There are only 12 days until Christmas and only 4 days of school left. Can you believe it? This week has been a festive one! We started our week with lots of preparation for our Christmas concert. There were many rehearsals, and the kids all did so awesome! In between we worked on a special holiday gift bag project. Students decorated gift bags and filled them with warm mitts and toques, socks, soap and some toys. They are being delivered to students in need next week. We talked a lot about generosity during the process and it was so nice to see how much care and attention everyone gave to their decoration and selection of what went inside. Since it is so snowy outside, we decided to make things snowy in our classroom too. We read the story Snowman at Night and wrote about what we would do if we were snowman at night. There were lots of snowball fights, trips to the North Pole and iced cocoa. We also worked on some plasticine art, inspired by Barbara Reid. We read her book, Perfect Snow, and watched some videos about her process as a writer and as an artist. Then we created our own plasticine snowmen. Check them out: Carrying on our snow theme, we also learned about snowflakes. We read about how they are made, and how they end up always being different and imperfect. Snowflakes are made of small crystals, so we also started a Science experiment to make crystal snowflakes using pipe cleaners and borax. They are already starting to grow and we can't wait to see what they will look like on Monday! On Bookflix we also checked out a short movie about Snowflake Bentley, who was the first person to ever take close-up photographs of snowflakes and was one of the first people to learn that snowflakes are so beautiful when you look at them under a microscope.
On Thursday we watched the silent short film, The Snowman. Then we wrote a reflection on how the movie made us feel, what it reminded us of, and what it made us wonder. We also talked about how one movie, or book, can make different people think, feel and wonder different things. This week we also started to learn about Canadian money. We explored the different coins that we have, what they look like and how much they are worth. Next, we practiced adding different amounts together and finding how many ways we can add coins together to equal $1 (or 100 cents). Our problem solving this week also required us to use our new knowledge of money. Next week we will also use money to do a gingerbread house building activity. Next week is going to b a busy one- check the weekly emails for all the information about what we have coming up in our last week before the holidays! Ms. Brett
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Can you believe we are already a week into December? This week we have been practicing for our Christmas concert next week and wrapping up our Math and Science units with Ms. Radloff before she finishes her time with us. We had SO much fun seeing all of the creative and fun games that students created with magnets. Thank you parents for your support, we hope you also had fun working with your child. We invited our grade one buddies to play as well, and they had so much fun getting a peak at what we learn about in grade two. Here is a sneak peek of all the awesome work: This week was all about review in math. We reviewed our understanding of number sense, patterning and graphing. We also began a mini unit on money. For these next couple of weeks we will be learning about Canadian coins, how much they are worth and how to add the different amounts together. There may also be a fun gingerbread house building activity coming up that will require them to "purchase" materials using their new knowledge of money. This week we also worked on a winter tree art project, to replace our fall trees. We used our new understanding of shades to create a snowy night time scene. We used three different painting materials and techniques and they turned out great! Check them out: We also explored some famous artists this week, and used a thinking routine to critique their work. We looked at Kandinsky and van Gogh and for each artist we examined one of their famous paintings. Each time we recorded what we saw, what the art made us think and feel, and what we wondered about them. It was great to see all of the curiosity and critical thinking from everyone.
Next week we will work on some more winter themed art, science experiments and writing in between all of our concert preparation and performances. Have a great weekend, Ms.Brett This week we continued to work on patterning. Students are working through centers to practice making, extending and sorting increasing, decreasing and repeating patterns. We are also starting to review some of the other math skills we have learned about so far this year.
