May Update!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. The weather has continued to be inconsistent over the last couple of weeks. Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather. Layers can always be removed. Hopefully the warm weather will settle in very soon.

This week we have the Primary Track and Field Day on Wednesday and our class trip to the zoo on Thursday. Please make sure your child brings a hat, sunscreen, water bottle and proper footwear.

Language:

We have been focusing on answering written comprehension questions using complete sentences with details from the story. The students continue to need reminders to proof read their work for proper spelling and punctuation.
Last month the children thoroughly enjoyed the read aloud, Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing written by Judy Blume and due to popular demand we are now reading the next book in this series called Super Fudge. Many of the students have even gone to the library and borrowed their own book to follow along as I read.

Math:

Last week we completed our unit on Fractions. This week we will be starting our unit on Money. We will be adding and subtracting money amounts to $1.00, using a variety of tools (e.g., concrete materials, drawings) and strategies (e.g., counting on, estimating )

Social Studies:
 

The students have been working very hard on their country research projects. They should all be completed by the end of the week. Each group will be presenting their projects to the class over the next couple of weeks. Thank you for helping your child print pictures that will help to enhance the visual part of their project. The students have been so enthusiastic about their research projects. They have thoroughly enjoyed searching for the answers to many questions they had before beginning their research..

Science:

This month we will begin learning about Growth and Changes in Animals.  This week we will begin our unit of study with a field trip to the Toronto zoo. We are also hoping receive butterfly larva in May. Each child will have their own to observe and record the changes over time. We will free the butterflies in June. The children will be thrilled to watch their butterflies being released into the natural environment.

Drama:

In Drama the children did a wonderful job performing their second Readers Theatre Play to one of the Kindergarten classes. Last week we broke up into three new groups and we are now working on our third and final Readers Theatre Plays. The children are thrilled to be doing another play. Everyone's confidence while performing has greatly improved and they are now using loud, clear voices with lots of expression. Some students are even trying to memorize their parts for their performance. They have also enjoyed bringing in and creating simple props for their plays.

Spelling:

We are now working on reviewing and consolidating the commonly used sight words. Very often the children know them for the weekly spelling test but some words are often spelled incorrectly in their daily writing. I strongly encourage the students to refer to the Word Wall, Word Wiz (Dictionary), and Word Cards. All student are responsible for spelling the words in/on these resources correctly.

Cursive Writing:

This month we are learning cursive writing. The students are very excited about learning all of the letters and eventually learning how to write their first and last name. Some students who have difficulty with printing are finding cursive writing easier and the neatness of their work is beginning to improve.

Happy Family Day!

I hope everyone is still enjoying this very cold long weekend! It is so nice for everyone to have an extra day to spend time with their families.

Last week was full of many fun activities. Our week started with Learning about Chinese New Year. On Tuesday we went skating at the MasterCard Centre. It was a huge success! It was so nice for our class to spend time with the students from the other grade two classes. Thank you to all of the parent volunteers who drove children to and from the arena.

I was really impressed with the creativity of the 100th Day displays of 100 things. The children enjoyed sharing their works of art with their peers. We also filled out a 100 square chart with the letters in our names. Each letter had a different colour. We made and discussed the interesting patterns that each name created.

Valentine's Day is always fun! Thank you to those parents who sent in treats for our class party. The children were very excited to open up their Valentine Cards and to share their chocolate treats with their friends.

This week I will be sending home the students Math Books. They were getting quite full so we have started a new Math Book. Please take some time to look through the books. I am suggesting that you have your child complete any incomplete pages or to review any area where your child may have experienced some difficulty. This book does not have to be returned to school.

In Math we are going to be spending a couple of weeks learning strategies for solving addition and subtraction questions (doubles, doubles + 1, counting on, counting back). We are also going to be focusing on counting by 2's,3's,4's,5's, 10's. This will lead into our next unit on multiplication.

