Great Books Inspire Great Writing!

A great book can inspire some truly amazing writing. 

*Sometimes, the book provides us with an opportunity to make a connection to our own life and helps us remember a similar story that we can write about.  This is called a 'text to self connection'.

We read some great books about sick kids. The books reminded us about times we have been sick...how we felt, what we couldn't do and what made us feel better. We wrote about these connections. While reading, we noticed several similarities between these books. When one book reminds you of something that happened in another book, that is called a 'text to text connection'. We had fun making connections between the 3 books we read about sick kids! 

*Sometimes, a book provides us with an opportunity to look closely at a character. After reading 'Willow's Whispers', we practiced finding evidence (proof) from the story that showed the character was shy, smart, creative, easy-going etc. . Students got a star sticker for writing a sentence to explain something about the character and a star sticker for giving the proof. 

While writing, we practice spelling high frequency words correctly, appropriate use of punctuation and capital letters and experiment with new, interesting adjectives to make our work more descriptive.  

We have been inspired in our class by some great books this week!  Great writing everyone!  

 

Measuring Maniacs!

We have been having fun in our class using our measurement skills.  By the end of Grade 2, students should be able to estimate and measure length, height, and distance, using standard units (i.e., centimetres, metres) and non-standard units (ie. link its, blocks, buttons).  Students also should be able to record and represent measurements of length, height and distance in a variety of ways.

First, we reviewed the important steps to measuring:
1.  Place the first unit of measurement at the edge of the object.
2.  Place the next unit of measurement beside the first unit without any space between and without overlapping.
3.  Continue laying units of measurement until you reach the end of the object being measured.
4.  Count how many units long the object being measured is.

Next, we used a variety of materials to measure.
Students soon discovered that standard tools (rulers with centimeters/numbers already marked) were faster and easier to use and that that everyone got the same measurement.

We learned "small objects can be measured with small tools, but you should choose bigger tools if you are measuring something big or it just ends up taking too long to measure it and it is too many to count."

Our next step will be to compare and order objects based on their measurment and think about how to compare the size of objects when they have been measured with different tools.
We will come back to this in a few weeks! 
Marvellous measuring Grade 2! 

Happy Halloween!

It's no secret!  I am not a big fan of Halloween.  However, I have to honestly say that this year I actually enjoyed the day!  We have had a lot of fun in Grade 2 celebrating this special day! 
*We carved our class pumpkin and almost everyone enjoyed sticking their hands into that goopy mess!  Yuck!  
*We wrote out the procedure for carving a pumpkin. Carving a pumpkin is a 'tradition' and traditions are passed on by explaining them step by step.  Great writing everyone!  
*We attended the 'Change for Change' Carnival.  Students were able to select the activities they wanted to participate in and move freely within the gym.  Thank you for all of your generous donations! 
*We measured items in our class with paper leg bones! 
*We worked in teams on the paper chain challenge! 
*We learned all about halloween traditions, decorations, history etc. and created a poster about this celebration. 
*We wrote about our costumes.
*We talked about trick or treating safety. 
I hope everyone had a 'Happy Halloween'! 

Wednesday at Wildwood!

We had a fantastic afternoon at Wildwood.  We packed a lot of great learning into a few short hours!     Please use the photos below to guide your discussion at home.  Ask your child to explain the activities that they participated in. 
*We met in the main building and learned about how to be safe and get the most out of our time in the forest.
*We smelled autumn smells and listened for autumn sounds (crunching leaves and noisy blue jays).
*We got into groups and learned how to read a map by following a compass and looking at the symbols on the map.  
*We pretended to be monarch butterflies migrating to Mexico.  We followed our maps to various checkpoints where we had to make difficult butterfly decisions before finding and moving to the next checkpoint.  
*We learned that butterflies don't fly at night or when it is below 10 degrees celsius.
*We learned that butterflies encounter things that can help their journey - extra food/nectar, warm, thermal winds.
*We learned that butterflies encounter things that make their journey to Mexico difficult - praying mantis, hurricane force winds, cold, lack of food.  