Our writing focus continues to be on expanding ideas and adding details. This week we wrote about where we would want to live, real or imaginary, if we could live anywhere. We also wrote about our biggest mistakes, and how we fixed them. Our magnet inquiry continues, and this week students created some abstract art using only paint, a paperclip and a magnet! They also practiced a thinking routine called a see-think-wonder. For this they looked at a picture of a scrapyard (that uses a big magnet to lift the metal) and described the things they could see, what they thought they knew about it, and what they wondered. We are looking forward to seeing all of their magnet game creations next week! We also learned about how to create different shades using paint. Next week we will be practicing this new skill next week in a special art project. Please check the weekly email for more updates about everything coming up in the next few weeks. Have a great weekend, Ms.Brett Thank you to everyone who made time to come and see us this week, it is always great for us to touch base with parents and for students to be able to share their work so far this year. This week we worked on a special writing project, which many of you had the opportunity to see displayed during interviews. For this 'Best Part of Me' writing, students worked through the five stages of the writing process. We started with prewriting, and brainstormed as many ideas as we could. Next, students wrote a rough draft. Then, they worked through the revising and editing stage using a writing checklist. Finally, they were able to write out their good copy. These stages help students understand the writing process and they also give them an opportunity to create the best writing piece they can. To go with out writing students also did some photography. They worked in pairs to capture their best part in a black and white photograph. Students continued to explore with magnets this week, learning about what metals magnets are attracted to, the strength of magnets and magnetic fields. To help them bring their learning together, students created a magnet superhero, who uses magnets in some way. They drew their superheroes, named them, and then wrote about how their superhero is magnetic. It was awesome to see the creativity and understanding of science concepts coming together. In Math we are continuing to learn about patterns, and this week students were introduced to decreasing patterns. Have them explain or show you the difference between an increasing and a decreasing pattern. Next week we will continue to work on patterning practice through centers that combine increasing, decreasing and repeating patterns. We have also started to look at reasoning problems in math, which are problems that require a reason to be solved. These types of problems usually have more than one right answer, and in order to get it 'right', students have to include an explanation. Here is one that we worked on, ask your child to explain their answer and reason: Have a great weekend!
Ms. Brett Happy Friday! This weather has things feeling like spring time outside, but inside we are gearing up for the holiday season. Students have started to work on their winter performance with Mrs. McBride, and we are starting to get ready for parent teacher interviews. This is a great touch base before report cards come home in December, so if you haven't already signed up, please do. If you aren't able to make it, let me know and we can arrange something else.
We have started working on a special writing project this week that we will be showing off during interviews. It is a chance for students to work through the entire writing process, starting with pre writing, then a rough copy, editing, and finally making a good copy. This project will demonstrate descriptive writing, and how students are learning to expand their ideas and add detail. We started a new unit in Math this week, which focuses on patterning. Last year, students learned about repeating patterns. This week they were introduced to increasing patterns, which grow instead of repeat. Ask your child to draw one for you, and ask them if they can explain the rule for their increasing pattern. We will continue to practice creating and extending these patterns, as well as learn about one more type of pattern next week. Our Science unit on magnets is in full swing. Students are enjoying exploring with magnets and learning about how they work. This week we learned about the poles of a magnet. Ask your child to tell you what the two poles are, and how they work. Hint: opposites attract! We are working through magnet centers to help students explore polarity, magnet strength and the types of metal that a magnet is attracted to. Next week we will continue to explore how they work and what we can do with them. As always, we also continue to work on reading, spelling and writing throughout the week through our daily five centers, Words their Way and independent reading. Reading and spelling are both things that students should also be practicing at home as often as they can. Our next WTW test will be next week. Have a great weekend! Ms. Brett & Ms. Radloff This week we focused on getting ready for the Remembrance Day assembly. Together as a class we created a poppy wreathe, which was laid during the assembly. We also rehearsed our songs for the assembly, and worked hard on creating a video to explain the acknowledgement of the land. Ms. Radloff, our student teacher, started a unit of patterning this week. Students reviewed what they already know about patterns and created some repeating patterns to jog their memory. Then, students created some special poppy art using a patterning technique called zentangle. Inside the shape of a poppy, students created repeating patterns with lines and shapes. Because the spaces were so small students had to work carefully, making sure they filled each space with a new pattern. All of our work prompted many conversation about poppies, Remembrance Day, and why we recognize it every year. Students talked about peace, what is means to them and how they feel peaceful. If you attended the assembly, you will have seen poppies decorating the gym walls, each with a statement about peace on them. These were created by the entire school, one poppy for each student. Thank you to anyone who was able to make it for our assembly, and thank you for supporting your kids in getting ready for such an important day.