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January Update - February News

January was a very busy month! We had presentations on school bus safety and fire safety as well as a presentation of Hansel and Gretel from the Shoestring Opera Company. The students really enjoyed all of these presentations. Last week, the children experienced some new Google glasses. They used an app on phones which were placed inside cardboard viewing glasses. They saw pictures of pyramids, tall buildings in Dubai, ocean views and much more. It was so much fun!

I hope by now you have all received a letter from your child in the mail. Hopefully it was a surprise. The children were so enthusiastic about writing the letters and they especially enjoyed putting the letters in the mailbox and waiting for it to arrive. It was a nice way to end our unit on letter writing.

This is a very busy month in grade two. On Monday, the students participated in an Aussie X dance workshop. Yesterday the class discussed Groundhog Day with Mrs. Champagne. They read a story and a poem about Groundhog Day and completed a written follow up activity related to the poem.

During the next two weeks we will be discussing Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day and 100^th Day!  This is a continuation of learning about celebrations and traditions as part of the grade two curriculum.

Today a not was sent home about a 100^th day assignment which is to be completed at home and brought to school on Thursday February 11^th. We will be celebrating Valentine’s Day on this day as well. Students who wish to bring in Valentine’s cards or treats are asked to bring in one for each child to avoid children feeling excluded. Please make sure all treats are Nut Free! The children are welcome to bring in their Valentine’s, beginning on Monday February 8^th.

Just a reminder that report cards will be coming home on Friday February 5^th. I have already requested interviews with the parents of children I have some concerns about. I am more than happy to meet with any parent who wishes to discuss their child’s progress. Please book your interview on the School Bookings website www.schoolinterviews.ca by Thursday February 4^th. If for some reason you miss the booking deadline, just write a note in your child’s planner and we can arrange a time that is convenient for both of us.

                  

IXL Update - Time – P1-P17

                     -  Focus on Addition and Subtraction of 2 digits - G1-G4 & H1-H5

                     -  Introduction to Multiplication – W1-W6

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday spending time with family and friends! I hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2016.

I would like to thank Viktoria and Cynthia, our wonderful class grade parents, who continue to help coordinate a variety of classroom events.

The children have been enjoying having a Mystery Reader each week. Please sign up if you have not done so already.

Thank you to all of the families who made donations to our Stonegate Family. Your kindness and generosity helped to make the holiday season special for another family.

Thank you to all of the parents who contributed various treats and supplies, to our class parties last term. Several moms organized two very special craft mornings (Halloween and Christmas). The children thoroughly enjoyed making all of the crafts and were eager the share them with their family.

The grade twos have worked very hard since the beginning of the school year and they will continue to work hard learning many new things this term.

 Math – Please continue to review addition and subtraction facts to 20. We will be starting Minute Math over the next couple of weeks in hopes to improve everyone’s speed and accuracy of these basic facts.  If your child is struggling with these facts please help them review them either through drill or by using the IXL program.  During the next week we will be finishing our unit on 2-Dimensional and 3-Dimensional shapes. I will inform you, later on this week as to what unit we will be working on next.

Science - During the first couple of weeks in January we will be finishing up our unit on Matter. Later on this month we will begin our study on Air and Water.

Social Studies

We will continue learning about many Celebrations and Traditions as they arise throughout the remainder of the school year. In January we will begin a unit on Mapping.

Language: We will be working on letter writing over the next couple of weeks. In reading, the students will be continuing to read books at their instructional level and learning comprehension strategies. We will also continue to work on making connections to what we read. Text-to-text (connecting to something else they have read), text-to-self (connecting to a personal event or experience), text-to-world (connecting to world events). Encouraging these discussions at home after reading or watching something on television would be beneficial.

 Thank you for your continued support with your child’s learning. Please contact me at any time if you have any questions or concerns.

 

Yours in Partnership

Laureen Souter

November 24, 2015

We have had a very busy first three months of school. It is so hard to believe that December is just around the corner. The children have settled into our daily routines and have been working very hard in all subject areas.

