Weekly Update

Hello parents and students!

Last week was very busy and full of quite a few activities. Both last week and this week we have continued our research on the Arctic. Last week we discussed as a group what we know (or think we know!) about the Arctic. The students then wrote down as many questions as they could think of that they wanted to learn about the Arctic. We have a wide range of questions, some examples of questions they came up with are:

What kind of animals live there?

How do people survive in the cold climate?

How are houses built?

What are schools like?

How do people travel?

Do plants grow there?

What kind of food do the people eat?

Do they have igloos still?

There are much more and the students have been developing their research skills to find answers to their questions. Using both books and the internet, we are finding different ways to seek their answers. Quite often many of the students would develop even more question while trying to seek answers!

In math we have continued with our sorting and collecting data unit, they are discovering the different ways to collect, display and interpret information. I encourage students who want to do work at home to think of questions they can ask their family members and friends, and discover different ways to record the information to find. Several students have been doing extra work at home and have shared their findings with the class.

On Friday is our Terry Fox run, the students have been learning about the story of Terry Fox and have been practicing their running during gym. The school is collection ‘Toonies for Terry’ and all proceeds go towards cancer research.

That’s all for now!

Ms. Q

Arctic Links

Hello grade 2s!

Here are some great links to check out about the Arctic

Links:

Inuit life up North

Dedicated to the history,science, and adventure of the Arctic. Includes images, maps, and wildlife, environmental, and glacier information

Information about environments, geography, organisms, and research, along with photographs

Learn about the geography of the Canadian Arctic from the Government of Canada website

Series of great websites and games about the Arctic region

Weekly Update

Hello parents and students!

Last week was such a busy week for us, this week even more so! We just finished out pattern unit in math, we might revisit it later on but now we have moved on to our data collection and sorting unit. The students created their own graph last week, learning how to label, collect information but also explain what they discovered. We have been working hard on our writing, the students have been learning the importance of editing our work and also providing details in our writing. Who? What? Where? Why? How? When? Those are the questions I ask the students to ask when they are reviewing their work, if they are not answered we've discussed how would the reader know what's happening?

In science we're started out 'Exploring Liquids" unit. On Friday we did a series of experiments with water, though it was a bit messy and wet the students are learning how to record their observations. Throughout this unit we will be doing even more experiments and hopefully the students will enjoy being scientists!

This week we have started our study of the Arctic. The students will come up with their own personal question about the Arctic and through our inquiries I hope we will learn a lot about the region and be able to compare it to where we live now. I asked the students to write in their agendas to bring 'crafty' materials. As a class we are going to build a model of the region we are studying and anything that could contribute to this from home would be appreciated! Things like wool, paper towel rolls, leftover paint, construction paper, buttons, pebbles, styrofoam, anything!

Ms. Q

It was so nice to meet all the parents last week, I look forward to posting the work we do in class on the blog soon enough!

Weekly update

Hello Parents and students!

We have had a very busy week; the students have been doing a lot of story construction. We have been using our imaginations and putting our heads together to come up with story ideas. We have been reading many stories throughout the week and identifying the beginning, middle and end. The students have been learning about the elements that make a beginning, middle and end to a story. This week we will be focusing on the beginning of a story to start the planning process. We discussed the importance of planning a story, how organizing our ideas will help us write in a more successful manner.

Some of the students have expressed interest in writing more at home and I think it’s a great idea! So if your child is interested in perhaps keeping their own journal at home here are some helpful websites that have some great ideas:

A story starter generator

Ideas on how to get your child started with a home journal


In science we are starting a unit where we are exploring liquids. If anyone can spare empty plastic containers, bottles, etc , that would a great help to me and the students! We will be doing a lot of demonstrations and experiments with different liquids so through our inquiries students will become scientists and will be reporting their findings.

Hope everyone had a great weekend, a new week is upon us!

Ms.Q

Welcome!

Hello grade 2's! (And parents!)

Welcome to our class blog. This is the place I will send weekly update to parents so they get a sense of what we're working on in class. I'll also be posting interesting and informative links for students very soon related to what we are doing in class. The year has started off with a bang, we're already working very hard in the classroom. In math we're doing a pattern unit, using materials, art and even ourselves to create and recognize patterns! We have even been dissecting the patterns we find in stories.

We have been doing a lot of writing in just a few days. The students have been creating beginning, middle and end stories using pictures and words. We also have free writing almost every day, this is a quiet time where students can feel free to write bout whatever they would like. Some examples are poems, diary entries, stories, news articles, etc. Perhaps talk to your children about some more ideas you can brainstorm together that they can write about during this time!

In Social Studies we just began talking about the differences between rural and urban communities, we will be trying to make those words stick (rural and urban) because it’s easy to confuse the two!

Very soon in Science we will start exploring liquids. We will discover the different kinds and be doing a lot of experiments in our class. Get ready to become scientists grade 2s!

That’s all for now, I will most links and more updates soon!

Ms. Q