Well, we are settling into our daily routines and understanding the expectations of a Grade 2 classroom. Students are coming to school less tired and more mentally ready to learn. It is wonderful to see them prepared every morning, and excited for the day ahead.
I noticed that some of the students are still suffering from a stuffy nose or sore throat. In health class, they have been discussing washing their hands, eating healthy food, staying active, and drinking lots of water. Although I have been reminding them at school, practice these things at home too! And never underestimate the power of sleep. It is super easy to be busy in the evenings or go to sleep a little later, but kids this age need 9-11 hours of sleep every night. The benefits are seen in the classroom as well.
Every Thursday we have Library. Please ensure library books are returned to school by Thursday so your child can take out new books.
This Friday we have our Terry Fox Walk/Run. If you are able to volunteer, please let me know. Also, please ensure that your child is dressed for the weather. It looks like it is supposed to be the nicest day of the week but there is a chance of rain. Make sure they are wearing the proper clothes for this walk.
LA
We have introduced the first two parts of our Daily 5 program: Read to Self and Work on Writing. When students are doing 'Read to Self' they are: choosing one spot to read and remaining there, picking a book quickly and quietly, and reading the whole time. For 'Work on Writing' the students have the ability to work on different writing types (letters, postcards, stories, lists, cards, or poems) and there are no restrictions as to a topic. The benefit to this program is that it gives the students choice, and it allows me to work individually with each child.
We continue to work on our Phonics, and this week we are working on 'short vowel a' words.
In our spelling, our words are focused on 'short vowel a' and 'short vowel i' words.
Something new for the students this year is Reading Comprehension. 2-3 times per week we read a passage and answer questions about the passage. This is a great practice for the students to get in the habit of because they are learning to focus and concentrate more on what they are reading.
Math
We will be continuing our Review of Addition/Subtraction to 10 and the beginning of our Patterns unit. They will be using manipulatives to build their own patterns as well. We have discussed what the core of a pattern is (the part that is repeated over and over) and we are now discussing attributes (qualities of the pattern; ex. blue triangle has 2 attributes: blue and triangle).
Science
We have been having a ton of fun with magnets and testing what is magnetic around our classroom and school. It was awesome watching the students test different materials to see if they were magnetic. We will continue to explore the parts of a magnet (poles), and the different styles of magnets.
Social
Our class is looking at different types of maps. One part of maps that we looked at are road signs. It really surprised me how many different types of road signs each of the students knew! This is a great activity for you to do with your kids: talk about signs as you are driving and what they mean.
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