Language - The students have been thoroughly enjoying our whole class Novel Studies. Our first one was, The Witches by Roald Dahl. We are just about to complete the second Roald Dahl novel called The BFG.

The children have been continuing to read books at their instructional level on a daily basis and I am very happy to say that everyone has moved at least 1-2 Reading Levels since September. I am so proud of all of the students and their enthusiasm towards improving their reading. Please continue to use RAZ Kids a couple of times per week. All new reading levels have been updated.

In writing we have been working on increasing the length and detail of our writing. The children engage in several writing activities each week. They have written one Narrative and several Recount pieces of writing since September. We are continuing to focus on developing basic proof reading skills (Capitals, Punctuation, Correct Spelling of Word Wall Words etc.).

We have also been working on answering questions in full sentences, using words from the question to begin their answers and using proof from the text to back up their answers.

In Math we have completed a unit on graphing and patterning. We are nearing the end of our unit on Number Sense and Numeration. In this unit we have covered counting by 2's, 5's and 10's, starting at different points on a number line, making numbers in three different ways (pictures, numbers and words) and ordinal numbers, We will also continue to work on developing the speed and accuracy of addition and subtraction facts to 20. Please note that the students were given the login information to IXL back in October. If you need this information again please write me a note in you child's planner.

In Social Studies the students have enjoyed learning about the different celebrations that occur during this time of the year. Last month we discussed Thanksgiving and we wrote about what we are Thankful for. The students also wrote about their Thanksgiving Traditions. I hope you enjoyed the keepsake Thanksgiving Trees we made. This week have have learned about Diwali and the students coloured a design called a Rangoli. It is a Folk Art from India that is placed on the floor to welcome people to your home and to bring good luck to all. The children are very eager to bring these home but first they will be on display for a couple of weeks on the wall in our classroom.

Last week we began a new Science Unit called Matter. We have learned about the three states of Matter. Over the next couple of weeks we will doing several experiments that involve these different states of Matter. 

Thank you to everyone who sent is some simple props for you child's Reader's Theatre Presentation. They were great! The children enjoyed performing their plays in front of Ms.Kim's grade one class.

This blog will be updated each week so keep checking so you are well informed of what is happening in our classroom.

Yours in Partnership.

Laureen Souter

Week Two!

     Last week we started our Social Studies Unit on Celebrations and Traditions. The first celebration we talked about was Birthdays. Each student wrote about how they celebrate their birthday and any traditions they may have related to their birthday. Each child got to share their writing with the class.

The students also interviewed a new friend in the class. They will be drawing a portrait of that friend and presenting what they have learned about their friend to the class.

In math we have been sorting objects into groups and having other students guess what our sorting
rules are. The students really enjoyed participating in these hands-on activities.

Last week I sent home a list of  iPad Apps which are fun way for your child to learn and consolidate their skills is math and language. If you did not receive a paper copy please send me a note and I will send another one home,

We have been spending a lot of time creating a safe, secure and positive learning environment. We have been reading books about kindness and respect. On Friday we created a Kindness Quilt on our bulletin board. All of the children wrote about an 'an act of kindness'. The students will be encouraged to add to the quilt over the next couple of weeks.

Scholastic book order forms will be coming home this week. All orders are due on Monday September 28th.

We had a very busy first week of school. The students are settling in and becoming comfortable with the routines of our classroom. I am very proud of all of the students. They have been working hard each day and they seem to be very proud of their accomplishments.

Our classroom walls are beginning to be covered with samples of students work. Last week the children really enjoyed making their self portraits. They look great! Please feel free to pop by anytime to have a look.

This week we will be starting our spelling program. The words will start off quite easy for some students but will increase in difficulty as the weeks go on. Many students know these words individually however they seem to have difficulty applying this knowledge in their daily writing. We will also be continuing to work together to build a bank of high frequency words which will be added to our Word Wall each week. It will be expected that all words from our Word Wall be spelled correctly in their daily writing. The students have written the words in their planner and there will be a test on Friday.