Our schools' Terry Fox run is tomorrow morning around 10:00

Students are encouraged to bring "twoonies for Terry" that we will donate to the Canadian Cancer Foundation to support ongoing cancer research. We had a great discussion today about what qualities Terry Fox displayed when he planned and carried out his Miracle of Hope run. Students were amazed at the dedication, compassion, and courage that Terry exhibited when trying to help others battling cancer. I feel that students have been inspired to push themselves as he had done, both in the run for tomorrow, and when attempting to reach their goals.  The class seemed to understand that amazing things are possible when you put in effort and believe in yourself! Ask your child why they think Terry Fox is a hero.

Please make sure that comfortable shoes and appropriate clothing are worn as we will be running in the field outside.

Today we had our first fire drill and it was really successful considering it was a new experience for all of us! The students were very responsible in getting out of the school quickly and lining up at our spot outside. We will continue to practice staying quiet during the drills to ensure we are listening for important information that we may receive.

I can't believe it's already the last week of September- time is really flying!! Unfortunately this means the weather is starting to change and our days are much cooler now. We do go outside everyday for recess (in the afternoon) and the students are also out at lunch so it's important that they are dressed appropriately for the weather. I've been telling the class "it's better to have a jacket and not need it, then need a jacket and not have it" - although we also have the issue of students remembering to bring their jackets back inside with them as well- haha. We will keep working on it :)

Coming Up!!

The Grade Two Team is beginning an Inquiry project on “Playgrounds”.  This is tied to our math study of 2D and 3D shapes as well as our Social Studies inquiry on Canadian Communities.  As you are aware, Ken Taylor school has began their fundraising for our school to have its own playground.  As students have experienced not having a playground, they have become curious about designing and building a playground. This has sparked them to wonder about what might our Ken Taylor Playground look like? Students will look at the design process from the perspective of many different lenses including parents, students, and teachers. In order for us to begin our project, we are going to go on community walks.  We are in need of 5 volunteers to come on these walks with us.

We are planning to go on October 3 and October 5 from 1:00 - 2:30.  If you are able to volunteer and have the volunteer clearance, please send us an email.  Due to a CBE policy, parents will not be able to bring siblings or small children when volunteering. You will be required to be at the school from 1:00 - 2:30 p.m.  We will follow up with volunteers by Friday with a confirmation.

Sincerely,

The Grade Two Team

Lisa Stewart Ljstewart@cbe.ab.ca

We will also be doing our Terry Fox Run -Friday September 30 in the morning.  Students are encouraged to bring Twoonies for Terry to help raise money for cancer research. 

It was so great to be back at school today with the class! The substitute Mr. Lagace reported that he greatly enjoyed being in our classroom last week.

Shapes! Shapes! Shapes! In Math, we have been exploring a variety of 2d shapes and how they are similar and different from one another. Today we looked at the big idea of how two-dimensional shapes can be composed from other shapes. The students were problem solving to determine how many ways they could fill a triangle with different shapes. Here are a few examples of what they found!

The students were so focused and excited when they discovered a new combination. It did require some trial and error but through this process students discovered that there were some shapes that didn't work- such as squares and the small rhombuses (the skinny brown diamonds).  We also practiced documenting our findings and using the appropriate vocabulary for these shapes- Trapezoid (the red ones), Rhombus (the blue diamond shapes), Hexagons (yellow six sided shape) and Triangles (green ones). It was a bit tricky for students to trace their pattern blocks and record the shapes they used into their books but they persevered! 

Room 106 continues to develop our daily reading routines and we have spent the past few days focusing on how to choose "Just Right" or "Good Fit" books. We used the analogy of riding a bike, if they pick books that are too difficult for them at this point, it is like riding a bike up hill only. They get tired, frustrated, it takes a long time, and they may even want to give up (like getting off your bike and walking it up)! When students are always wanting to read books that are too hard, it is difficult to build their reading skills and confidence. In the same manner, many kids enjoy the casual coast down the hill where they don't have to pedal or work too hard but eventually that can become boring. If students are drawn to choosing books that are a breeze for them to complete, they are also not building their skills as a reader and may find it hard to stay focused and fulfilled with reading. Good fit books have a little of both! Some bumps are great to provide a bit of challenge to overcome, as well as opportunities to practice newly learned strategies but there are not too steep of inclines to slow the reader down too much. It would be helpful to use this language with your child at home as well to encourage them to practice reading with the appropriate book to work up to the more difficult ones.

