A Very Busy Second 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 Tuesday we read The Kindness Quilt by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace and discussed ways that we can show kindness both at school and at home through words and actions. The students shared their ideas of how they could show kindness to friends, siblings, parents, classmates, etc. We then created our own Kindness Quilt with paper. The students are very proud of the quilt we made which is displayed on one of the bulletin boards in our classroom.

Last week each child chose a classmate to interview and then they presented what they learned about their friend to the class. They also had to draw a portrait of their friend. The students all enjoyed learning new things about each other. They did a wonderful job on this three part assignment.

This week I will be sending home IXL and RAZ login information. Please feel free to begin using these great learning tools as soon as you receive the login information.

We will begin our Spelling Program this week. The students will write these words in their planner tomorrow and we will have a spelling test on Friday.

Our first unit in Math is Sorting and Data Management. We will be reading and interpreting a variety of graphs and charts. Students will also be conducting surveys, collecting and organizing data, and presenting their data in Venn Diagrams, tally charts, pictographs and bar graphs.

First Week

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 this week. I hope that I was able to address most of the questions you may have about how our classroom works. 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 at Curriculum Night which is this Thursday September 15, 2016.

This month the Character Trait is Respect! We have read several books with theme's relating to respect and we also created a classroom chart with our ideas about what Respect looks/sounds like.
This week we read one our favourite books, Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. Each student was holding a paper heart. Each time Chrysanthemum was teased because of her name, we crumpled up the heart. Every time someone did something nice to her we tried to smooth it out. By the end of the story, the heart was very wrinkled and could not be smoothed. The students got the connection that our own heart feels wrinkled and crumpled sometimes when we don't like what someone says. Words do hurt. We should away stop and think before we speak. It's hard to fix a wrinkled heart!

This 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 Chart 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 13th.  Cross Country will be every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Exercise is a great way for your child to start their day!

Thank you for filling in all of those forms that were sent home last week. There are still a few outstanding. If you have time this weekend, I would greatly appreciate it if you could take a look at them if you have not done so already. Please remember to send in $8.00 for your child's agenda

Scholastic book orders are due on September 26, 2016.

Welcome to Grade Two!

Welcome to Grade Two!

Please check back at the end of this week!

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