Dear Parents –
Class News
This past week was a busy one in Grade 2! The students took their Math
and Reading MAP tests, we celebrated Earth Week learning different ways
that we can help take care of the Earth, and ended our week with an
Earth Day assembly.
Thank you to all the parents who volunteered to lead our Mini Academies
on Friday. The children had so much fun and came back to the classroom
excited to show their friends what they made or what they did. It’s hard to
believe that this was our last Mini Academies for the year. The Mini
Academies have been a huge success because of your commitment
and dedication. Thank you for your creativity, your time, and your
willingness to volunteer for our Mini Academies throughout the year.
This is an event that the kids love and and we couldn’t do it without
your help. Thank you!
Field Trip
On May 11th the Grade 2 classes will take a field trip to visit the Butterfly
and Bird Parks as part of our science unit on life cycles. A permission slip
was sent home last week. Please return the permission slip by
Friday, April 27 to help us with planning. We are looking for parent
volunteers to chaperone, so if you are interested, please indicate on
the permission slip.
Here’s a look at our week ahead:
Monday (Day 3) – PE
Tuesday (Day 4) – Art and WL
Wednesday (Day 5) – Music and PE
Thursday (Day 6) – LIBRARY and WL
Friday (Day 1) – Music and Swimming
Curriculum Connections
Reader’s Workshop
The children are really enjoying reading and discussing their books in their
Book Clubs. As a class, we’ve been reading the Julian and Huey books
and learning about the main characters and really investigating their
actions, traits, the things they say and predicting what they will do next.
We also started looking at the language the author uses to make
his or her stories so powerful. We have been looking for examples of how
the author uses precise words and descriptive language to help readers
visualize the event and characters from the book. Our readers will also
look at the types of literary language, such as similes, metaphors,
onomatopoeia, and alliteration and how authors can use these to make
simple things seem extraordinary.
Writer’s Workshop
As writer’s our focus has been sharing our opinions about the books we
read for the March Picture Book Challenge. This week we’ll focus
on how to make our book reviews even better by retelling the important
parts of their books. We’ll practice retelling with partners and then the
students will write a brief summary of their book to help strengthen their
book review. Throughout the week as students are writing, we will also
emphasize the importance of keeping the audience in mind. Picturing
their audience will help students write stronger book reviews.
Science
Students are excited to start our new science unit on life cycles this week!
This past week we set up observation stations in our common area where
students could begin to observe the life cycle of beetles and butterflies.
We’ll start the week tuning in to life cycles by looking at some of the
vocabulary words for this unit and getting an idea of what students already
know about life cycles. Throughout the week we will talk how scientists
make and record their observations. We’ll practice drawing scientific
diagrams, with details and labels, of the animals in our common area.
Math
Our unit on Developing Multiplication is coming to a close and this week
will be spent reviewing the skills and concepts that were covered in this
unit and having our assessment over the unit. This will leave some more time
open for some rich tasks, math projects, 3 Act tasks which the kids love
and some review of their basic facts.
Dinner Questions
What are some ways that you can help take care of the Earth?
What are some of the words the author used in your book to help
you create a movie or picture in your mind?
Tell me about the book you’re reading. What is your opinion? What
are the important parts?
What are you excited about learning during your life cycles unit?