A helpful strategy for students to use when trying to decide if the book is a good fit for them is the 5 finger rule outlined here.

We will have some days in our schedule where students are able to choose any books they would like to try because we really want to promote the love and joy of reading through positive experiences!

The bugs have hit! As we were missing several students today due to illness and quite a few who were at school were frequent flyers to the tissue box, it is evident that the back to school germ bugs are here! We decided to spend some time today discussing ways that we can help to prevent spreading our germs to one another. The two biggest things that we came up with as a class are to cough or sneeze into our elbows and to make sure we are washing our hands often! We are lucky enough to have a sink and soap dispenser right in our classroom and we are practicing washing our hands before we eat and after we blow our noses!

Also this is the last week that all of the teachers will be out on supervision in the mornings and after-school. Starting September 19, we will have several staff out in the field areas to supervise starting at 7:45am so you are welcome to drop them off knowing that there will be adult supervision for the 15 minutes before the bell if you are comfortable with that. At 8:00 am, Ms. Sayani and I will open the doors at the end of the modulars to let the students inside. We will continue to bring your children outside at 2:30 dismissal to ensure they are safely picked up. It is a good idea to establish a meeting area that you or the person picking up will stand at so the students know where to watch for you. As long as they see someone that they know they are supposed to go with they can just quickly wave goodbye to me and be on their way. If it is an abnormal pick up and someone else will be coming to get them, please send me a note so that I'm aware. We do try to ensure that we are familiar with or are aware of the usual people retrieving students so that we can keep them safe. Please email me at ljstewart@cbe.ab.ca if there are any specific arrangements you would like me to be aware of, or if there are individuals who are definitely not allowed to pick up (even though they may be familiar to student).  

Parent Night: Our Curriculum Night – on Thursday, September 15th is from 6:00 – 8:00 pm; this will be a great first opportunity for you to learn about some key things your child’s teacher wants you to know and will provide an opportunity for you to ask questions. There will two repeating presentations from each teacher and then time for you to ask questions afterwards. This time will facilitate the connections between home and school and better prepare us for the first conferences in early October. Please drop in to the appropriate sessions with your child’s teacher.

As we get our second week underway we continue to establish and practice our classroom routines. The students are gaining comfort with one another and are getting into the swing of being at school all day again. We have been doing a lot of team building and group work to develop some positive relationships! Ask your child about their pipe cleaner and tin foil challenge and their table group names!  

Reading the picutres is the first strategy that we discussed so that everyone can feel successful. Many kids are eager to grab books that are appealing to them but may be a little too tough to read the words at this moment. However, the nice part about this strategy is that pictures in books provide many clues for what is happening in the story and helps build comprehension. Even students that are able to read the words of their chosen book benefit from spending some time focusing on the pictures to look for supporting evidence to text. 

Today we had our first assembly. I was so amazed at how respectful and attentive our whole class was! I was originally worried about how long they would be able to sit for so early in the year but they far exceeded my expectations- their manners and behaviour was excellent! In our assembly we had some special readers read the book The Three Questions by Leo Tolstoy. We will be doing some work in our classroom throughout the year around the three questions in this book
1. When is the best time to do things?
2. Who is the most important one?
3. What is the right thing to do?

It's a beautiful book and can apply to so many things!

Today was another day full of new experiences! We had our first music class of the year with Mrs. Buonomo followed by a joint gym class with Mrs. Sayani's class. Because our gym time is in the middle of the morning we will be having a morning snack (while we work) and then we will go outside for a recess in the afternoon.

Welcome to Grade 2! What an awesome first day of school- the time flew by! So excited to get the year underway with this amazing group of students! We spent a lot of time getting to know one another today and we began making decisions as a whole group on how we think the classroom should be organized to meet everyone's needs and interests. Our Visual Journals were started this afternoon and students documented things that they like (could be inside or outside of school) and also what specific things they enjoy doing or learning about in school. Ask your child what they included on their "First Day of Grade 2" page.