Week 7

We had such a great time today with the whole grade 2 group!  It was a lot of fun going to the playground together, creating some chalk art, and getting to spend some time with our friends!  Then we got to go to clubs and discover, create, and explore fun new ideas!  What a day!!!

This week we have been working on descriptive writing.  We are hoping to share this writing with the grade 3's to see if we are using the words needed to be clear in our writing.  We read The Gruffalo, and The Gruffalo's Child, to see an example of some kinds of descriptions.  Then we looked at the picture of a friendly alien to see if we could describe it.  We will have some Halloween examples ready for you next week at Parent/Teacher conferences.

We looked at number lines this week, and how we can use them for skip counting.  Students had to draw their own number lines to practice, but know that there are other places that we can find a number line to help us with counting.  We will be looking at hundreds charts to find out different ways to skip count next week.

We have been working on creating a display from all of the things we have learned about small crawling and flying creatures.  We will be working hard this week to finish the display to share with our families at conferences.  We could definitely use some volunteer help in the afternoons from Monday to Thursday, 1:30-2:30pm, to do some paper cache and painting with the students!  Please contact Mrs. Jackson or Ms. Secord if you can join us on any of those days.

We have been reading the Sideways Stories of Wayside School this week for our read aloud.  See how many stories your child can remember about the children from Wayside.  Use these chapter headings as a clue:

Chapter 1: Mrs. Gorf (hint: apples)

Chapter 2: Mrs. Jewls (hint: monkeys)

Chapter 3: Joe (hint: counting)

Chapter 4: Sharie (hint: sleeping)

Chapter 5: Todd (hint: robbers)

Chapter 6: Bebe (hint: drawing)

Chapter 7: Calvin (hint: teacher note)

Chapter 8: Myron (hint: president)

Chapter 9: Maurecia (hint: ice cream)

Chapter 10: Paul (hint: pigtails)

Chapter 11: Dana (hint: mosquitos)

We are looking forward to seeing you at Parent/Teacher Conferences!  If you have not yet signed up or need help, please contact Mrs. Jackson or Ms. Secord, or the wonderful staff in the front office.

Have a great weekend!

Week 6

It was a short week, but still packed full of fun and learning!  We home you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend!

This week we talked about diary and journal writing, and what to focus on when you are doing this kind of writing.  We read 3 books about different creatures that were sharing their diaries, and the adventures they had.  We talked about not writing about the boring, every day tasks that we do, but to instead focus on the important things that you might tell a friend.  We created our own journal entires while pretending to be worms, and then on stuffy day we wrote a journal entry while we pretended to be our stuffy!

We continued to practice our increasing and decreasing patterns by creating art with our patterns.  Instead of using block, some students decided to be creative with different pictures.  We may have these displayed for parent teacher interviews.

In gym this week we got to play with the parachute!!!  We are learning about cooperating with our classmates to do fun things, like make a dome with the pyramid, or playing different games.

We began practicing write to self this week, and we really enjoyed it!  Did you know that during write to self we get to write about almost anything?  Ask your child what the 3 rules are for what you are not allowed to write about.

We finished working on our food chain diagram this week, and then began talking about decomposers.  Did you know that worms are decomposers?

We also finished reading Charlotte's Web, so we got to watch the movie!  it surprised us that there were some parts of the movie that weren't the same as the book.  We really enjoyed our movie afternoon, and look forward to reading another book that we can connect to a movie.

We are very excited about this coming week!

Week 5 - a little late

It was a very busy week last week!  We started off the week with Orange shirt day, and it was amazing to see the support of all the staff and students in the school!  We talked more about belonging, and how we feel we belong at school.

On Monday we had our first library day!  It was awesome!  Unfortunately we will be missing library this week as yesterday was Thanksgiving, but we look forward to Monday next week.  Students can return their books this week if they wish to, but can also keep them until Monday.

In word work we learned how to do word searches, and got to practice finding Thanksgiving words in easy, medium, and hard word searches.  We really enjoyed working independently and in small groups to discover those hidden words!  Students will be using word searches throughout the year to practice their sight words.

We discussed the difference between spiders and bees, and why a spider is not an insect.  Ask your child why a spider doesn't fit the description of an insect!  Then we talked about the food chain, and the importance of balance.  If one creature on the food chain grows or decreases in population, that affects the whole chain!

In gym last week we got to start trying out the climbing wall.  Students had 3 rules they had to follow to be allowed to use the climbing wall.  See if your child remembers those rules.

In preparation for Thanksgiving we did some writing around the things we are thankful for.  The students were so thoughtful when sharing their ideas, and continue to try and record more of their ideas during writing time.

We continued to discover more about patterns last week.  We looked into increasing and decreasing patterns, and will be creating some art around these ideas this week!

***REMINDER***

The weather is getting colder and the snow is falling!  Please ensure that your child is well dressed for the weather, as we go outside every day for a body break.