Have a wonderful weekend!

 In Math today, students created repeating patterns and then programmed their Beebots to move in the cardinal directions.

What a perfect afternoon for the Terry Fox Run. I am so proud of 2C for completing the 5 km loop.

TWOS

Thank you to Mr. Webb, Mrs. Murray, and Mrs. Smith for joining us on our TWOS fieldtrip. We had a great day of science!

Library & Picture Day Tomorrow!

Today we read the book, My Mouth is a Volcano by Julia Cook. This book teaches children how to manage their thoughts and words without interrupting. Ask you child how they learned to control their volcano from erupting.

We also finished our Color Wheel Trees, you can check them out on the bulletin board outside of our room.



Wow, it was wet outside again today.  Weather permitting, students do go outside several times during the day.  Please ensure your child comes dressed for the weather.  

Library tomorrow

We launched our day with a special guest!  Mrs. Angell (former RBES teacher and current district coach, came in to our classroom to teach students how to create repeating patterns using Beebots. She has left the Beebots at RBES for our Grade 2 classes to use over the next two weeks.  We are excited to continue our exploration of patterns and maps with them.   

In the afternoon, we had our first Tasty Tuesday.  Students created crispy, sweet Caramel Apple Dips.  Thank you to Mrs. Hoover, who provided the ingredients for this recipe.  

Happy Birthday to this guy! Thanks for the delicious cupcakes!

Learning the basic facts to 18 is an important part of the Grade 2 curriculum.  Over the next few months, students will learn many strategies to help up solve addition and subtraction equations. Then once they have this solid foundation, they will work hard to obtain rote recall (memorization) of these facts.  We are working on our first strategy - adding & subtracting zero.  All of the strategies are listed on the Basic Fact Strategy page of our website.  

In Language Arts, students have been demonstrating their writing skills by journaling daily.  Today they created a short entry about the sweet, sticky treat Mrs. Stanski gave them.  

We have started to build our stamina during Read To Self in Daily 5. We were able to read independently for 4 minutes! So proud of this crew! So far, students have learned that there are 2 ways to read a book: 1. Read the Pictures 2. Read the Words.

In Math today, students made a repeating patterns with Froot Loops. They then renamed the pattern with a letter and number name. Ask them to first make a repeating pattern using spoons and forks and then rename this pattern with an action.

For example: spoon  spoon  fork  spoon  spoon  fork  spoon  spoon   fork
                       clap     clap    snap  clap    clap     snap  clap     clap      snap

Students completed their Plasticine Picture writing. Students created an image from their summer, using Plasticine and then wrote about it.

Our morning routine begins with choosing unstructured or 'free play' activities. This is an opportunity for students to use their creativity and develop their imaginations, build their confidence, teach them to work in groups so they learn to share and resolve conflicts, practice decision making skills, have fun and help them to develop social and emotional ties with their classmates.

Puzzles

Playful Patterns

LEGO

Lincoln Logs

Tinker Toys

In Social Studies, we began our Mapping Skills unit, students became quite proficient with labeling the compass rose. Ask them their favorite rhyme to help remember the directions, Never Eat Soggy Weiners is mine!

We jumped into the Grade 2 curriculum today.  In Math, students used manipulatives to build repeating patterns.

We also began our MindUp lessons.  The goal of these lessons are to drive positive behavior, improve learning and scholastic performance, and increase empathy, optimism and compassion. (MindUp, 2017).  Students learned about 3 parts of their brains (the prefrontal cortex - wise owl, amygdala - guard dog, and hippocampus - happy hippo). 

Welcome Back!

The first day of school is often a stressful morning.  We began our day by discussing the emotions and the Zones of Regulation.  You may hear your child refer to their emotions as Blue, Yellow, Red or Green.  Our goal is to be in the green done - ready to learn! 

We enjoyed the story, The First Day Jitters, and then chased our jitters away with some Jitter Juice.  After completing a data analysis activity and graphing their results, students discovered that most of the people in our class enjoyed the tasty beverage

Students also created their self-portraits that will be used on our class shirts!  We are very excited to get these ordered and hope they will arrive in time for our first field trip!

See you on September 5th!