Dec. 16th Update

Pride Assembly

Our class is singing a song with 3 other classes at the Pride Assembly this week. The Assembly is on Wednesday, December 18th in the gym. It begins at 9:30 and families are welcome to attend. 

Portfolios and Personal Narrative Story

The red portfolios with student assessment information will be sent home this week. Please take some time to review the new information inside before signing and returning it to school. 

Most students have published their personal narrative! We have been working on this project since October so it's a great feeling to finally have them completed and ready to come home! I am just working on binding the books. They will be sent home this week and you will find the assessment in the red portfolio. Students are proud of their work, and I am too! I have encouraged students to share their stories with family and friends!

Math

Last week we wrapped up our learning about geometry! Our class really enjoyed composing and decomposing 2D shapes using tangrams. The tangrams are a 7 piece set that can be combined to make other shapes and puzzles. They are great for building spatial awareness, and problem solving skills. You can buy, or even make a set at a low cost. 

There are many like this on Amazon:

Sample Tangram Set

There are also many inexpensive puzzle books to go with the set:

Sample Tangram Puzzle Book

Students also enjoyed playing a tangram game online:

Abcya Tangrams Game

This week we will be learning and reviewing mental math strategies for addition (e.g., combinations for making ten, doubles, and doubles plus 1). After the winter break we will continue to build our mental math strategies for addition to 18, and then move on to linear measurement. 

Today the students were introduced to a really fun card game called Make Ten. It is very similar to Solitaire and is played alone. The game was very engaging and many students asked to play it again!

Social Studies

Our social studies unit about Heritage and Identity: Changing Traditions in our Community is just about wrapped up. Thank you to all of our wonderful parent volunteers who took the time to share with our class. This week we will finish with a special art activity!

After the winter break we will shift our learning to movement, location and mapping. We will explore reading maps, and creating maps. We will learn about the different continents, oceans, hemispheres, and equator.  

In February we will begin learning all about Global Communities. Our big focus will be about how climate and physical features affect life in different parts of the world. If you have special knowledge about a different country and the way people live there (jobs, recreation, food, clothing, etc.) and you would like to share this with our class we would love to have you in! Please let Mrs. Gibbs know!

Health

In health class we have been learning about being safe at home, outside, and while using technology. We have also learned about common allergies, and prescription vs non-prescription medicine. In the new year we will be learning about healthy eating. 

Literacy

In January we will be focusing on retelling stories, and continuing our phonics/spelling program in Literacy. Later in the month we will dive into our next writing project which is all about writing lab reports! 

Winter Break

I wish all families a fun and relaxing winter break! There will be no homework over the winter break. However I do encourage reading, and as much time outside as possible!! Just a reminder we do have a class account on Prodigy. Please see the "Prodigy" page on this blog at the top for more information. If you need your username and password just let Mrs. Gibbs know. 

Nov. 28th Update

Important Dates 

The December calendar will be sent home tomorrow, along with a note about our learning in math, and a list of important dates. Please check your child's BEE Bag for these items!

Social Studies 

This week students learned about our final project for our Heritage and Identity unit. The project is about creating a Family Tradition Timeline. A package went home on Tuesday describing the project. The timeline is due on Tuesday, December 3rd. Please let me know if you have any questions.

We were lucky to have two special guest visits this week! On Tuesday we learned all about Diwali with Mrs. N, and today we learned all about The Day of the Dead with Ms. V. Both presentations were fabulous, and a wonderful memorable learning experience for the whole class! 

Math

We are learning all about polygons in math! Here are our learning goals for this unit:

• Identify and describe various polygons (i.e., triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, heptagons, octagons) and sort and classify them by their geometric properties (i.e., number of sides or number of vertices), using concrete materials and pictorial representations (2m48) 

• Locate the line of symmetry in a two-dimensional shape (2m51)

• Compose and describe pictures, designs and patterns by combining two-dimensional shapes (2m52) 

• Compose and decompose two-dimensional shapes (2m53) 

• Cover an outline puzzle with two-dimensional shapes in more than one way (2m54)

Earlier this week the Grade 2s enjoyed making polygons using geo-boards. Today the students learned how to write riddles using attributes to describe secret polygons. They then tried to solve the riddles by listening carefully to the clues and then sketching the secret polygon on a mini whiteboard.

Here is a sample riddle from today:

"I have 6 sides and 6 vertices. All of my sides are equal length."

