprouts new growth!  A potato full of eyes suddenly has buds on it after it is forgotten in the bin!  These plants are growing - without a seed.

Today we talked about a plant we often see around the East Village - ivy.  We see it climbing up buildings, spiraling around poles, and clinging to large patches of dirt.  Yet we knew that roots were the plant-part that held plants steady.  Which must mean that stems can grow new roots!  We decided to test this theory.

We made cuttings of ivy that included stems and leaves and put them into water.  If they start drawing in the water like a root does, maybe roots will begin growing!  If they do, we'll be able to plant our new plants in soil and watch them grow.  We'll be observing these cuttings over the next few weeks.  How exciting!

Plants all over the place!

Our wheat is growing!

Our classroom certainly feels like spring!  We have plants all around us, growing and thriving!  Thanks to all of you who have brought in cuttings from ivy and other plants so that we can experiment with starting new plants not from seed - we'll begin that work very soon!

Today we observed a number of our growing plants and we took care of some "chores" related to plant care.

First, we observed our newest plants - carnivorous ones!  Last week, we read about carnivorous plants and watched a Brain Pop video about them.  During these readings and videos, we took lots of notes about what we were learning about.  We learned about plants that catch bugs actively (like the venus fly trap and the sundew plant) as well as those that catch bugs passively (like the pitcher plant).  We then wrote reports about carnivorous plants using our research.  Come check them out in our classroom - you'll learn a ton about plants that live in areas where their soil lacks the nutrients they need.

A student has a snack as she watches our carnivorous plants

We also observed our wheat that is steadily growing from a seed.  We can see the roots below and the green sprout coming from the top.  Some are growing faster than others and now we're trying to figure out why that is.

Today, some of our brassica flowers sprouted!  We should see some steady growth on these amazing flowers in the next few days.  We can't wait to go through the entire life cycle with these plants.

Our brassica flowers are starting to sprout!

We also had some work to do.  Our grass that we planted last week is really growing!  As all people with lawns know, we had to mow it.  Today we mowed our lawns and soon we'll study to see how the plant reacted.  Did it grow from where it was cut, or did it grow from the root upwards?  Will the leaves of the alfalfa grow back?  Only time will tell.

Grass growing before we mowed

Grass growing before we mowed

Mowing the lawn