This Week in Grade 2 Dear Parents – Hope you are having a wonderful holiday break. We are enjoying a staycation after multiple weekends away coaching. We had a fun two days in grade 2 launching all of our new units. Next week there is NO SCHOOL MONDAY and students will get to be in the labs and writing like scientists. We will be exploring liquids, solids and gases.               As we continue to do Word Inquiry and handwriting time every other day and weave in some grammar and word sorting I came across this as a top trend that people were reading. It’s a really interesting article. Have a read, great article on spelling Follow Up on Conferences Here are resources that many of you asked me about at conferences. I wanted to send them to everyone, as some common themes came up=)        One thing many of you asked for or I recommended was some problem solving, rich or challenge tasks where students are applying knowledge in a new way. Here are a few websites for now with some good activities. We just did our first 3 act task on Friday and they loved it. Click on links below, I will send additional ones each week. Math 3 act task Math Problem Solving Math fact practice game we use in class There were a lot of concerns with library books. I believe students should have a lot of choice during library time. These books may be a bit uphill and need to be read together with you. However, I will ensure students pick different genres and the levels are not too high or too low starting this coming week=)       Please remember that for the 20 minutes of reading, students have loggins and enjoy RAZ kids reading, Tumblebooks and Big Universe which I have linked below. We will start using Epic soon. Tumble books RAZ kids BigUniverse Language Arts We started our new reading Unit with a huge emphasis on fluency. We will also get into literary language. Check out our videos on Seesaw and our class video to Dr. Hudson reading Shoo Fly! This week we also begin our next writing unit:  Lab Reports and Science Writing.  This unit will give students an opportunity to explore scientific procedural writing using the scientific method as a framework to help them elaborate each part of the scientific process.  The unit begins with an introduction to how-to writing, where students will be asked to think about something that they know how to do, and to write a text to teach others how to do it. Math This week we start our second math unit:  Becoming Fluent with Addition and Subtraction.  During this unit students will learn how addition and subtraction are related, and learn strategies for solving two-digit addition and subtraction problems.  Our unit begins with a review of problem solving strategies and vocabulary.  The emphasis during these first few days will be on how to identify the operation needed to solve a story problem, and how to adequately explain our thinking.  In grade 2, students are expected to solve story problems by using a picture, equation and answer, which includes a number and label.  It is important for students to continue practicing their basic addition and subtraction facts to help them become more successful solving two-digit addition and subtraction problems encountered in this unit. Science We are also beginning our first science unit:  Changes in Matter. In this unit we will explore properties of solids, liquids, and gases, and the differences between chemical and physical changes.  We’ll spend a few days before break tuning into our unit with simple demonstrations to help students think like a scientist and introduce them to the scientific method.  Students will also be introduced to our science labs to learn about how to use the space and the equipment safely while they conduct their experiments. Important Dates Important dates Wednesday, Oct. 18 – 23rd October Break October 30th Mini Academies October 31st ISKL Dress Up day November 3rd: Deepavali culture day, dress up day and assembly Dinner Questions What do Scientists do? What are you most interested in exploring about liquids, solids and gases? What does it mean to read fluently? Could you teach me how to do something here at dinner? What are the steps?