Dear Parents,
Thank you so much for all the effort that you put into the children’s costumes for Roald Dahl day. The children loved sharing who they came as and why their character was interesting/special! We also enjoyed reading one of his many fantastic books, The Enormous Crocodile, and using our creativity to strategize and design different traps to catch the crocodile.
We will continue our interest with Roald Dahl this week by reading George's Marvelous Medicine for our enjoyment. Thank you so much for each of you making it a great success.
Homework
Home Learning books this year are lined different than those used in Grade 1. We are concentrating on reducing the size of our handwritten work, hence the smaller lines. For those who want to take photos of different ways they've practiced spellings (e.g. using newspaper cutouts, play dough, etc.), draw pictures of the words and colour them in and so on, feel free to stick plain paper or images into the Home Learning book or simply do them over the lines. Reminder: Home Learning books go home every Monday with new spelling words and return to school the following Sunday. We will stick our spelling quiz results back into the books for parents to see/discuss/continue to practice at home.
You will have noticed that reading books have started to come home. We do ask that you read with your child four times a week, if they are reading a book at home then that is no problem to continue reading that book that they are interested in and document it. Please use the reading log to record the books your child reads. I would like to iterate that the size or length of a book does not determine its complexity. Hence children may be reading short advanced fiction and nonfiction books with pictures or easy lengthy chapter books. The purpose of the reader is to read at your child's independent level so that it is not a frustrating practice experience.
Folders should come to school daily, even if they are empty. We usually use them to carry our new reading books home and to return old ones, but occasionally I have extra material to send home. We want to ensure that having the folder in school daily becomes a part of everyone's routine.
Morning Drop Off
Please note that morning drop off is in the gym. If you miss the gym time then please go to the office so that they register your child. There are days where I am in morning meetings and the children have specials so there is no one there to supervise your child and the children are not registered. It is essential for your child's safety that you see Ms. Lorraine in the Elementary office to let them know that you are there.
Parent Rep
For those of you who have yet to fill out the form for your details to create a class list for Marwa, our class parent representative, you may still update your details in the google document. I believe Marwa has already created a whatsapp group. I have provided her with parent email addresses.
Student Council
You will notice that a post has been put up from the student council - see previous post. We require two children from the class to take part which will be a years commitment after school. On Wednesday next week we will hold the election process. If your child does wish to participate they will need to prepare a small speech saying who they are, why they would like to be in the school council and what they can offer and why.
After School Activities
As the after school activities start to take place I would be very grateful if you could send me a list of the days and activities that your child is participating in to ensure they don't miss out on anything.
Learning This Week
Math: Last week we looked at patterns and symmetry. Try asking your child why patterns and symmetry are important. Where do we see symmetry in our lives (e.g. football field, our face, folded cards, swings and seesaws, chairs, etc.). What would happen if we did not have symmetry? Why is symmetry important in some situations, can you give an example? These are some interesting questions you can explore together at home to keep the thinking and discussion authentic.
This week in maths the children will be focusing on place value, looking at thousands, hundreds, tens and units. They will creating the numbers using the base ten system and also partitioning the numbers to help them problem solve. There will also be a focus on addition this week and looking at different problems and strategies as to how to problem solve.
As part of home support over the next couple of weeks, I would greatly appreciate if you could help your child practice their number bonds till 20. You may start with 10 and then increase it to 20. Some children are already comfortable with it while others are still using their fingers and cubes to count. My expectation is that students learn and know their number bonds to 20 with automaticity in grade 2. While we investigate the various combinations in class, automaticity only comes with ongoing practice.
Here are examples of number bonds:
1+9=10
2+8=10
3+7=10
4+6=10
etc.
19+1=20
18+2=20
17+3=20
etc.
If your child can already do the above, throw out different number bond mixes and see if they have fast recall.
17+___ =20
4 + ___ = 20
11+ ___ = 20
Please note that moving forward, while our focus my shift week by week, we continue to practice and develop our number foundation and skills throughout the year.
Language: This week in language we will be looking at what makes a good recount and breaking it down into the different components. We will focus on the introduction including who, what, when, where and why and considering condensing information and including vocabulary that will interest a reader.
Unit of Inquiry: Through the book Mouse, Monster and Me we will be discussing how we solve conflict around us and what this looks like in different social situations. The children will also be using ICT and research skills to investigate different peace keepers and discuss what action they can take. This latter bit will likely spill over into next week's innovation block.
Assembly Announcement
2BS will be the first grade 2 class on stage during Assembly to share some of our thinking and learning. We are scheduled for October 11th right after lunch at 12:35 p.m. We would love for you to attend and watch us, but I understand that this may not always be feasible for working parents.
We will brainstorm and discuss what and how we want to share what we've inquired into for this unit. After that, your child may come home with 1-2 scripted lines later this week to help them remember what to say. I would encourage the students to memorize their lines as it will assist in the practice of memorization. While we do not advocate memorization without first understanding what is being learnt, this skill will later help students across multiple disciplines e.g. learning number facts to automaticity and memorizing multiplication tables after learning how to solve them and connect the patterns. If your child is unable to memorize their lines, that is not a problem. Children are always given the option to paraphrase or take their scripted lines up on stage with them.
As always if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me. I will attempt to upload a few photos of class activities over the next couple of days. Please have a look at the photographs tab at a later this week.
