October 25th to 29th

 Hello,

What a busy week.  Today as a fun day.  It was nice to see the students in costumes or their casual clothes.  We focussed our learning on bats today (we are still working on Small Crawling and Flying Animals in Science).  Students got to rotate through some different centres today in groups they don't always work in.  

In math we have continued with patterns specifically number patterns and determining if a number is odd or even.  Students in grade two needs to know whether any given number between 1 and 100 is odd or even.  Next week in Math we will be looking at estimating quantities up to 100 and discussing strategies for that.

In Social Studies we are continuing to learn about Meteghan.  We have been learning about their food, culture and traditions.  

In Science we are looking to finish up Small Crawling and Flying Animals by mid November so that we can start Magnetism next.  This week we focused on worms and bats.  Students were challenged this week to read information about worms and extract the information that they needed such as their habitat, body parts, adaptations etc. 

In writing this week students were asked to creatively think about creating a Witch's Brew.  It was interesting to hear all of the gross things that they would put in their brew.  Next week we will be doing some non fiction writing about bats.

Happy Halloween if you are going out on Sunday evening,

Mrs. Coulling 

October 19th to 22nd

 Hello Parents,

We had a great week.  

One Tuesday we had Adventure Running come to our gym class and teach us about their program and orienteering on a map.  On Wednesday we were able to walk down to Flint Park and try three different courses.  Even though it was a little chilly the students really seemed to enjoy it.

Just a few reminders for next week.

Thursday is our book exchange book please make sure your child's book is at school.

Next Friday is our Halloween Celebration at school.  Students are allowed to wear costumes (school appropriate).  They are not expected to be in school uniform but still must have a face mask.  I have heard from them lots of great costumes that I can wait to see!

Grade two is responsible for the Remembrance Day assembly.  We have begun talking about that as each class is doing something as well as creating art.  We will be filming the assembly prior too and it will be shared on the 10th.  Students are engaging in conversations around Remembrance Day, why we wear poppies, what do the words peace, freedom etc mean to them.

We are still going outdoors for gym.  Our class is the last block before lunch so it has generally warmed up by then but it can still be chilly.  Please make sure that your child is dressed to be outdoors including a warm enough coat, mitts and a toque.  Thank you.

Have a good weekend,

Mrs. Coulling 

October 12th to 15th

 Hello Parents,

How is it already the middle of October!?! This year has really flown by so far. 

I have sent home the October Scholastic flyer if you are interested in ordering books please use the class code on the top of the flyer and put the order in online.  Thank you.

This week we continued our look at Meteghan in Social Studies.  We specifically looked at the geography and climate.  

In Science, we looked in depth at bees and started with a detailed drawing of a spider.  Next week we will learn more about spiders.  

In math, we worked on sorting groups of objects with 2 attributes.  This was a bit tricky for some of the students but by the end of the week most of them understood and could show me they understood.  At first they want to use the same attribute like color so red and orange but they they do not have any that have both attributes. See below. 

In math next week we will be looking at number patterns and reviewing skip counting. 

In Language Arts, we are doing literacy centres and for writing we are continuing with walking stories.  This week we talked about scarecrows and students students some art today that goes with this topic.

This we during character education we have been talking about respect.  Specifically how we can respect others.  Today I read the book "How Full is Your Bucket for Kids" and discussed how we all have buckets that we can either dip from or fill other people's buckets.  This was a good reminder as I am finding that students are quite concerned with what other students should be good rather than worrying about their own self.  We will continue to explore this topic in the next couple weeks. 

 

Enjoy the great weather this weekend,

Mrs. Coulling 

October 4th to 7th

 Hello,

I hope that everyone had a nice Thanksgiving long weekend.  We will be back to school Tuesday, October 12th.  Homework will be posted by Sunday night and is due Friday October 15th.

We started our library book exchange this week.  Please note that our library exchange day will be Thursdays.  Please return books on Thursdays so that the students can choose a new book to take home with them. 

This week in Science we went in depth about ants and began looking at bees.  We look at their descriptions, adaptations, relationships with humans, habitat and diet.

Example of a labelled diagram 

In Social Studies we have been furthering our look at Meteghan, Nova Scotia after our Teacher's Pet Field Trip.  Students looked at the geography and landscape of Meteghan. 

In math we continued to look at increasing patterns and started to talk about sorting rules and sorting by different attributes.

In language arts, we are continuing with walking stories.  We are fully into literacy centres now.  So each student has one session of guided reading with me each week.  Two groups are also going for a second guided reading session with Ms. Stephenson our partner class teacher.  

Our character trait we are looking at is Respect.  We have focused so far on respect for self, others and the environment.  

Happy Thanksgiving,

Mrs. Coulling 

September 27th to October 1st

 Hello,

It is hard to believe that we are already into October today!  September seemed to just fly by as we established routines and expectations for the year.

Tuesday we had Teacher's Pet come for an in school field trip about the Acadians.  We will be studying Meteghan in Social Studies next which is an Acadian community in Nova Scotia.

Here are a couple pictures.  I am sure that students were excited to bring home the butter they made as well as their lighthouses painted in the traditional Acadian colors. 

In writing we continued with our 5 senses writing and added in emotions or feelings.

In Science this week we continued to look at the needs of small crawling and flying animals and how they are similar to the needs of human.  Next week we will be taking a deeper look at ants.

We have been participating in literacy centres including guided reading with me.  Just a reminder if you have not sent in headphones for your child to use at school please do so.

Have a good weekend,

Mrs. Coulling