Dear Families,

It’s my first post for February!  Where did those 5 months go?!  I can still vividly remember seeing your child’s bright smile enter Grade 2 :) I look forward to our next five months of purposeful, passionate, and peaceful learning together!  I hope you have a wonderful weekend with your loved ones and enjoy it in fun and interactive ways!

February's Character Trait:

This month’s character trait is INCLUSIVENESS – “We invite everyone to play, we never turn anyone away.”  We are fortunate to be in a school culture that is sensitive to the needs of others – staff and students work together to ensure that we foster a community that is safe, strong, and free.  This being said, as your child’s teacher, I will continue to explicitly model, guide, reinforce, and support inclusion so all my students feel a sense of belonging.

Mrs. A's Students' Visit:
This week, we had the pleasure of having two of Mrs. A's Grade 2 students visit our classroom to teach and share their Non-Fiction Report on the Titanic.  In our class, we are learning how to write an information report on a living thing such as a Canadian animal.

Balazs and Ella did an outstanding job sharing their information about the Titanic with us.  They were well rehearsed, informative, and organized!  My students learned numerous facts about this ship wreck.  Balazs and Ella's hard work was evident and they both went above and beyond the expectation.  Excellent work!  Thank you Ella and Balazs for inspiring my class!  They are now ready to write their own reports!

Welcome Ella & Balazs!

Oh so informative!

Thank you Ella & Balazs for inspiring US!

Animal Report:
You may have already heard from your child's enthusiasm and excitement about researching a Canadian animal.  The students are quite keen to partake in their very first project in grade 2.  Our New Unit in Science focuses on 'Growth and Changes in Animals.'   Everyone has picked an animal to write a non-fiction report on.  Some of the animals chosen are: lynx, polar bears, timber wolves, river otter, raccoon, geese.  Ask your child which animal they've chosen ;)

Some students have taken initiative and used their time at home to research about their animal and share their new learned information with the class.  Thank you to those boys and girls (Danica, Archie, Ethan F. and Evelyn) who are researching on their own time to help enhance their researching skills!  Way to go :)

Ethan F. sharing his non-fiction magazine from home at school about Lynx

Thanks Ethan F.!

Archie did some thorough researching at home about Timber Wolves

Wow!  Look at ALL those facts :)

Proud of his efforts

Evelyn brought in a BIG book about various animals for her peers to see!

Danica's research on river otters.  Excellent recording!

I am encouraging students to take time over the weekend to use technology or magazines to find information on their animal and they can then add it to their report.

Now, check us out as we research eagerly, enthusiastically, and energetically!  Great work boys and girls, you've all begun this project with your level 4 personal best!  Please ask your child some of their I Wonder questions that they had about their animal prior to their research.  Students were excited to use their Inquiry Skills to think and wonder!

Brandon & Owen researching about raccoon's

Thomas B., Jack, and Archie finding information about timber wolves

Evelyn, Mati, and Ethan F. writing their hearts out :)

Vasiliki & Madison working accountably and diligently

Reanna making a diagram of her animal

Danica, Thomas M., and Amy all hard at work as always!

Math Journal:

As part of building upon our mathematical thinking processes, your child has been taught the use of math journaling to enhance their communication skills in mathematics.  I believe, math can often be mistaken solely for computation (figuring out the right answer), however, it is much more than that.  In fact, the steps on how we arrive at our answer is very essential too.  Displaying your work is very important.  How did you arrive at your answer?  Explain.  

In math journals, I will be asking the students open-ended questions which don't necessarily have a correct or incorrect answer, instead, I am looking for their communication.  By asking open-ended questions, I am setting up ALL my students for success because everyone can answer these questions.  Students who require more of a challenge, my expectation is for them to go deeper in their thinking by extending their ideas.

On Thurs. evening, you would have seen your child's math journal in his/her agenda bag.  Students continue to learn about 'Time' and the significant role it plays in our every day life.  It is a life lesson to be able to tell the time, and I am proud to say, most are grasping this concept with more confidence as we practice it daily.  Although, it is not a grade 2 expectation, some are even telling time to the 'minute' which will prepare them well for grade 3!  Remember in grade 2, students are expected to tell time in two different ways to the half hour and quarter hour.
E.g., "It is 4:45 p.m. OR quarter to 5."

Thank you parents for taking the time to listen to your child's math journal about a 'Special Time' in their school day.  Did they explain their thinking using pictures, numbers, and words?  They love to share their thinking as you can see from the pictures below :)

Sharing math journals in class

Thomas M. ready to give 'feedback' to Hannah

Alexis & Mikenna knee to knee, eye to eye!

Evelyn & Cameron admiring their finished journals

Birthdays:
As part of our math learning about Time, we have been learning about the months of the year and measuring age.  In one of our lessons this week, I had each student write his/her birth date on a sticky note.  We then had to figure out how to order them from oldest to youngest.  Students placed their sticky note on our Birth Number Line (see picture below of students in action) and as a result of this, we discovered the order of the oldest to the youngest student in the class.

Here are our results of oldest to youngest student:  Reanna, Mikenna, Amy, Vasiliki, Brandon, Owen, Kaylie, Ethan W., Evelyn, Thomas M., Danica, Mati, Alexis, Archie, Mati, Ethan F./Jack, Cameron, and Hannah.  Everyone had FUN figuring out where they placed in the class with respect to age :)    

Brandon & Danica placing their birth dates on the number line

Alexis & Mati know where they go

Ethan F. & Jack have the EXACT same birthday!

Valentines Day Celebration:
As you may already know, Valentines Day falls on the Family Day weekend, so we will not be at school for this.  But, don't worry!  I will be sending home a note (see picture below) in your child's agenda next week about our plan :)

Dance-A-Thon:

Keep those pledge sheets going!  We will be having our groovin’ Dance-A-Thon Thursday!  All sheets are due to our office ON Feb. 11th.

Quote:
“The purpose of human life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others."

Namaste,

Miss Gill