March 15th - 19th

 

Wow! Hard to believe it is only one week until Spring Break and the season of spring has just begun. A reminder that Monday is formal uniforms and please ensure you are wearing the proper attire for each day.

In Writing, we continue to practice Great Beginnings and being able to use a variety of ways to start off our climbing stories. We are also trying to avoid using "said" too much in our dialogue beginnings and using a number of other ways to express our character's feelings when speaking out loud. After spring break, we will begin to explore the middle parts of our stories, where we add in the problem and at least two attempts to solve the problem before finally solving the problem our main character may be having. 

In Math, we continue to explore number sense and taking a word problem and deciding what type of operation we need to use in order to solve the problem. For the word problems, we talk about drawing a picture, using a number sentence and then going back to the question in the word problem and using it to guide how we write our word sentences to answer the question.

In Science, we have been talking about waterproofing materials and what would make the best tool to waterproof a piece of paper (we decided wax crayons are the best of the bunch). We also talked about the use of nylon, rubber and Gortex in order to repel water in either jackets or umbrellas when out in the rain. 

In Social Studies, we explored the upcoming Ukrainian holiday of Easter and how they create pysanky eggs to celebrate this important event for Ukrainian people. Each egg is usually hand crafted and contain a number of symbols draw on with wax that is applied to the eggs. We have discussed the importance of keeping cultural aspects and traditions alive for future generations to know their family's background.

I hope you have a wonderful second day of Spring today and I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow for our last week of classes!

March 8th - 11th

 Hello room 17 students and parents! 

A big thank you to all the parents I was able to connect with during the Parent Teacher Interviews this past Thursday night and Friday. I am sorry we were not able to have our usual Student Led Conferences, but I hope the opportunity to chat about your child was meaningful and allowed you a clear picture of how your child in progressing in the grade 2 classroom.

This week, we have started to focus on Great Beginnings in introducing our latest writing project - climbing stories. Students have been introduced into the various types of Great Beginnings and had a chance to practice them with various themes over the week. Great Beginnings include: Action, Dialogue, A Thought or Question by the main character or the use of a Sound Effect to start off the story. The goal is to try and invite the reader in to want to read on and find out what will happen next.

In Mathematics, we continue to explore numbers and also graphing various questions asked to the class. We continue to try various ways to answer a subtraction or addition question in order to find the strategy that works for each individual student.

In Science, we have looked at using our 5 senses in observing water and its properties. We will be exploring other liquids and how their properties may be different from water.  

In Social Studies, we have begun to explore the stories of the past in each Canadian community and the importance of keeping these stories alive from generation to generation. The students heard various animal themed stories of how a raven got his black feathers and also about a horse in Meteghan that is visited by elves who help to restore the energy of the horse. 

As we move into the last few weeks before the Spring Break, please remember the students need to be in formal uniforms on Monday and also that Wednesday is a casual day and students can wear green to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  I hope you enjoy a wonderful Sunday and see all of you next week!

First Week of March

 Happy Sunday to all!

I hope you were able to get outside with your family and enjoy some fresh air and beautiful weather this weekend!

This past week was busy as the students were introduced to a new type of story writing that we will be working on called climbing stories. These involve a great beginning, a main character, a problems, attempts to solve the problem and then a solution to the problem. This type of story requires a lot of details to help the reader to create a clear picture in their heads.   We will be examining the use of great beginnings as a way to invite our readers in to read the rest of our story!

In Math, we continue to look at various ways to add and subtract 2 digit numbers. We also have exploring 2D shapes and how they help to form the faces of 3D objects in our everyday lives. 

In Science, we have moved on to our new unit on Exploring Liquids. We have had the chance to discuss and explore a very important liquid in our lives called water and its various properties.   We will continue to explore other liquids and how fast or slow they pour and how liquids have many similar and different properties in relation to other ones.

In Social Studies, we have begun to talk about how the past people have helped to shape the various Canadian communities of today. We talk about the importance of story and folktales in continuing the culture of the Inuit, the Acadians and the Ukrainian communities.   We will continue to explore the role that the past has played for each place, including Calgary too.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday and look forward to seeing everyone next Monday in their formal uniforms!