Literacy 

We are working on editing and revising our Small Moment stories, and this will continue next week. Once our stories are edited we will work hard to publish, and illustrate them! 

In reading, we have been focusing on making, and sharing our connections this week. In guided reading groups with the teacher we have been working on finding the main idea in non-fiction texts, and retelling. 

In phonics/spelling we have been studying new blends, remembering to read the WHOLE word (with a funny story about free donuts), and learning about specific spelling strategies. 

Our poem of the week is called November. Today we spent time inferring the author's messages in the poem, and trying to make sense of it. 

Achievement Levels

We spent sometime this week learning about the different achievement levels. These posters will hang in our classroom for the rest of the year. 

Learning Skills 

This month we have been focusing on being organized! We co-constructed a success criteria about what it means to be organized in Grade 2. Students have been working on tracking their progress towards meeting their organization goals.  Next we will learn about what it means to work well independently.

Nov. 7th Update

Math

In math we are learning about patterns. We began by learning about what a repeating pattern looks like. We determined that the core is the part that repeats, and in a repeating pattern the core repeats 3 times. 

Next we learned about how we can label and represent repeating patterns. We could make different actions for each part of the core, use numbers, or letters. We focused on labeling our repeating patterns with letters. Below you can see examples of an ABC pattern, and an AAB pattern. 

In one activity, students worked on Choice A or Choice B to create 4 different repeating patterns. 

After spending a few days creating repeating patterns, and labelling them. We moved on to create repeating patterns that have two or more attributes changing. We learned that the attributes can belong to different pattern families. In the pattern below colour, shape, and direction are the attributes changing. The colour and shape attributes make an AB pattern. But direction is an AAB pattern!

In the pattern below colour and shape are an ABC pattern. Direction is an AB pattern.

In the pattern below, shape is an AB pattern, but size is an AAB pattern. Colour is changing but it is not changing in a pattern.

 Here are some other examples of patterns with 2 or more attributes changing. Can you label the pattern family for each attribute? It is challenging, but many students enjoy trying to solve the puzzle!

Literacy

In writing, we have been busy working on our writing projects: small moment personal narratives. This week we learned about weaving setting details throughout out story, using strong action words, and making our characters talk. 

This week we started discussing connections that we can make while reading. In our poem of the week "I Lost a Tooth" many students enjoyed sharing their connections. Making connections while reading is an important comprehension strategy as it helps us think about the text in a deeper way. We also learned a special signal to share when we make a connection!

In our phonics/word study program this week we continue to learn about blends. 

Special Guests

This week we welcomed two special guests into our classroom! Mrs. Lacroix spoke to us about the importance of Remembrance Day, and about the Canadian Forces. 

Granny came in to share about growing up in Ireland. Her stories helped us understand what life was like in the past!

October 23rd Update

For school-wide information, including special days (e.g., purple shirt day, PA Day, Pride Assembly), and special events (e.g., food drive etc.) please remember to check your weekly E-Blast from RHPS in your email on Fridays.  I will try to keep our class blog specific to learning in our classroom so that information isn't repeated. 

If you are not receiving the weekly E-Blast from the school, please contact the school or Mrs. Gibbs. 

Portfolios

Yesterday students set up their portfolios. These folders will travel between home and school so that families are aware of their child's learning and progress in Grade 2. Portfolios are red folders. When you see the Portfolio in your child's BEE Bag please review it together, sign it, and return it to school. 

Math

Over the next few weeks in math, students will be learning about sorting and patterning. We will begin by learning about sorting using two attributes. 

An attribute is a way of describing, or sorting objects. Here are some attributes that we used to sort objects in our classroom:

Depending on what we are sorting or describing there are many possible attributes! If we are sorting the students in our class we might look at shoe size, birthday month hair colour, etc. If we are sorting food we might look at the colour, size, shape, or even "type" of food (fruit, vegetable) as our attributes. Yesterday we sorted apples, here are some examples of attributes that students used to create their sorting rules:

Students will be determining different attributes used to sort objects in their math homework this week. Homework is due on Friday.

Today students were introduced to the concept of sorting objects using two attributes at the same time. We can organize our sort using a Venn Diagram. The most challenging part about learning how to sort by two attributes is....choosing two different attributes! Some students will sort objects by "small and big" but here we are only looking at one attribute (size). Instead we need to sort using two different attributes (e.g., size AND colour....or size AND shape). Below see an example of how we used objects found in nature to sort using two different attributes. We will continue to work on these through a series of activities this week.

