First Week Update

The first week of Grade Two was a great success! Hopefully all of you have taken some time to review the detailed letters that were sent home last week. I hope that I was able to address most of the questions you may have about how our classroom works. Thank you for taking the time to fill in valuable information regarding your child on the Student Information form.

I have been encouraging the children to bring their parent/caregivers by our classroom to show them around. This can be done before or after school. You will also have an opportunity to visit our classroom on Curriculum Night/Corn Roast which is this Tuesday September 10, 2019.

This month the Character Trait is Respect! We have been reading several books with themes relating to respect and we also created a classroom chart with our ideas about what Respect looks/sounds like.

Last week we also made a list of Classroom Agreements which will help to ensure our classroom is a safe, secure and happy place to learn. Each student signed the list of Agreements to show they have agreed to follow our Classroom Agreements.

If your chiId is interested in participating in Cross Country, the first practice will be on Tuesday, September 10th. Cross Country will be every Tuesday, Thursday at 8:15. Exercise is a great way for your child to start their day! I will be outside ever morning cheering the kids on as they are running around the Shale Pit.

In the next couple of weeks I will be sending home your son/daughter's login information for IXL and RAZ. I strongly encourage everyone to explore these wonderful learning tools.

We will begin our Spelling Program next Monday. The students will write these words in their planner and we will have a weekly spelling test on Fridays. Once the words have gone home, your child will be accountable for spelling these words correctly in their daily writing. Quite often children do very well on the weekly spelling test however the words may still be spelled incorrectly in their daily writing. Your child will be encouraged to use our Word Wall, Word Wiz Dictionaries and Word Cards to ensure these words are spelled correctly in their daily work.

In Social Studies we will begin to discuss Traditions and Celebrations. We will be starting with birthdays. We will be comparing how families celebrate birthdays in different ways. Traditions and Celebrations will be an on-going theme throughout the year.

In Math, we will be working on the hundreds chart and number lines. Later this month we will begin a unit on Data Management. The students will learn how to make graphs. Your child will work with a partner and came up with a question with four possible answers. Then they will survey the class and create a graph using the information from their survey.

In Language we will working on writing complete sentences.

We are looking forward to our Terry Fox Walk  at the end of the month. Just a reminder, everyone is welcome to join our walk.

That's all for now! Your child will let you know when this blog has been updated by writing a note in their planner.

May Update!

Hello Everyone,

Hopefully Spring is here to stay! Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather. Hopefully the warm weather will settle in very soon.


It is hard to believe that another month has almost gone by. June is going to be another busy month.


I would like to welcome our new student, Charles, to our class.  The students were so excited to meet Charles on Tuesday and they have all been very helpful with helping him learn about our school and classroom rules and routines.

I hope all of you were surprised to receive your letters in the mail a few weeks ago. The students were thrilled to write the letters and to put them in the mailbox.  They were also very excited about their Mother's Day Painting and special Mother's Day writing.  I hope you enjoyed that too.


A highlight for May was our Media Project. The students made some amazing toys/machines. Their posters were very informative and their commercials were terrific! A job that was very well done by all of the students!  
Here is some of what we're doing this month.

* I sent home a permission letter today for our trip to the movie theater in June.
Please sign the form and pay online by Friday. Please remember to write down 
your payment confirmation number on the permission letter.

*Scholastic Book Orders are due on Friday May 31st

*Pizza Lunch is on Friday

Language Arts

The students are beginning to study poetry. They will be learning about and writing different types of poetry over the next few weeks. This is always a very enjoyable and creative unit.  We will also be reading and discussion features of non-fiction texts.

Math

We have completed our units on time, temperature, calendar and fractions. We are working on a new unit on Measuring, Area, Perimeter. Please ensure that your child is completing the IXL activities on a consistent basis. It is a great way to reinforce what we have been learning in class. 

Science

We are continuing our unit about Growth and Changes in Animals. The students have been learning about the six classifications of animals and over the next few weeks. the students will be learning about the life cycles of a frog and the butterfly and a few other animals.

Social Studies 

We are continuing to learn about a variety of holidays and celebrations as they arise throughout each month. We will also be learning some simple mapping skills during the month of June.


Drama 

Our class has been working on 5 readers theatre plays. In the next few weeks your child may be asked to search for or make a few simple props for their play, We are hoping to perform the plays for each other and maybe for another class, at some point in the next couple of weeks. Some children have chosen to try to memorize their parts which is not an easy task and they are doing such a great job.

That's all for now!

* Please feel free to drop by our classroom or send me an email if you have any questions or concerns regarding your child.

*Remember you are always welcome to stop by our classroom, with your child, before or after school to let them share their many accomplishments.

February News

Brrrrrr! Winter is definitely here! Glad we are finally having a break from the cold temperatures. Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for the cold/wet weather. Only when there is extreme cold weather (according to TDSB policy), will students be staying inside for recess and lunch breaks. I am recommending your child keep an extra pair of gloves and socks in their locker. They should also remember to keep a pair of indoor shoes at school.

Lunch – On cold or rainy days I am encouraging you to bring your child home for lunch, if at all possible. A change of scenery, and being in a quieter environment during the lunch hour will help your child recharge and be more focused for an afternoon of learning. 

Just a reminder that Report Cards will be going home on February 11th. I placed a note in your child's agenda last week indicating if I felt an interview was needed at this time. Any parent who still wishes to book an interview may do so on the online booking system www.schoolinterviews.ca  You will need to enter the event code qkv9w.  If for some reason you miss the booking deadline, write a note in your child's planner and we can book a time that is convenient for both of us.

