Thursday 30 November 2017

As we come to the end of November, I wanted to update everyone on all of the things currently happening in the classroom.

We have completed our Science unit on Simple Machines.  The students brought home a booklet tonight which they are to complete and return by Thursday, December 7th.  This homework activity will help them to review simple machines in preparation for their assessment on Thursday.  Please remember to return their duotangs back to school by this day as well.

In Math, we have been learning about patterning.  Grade 2 patterning includes growing/shrinking patterns, learning about the pattern rule and identifying how patterns change by various attributes.  Help your child practice these skills by identifying patterns at home and in their environment!

Our current focus in Reading is comprehension, and we are regularly using the Shape-Go Map which I distributed in interviews to help them retell the story.  Hopefully the students are practicing this at home as well, as it is an important skill to help them become better readers.  We have also been working on the strategy of visualizing, which becomes especially important when students begin to read chapter books without pictures.  Another strategy which has been our focus is making connections between what we are reading and our life.

Our writing focus for the past few weeks has been descriptive writing.  The students will bring in their favourite stuffy tomorrow and describe it using our format of title, introduction, characteristics and evaluation (how do they feel about it?).

Thanks once again for all of the time you are spending practicing the WWW with the children.  Their writing is improving every day, partly due to their ability to spell all of these new words.

Reminders:

Please check agendas daily.  There are important notes and notices going home which often go unread until it is too late.  The students are working on being responsible by giving their agendas to their parents every evening.

Please send spare socks and mittens in your child's bag.  These often get wet and a spare pair comes in very handy.

Many students are attempting to go outside for recess without proper winter clothing.  Despite many reminders, there are some who still insist on going out underdressed.  Please remind your children the importance of dressing appropriately for the weather.

Thank you and stay tuned for all of the upcoming December and Christmas activities and events!!



Monday 30 October 2017

The month of October has flown by! The students have been working on many different things here in Grade 2:

Language - We continue to introduce new Word Wall Words each Monday and practice them daily.  Students are asked to spell them on independently on Fridays. 

A big focus for the Grade 2's right now is sentence writing.  Our lessons have covered sentence structure, asking vs. telling sentences, and as always, we are working on using  proper capitalization and punctuation.  If this is an area of need for your child, please have them practice at home with your help.

Math - We have completed our Numbers unit and have begun learning about 2-D Geometry.  The students have been exploring shapes with different numbers of sides and vertices.  If your child has difficulty counting by 2's, 5's or 10's, please spend some extra time practicing with them at home.  

Science - Simple Machines cont'd - The children are getting very good at naming simple machines, and recognizing that they exist to make work easier for us! 

A few reminders:

Please check your child's agenda every day.  There is often important reminders and sometimes homework that needs to be returned and completed.  WWW books need to be signed on the weekend and returned on Mondays.

The children will be getting a large amount of treats tomorrow evening.  Please try and save these treats for them to eat at home rather than in their lunches.  Excessive amounts of sugar do not help children focus at school and make it difficult for them do their best learning.

From October 30 - November 3, St. Anne is having a Spirit Week in Support of United Way. This year instead of bringing in a donation every day, we are asking for one donation of School Cash Online for the whole week.

Give what you can! 

Monday - Sports Day 
Tuesday - Black and Orange Day (costume day for the Kinders) 
Wednesday - PJ Day 
Thursday - Crazy Hat or Hair Day 
Friday - Favourite Movie or Book Character Day


Progress Reports are going home this Thursday, November 2nd.  Interviews will be scheduled for next Thursday, November 9th. 

Our Remembrance Day Liturgy will be held at 1:00 pm on Friday, November 10.

Tuesday 10 October 2017

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We are well into the month of October and the students have been working extremely hard here in Grade 2.  We have almost completed our Recount writing unit, and have been studying how to construct complete sentences which begin with an uppercase letter and end with punctuation.  The students are working on writing more complex sentences that end with question marks and exclamation marks, rather than simply using periods. 

