April 19th - 23rd

 

Greetings Room 17 students. Another busy week of learning and thank you for all that you do each week in trying to move your own learning forward during this grade two year!

In Writing, we continue to add elements to our climbing stories by using a great beginning and then adding some detail about the critical object (this week the kite stuck in the tree), we will then look back at our comic strip story plans and begin to add the problem and attempts to solve the problem. We keep talking about the importance of adding more details to help create a vivid picture for our readers. Without it, the reader is confused, bored and unsure of what is happening in the story. This is why we write our stories in parts so that each part reflects our best efforts.

In Mathematics, we continue to work with Mrs. Hull on problem solving and various interactive games to work on number sense, including being able to represent a mystery number with numbers in the hundreds, tens and ones places. Also we continue to explore various ways to represent information in picture or bar graphs and what kind of information we can get from each graph including title, most or least popular choice, how many people were asked altogether as well.

In Science, we took on the Paper Cup Challenge to see which type of paper would be waterproof and which would absorb the most water that we poured into our cups.  The students then took that knowledge and thought if they had to make a waterproof raincoat, which material would they use. (Hint: wax paper and aluminum foil were the clear choices!)

In Art, the students have been busy with a number of art projects including trying their hand at pointillism painting similar to Georges Seurat as well as a beautiful piece for an upcoming special day that they have been working tirelessly on completing.

A reminder that there is no school on Monday as Teachers are in school learning some new teaching techniques during our Professional Development day and I look forward to seeing everyone bright and early on Tuesday morning! Enjoy the rest of your long weekend!

 

April 12th - 16th

 

Hello everybody,

 It has been a busy week and the students continue to work hard as we begin the last few months of the school year. As a class, we had a discussion about remembering to give our best effort each and every day when learning in the classroom. I stressed with the students the importance of working on our printing, listening carefully in class and also remembering that if we all talk at the same time during instructions or discussions, nobody is able to be heard!

 In Writing, we are now starting to explore the second part of climbing stories with a focus on the middle parts of the story. We are exploring how to add more details to our main characters (what are they like), our setting (the places where our story takes place) and also if there is a critical object that needs to be introduced into the story. We will also explore the problem of our story and how we will attempt to solve the problem. This week and next week, we are focusing on a kite that gets stuck in a tree and how we will try to get it out of the tree. The students started with a planning comic strip that we will take ideas from and create a story line from.

 In Mathematics, we have started to work with Mrs. Hull at various math centres in the classroom twice a week. We focus on problem solving and various number sense activities to have students interact and also use math talk while working on the various centres. Beyond this we continue to look at graphing questions and various measurement tools we can use to describe everyday objects.

 In Science, we had a Liquid Race Challenge where we took various liquids and "raced" them down a lid to see which one flowed the quickest or slowest. We talked about viscosity and how that can effect how quickly or slowly a liquid would be able to pour from its container. 

 In Social Studies, we have started to explore our own pasts and created a timeline of the significant events in our lives. We also came up with a list of questions we have about Calgary and its past and also what types of resources we could use to learn more about our city's past history.

 I hope you stay warm and dry on this snowy Sunday and look forward to seeing everyone in their formal uniforms on Monday.  

April 6th - 9th

 Welcome back to room 17 after what I hoped was a fun and relaxing spring break time. It was great to see everybody again and continue forward on our grade two learning journey.

This week in writing, we spent some time reviewing the elements of a great beginning and then started to talk about the various elements that make up the middle of the story. We talked about introducing the characters, the problem and adding as many details and descriptors as possible to create a vivid picture for the reader who wants to continue reading on.

In Mathematics, we reviewed our basic facts and had some math talk sessions with Mrs. Hull in relation to figuring our two digit numbers based on the clues that were given and also how to access her website that has many links to some great math websites. (Her blog page is found on my resources page, but near the bottom). 

In Science, we had the opportunity to look at various liquids and how because of their different densities, they don't mix when placed in the same container. We found cooking oil had the lowest density, while corn syrup, which was at the bottom, had the highest density of all the liquids. We also talked about how oil sits on the surface of the water when an oil tanker leaks and the process of trying to contain the oil from spreading too far and harming the sea life near the spill.

In Social Studies, the students had to look at life from the perspective of an Inuit child growing up in Iqaluit. The students were asked to think of how their life is shaped at school and with the interactions of people within their own families too.  It was interesting to hear how each student saw themselves when asked to write about life in this northern community.

Have a wonderful Sunday and see everyone on Monday morning for another wonderful week of learning!