October 5 - 9

Happy Friday!

This week in math we have started learning about place value and how to write numbers with the digit in the correct place for thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones! We will continue this in the coming weeks as well as continue practicing writing numbers in their word form. 

In language arts, we continued our practice of writing different types of sentences based on a picture that we were given. Students wrote a statement, exclamatory sentence, and a question using the appropriate punctuation for their sentence. We are working on remembering to always start our sentences with a capital letter and include the appropriate punctuation for the type of sentences that is written. 

In science, we learned about specific materials, such as wood, plastic, glass, metal, fabric, paper, stone, leather, and rubber, and identified various objects that could be made out of each one. Next week, we will be discussing properties of these materials and discuss why we would choose materials with certain properties to build something. 

We painted in art this week! We used curved lines to guide our background colours as we created pictures of a ghost flying with a haunted house and a moon in the night sky! 

In writing this week, students wrote about what they are thankful for as we are heading into Thanksgiving weekend. With our buddies, we also wrote one thing for each letter of the alphabet of things we are thankful for. We have also been reviewing long vowel sounds. Next week, we will identify exceptions to the 'bossy e' rule and when to add '-s' or '-es' to the end of a word to make it plural.

Our spelling words for next week will continue to align with our math focus, and our sentences will align with the spelling rules we are learning in class. 

1. ten

2. twenty

3. thirty

4. forty

5. fifty

6. sixty

7. seventy

8. eighty

9. ninety

10. hundred

Sentence 1: They all have black dresses.

Sentence 2 will be a mystery.

Enjoy your long weekend!

Important dates coming up:

Monday, October 12th: Thanksgiving - No School

Monday, October 19th: Non-instructional Day - No school

Wednesday, October 28th: Fun Lunch (if ordered)

Thursday, October 29th: Halloween celebrations at school

September 28 - October 2

 We had another busy week in grade 2!

*We were unable to complete our spelling test on Friday, October 2nd, so it will be moved to Monday, October 5th*

In language arts this week, we talked about the different types of sentences. We learned the difference between statements, exclamatory sentences, questions, and commands. Students wrote different types of sentences about a picture of a lion that we saw. We will continue to work on this next week. 

In science this week, we looked at pictures of items and wrote some sentences to communicate our thinking about the items. We used 'I see..' 'I wonder...' and 'I think...' sentences to describe our thinking. We also began talking about how different materials are made. Did you know that glass is made from sand?

On Tuesday, we attended an assembly put on by the grade 3s about Orange Shirt Day. We learned about what Orange Shirt Day is for and what a residential school was. 

In Phys Ed with Mr V this week, we learned how to play Four Square! It is a fun game that many students have been playing during recess.

In math this week, we started practicing writing big numbers using words as our introduction to place value and quantities to 1000. We will continue this over the next few weeks as we learn to identify digits in numbers that can be found in the thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones places. 

As we are learning about quantities to 1000 in math, we will be taking a break from our first 300 high frequency words for our spelling test for a couple of weeks. Instead, we will be getting our spelling words from numbers so that we can be more successful in both math and spelling! Our sentences for next week will still be based off of the spelling rules we are reviewing in class, which will be long vowels for the coming week. 

Our words for Friday, October 9th are:

Zero

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Sentence 1: Jane said that she will bake a lime cake.

Sentence 2 will be a mystery sentence.

On October 1st, we made calendars for the month with some important dates to keep in mind! Students brought these home for you to take a look at. We also did our first Halloween-inspired art activity by using curved lines and shading to create a zoomed-in picture of a pumpkin!

Upcoming important dates:

Wednesday, October 7th: Picture Day

Monday, October 12th: Thanksgiving - No School

Monday, October 19th: Non-instructional Day - No school

Wednesday, October 28th: Fun Lunch (if ordered)

Thursday, October 29th: Halloween celebrations at school

September 21 - 25

 This was a busy week in grade 2!

On Wednesday, we had our Terry Fox run! Students raised money for cancer research and ran laps around our school field in support of Terry's run across Canada. Ask your student how many laps they ran!

On Thursday was our open house! It was great to meet so many families and show you our classroom.

We finished our patterning unit in math this week. Students should now be able to identify and create repeating, increasing, and decreasing patterns that include attributes such as shape, size, position, and colour. Next week, we will begin discussion quantities to 1000 and introducing the concept of place value. 

Our first spelling tests were sent home this week. Please take a look at it with your student and see how they did! We also had our second spelling test on Thursday. Our mystery sentence this week was 'Is that your math book?'. These will be sent home on Monday for you to review. Next week we will continue with our review of digraphs within longer words with blends. 

Our words for next Friday's spelling test will be:

1. at

2. be

3. this

4. have

5. from

6. or

7. one

8. had

9. by

10. word

Sentence 1:

Sentence 2 will be a mystery 

Our blue home reading duotangs got 2 new readings added this week! Please take a look at these with your student and have them read the passages if you want some extra practice.

We started our science unit on matter this week! We talked about different materials that are used to make objects. Ask your student what object they found around our classroom and what material it was made out of. 

Tuesday, September 29th, is Orange Shirt Day at school. If your child has an orange shirt, they are encouraged to wear it on Tuesday. We have started talking briefly about what Orange Shirt Day represents and we will learn more during an assembly next week. There is no school on Wednesday, September 30th for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Reminder that our library day is Tuesday!

September 14 - 18

 We had a great week in grade 2!

This week we continued to learn about patterns in math. We talked about increasing and decreasing patterns, how to identify rules in growing patterns, and we looked for patterns we can see in hundreds charts. On Friday, we went outside with our buddies and drew patterns that we could find outside in our visual journals. Ask your student what patterns they saw with their buddy!