Here our attributes were "seed" and "green". Just seeds are on the left, and just green is on the right. In the middle there is a green seed! (well....we think it's a seed anyway!)

Here the attributes are "soft" and "small". They are different because one attribute is about the texture, and the other is about the size. There are feathers in the middle because feathers are soft and small!

Reading

Students now have a "reading goal" that they are working on. Some of the reading goals are:

Checking for Understanding- asking ourselves who and what after we have read a page, or paragraph, if we don't know we need to back up and re-read

Decoding Strategies- like chunking the letter sounds together, and looking for blends.

Cross-Checking- asking ourselves if a word looks right, sounds right, and makes sense

As a class we have been learning about how visualizing while reading (making a picture in our heads) helps us to understand the text deeper. We have been learning how authors help readers visualize by including many details and "painting a picture" for the reader. These descriptive words used are called adjectives.

Looking at words that have blends

Our poem of the week was fun to visualize

Making a list of adjectives

Writing

Writing Project:

We continue to work on our Small Moment Personal Narratives. This week we will be learning about how we can bring our stories to life by making our characters move, think, and speak.

Family Journals:

Many students enjoy writing their Family Journal on Fridays. Thank you for making time to read these at home. Last week students received some written feedback in their journals. The feedback identified a goal that they are working on in their journal writing. 

Work on Writing:

During literacy centres students have time to "work on writing" independently each week. This type of writing is different than our writing project. In work on writing time students write in their Writer's Notebooks. They can use their brainstorm or heart map, do free writing, or use a prompt to help generate ideas. After their work on writing time, students have the opportunity to share their writing with the class and receive feedback.  Feedback is provided in the form of a star and a wish. Mrs. Gibbs records feedback given to the students into their writing folder so that they can use this feedback the next time they work on writing. 

Social Studies

Today we finished our Family Heart Map presentations and they were wonderful! It was great to learn about our families and celebrate our similarities and differences. We had many interesting conversations about the family heart maps. Next up in social studies, students are working to share about the traditions for a celebration that they know about. Later, students will learn to gather information about a celebration that they would like to learn more about. 

We are excited that a number of families have offered to come in a speak to our class! Mrs. Gibbs will be working on a schedule soon. If you would like to share about your family celebrations or traditions with our class we would love to have you, please let Mrs. Gibbs know! 

social studies- family heart maps, next project students sharing the traditions about a celebration they know a lot about

Oct 9th Update

Math homework was sent home today and is due on Friday.

Please remind your child to read every night and complete their Reading Log.

Math Test

We will have a math test next Wednesday, October 16th. A note was sent home today, along with some of the work your child has completed in math this year. Below is a copy of the note that was sent home today. If you have any questions let me know.

Math

This week we have been working on ordering numbers from least to greatest, or greatest to least. We have also been learning about comparing numbers using a symbol. Tomorrow and Friday we will explore rounding numbers to the nearest 10. 

Social Studies

The Family Heart Map is due on Tuesday, October 15th. Here is a copy of the note that was sent home. 

Writing

Today we started an exciting new writing project! We will be writing our own Small Moment stories (personal narratives). Today we learned about what a small moment story is, and spent some time brainstorming. Students may benefit from discussing possible small moment stories at home. 

At the bottom of this chart you will see a watermelon with "Trip to Mexico" inside. We talked about how an entire trip is not a small moment story. You could write a whole chapter book about a trip! Instead a small moment story could be something special that happened during the trip, like trying hot sauce for the first time! Trying hot sauce for the first time is a "tiny seed idea". Our small moment stories come from "seed ideas". 

Oct 4th Update

Please ensure that you are checking the Weekly E-Blast in your email each week for important information. This week there is information about:

-potential CUPE strike
-pizza lunch CANCELLED until further notice
-Art's Package 

If you are not getting the Weekly E-Blast, or have questions please contact Mrs. Gibbs. 

Math

In math we are learning about place value and how to represent (show) numbers to 100 in different ways. Students have been working on representing numbers in words, base ten blocks, and expanded form. 

Social Studies

Heart Map Project
Today students learned about a special homework project. Each student should have brought home a letter and a heart template. All of the instructions for the assignment are on the letter that was sent home. If you have any questions, please let Mrs. Gibbs know. The Heart Map project is due on October 15th.