November 22 to 26

 Hello,

It was great to get a chance to meet with all of your virtually over the past couple of days.  It is nice to have a check in and talk about how your child is doing.

Please note that the homework posted Sunday is a two week homework with a Science project.  It will be due on December 10th and it is our last homework assignment before the break. 

This week went by quickly.

In Science, we have been working on our Magnetism unit.  This week we look at different materials and made predictions about whether or not they would be attracted to a magnet and then checked.  Students enjoyed working with the magnets.  In the homework starting next week there is a magnetic toy project.  On Monday I will be sending home two magnets for your child to use for this.  

In math this week we focused on 2D shapes.  Students are asked to identify the shape names, tell how many sides and how many corners.  They are also asked to compare two shapes - how are they the same and how are they different?  Next week we will be looking at 3D objects.

In Social Studies, we are looking at Iqaluit as our second community of study.  We look at the physical geography and climate this week.  We talked about it differs from both Calgary and Meteghan.

In Language Arts, we have continued writing use description with our walking stories.  This week students were asked to describe a favorite toy.  We have also been using wordless pictures books in Language Arts.  This week we focused on making inferences, predictions and connections based on the pictures.  In reading our focus has been on making connections to self, the world and other texts.

This week we also focussed on some editing of our writing.  One of the most common things that I am seeing is repetition in sentence beginnings.  Many times students are starting all their sentences in the same way.  We are also looking at making sure we are adding details through similes and the use of our senses.  

I have begun to read "Charlie at the Chocolate Factory" as a read aloud so that students will have a good idea of the story before we begin prep for the spring play.  Many students have seen a version of the movie but not heard the story.

Have a good weekend,

Mrs. Coulling 

Updates up to November 19th

 Hello,

I hope that everyone is doing well.  It was so nice to see the students in their hip hop attire today at school.  You will be getting a link on Monday with our classes video that we made today.  Students were so engaged this week in learning the dance.

Just a reminder that next week is parent teacher conferences.  They are scheduled for Thursday November 25th from 4 to 8 pm and Friday November 26th from 8 am to 12 pm.  If you have not have a chance to sign up for an interview please do so.  This is a great opportunity for us to connect about your child and talk about any concerns that you have or I have in the classroom.  Because of this just a reminder there will be no school Friday, November 26th.  

Here are some curriculum updates

Math - this week we have been doing math centres in order to review some of the number concepts that we have been working on including addition and subtraction.  One of the centres was working in a small group with me focusing on number lines.  I have noticed that this is an area where many students are having some difficulty.  We focused on numbers to 100.  

Science - We have finished our Small, Crawling and Flying animals unit.  Students are bringing home their labelled diagrams and information about the 5 animals we focused one.  We began Magnetism this week. Students seem very keen to start the unit.  It is a lot of hands on experiments so that is always enjoyable for students.

Social Studies - We have finished our in depth look at Meteghan which was our first community of study.  Students should be able to tell you about the geography, culture, people, natural resources, goods and services about this village.  Next week we will be starting to learn about Iqaluit, Nunavut, our next community of study.

Language Arts - Students have continued to work on their reading strategies and comprehension.  Our comprehension focus has been on making connections.  Connections to self, connections the world and text to text connections.    In writing, we have continued with walking stories.  Studies have focused on adding description to their writing through their senses and the use of similes.   Next week will be be doing some targeted work on editing.

I look forward to seeing you virtually at conferences next week,

Mrs. Coulling 

November 1st to 5th

 Hello,

I hope that everyone is enjoying this beautiful weather for November!

We had a full week this week.

Here are some of the things that we have been up to:

Math

We spent some time looking at strategies for estimation for quantities up to 100.  We also looked at using a referent to help estimate.  That is if I can see what ten of the item looks like then I can make a better guess.

We also worked on a problem this week that used patterning.  Students were able to solve the problem by making a chart or drawing a photo. This led to a discussion about how multiple ways can lead us to the same answer.

In Science we are just finishing up our unit of Small Crawling and Flying animals. Next week students will do an assessment to show all that they are learned.

In Social Studies we looked at the culture and the different traditions and celebrations in Meteghan.

In Language Arts.  Students worked on using similes in their writing.  This will be part of the homework for the next two weeks.  Students were asked to write similes about their moms.  Next week we will write about dads.  We also continued to work on our reading comprehension through retell fiction stories we are reading.  Students are asked to identify the setting, characters, problem, attempts to solve the problem and solution.  As you are reading at home you can also ask your child about these things.

In gym students are working on a listening unit.  On Thursday the got to be builders.  You can ask them about it, it was a great class and they enjoyed the 4 missions.

Just a quick note about the homework since next week is a three day week with Remembrance Day and a PD day on Friday.  The homework and spelling test will be due on Friday November 19th so not next Wednesday.

Grade 2's are putting on the assembly so that link will be shared with you.  You can see our classes contributions.  

Have a good weekend,

Mrs. Coulling