March 25th Update

My apologies for this late post. I was having some trouble uploading pictures.

Science

Our learning about liquids and solids and structures has wrapped up. To end the unit students in Grade 2 conducted their own experiments to observe how liquids and solids interact. Students in Grade 3 built their own structures and then tested their strength and stability in the wind from a fan. Students were provided with opportunities to share their learning and thinking in writing, and orally. Assessment from these units will be sent home soon. Here are some photos that capture the learning.

Social Studies

We have started learning about new topics in social studies. Our guiding question in this unit is "Why do we Live Where we Live?"

Grade 2 students are learning about Global Communities. The main learning goal is determining how physical features and climate affect the way people live around the world. In the beginning of the unit students expressed different countries that they are interested in learning more about. This week they will read about their chosen country and gather information about the physical features and climate. They will then determine how these factors affect people living in these places. 

Grade 3 student are learning about the 3 land form regions in Ontario (Great Lakes St. Lawrence Lowlands, Hudson Bay Lowlands, and Canadian Shield). Similarly to the Grade 2s, they are also investigating how the land form features, and climate affect how people live and work in those regions. Students will also be learning about the role of the environment and how this can provide job opportunities, but can also be affected by human activities. 

Both grades will have opportunities to compare different places to live (global communities, and regions in Ontario). Students will celebrate their learning in the end of the unit by creating a public service announcement persuading people to visit a specific community/region. 

Math

Before March Break students demonstrated their learning about telling time by having an interview with me. These interviews will be sent home soon. 

On the first day back after March Break students discussed some of the things that they did while they were away from school. We collected data to determine how many students did the activities that were shared. Here are the results:

Students then represented this data on a pictograph. After that they interpreted the data to better understand how their classmates spent March Break. This year instead of having data management as a stand alone unit in math we have been integrating it into where it becomes meaningful and engaging. In previous science experiments students have gathered data and created bar graphs. There are more opportunities coming up for students to gather, represent, and interpret data. 

Recently we have been learning about fractions in math. Students are learning how to write fractional names to describe equal amounts, compare fractions, and solve problems involving fractions. Here are some pictures from our learning last week:

New Class Incentive and Money

As a new class incentive for good behavior students can earn 25 cents a day ( of play money of course!). Following routines, listening, treating others the way you want to be treated, and putting best effort into learning are all ways that students can earn their 25 cents a day. Breaking the lunch rules, hurting someone, and being disrespectful are behaviors that will not earn 25 cents. On the Thursday before Easter weekend Mrs. Gibbs will open a store where students will be able to purchase items with their savings. We will also spend some time soon learning about adding and subtracting money, as well as reviewing the Canadian coins.

Literacy

In reading, we are working on finding the main idea in non-fiction texts. This supports our learning in social studies, as well our next units in science about living things. Students are also learning about different perspectives/opinions on important issues. We have been reading books and articles about important issues mostly related to the environment. Students are given opportunities to share their own perspective. These activities are getting us ready to do some opinion paragraph writing. Students are being encouraged to think about an issue that they feel passionate about that they will later writing their opinion piece about (e.g., littering, use of the field at recess, keeping wild animals as pets, cutting down trees, being active, playing sports, eating healthy).