During the next two weeks we will be discussing Ground Hog Day, Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day and the 100th day of school. This is a continuation of learning about celebrations and traditions as part of the Grade Two Social Studies Curriculum. The students will also be doing several reading, writing and art activities related to these celebrations throughout the month of February.

On Thursday February 14th, we will be celebrating Valentine's Day. Students who wish to bring in Valentine's cards or nut/peanut free treats are asked to bring in one for each child to avoid children feeling excluded. Please see the class list that was sent home today. The children are welcome to bring in their Valentine's beginning on February 11th.

In math, we will soon be completing our unit on 2D and 3D shapes. Our next unit will be focusing on multiplication. We will begin by discussing the relationship between repeated addition and multiplication. I encourage all students to learn some of their multiplication facts. This will give your child a head start into grade three. I would also like to stress the importance of your child memorizing the basic addition and subtraction facts to 20. Some children are very slow to arrive at the answers and are still relying on their fingers. Practice, practice, practice! Please continue to help your child keep up with the IXL units. For the most part, they are directly related to what we are doing in class, and help a lot! Congratulations to our class for receiving an IXL award for answering 15,000 questions on IXL! WOW! That's a lot of questions! Amazing!!!

In the month of February, please work on the following units on IXL: E16, E17, E18, E19, Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4, Y5, Y6,  

In Science, we have completed our unit on Liquids and Solids. Last week we had a fun morning of hands on experiments using different liquids and solids with the Scientist in the School. Thank you to (James's mom), Melanie (Lauren's mom) and Linda (Dexter's mom), who helped make the morning a great success! In a few weeks we will be introducing our next unit called Air and Water. 

In Art, we are continuing to focus on colours. Specifically: the colour wheel - primary and secondary colours, complimentary colours, colour tone and warm and cool colours.

Absences: Please let the office know if you will be taking your child out of school for any length of time.  Your child can always keep a journal of their travels and read daily. IXL and RAZ are also great if you have access to the internet.

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

agenda.

Happy New Year! - January News

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I am looking forward to hearing about the students' holiday adventures! Best Wishes to you all as we enter 2019!

Thank you to everyone for my very generous gift card and Swell Travel Mug! Your kindness and generosity is very much appreciated!  I am looking forward to treating myself to something special in the New Year.

December was a very busy and exciting month both at school and at home. The children were all very excited to see that two of Santa's elves had come to visit us. The elves would fly back to the North Pole every night and report to Santa all of the wonderful things that were happening with the students in our class. The students looked forward to discovering them each morning in his tricky and amusing hiding spots.

Craft Day / Class Party - Thank you to everyone who contributed treats to our class party.  Thank you also to Melissa (Riley's mom), Anna (Matthew's mom), Catherine (Tabitha's mom), Mercedes (Sophia's mom) and Melanie (Lauren's mom) who organized some great holiday crafts! The children loved participating in this special morning.

Stonegate - Thank you to all of the families who contributed to our class Stonegate Family.  Your generosity helped make the holiday season special for another family. Teaching the students the benefits of giving to those less fortunate, is an important and lifelong lesson.

A big thank you to all of the volunteers who have continued to help in the classroom and at home in many different ways. The students greatly benefit from our teamwork.

Secret Santa

The students thoroughly enjoyed giving and receiving a new book from their Secret Santa.  Thank you to everyone who participated.  All of the children were so pleased and were very eager to read and share their new books.      

This month in Language we are diving right back into our routine of weekly spelling, grammar, journal writing and reading activities. We will be finishing our class novel, The BFG, during the next two weeks. We will then begin a whole class novel study based on a book written by Alexander McCall Smith called Akimbo and The Elephants.

During the next two weeks we will be working on Patterning in Math. Please review Sections D1-D6 on IXL to help your child consolidate their learning in this area.  We will also continue to work on addition and subtraction with and without regrouping.  We will be continuing to focus on increasing the speed and accuracy of basic facts to 20 through our daily One Minute Math drills.

Later on in January we will begin Measurement unit in Math. Throughout this unit, we will focus on measuring length,width and height using standard and non-standard units. Standard units include cm, m, while non-standard units include paper clips, cubes, fingers, feet, etc.

In Science we begin to work on our Liquids and Solids unit in January.

Media Literacy

We will be learning about the many different forms media. Please send in a few newspapers, magazines, travel brochures, menus, etc. We will be working in small groups and making a collage of different forms of Media.  Please send these in by Friday.

In Art we will be focusing on colours. Specifically: the colour wheel - primary and secondary colours, complimentary colours, colour tone and warm and cool colours.

Absences

Please let the office know if you will be taking you child out of school for any length of time in the New Year. Your child can always keep a journal of their travels and read daily.  IXL and RAZ are also great if you have access to the internet.

Reminders:
- Please make sure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather.  Students that stay at school for lunch will definitely need to be well dressed, since they are outside for quite a long time.

- Students may want to have an extra pair of gloves/socks so that they don't have to put on wet ones after getting them wet at recess.

- All students will need to have a pair of indoor running shoes which are to be kept at school in their locker or to be taken to and from school in their backpack.

- Please remember to send a water bottle to be kept at school for the week.

Well, that's all for now! I will let you know when this blog has been updated again through your child's agenda.  If you have any questions or concerns please write a note in your child's planner or drop by the classroom before or after school. You can also call the school and leave a message for me in the office.