September 29, 2017

Congratulations to Tialla, who was the 2D Students of the Week!

Today RBES was a sea of orange as staff and students wore orange shirts to acknowledge that every child matters!  Students watched a video this morning and also discussed this special acknowledgement at the morning assembly.  "Orange Shirt Day is an opportunity for First Nations, local governments, schools and communities to come together in the spirit of reconciliation and hope for generations of children to come." (orangeshirtday.org)

It was also the Devon Schools Terry Fox Walk/Run.  We wish to send an extra special thank you to the three John Maland High School PE20 students who joined our class today for the walk.  We appreciated their fun spirit and enthusiasm!  

September 28, 2017

WHAT A FUN DAY!!!  Today we went to the Telus World of Science, where students received an introduction to two units we will be covering this year: Hot and Cold Temperatures and Magnetism. We were fortunate to also have an opportunity to visit the Pixar exhibit, Discovery Land and Body Fantastic.  

A huge THANK YOU to our volunteers: Mrs. Marrelli, Mrs. Nowicki, Mr. Spurgeon, Mrs. Oickle and Mr. Joe.  Volunteers are the key to successful field trips and we appreciate you more than I can express with words!!  

September 27, 2017

YAY!  Today was school picture day!  Here is how we looked going into our photos.  I hope they are able to Photoshop all of those combs out of the individual photos!  ;-)

Reminder that tomorrow is our field trip to the Telus World of Science, please ensure your child comes with a bagged lunch, as we will not be taking backpacks or lunchboxes with us.  

September 26, 2017

In Gym, Mrs. Mullen lead the class in several cooperative games.  It was remarkable what can be accomplished with a little teamwork!

This afternoon, students used the Beebots to create repeating patterns.  It was fun to guess where the pattern would take them and see if they were right.  

Remember:
Tomorrow is School Picture day
Bring a stuffy for Mind Up lesson

September 25, 2017

Today students took their Future is Bright photos.  When you're in our hallway, be sure to check out the adorable photos on our bulletin board.

We took our exploration of patterns a step further today.  Students learned the term attribute and created patterns that included two changing attributes.  See if your child can create a pattern at home and identify the pattern core. 

Our home reading and Rainbow Words programs began today.  Details about home reading can be found inside your child's reading log.  Details about Rainbow Words can be found on the note that came home and also on our class website.  Please be sure to assist your child in remembering his/her reading bags/books/rings every Friday.  We will not have a rainbow word assessment this week, we will commence the weekly assessments on October 6th.  

September 22, 2017

Today was Friday assembly.  Student of the Week will begin next week.

This afternoon, students completed their Art Colour wheel trees, they look amazing, be sure to stop by our hallway to check them out!

Please remember to bring your sunglasses for your Future is Bright photo on Monday. 

September 21, 2017

It was an exciting day in 2D today.  The Beebots were back this afternoon and students used their knowledge of cardinal directions: north, east, south & west to help the Beebots navigate around the deserted island.  

In Art, students explored the colours of the rainbow (ROYGBIV) and shades with paint.  Tomorrow, students will use their paint swatches to create an artistic masterpiece! 

September 20, 2017

Wow, it was wet outside today.  Weather permitting, students do go outside several times during the day.  Please ensure your child comes dressed for the weather.  Today we were grateful for rain jackets, warm sweaters and rubber boots! 

Since the first day of school, we have been practicing on counting to 100 by 1, 2, 5 and 10.  Students should be reviewing these counting strategies nightly, until they can demonstrate proficiency.  Also, if your child is unable to identify all 26 letter sounds, please take a few minutes each night to go over them.  This will strengthen their pre-reading skills and help to build confidence and understanding for daily reading.  

September 19, 2017

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. Scobe, who provided the ingredients for this recipe.  

Reminder:
- Scholastic book orders are now due.  If you still have your order at home, please send it to school tomorrow.
- The field trip permission and payment are available on Powerschool.
- Class t-shirt payment is available on Powerschool. 

September 18, 2017

We did our first random number generator exercise today.  Students enjoyed this fun way of spicing up our basic fact strategy practice.  

In the afternoon, we had our first fire drill.  I am very proud of all of 2D students, as they followed directions and safely exited the school, then waited very patiently for the direction from Mrs. K. that we were able to return to our classroom.

We had our second library class today.  Just a reminder to parents to please assist your child in remembering to return his/her books, so that new books can be signed out during our weekly library visit.

September 14, 2017

In Art, students created a sunflower watercolour painting.  They are beautiful!!  

Just a reminder that is is a PD Day tomorrow and there is no school for students.  Enjoy your long weekend!

September 13, 2017

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.  Today we began our first strategy - adding zero.  All of the strategies are listed on the Basic Fact Strategy page of our website.  

It was our first Music class today!  We had Mrs. Stanski working in our classroom last week and students were excited to see her again today!

In Language Arts, students have been demonstrating their writing skills by journaling daily.  Today they created a short entry about their favourite food.  

In Social Studies, students learned the cardinal directions, North, South, East and West.  We also learned a little poem to help us remember.  Ask your child to share this with you this evening.  

September 12, 2017

Do you remember the game Rack-O from your childhood?  Today we played a similar game called Ladders.  Ask your child to tell you about it, this is a game you can play at home with two dice, a pencil and a piece of paper.  

In Social Studies, we began our unit on mapping.  We discussed the difference between a map and a globe.  I am sure your children will come home eager to tell you that they touched a mountain today!

September 11, 2017

Today was a day of firsts! 2C and 2D had our first Gym class today.  We had a great time playing the Pirate game with our friends from another class.  

We also had our first Library class.  We will go to the library every Monday.  Students are able to sign out two books and must return them prior to the following class.  The library is a great free place for students to get quality literature, so be sure to return the books each week, so your child can get new books!

Our focus on repeating patterns continued today and students were challenged to fill in missing parts of patterns. 

September 8, 2017

We have reached the end of our first week of school!  Students are hard at work in Grade 2 and require lots of rest and nourishment to keep them going.  Please try to ensure your child has a good night sleep and a healthy breakfast/lunch.  These little things can make a huge difference in the school day for their little brains and bodies.  

This morning, students created patterns using Fruit Loops and identified the pattern core in their creations.  Math sure looked tasty, although we couldn't eat it, we enjoyed smelling the sugary treats!  

In the afternoon, Rodzilla, the amazing magician, came to the school!  WOW, what a performance!  I am sure your child will have lots of exciting stories to share!

Have a fabulous weekend and enjoy this beautiful fall weather!

September 7, 2017

Today we went on an outdoor adventure.  Students were challenged to look around the school-ground and identify objects that began with the letters A-Z.  Sadly, we did not find any objects that began with the letter X, but many students were able to identify over 30 words! 

In Math, we created patterns and identified the corresponding letter pattern.  Additionally, students learned the term, pattern core, and circled the pattern core in each of the patterns they created.  

Congratulations to Noah, who was the first 2D Secret Star Student!  He worked hard, followed classroom rules and did his best work!!  WAY TO GO!! 

September 6, 2017

We jumped into the Grade 2 curriculum today.  In Math, students sorted a variety of manipulative and identified the sorting rule.

In LA, students created play dough replicas of something they did over the summer, then wrote about their adventures.  Wow, it sounds like you all had quite the busy 2 months!!  

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).  

Our day ended with stick people art.  These beautiful self portraits will be on display outside our classroom for the entire year.  Stop by anytime to check them out! 

September 5, 2016

Welcome to the first day of Grade 2!! 

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!

Everyone should have received an email from me today with their child's first day of school photo.  If you did not, or wish to view other photos from today, they are available HERE.