In between all of our assembly preparation, we also continued to work on strengthening our use of mental math and using a hundreds chart efficiently. We are discovering a lot of patterns in a hundreds chart, that can help us count, add and subtract more easily. Next week we will jump into patterning, and a new Science unit. We will also continue to work on our descriptive writing, and begin a project that we will have displayed for parent teacher interviews in a few weeks. Please check the weekly email for more information about important dates. Have a great long weekend. Ms.Brett & Ms. Radloff Happy Halloween!
I hope everyone has a great night trick-or-treating and an even better weekend recovering from all the sugar! This week we enjoyed our field trip to the Glenbow Museum, which was a great place to wrap up our unit on our community in the past. Being able to see a real tipi, and touch real artifacts from both Indigenous people and the settlers who came here, really helped bring our exploration to life. We will be continuing to talk about different communities across Canada this year, connecting back to all the learning we have done around our community, both past and present, as we go. Thank you to all our volunteers who made the trip possible! Our writing focus has continued to be on descriptive writing this week, as we brainstormed, sorted and practiced using adjectives to make our writing juicer and more interesting. In the next few weeks we will begin working on some special writing projects that will help us practice using adjectives, adverbs and other descriptive writing tools. This week we looked at even and odd numbers in math. These can be tricky for students to remember, and it is something easy that you can practice at home. We learned that you can tell if any number is even or odd by looking at the digit in the ones place (on the end). If it is even, then the whole number is even. If it is odd, then the whole number is odd. Next week is our Remembrance Day assembly, which we are working hard on preparing. Students have been working hard to learn new songs in music, and we are also working on a special Acknowledgement of the Land project in class. Both will be shared at the assembly. Check the weekly email for more information. Have a spooktacular night and long weekend! Ms.Brett This week we have been exploring words and how special words help to make our sentences more interesting. First, we learned about the two types of words that are in every sentence: nouns and verbs. Ask your child to tell you what a noun is and what a verb is, they should know! We practiced writing sentences with just nouns and verbs. For example: The dog runs. The teacher talks. We decided these were pretty boring, so next we learned about adjectives and adverbs, which describe nouns and verbs, and make our writing more exciting and more interesting. We brainstormed lots of juicy descriptive words, and added them into our sentences. For example: The black dog runs quickly. The tall teacher talks loudly. For the next few weeks we will be working on some exciting projects that will help us practice our descriptive writing, making our writing more interesting and detailed.
In Math this week we have been talking more about our hundreds chart, and exploring how we can use it to help us count, add and subtract. To use a hundreds chart effectively, it is helpful to know exactly where different numbers are on it. To help us we made hundreds chart puzzles, which your child brought home on Wednesday. Next, we started to look at patterns in the hundreds chart. We are starting by looking at how the hundreds chart is organized into groups of 10. Across the hundreds chart their are rows of 10, and going down the hundreds chat each column counts by 10. An important skill in grade 2 is skip counting, and for the rest of the year students will be working on building up their understanding and comfort with skip counting by 2, 5 and 10, all the way to 100. By the end of the year they should also be able to do this backwards as well! To help encourage students to practice their skip counting, they have each been given the task of completing "missions". When a child feels that they are able to complete a mission, they perform the skill for me, and then move on to another. Their goal is to try their best, and complete as many as possible by the end of the year. Here are the missions we will work on throughout the year: - skip count by 10: from 0 to 100 and from 100 to 0 - skip count by 5: from 0 to 100 and from 100 to 0 - skip count by 2: from 0 to 100 and from 100 to 0 - use flexibility: skip count by 2, 5, 10 from any given number between 1-9. For example, count by 10 from starting at 3 Some of these are tricky! They take patience and practice, but we have lots of time and we will have lots of opportunities to practice in class throughout the year. Ask your child what they are working on, and feel free to help them practice at home by writing them out, counting in the car or quizzing them when they think they are ready. As skip counting gets stronger and students become more flexible in their ability to skip count from different numbers, they will be able to use skip counting to help them add and subtract. This week we focused a lot on how Calgary came to be and exploring what it looked like in the past. Did you know this area used to have very few trees? Check out this website for some cool pictures that show how Calgary has changed over time. When we visit the Glenbow next week we will be able to check out some artifacts and learn more about how life here has changed over time. As we reach the end of our liquids unit we are beginning to discuss how we can help make sure we take care of the water in our world. This week we learned about The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Here is a link to a video that explains more about it. We brainstormed some ways that we can help protect the ocean, the animals in it and the water that we need to survive. Even though we live in Cranston, where there is no ocean, we can do lots to help here. Ask your child to share some ways they can help. Have a great weekend! Ms.Brett This short week flew by.