We introduced our first set of Grade 2 Word Wall Words today.  Up until now, we have been reviewing the WWW from last year and determining which ones we still need to learn.  Each week, the children will copy their new words into their agenda (under the list section).  Part of the students' homework responsibility is to practice spelling these words often with you at home during the week in order to help them learn the spelling.  We will practice them in class in a different way from Monday - Thursday, and on Friday the students will have a quiz to see if they are able to spell them correctly. 

In Math, we are completing our Numeration unit.  We have been using the 200 chart to discover the patterns we see when we count by 2's, 5's, 10's and 25's.  They have been excited to learn that the patterns continue the same when counting from 100 to 200 and on.  This week we will continue to learn what it means to estimate, and focus on the concepts of more/less.

We are well into our Science unit on Simple Machines.  The students have learned the six different types of Simple Machines (inclined plane, wedge, wheel and axle, pulley, lever and screw) and have been busy discovering their uses and constructing them in class.  The children loved presenting their objects to the class today and I loved seeing them so enthusiastic! There are still a few to get through tomorrow.  If your child has not brought in an object to share with the class, please remind them to do so tomorrow.

A few housekeeping details:

Monday is our library day so please try and return books on this day.  The children are welcome to keep a book out for a second week if they are not done; they can simply return it on the following Monday.  This week we missed our library day due to the holiday, so please just return the books by Monday, October 16th.

The October homework calendar was sent home last week.  This calendar contains suggestions for activities you can do at home with your child.  The activities do not need to be returned to school.  A new calendar will be sent home at the beginning of each month. 

Last week, I sent home the student logins and passwords for Dreambox, Raz Kids and the students' gmail accounts.  Please send me a note if any of these are not working and I will investigate.

Please follow me on Twitter @liannelogan10 to see pictures of the in-the-moment activities happening in our class!








Tuesday 26 September 2017

Thanksgiving Food Drive

The Kingdom Club is doing a Thanksgiving food drive to support the Kanata Food Cupboard!

Please make your donations starting on Monday, September the 25th to October the 5th.
If each student brings in 2 cans each we will have an estimated 1400 cans so please bring in any boxes, cans, and toiletries because that would be well appreciated!

Image result for can food

Friday 22 September 2017

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to Mrs. Logan's Grade 2 Blog! We have had an excellent start to the year and I'm so excited to have all of your children in my class.   We truly have a wonderful group and I can't wait to see what we will learn and accomplish together this year. 

During the first 3 weeks we have spent time practicing routines and reviewing concepts from Gr. 1.  In Math, we have been working on skip-counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's, as well as reviewing place value concepts such as tens and ones.  We have also been reviewing Grade one Word Wall Words and practicing spelling them.  In writing, the students have been learning to recount an event using words such as first, next, then, after and finally.  The children have worked very hard over the past few weeks and I'm so proud of all of their hard work!

Just a few beginning of the year reminders:

It is important that you check your child's agenda every evening.  There are often notices to go home as well as reminders about upcoming events. 

Please send a water bottle with your child every day.  It is very hot and this eliminates frequent trips to the water fountain.

Children focus much better in the classroom when they eat healthy snacks and lunches.  Please send nutritious snacks such as fruit, vegetables, cheese, crackers, yogurt, etc.  Sugary foods such as chocolate and desserts should be sent as an occasional treat only.

Often, children come to school without a spoon for their snacks.  If any parents are able to send in a package of plastic spoons, it would be greatly appreciated.

We are also in need of scissors for our classroom! If you did not send a pair with your child already, please send one in so that every student will have their own pair.

I always give sufficient time to complete assigned work in class; however, if a student does not use this time to complete his/her work, it will be sent home in a unfinished folder on Friday, to be returned on Monday.  Occasionally, I will send home extra homework practice such as Word Wall Words or basic math practice, if I see that the class is in need of extra practice in a certain area.  Monthly homework calendars will also be sent home beginning in October.  These calendars will outline recommended activities to practice with your child at home.  The work is not required to be returned to school.

Scholastic orders will be sent home every month.  The due date for September's order is Wednesday, Sept.27.  Instructions for making an order were sent home as a letter with the first order.

As always, please feel free to contact me at any time with any questions, concerns, or even just to say hi! The door is always open.

Enjoy this wonderful first fall weekend!

Mrs. Logan