Warm regards,
Ms. Bhavna
Thank you so much for all the effort that you put into the children’s costumes for Roald Dahl day. The children loved sharing who they came as and why their character was interesting/special! We also enjoyed reading one of his many fantastic books, The Enormous Crocodile, and using our creativity to strategize and design different traps to catch the crocodile.
We will continue our interest with Roald Dahl this week by reading George's Marvelous Medicine for our enjoyment. Thank you so much for each of you making it a great success.
Homework
Home Learning books this year are lined different than those used in Grade 1. We are concentrating on reducing the size of our handwritten work, hence the smaller lines. For those who want to take photos of different ways they've practiced spellings (e.g. using newspaper cutouts, play dough, etc.), draw pictures of the words and colour them in and so on, feel free to stick plain paper or images into the Home Learning book or simply do them over the lines. Reminder: Home Learning books go home every Monday with new spelling words and return to school the following Sunday. We will stick our spelling quiz results back into the books for parents to see/discuss/continue to practice at home.
You will have noticed that reading books have started to come home. We do ask that you read with your child four times a week, if they are reading a book at home then that is no problem to continue reading that book that they are interested in and document it. Please use the reading log to record the books your child reads. I would like to iterate that the size or length of a book does not determine its complexity. Hence children may be reading short advanced fiction and nonfiction books with pictures or easy lengthy chapter books. The purpose of the reader is to read at your child's independent level so that it is not a frustrating practice experience.
Folders should come to school daily, even if they are empty. We usually use them to carry our new reading books home and to return old ones, but occasionally I have extra material to send home. We want to ensure that having the folder in school daily becomes a part of everyone's routine.
Morning Drop Off
Please note that morning drop off is in the gym. If you miss the gym time then please go to the office so that they register your child. There are days where I am in morning meetings and the children have specials so there is no one there to supervise your child and the children are not registered. It is essential for your child's safety that you see Ms. Lorraine in the Elementary office to let them know that you are there.
Parent Rep
For those of you who have yet to fill out the form for your details to create a class list for Marwa, our class parent representative, you may still update your details in the google document. I believe Marwa has already created a whatsapp group. I have provided her with parent email addresses.
Student Council
You will notice that a post has been put up from the student council - see previous post. We require two children from the class to take part which will be a years commitment after school. On Wednesday next week we will hold the election process. If your child does wish to participate they will need to prepare a small speech saying who they are, why they would like to be in the school council and what they can offer and why.
After School Activities
As the after school activities start to take place I would be very grateful if you could send me a list of the days and activities that your child is participating in to ensure they don't miss out on anything.
Learning This Week
Math: Last week we looked at patterns and symmetry. Try asking your child why patterns and symmetry are important. Where do we see symmetry in our lives (e.g. football field, our face, folded cards, swings and seesaws, chairs, etc.). What would happen if we did not have symmetry? Why is symmetry important in some situations, can you give an example? These are some interesting questions you can explore together at home to keep the thinking and discussion authentic.
This week in maths the children will be focusing on place value, looking at thousands, hundreds, tens and units. They will creating the numbers using the base ten system and also partitioning the numbers to help them problem solve. There will also be a focus on addition this week and looking at different problems and strategies as to how to problem solve.
As part of home support over the next couple of weeks, I would greatly appreciate if you could help your child practice their number bonds till 20. You may start with 10 and then increase it to 20. Some children are already comfortable with it while others are still using their fingers and cubes to count. My expectation is that students learn and know their number bonds to 20 with automaticity in grade 2. While we investigate the various combinations in class, automaticity only comes with ongoing practice.
Here are examples of number bonds:
1+9=10
2+8=10
3+7=10
4+6=10
etc.
19+1=20
18+2=20
17+3=20
etc.
If your child can already do the above, throw out different number bond mixes and see if they have fast recall.
17+___ =20
4 + ___ = 20
11+ ___ = 20
Please note that moving forward, while our focus my shift week by week, we continue to practice and develop our number foundation and skills throughout the year.
Language: This week in language we will be looking at what makes a good recount and breaking it down into the different components. We will focus on the introduction including who, what, when, where and why and considering condensing information and including vocabulary that will interest a reader.
Unit of Inquiry: Through the book Mouse, Monster and Me we will be discussing how we solve conflict around us and what this looks like in different social situations. The children will also be using ICT and research skills to investigate different peace keepers and discuss what action they can take. This latter bit will likely spill over into next week's innovation block.
Assembly Announcement
2BS will be the first grade 2 class on stage during Assembly to share some of our thinking and learning. We are scheduled for October 11th right after lunch at 12:35 p.m. We would love for you to attend and watch us, but I understand that this may not always be feasible for working parents.
We will brainstorm and discuss what and how we want to share what we've inquired into for this unit. After that, your child may come home with 1-2 scripted lines later this week to help them remember what to say. I would encourage the students to memorize their lines as it will assist in the practice of memorization. While we do not advocate memorization without first understanding what is being learnt, this skill will later help students across multiple disciplines e.g. learning number facts to automaticity and memorizing multiplication tables after learning how to solve them and connect the patterns. If your child is unable to memorize their lines, that is not a problem. Children are always given the option to paraphrase or take their scripted lines up on stage with them.
As always if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me. I will attempt to upload a few photos of class activities over the next couple of days. Please have a look at the photographs tab at a later this week.
Warm regards,
Ms. Bhavna