2LB

Reader's Theatre Fun

2LB are working on Reader's Theatre.  This is an excellent activity to end the year with.  We will perform our work in front of our parents at our potluck breakfast on June 16th.

 

Some photos from Iraq Al Amir

Our field trip was incredible!  Thank you to all those who made it.

2LB's Wordle - we created this today and added all the words we learned from studying economics.

Field Trip

We had an amazing time on our field trip.  The owners were super lovely and inspirational.  This trip tied in so nicely with our unit on 'Work in our Community'.  The children could see first hand how products are made and how a local business can contribute to our community in a positive way.

Making goods out of natural resources and turning them into things that people need/want.

Lynn, the director, giving us a sign language lesson.

We talked about natural, human and capital resources here.

Measurement

The months of January and February, we have focused on measuring the length of objects using different units of measurements. Here are a few 2LB mathematicians in action.

Chris White

During young reader's and writer's week, we had the pleasure to be introduced to the author, Chris White.  He was very entertaining and engaging.  He helped us create our own 2LB crazy creature called 'Buneagle'.  The students were fantastic and had so much fun with him.

Mystery Readers

This week, we have lots of 'mystery readers' coming in to surprise us.  Here a few:

Mrs Thomas sang to us.

Ms Sali read us a story about pirates.

Mrs Alano read us 'Giraffe's Can't Dance'.

Miss Zeina read 'The Young Lady'.

Miss Fairuz read us 'The Legend of Blue Bonnet'.

Miss Katherine read us 'Sophie's Masterpiece'.

Did I ever tell you that 2LB are CRAZY?!

Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you to you all!!!

Poetry

We are having so much fun the second grade at the moment! We are learning so much about poetry.  Mrs LeBlanc told us that when we read poetry, it should be performed so we are allowed to stand on tables at school.

Our 12th Grade Buddies

On Tuesday, we met our 12th grade buddies.  These students will come to us at least once a month to share their learning journey with us and to be our role models.  We have introduced ourselves, shared gratitude granola and told our buddies what we are grateful for.  Next month, our buddies will take us to the PTG Holiday Bazaar.

Ipads are in the classroom!

On Thursday, we used the ipads for the first time in the classroom.  The first session was all about logging onto an app called "Splash Math".  We spent 15 minutes getting to know this app.  The students had a lot of fun!

Interdependent Relationships and Ecosystems

We are off to a fine start with our science unit!  Last week, we planted our very own bean!  Each day, we observe the changes that take place and record our observations in our science notebooks.  On Sunday, we started our very own science investigation.  We took three plants and asked the questions, "How would one survive without water, without sunlight and if we watered one 3 times a day?"  Mr LeBlanc came to our room and taught us the words, 'variable', 'constant' and 'measure'.  The variable is what we change.  We change the amount of sunlight and water each plants gets.  The constant is what we don't change.  We don't change the soil or the type of plant we use.  We are going to 'measure' how the plant changes over time.  

We took a 'diversity walk' around our school.  We used our senses to observe what was all around us (macro level).  We also 'zoomed in' on a smaller space (micro level) and recorded what we saw in our notebooks.

Recording observations in notebooks.

Young Scientists observing the macro level of the world around them

We learned about coniferous and deciduous trees.  What kind of tree is this, coniferous or deciduous?

Young buds

What is happening here?

"This tree is like an umbrella!"

Here is a baby plant growing.

Science

On Halloween, a real scientist came into our classroom to show us a little science trick.  Mr LeBlanc is the AP Chemistry teacher at ACS who happens to be Mr LeBlanc's husband and best friend.  He would do anything for 2LB!

We have some pretty crazy, creative scientists in our class!  Look at ALL our wonderful flowers!!!!  2LB is such a happy place with all these amazing, unique and creative flowers.  Thank you so much for all the effort and time you put in to helping your child.  

Our very own Zeina Abboud, Faisal's mum, won 300 kisses from a Spooktacular 'Guess the quantity' game.  Faisal graciously accepted the kisses on behalf of his mum and gave an acceptance speech.  It was so much fun!

I gave the students a 'real life' math problem where I can to count all the tickets we got from the student council 'walk the treat' game at spooktacular.  This was a very rich mathematical activity where students had to count and sort the tickets.

This activity was excellent and all students were fully engaged and participated.  We love learning!!

Retelling Hand

Here is the retelling hand that we have been using to retell stories.  You can use this idea at home with your child when they have finished reading their story.  

2LB in The Learning Commons

It was so much fun being one of the first students to visit the Learning Commons.  We have a slide in our Learning Commons.  I heard that we are the only LC in the world to have a slide.  We are so happy!

Words Their Way

Words Their Way is a spelling programme that encourages students to focus on a spelling pattern.  In 2LB, we are all different stages on our spelling journey.  Some students focus on beginning sounds, some on long and short vowels, some on unusual vowel sounds and some on syllable junctures.  Each child is working on improving their own spelling.

Pizza Party

Last week, students from 2LB were treated to 10 minutes of extra recess and a pizza party.  This was a celebration because the class filled up their marble jar.  Each day, the class receives 10 marbles if all the students are on the green light or 5 marbles if most people are on green.  Here are some students enjoying pizza.

Spot Light on Social Studies - Communities

Since the start of school, second graders have been exploring the concept of community.  What is a community?  What communities are we part of?  What do people do within a community?  Last week we chose a person from our local school community to interview.  We looked at the question words, who, what where, when, how and why and formulated questions that would help us understand what this person does for our local community.  After we wrote our questions, we looked at 'what makes a good question?'  We learned that there are 'open' questions and 'closed' questions.  Ask your child to explain what these are.

Our ACS Community board

Think, pair, share.

Students engaged in a 'bus stop' activity where they go to each station and read other people's questions.

I must apologize for the lack of photos.  It has been so busy in 2LB that I completely forget to take pictures.  October will be better.

Here are the students working hard on their base ten pictures.  We used 100's, 10's and 1's to create a picture and then we had to count all the squares to see what the value of our picture was.  This giraffe has the value of 280 squares.

We have had a busy week filled with learning.  In Math, we have been learning to use number lines for addition and subtraction.  One of the mathematical practices is to be able to model with mathematics.  A number line is a great model for helping students with the mathematical understanding.

During Writer's Workshop, we have been planning and creating stories using who, what, where, when, how and why.

Next week, we will be focusing lots on expanded numbers.  We will be expanding 3 digit numbers.  For example.  The number 357 is 300 + 50 + 7.

 In Reader's Workshop, we have been practicing reading independently and building our reading stamina.  The new bean bags in our classroom are a wonderful addition and makes reading time more cozy!

We can read anywhere!

In 2LB this week, we have been getting to know each other and learning our routines, our schedule and our classroom rules.  We have been learning all about what good learners do during Writer's Workshop, Reader's Workshop, Math and Word Study.  Each week, we will focus on one of these areas for the blog.  Here is a sneak peek at Reader's Workshop and Math.  

Please feel free to leave any comments on the blog.

Next week, we will continue to to go over routines, rules and learn independent activities.

Have a great week!