We sure hope our class butterflies have made it to Mexico by now so they can survive.  We were tired from running around the forest...we can't imagine how tired a little butterfly must feel after flying all the way to Mexico.  

Before leaving, we enjoyed a story (about a monarch caterpillar/butterfly of course) and then a tag game where we pretended to be monarchs and had to stay safe from the praying mantis by hiding in the hoops!  

Special thanks to Dominic's Grandma - Pam, Spencer's Mom- Leanne, Lu's Mom - Connie and Ryan's Nanny - Maricel.  We were so glad to have you with us!  Your help made our afternoon even more meaningful and successful because we could have smaller groups!  Thank you!  

Apple Art!

Our latest art project required students to practice listening and looking.  Each student created a basket of apples by following step by step instructions and observing/copying a model.  We learned  how to load a paintbrush with puck paint to get a dark colour and also how to hold and rinse a paintbrush to get the desired look.  Our end result looks so close to the inspiration piece....it's amazing! Well done, everyone!

Great Big Crunch!

Thursday, October 19th was our 'Great Big Crunch' day.  This is the day that every student and teacher in the entire school enjoys an apple at the exact same time.  The collective 'crunch' was really fun to hear!  Students in Grade 2 were inspired to locate and record some facts about apples.  We shared what we already knew about apples and then used various non-fiction books about apples to learn new information. 

Bus Evacuation!

We reviewed rules for how to travel safely on a bus and how to quickly evacuate in the event of an emergency.  We watched a short video in the gym and then the entire school boarded buses and practiced a rear door exit! We were also shown some of the safety gear that is on board the bus for emergency situations.  Thank you to our bus driver, Tony for helping us today! 

Students from Grade 2 returned to class and did an amazing job of sharing this learning orally and in writing.  We used simple picture cards to promote discussion and guide our writing.  I was especially impressed with the number of students who explained WHY these rules are important.
See if your child can explain the safety rules to you at home! 

We are making gains in our writing AND we are ready for our first, safe bus trip together.  

Keep up the great work everyone! 

Repeating patterns!

We have been having a lot of fun creating, identifying and extending repeating patterns using a variety of materials in our classroom.  We are noticing different attributes that can change in a pattern such as colour, size, shape or position.  We demonstrated our understanding of patterns by drawing patterns and we also took pictures of the patterns we built in the classroom.  The pictures provide me with the proof I need that your child can create a variety of patterns.  We will continue to practice identifying the attribute(s) that have changed in patterns and will describe patterns using AB language.  We play a fun game with our pattern dice to help us with these skills. One student creates a pattern behind their super spy shield. Once revealed, the other partner must identify the pattern and  the attribute change and extend the pattern by adding to it.  It's a fun way to 'show what we know'! 

Amazing Artists!

This class really enjoys Art and they have created some truly amazing pieces of artwork!  We have already used a variety of art materials including crayons, markers, scissors, glue stick, paint, q-tips and construction paper.  We have talked a lot about care and control when using art tools as well as following instructions, copying a sample and using specific techniques to achieve the desired look.  Types of lines, use of space and color choice are key elements of design when creating our masterpieces!  We are also learning to look at our art critically and think about how we can add to or improve our art. Please enjoy a peek at our latest creations! 

Stone Soup!

We read and compared four different book versions of the story 'Stone Soup' and one short video version. We looked at the important parts of a story (character, setting, problem, key events and solution) and practiced retelling the tale by including these parts.  We discussed the lesson that the villagers learned in the story and saw first hand how when everyone gives a little...you end up with a lot! We wrote down the recipe for  'Stone Soup' so we could share it with our families. The secret ingredient to stone soup really is 'SHARING'.  Thank you to all families for providing the ingredients for our Stone Soup.  The students in Grade 2 really enjoyed making and eating this delicious lunch!  I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!