Patterns with 2 Attributes

In math, we talked about about patterns with two attributes. An attribute is what is chagning in the pattern: it can be a colour, a shape, a size, a type of material....

Students were challenged to create a pattern with 2 attributes:

Searching for must-know words

We have been focusing on recognizing and reading sight words in our class. By grade 2, students should be able to identify and read sight words including: about, come, want, take, from, my, by and so on.

To practice this, we went on a sight word search. Reading with a partner, students had to find as many sight words as they could and then count by 5s to figure out the total.

What does peace feel like?

It has been a busy week in Room 6 - more photos from the week will be posted in the next few days! 

Here is an overview about what we have been working on:

1. Peace

We read the story "What does Peace Feel Like". Students have been working on painting pictures about what they think peace smells like, tastes like, looks like and feels like. They are then moving into writing some 'juicy' sentences about those pictures.

2. Reading 

We continue to emphasize reading and different strategies you can use when you hit a word you don't know. These include reading ahead, thinking about what word makes sense (context) and chunking words. Home reading has gone out today - our library is in the middle of reorganziation so thank you for your flexibility concerning books going home. 

3. Math

We are moving into patterning. Please check out the math page for new links for patterning activities. Students should still continue to review skip counting by 2's, 5's and 10's. 

As always, if you have any further questions please feel free to contact me! 

- Ms. Ketcheson

Monsters

We have been reading and writing about monsters this week.

We read the book "I need my monster" by Amanda Noll. We discussed how using 'juicy' words helps to make the story more interesting to read. Students then were challenged to describe their own monster. We brainstormed lots of questions we could ask:

The next day, we talked about what it would be like if we looked under our bed and saw a monster. Students again used juicy words to describe what they saw. They then worked on colouring their bed with a surprise twist - there is a monster living underneath it!

What we did in Science

We put paperclips into water. Sofia

It went higher than the cup! Because the atoms were closer together. Jordyn

We learned that if we put stuff in, like paper clips, the atoms will go together and it can still stay up because of the surface tension! Candence

We did lots of math today too. We figured out numbers. Declan

We wrote our own stories. Mine was about my family. Daryan

In science today, we measured how many paperclips we could put in. Aurora

We learned about the snow, which one will melt faster and which one will melt slower. Arthur

We put some containers of water near the window. The one with the lid has less bubbles and the one without the lid has more. Hope

Reading Buddies

Today was our first day having 'buddies'. Our buddy class is Ms. Zebrun's grade 3 class. Students had a great time shairng their read-to-self books with their new buddies. 

We are spending time during our literacy block figuring out what words we know. By grade 2, students should have a strong understanding and ability to recognize 'sight words' - more commonly used words.
You can help your child with this by pointing out common words in their home reading books (which will start back up on Monday!). 

Check out these websites to help support your student's sight word knowledge:

http://www.ictgames.com/dinosaurwordsrepeat.html

http://www.familylearning.org.uk/sight_word_games.html

http://www.aasd.k12.wi.us/staff/boldtkatherine/ReadingFun_K-2.htm

Exploring liquids with Teacher's Pet

Today, we had our in-school field trip with Teacher's Pet.

Mrs. Puddle Hopper came to visit us and taught our class all about the 3 states of matter (Solids, liquids and gases), how everything is made up of atoms and how water is made from 2 hydrogens and 1 oxygen.

Students then participated in 4 experiments:
1. They looked at evaporation by painting a picture with a mixture of salf water.
2. They looked at how ice melts by making a tasty slurpee
3. They learned about the water cycle and how clouds are formed
4. They learned about how different liquids have different densities.

This was a busy morning, with lots of hands-on learning! A big thank-you to the 2 parent volunteers who helped make the morning a success!

A note on home reading: Our library is currently in the process of getting new books for home and guided readings. Thank you for your patience as it gets organized!