We had our first spelling test on Friday! These will come home early next week for you to review. Our mystery sentence was 'Jill is in jazz class'. This sentence includes words that follow the 'flossez' rule, which we have been reviewing in class. If a word ends with an F, L, S, or Z and comes after a short vowel sound, then we need to double that letter, like in the words Jill, jazz, and class!

Next week, we will work on the next 10 of the First 300 High Frequency Words, and have 2 sentences that align with the spelling rules we are reviewing. We will be looking at words that end with '-all', '-oll', and '-ull', as well as reviewing digraphs. Digraphs are combinations of letters that work together to make a new sound, such as SH, CH, TH, CK, PH, and WH. This is review of concepts learned in grade 1. 

Our words for the next spelling test (which will be on Thursday, as there is no school next Friday):

1. He

2. Was

3. For

4. On

5. Are

6. As

7. With

8. His

9. They

10. I

Sentence 1: She went to the mall for lunch.

Sentence 2 will be a mystery sentence.

Our blue home reading duotangs were sent home on Thursday! Inside, there are reading passages that align with the spelling patterns and rules we have been working on. Please read these regularly with your student and ensure the duotang is kept in their backpack so we can add new readings weekly. Students should be able to independently read these passages aloud to you at home. 

We had our first writing assessment this week! Once per week, students will be doing these writing assessments, then we will make a booklet of their work throughout the year to see their writing progress. In language arts this week, we talked about the different parts of a sentence. We learned about the subjects and predicates of sentences and built sentences that include these both.

Next week, we will be staring grade 2 science! Our first unit is Matter, in which we will be learning about different materials that can be used to build things, whether materials are natural or man-made, and how we decide to use certain materials over others for specific purposes.

Our Terry Fox run is coming up on Wednesday! Ask your student what they know about Terry Fox and how they have been getting ready for the run in PE class. If you would like to donate, students can bring donations in to the classroom as we try to meet our school fundraising goal.

Important Dates:

We have library on Tuesdays. Please ensure library books are returned to school in time for library on Tuesdays. 

September 23 - Fun Lunch - Subway (orders must be in by September 18th)
September 23 - Terry Fox Run (volunteers needed)
September 24 - MTS Open House 5:00pm - 6:30pm (More Information to Follow)
September 25 - NO SCHOOL - Non-Instructional Day
September 29 - Orange Shirt Day
September 30 - NO SCHOOL - National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Welcome to Grade 2!

Welcome to Grade 2!

We had a great first 2 weeks back at school getting to know each other! Please check this blog on Friday afternoons for important information and updates on our learning for the week. Throughout the month of September, we will be practicing classroom routines and spending time getting to know each other so we can all feel safe and comfortable in our classroom. 

First Day

We read the story First Day Jitters and talked about how we were feeling on the first day of grade 2! Students used sticky notes to draw a picture of how they felt coming to school on the first day, then we created a graph to see the different feelings we were having in the class. Most students were feeling happy! Some other feelings were tired, nervous, and excited.

We also practiced using tally marks by surveying students in the class about who they had as a teacher in grade 1. In the afternoon, we got to see our PE teacher, Mr V, in the gym. This year, we have PE on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays! We have music on Wednesdays and Thursdays!

On Tuesday, September 1st, we created calendars for the month and noted some important days that are coming up! When students were finished, they brought these home. Check them out to see some fun things happening this month at school. Important dates are also listed below.

Student Health Plan forms were sent home last week. These need to be returned if a student has a medical or physical condition that may affect attendance, or if they have medication that needs to be taken at school. 

Spelling Words:

Each Friday, students will have a spelling quiz based with words from the First 300 High Frequency words. The words will be posted here each week in case you want to get some extra practice in at home! We will also practice these words throughout the week. Students will be given 10 words and will also have 2 sentences that will be based around the spelling patterns learned throughout the week (one sentence will be a mystery sentence)!

Our words for next week are:

the

of

and

a

to

in

is

you

that

it

Sentence:

I can see a cat.

Starting next week, a duo tang will be sent home with new readings to practice at home. Please keep these in your students backpack so we can add to it throughout the week.

Library

We have library on Tuesdays! Please ensure that library books are returned in time for our library days so that new books can be checked out for the week.

Math

We have been learning about patterns! Some patterns have repeating attributes such as colour, size, shape, and position. Other patterns increase or decrease! We built repeating and growing patterns in class using blocks and shapes.

Buddies

Last week, we met our grade 3 buddies in Ms Bossenberry's class! We got to go to the playground together to get to know each other better. Ask your student if they can remember what their buddy's name is. 

Community Walks in PE

Starting Wednesday, September 16th, we will be introducing a regular community walk routine as part of our PE classes. These walks will provide students with an opportunity to be active, get outside, and enjoy our school community.

Please ensure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather on walk days. Parents will be notified at least 48 hours in advance whenever a community walk is planned.

If you are interested in volunteering to help with community walks, please note that an updated police clearance is required every year. Our Parent Council Volunteer Coordinator has sent out a Sign-Up Genius for those interested in volunteering. 

Upcoming Dates

September 23 - Fun Lunch - Subway (orders must be in by September 18th)
September 23 - Terry Fox Run (volunteers needed)
September 24 - MTS Open House 5:00pm - 6:30pm (More Information to Follow)
September 25 - NO SCHOOL - Non-Instructional Day
September 29 - Orange Shirt Day
September 30 - NO SCHOOL - National Day for Truth and Reconciliation