For math we have continued to focus on place value, and practicing building and recognizing numbers using place value. We are using games like bingo and concentration to help with our recognition of place value, as well as activities that require us to build numbers using place value blocks and record them in different ways. We had our first WTW test this week, and when they come home you will notice that each word gets two points, one for being spelt correctly and one for being in the right category. In the coming months students will get more familiar with this routine and how to practice their words at home and at school, and they will be able to start applying what they are learning through this spelling program to their reading and writing. We continue to work on our writing everyday, as well as reading. This week we continued to explore the water cycle. We started an experiment that demonstrates evaporation by filling two cups with the same amount of water, covering one and leaving one open. Students hypothesized which cup would lose more water and why. Ask your child how it is going, we will check our cups on Monday to see the final result. As we continue to learn about the past, we are starting to dig into what life was like here for both Indigenous people and settlers. We are exploring how the settlers got here, where they went and what they did. Next week we will begin looking at Calgary specifically and how it became the city it is today. We also received our first post cards this week from Kamloops and PEI. Students loved being able to read them, find the places on a map and learn more about the people and places they came from. We hope we lots more this year! Have a great weekend, Ms. Brett This week we have continued to learn about liquids, exploring their different properties. On Monday we learned about evaporation and condensation, which led us into a conversation about the water cycle and how water can change from a liquid to a gas, and back into a liquid. We also talked about what happens to water when it freezes and how we can turn ice back into water. We will continue to explore evaporation and the water cycle next week. As we begin to dive deeper into the past we are creating a timeline of what has happened in this place. We know that Indigenous people were the first people to live here, and that they camped in different locations, never building permanent houses. We also know that at some point, settlers arrived and they began building houses that were more permanent. This week we explored how the bison were important to the Indigenous people and why they started to disappear once settlers arrived. To help us imagine life so long ago we have begun reading a new class read aloud, Little House in the Big Woods. In the coming weeks we will be learning about how settlers eventually built and created the city of Calgary. Our math focus this week was on place value. We have begun to look at how place value works and what the different digits in a number represent. To help us we have started looking at 4 different forms of a number: Students have been practicing building numbers with place value blocks and writing them in both expanded and standard form. This practice will help us a lot when we start to look at adding and subtracting two digit numbers later on in the year. Next week we will continue with this focus to help us strengthen our understanding.
This week we started our first official round of Words Their Way (WTW). Hopefully everyone's word sorts made it home and you are starting to work together to learn and practice the different spelling patterns. We will have our first WTW test on these words next Friday. This week students have also been working hard on achieving their writing goals. Everyone has a small goal they are working towards in their writing. Ask your child what their goal is. We will continue to create and work towards mini goals throughout the year to help make sure we are always improving our writing. I hope everyone has an excellent long weekend, eats lots and enjoys some time with family. Ms.Brett |
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