Week in Review (Week 3 - September 16-19)

Hi Family and Friends,

Wow, I can't believe that the third week of school is already done. This was a short but fun filled week.

First off, I would just like to say thank you to all the families that came to the Open House. It was a pleasure getting to meet all of you, and I hope you enjoyed getting to see your child's classroom and learning spaces.

This week in Word Work, we focused on the sounds of N, M and E. "N" and "M" have similar sounds, so we worked on differentiating what sounds we hear and spelling words utilizing those sounds. We also discussed how E has two different sounds: "E" like in the words "below" and "begin", as well as the "eh" sound, like in the words "well", "wet" and "best".

In Math this week, we continued our inquiry into patterns. We have done a great job in identifying, creating and extending patterns utilizing shape, color and size. We had the opportunity to explore the Cuisenaire rods in the learning commons, making different patterns. We also continued working on increasing and decreasing number, identifying numbers in sequences such as 2,4,6,8,10,12,__,__,__. The number patterns are challenging us to use our knowledge of patterns as well as numbers to help us solve problems. If you would like to practice at home, here is a fun game that your children can play. https://www.abcya.com/games/number_patterns

We practiced a "counting on" strategy to help us determine what the increasing patterns were.

In Science, we continued our learning of magnets. We brainstormed what we know about magnets and what we are wondering. There were many insightful questions that will guide our future learning. We discussed what magnets are attracted to (iron), as well as briefly touched on magnets having poles. We will continue our learning next week and beyond!

In Social, we continued our look at community and identity. With these being our major themes in Grade 2, we decided to write our story of who we are, where we are from, what language we speak, what celebrations we partake in. It was able to learn a lot about everyone and their story. The diversity in our stories and experiences will help shape our understanding as we embark on learning of Calgary and the Prairies.

Lastly we got to experience the outdoors with Ms. Hinder. We went on a nature walk and gathered items for our nature documentation panels. These panels will serve as inspiration for many future projects. This week we picked our favorite piece we gathered and painted it, as well as wrote about our favorite piece describing the qualities that it has.

That is all for now. I am already looking forward to next week! As always, if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to e-mail me.

Have a great weekend!

-Mr. N-