Late October Update!

     Thank you to everyone who has brought in a donation for the We Scare Hunger food drive. The children are learning about helping others less fortunate and they are so proud to put their donations into the box outside our classroom.  Just a reminder, please don't send in any products which contain nuts.  The Food Drive continues until November 1, 2017.

     Over the next several weeks we will be working on number sense and numeration.  It is recommended that your child work on the following units on IXL - E1 to E12,  F1 to F7, H1 to H6 and L1 to L6 . It is recommended that you supervise your child when using IXL so you can see where your child has made mistakes and explain and help them understand where they have gone wrong.

      Picture Retake Day is on Wednesday November 1, 2017.  Please let me know if you wish a retake, so I can add your name to my list.  

     The grade 8's will be creating a Haunted House for the students to visit. It is usually recommended the students bring a $2.00 donation when entering the Haunted House as the grade 8's are raising money for their grade trip. Our class is scheduled to visit the Haunted House on Friday, October 27th. Your child does not have to visit the Haunted House if they are not comfortable doing so. They will have the option to stay outside in the hallway with Mrs. Champagne.

     Halloween is quickly approaching. This week we will be having a Halloween craft morning. The children are looking forward to making some crafts that they can use to decorate their home. The children may wear their costumes to school on Tuesday, October 31.  There will be a school parade for the parents at 9:00 am.  The parade will be outside weather permitting.  Our classroom party will be in the afternoon.  Just a reminder that face paint is easier to manage than a mask and please no weapons.  

     Finally, a reminder that Pizza Lunch is on Friday, October 27th. Please remind your child how to behave for the parent supervisors in our classroom. The students need to use inside voices, remain seated, use their manners and to clean up after themselves. I will be speaking to the students about these expectations but an extra reminder from home will be helpful too.

What to Expect in October

It's hard to believe that we are already into the first week of October. I'm sure everyone is looking forward to having a nice Thanksgiving long weekend!

A reminder that photo day is on Tuesday this week!

Thank you to everyone who attended our Curriculum Night last Thursday evening. I hope you enjoyed looking around our classroom and seeing all of the wonderful work the children have been doing over the last couple of weeks. The students are very proud of their accomplishments so far in grade two. If you had another commitment and were not able to attend last Thursday, please feel free to drop by the classroom with your child and have a look around.

On Thursday afternoon we enjoyed participating in out whole school Terry Fox Walk. Thank you to all of the parents who volunteered to walk with our class. Wow! What an amazing turn out!

Last week each child chose a classmate to interview and they also had to draw a portrait of their friend . This week they will present what they learned about their friend to the class. So far the students have done a wonderful job on this three part assignment.

Language Arts:
We are now into the routine of weekly spelling lists. Each week, the students complete a variety of activities in class based on the spelling words of the week. These may include sorting words by spelling rule, crosswords, fill in the blank, proofreading and short creative writing assignments. I will send home the spelling test book every couple of weeks so you can keep track of the words your child needs to work on.

Reading:
In reading we are focusing on the reading strategies of making connections and predictions to assist with comprehension. Students are encouraged to make text to self, text to text and/or text to world connections as they are reading. The class will begin weekly Guided Reading groups later this month.
The students will begin working on reading short stories in class and answering a variety of comprehension and grammar questions in complete sentences, using words from the questions to begin the answer and including greater detail. We are working on remembering to begin sentences with a capital letter and to end sentences with appropriate punctuation.

Writing:
Over the next couple of weeks we will be working on a variety of short writing assignments based on Thanksgiving and Halloween. The students will learning to write recounts of various experiences, such as the Terry Fox walk and Thanksgiving. They will also be learning to write fictional narratives with a "Spooky" focus around Halloween, amongst other short Halloween writing activities.

Math:

This week we will be completing our Math Unit on Sorting and Data Management (graphing). Weekly IXL practice based on what we have learned to date would be beneficial for all students.

I will send home information about our next math unit later this week.

Science:

We will be starting our Simple Machines unit this week. We will be having the Scientist in the School come in November for a morning/afternoon of hands-on activities related to this unit in Movement. We will need 4-5 volunteers for this amazing morning of learning! Stay tuned for a confirmation of the date and a request for volunteers.

Social Studies:

We are well underway with our first unit looking at Traditions and Celebrations. This month

we are focusing on Thanksgiving and Halloween.

Mystery Reader:

Mystery Reader will begin this month. The children love discovering who our weekly Mystery Reader is. I strongly encourage everyone to sign up for this!  I am happy to accommodate your schedule to ensure each child is surprised by their parent, sibling or grandparent at least one time during the school year.

That's all for now! I will let you know when this blog has been updated again through your child's

agenda.