Week 9 Update

Wow! C'était une semaine plein d'activités dans la salle 220! It was a busy week in room 220! A reminder that our remembrance day assembly will be taking place this Wednesday, November 11th at 11:30am. The grade 3 students from Mme Stairs, Mme Morel and Mme Perreault's class will be performing the song 'Une colombe' at the assembly. All parents are invited to attend the ceremony.

Monday, November 9 - Library Day
Wednesday, November 11 - Remembrance Day Assembly
Thursday, November 12 - Grade 2 Dental Screening
Friday, November 13 - Grade 2 Scientists in School Presentation: Air and Water

Reading Progress Note
Reading progress notes for grade 2 students went home this week - to give you your child's current reading level, as well as the goal for Grade 1 and Grade 2 (please note that the goals indicated on the progress note are for the end of Grade 1 and the end of Grade 2).  If you have concerns or questions, please let me know (the agenda is still be best way to communicate) and we can talk either before interviews or at interviews.

Please note that while I did assess the students' reading levels in early September, I used these levels to give them a start for their at-home reading, but did not communicate these results in a progress note as their reading levels normally decrease over the summer and they start lower in the fall. The level indicated on the progress note is from assessments done mid to late October. You should now have a more accurate idea of their reading level, now that they've had some regular French reading at home and at school.

To give a little background on leveled reading - we test using books of pre-determined levels, follow along with a copy of the text while the student reads, and determine the level by the percentage of words correctly read and the comprehension level the student demonstrates when answering a few questions based on the text. This also allows me to make anecdotal notes about the fluency, their decoding strategies, and the type of of errors they make. This helps with further instruction.

Thank you for your regular support with reading!  Please do let me know if you have any questions!

Mathematics
We started a new unit this week that will address the measurement strand of the curriculum, focusing on time (years, seasons, months, weeks, days, hours, and minutes) and temperature. We started to investigate the measurement of time this week, using analog clocks to tell time the the quarter hour, half hour, and hour. We've been using mini clocks to practice telling time together as a class, as well as working with partners to test each other on their time-telling abilities. 

We've been working very hard on distinguishing between the hour and minute hand, and especially on where the hour hand should be at 5:45 or 5:30 versus 5:00. This is a great skill to practice regularly at home and can be discussed at random times throughout the day.

The expectations for Grade 3 is that students are able to tell and show time to the 5-minute intervals. The curriculum expectations for Grade 2 is that students are able to tell and show time to the quarter-hour. The expectation from Grade 1 is that they can tell time to the hour and half-hour. However, to help us understand the minutes on the clock, we are also exploring time to the 5-minute intervals. This helps to understand why a quarter-hour is 15 minutes and a half-hour is 30 minutes  when we look at a full hour and how it divides up.

You can help practice time at home by asking your child what time is it, discussing what time certain events happen and asking them questions - How many minutes are there in an hour?  How many hours are there in a day?  How do you know by looking at the clock that an hour has passed?  Which hand is the minute hand and which hand is the hour hand? How many minutes are between each number on the clock?  Why is the hour hand between the 2 and the 3 when it's 2:30?  Where is the hour hand pointing when it's 2:15?

Social Studies

Grade 2 - We've been discussing different family structures and how even though every family is different, they are all of equal importance and value. We also began discussing our cultural origins and where our ancestors originated. We went over where everyone's ancestors came from and the students were shocked to see how far away and how many countries we all came from to end up all together in Canada.

Grade 3 - The grade 3 students will be learning about the physical and municipal regions of Ontario. They will explore the relationship between the natural environment, land use, and employment opportunities, and how different uses of land and resources affect the environment. We began by discussing the physical location of Ontario within the country, as well as some of its major landmarks, including major cities and the Great Lakes. We also discussed some of the things that makes Ontario unique, such as plants and animals specific to the province. 

 

Remembrance Day

We discussed Remembrance Day as a day to recognize and be thankful for everyone who works now (or has in the past) to maintain peace and the freedoms that we enjoy.  Some students commented on family who were in the military or who are now in the military.  We talked about the poppy being a symbol for Remembrance Day, and that we wear a poppy (and recognize Remembrance Day) to say thank you and to demonstrate respect for their sacrifice. The students may have shared the 'What does a poppy mean' commercial that we used to discuss the meaning behind the poppy.On Friday, we also completed an art project that included painting a field of poppies. We discussed the idea of perspective -  how using larger objects in the foreground of the painting and then adding smaller objects gives an impression of depth and distance in a painting. I've included some photos below of some of our finished products!

The grade 3 students also completed a stained glass art using a dove while practicing for the Remembrance Day assembly with Mme Morel's class.