Category: 2A

There has been so much energy, learning, and excitement in Room 112, and I’m thrilled to share all the wonderful things we’ve been working on together.

Math

During our math blocks, students are exploring and deepening their understanding of both 2D and 3D shapes. They will learn to recognize, name, describe, compare, and sort 3D shapes including cubes, rectangular prisms, spheres, cylinders, cones, and pyramids. Students will use new math vocabulary such as faces, edges, and vertices to describe each shape’s attributes and will identify these shapes in their everyday environment, such as balls, boxes, and cans. They will also learn the difference between 2D (flat) and 3D (solid) shapes.

In addition, students will work with 2D shapes including triangles, squares, rectangles, circles, ovals, hexagons, pentagons, rhombuses, and trapezoids. They will identify and name shapes in different orientations, describe them by the number of sides and corners, and determine whether sides are straight or curved. Through hands-on activities such as drawing, labeling, building structures, and sorting objects, students will classify shapes based on their properties and recognize 2D shapes in their environment, such as signs, windows, and books.

    This month in Math, students will also explore the concept of area. They will learn that area is the amount of space inside a shape and will use square tiles and grid paper to cover surfaces without gaps or overlaps. Students will count square units to find the area of rectangles, compare different shapes, and build their own shapes with a given area. They will also use math vocabulary such as area, rows, columns, and square units to explain their thinking. They will eventually connect area to repeated addition and multiplication (3 rows of 4 =12 square units).

Our students are continuing to strengthen their understanding of addition and subtraction facts up to 20. We are working toward developing quick recall of these facts, with the long-term goal of solving them efficiently without relying on fingers or number lines. Building this fluency helps students feel more confident and supports their success in more complex problem solving.

We are also continuing to practice double-digit addition and subtraction. These skills are being applied to word problems, where students are learning to carefully read, identify important information, and choose the correct operation. It has been wonderful to see their perseverance and growth as they develop stronger strategies and mathematical confidence!

Science

At the beginning of this term, students explored the exciting world of matter! Throughout the unit, they learned that matter is anything that has mass and takes up space, and that everything around us is made of matter. They investigated the three states of matter—solids, liquids, and gases—and discovered that solids have a definite shape and volume, liquids have a definite volume but take the shape of their container, and gases spread out to fill the space around them. Through hands-on experiments and observations, students explored how heating and cooling can cause matter to change states, such as melting, freezing, and evaporating. One of their favorite experiments was making ice cream floats, where they observed how a solid (ice cream) and a liquid (pop) interact to create fizzy bubbles filled with gas. Using scientific vocabulary like solid, liquid, gas, volume, melt, and freeze, students practiced sorting, comparing, predicting, and recording their observations as young scientists.

Social Studies

In The Know

Writing Conventions – We have been working on understanding that a proper noun is always capitalized and that each sentence starts with a capital and ends with punctuation. Can they spot the error? They have been given many opportunities to spot the missing punctuation and capitalization of words in a sentence as they complete Read it, Fix it Write it.

Hope everyone had a great Passover break and enjoying our long awaited spring like weather.  “Like spring flowers, our students are blooming—getting brighter, stronger, and more awesome every day.”Just our opinion, but we feel you will agree.

 

Language Arts:

On May 8th, all Grade 2 students will be performing a Reader’s Theatre at Hillel Lodge!
Reader’s Theatre is an enjoyable and engaging way for students to build oral reading fluency and expression. It allows them to connect with characters and story lines while developing confidence and enthusiasm for reading aloud.

Grammar:

The following rules have been taught and anchor charts are posted in the classroom as a friendly reminder.

 

Poetry: April is poetry month, we just started our unit on poetry and as usual our students did a great job creating Acrostic poems which are presently displayed  on their lockers. As we had a late start our poetry month will go right into May. Excited to see creativity in action.

Workshops:

This week we explored the library looking for fiction and non-fiction books. Ms. Brigitte demonstrated how to use the call numbers on the base of the library books to locate a book we want to read.

 

This past week Ms. Beswick lead a wonderful workshop to help students have the tools they need to foster great friendships and fun recesses for all. They all have new personal goals to work on.

                 

 

Math:   

 

Numbers:

We have been working on double-digit addition and subtraction with regrouping and borrowing. Most students have now demonstrated a strong understanding of this skill. For those who are still developing mastery, we will continue to provide opportunities for review and practice.

We have also introduced multiplication, and students are learning to represent multiplication facts using both visual groupings and repeated addition. Our next step will be division, as it is important for students to understand the relationship between multiplication and division. Throughout this process, students are continuing to apply these skills to solve word problems and strengthen their mathematical thinking.

Spacial Sense:

The students have explored both 2-D and 3-D shapes in their environment. They continue to work on expanding the mathematical vocabulary as they describe the properties of each shape. Each child has had the opportunity to sort and identify 2-D shapes by comparing sides, side lengths, angles and number of lines of symmetry.

Location of Movement: 

During math lessons our students have been using grids to locate the relative positions of several objects and describe the movements needed to get from one object to another.

Financial Literacy:

Our students have learned to identify different ways of representing the same amount of money up to Canadian 200¢ using various combinations of coins, and up to $200 using various combinations of $1 and $2 coins and $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 bills. They apply this knowledge when solving word problems involving money.

 

Science:

We are presently well into our unit on Growth and Change in Animals. The students are learning about specific characteristics of each animal group and are able to use Venn Diagrams to compare the groups. This unit will be completed by an animal research project of their choosing.

                                                                             

Social Studies:

Passover

                  

April Fools Day

In the Know

As we approach the end of the first term here is a snapshot of what we have been doing in every subject. 

Language Arts:

Novel Studies-Our Grade 2 students have begun working on their first Novel Study. There are two different Novel Study groups depending on where they are at in their learning journey. We are reading books by Judy Blume, Freckle Juice and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.

                                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Writing Conventions – We continue to work on understanding that a proper noun is always capitalized and that each sentence starts with a capital and ends with punctuation. Can they spot the error? They have been given many opportunities to spot the missing punctuation and capitalization of words in a sentence as they complete Read it, Fix it Write it.

Opinion Writing- The students have been working on being able to write an opinion piece, they reference the rubric provided in order to ensure they have done their personal best.

 

Opinion Piece Rubric (Grade 2)

Criteria	4 – Excellent	3 – Good	2 – Satisfactory	1 – Needs Improvement
Opinion Statement	The opinion is clearly stated and easy to understand.	The opinion is clear but may need some clarification.	The opinion is stated but is unclear or not fully formed.	There is no clear opinion, or it is hard to understand.
Supporting Reasons	Provides 2 or more strong reasons to support the opinion.	Provides 1 or 2 reasons that support the opinion.	Gives 1 reason that partially supports the opinion.	Does not provide reasons or the reasons do not support the opinion.
Organization	Writing is well-organized with a clear beginning, middle, and end.	Writing is organized with a beginning, middle, and end, but may be a bit unclear.	Organization is present, but may be difficult to follow.	Writing lacks organization and is hard to follow.
Details and Examples	Includes specific details and examples to explain the opinion.	Includes some details or examples to explain the opinion.	Provides few details or examples, or they are unclear.	No details or examples are given to explain the opinion.
Conclusion	The piece ends with a strong, clear conclusion that wraps up the opinion.	The piece ends with a conclusion, but it may be weak or unclear.	There is a conclusion, but it does not tie up the opinion clearly.	No clear conclusion is provided.
Grammar and Spelling	Few or no errors in grammar, punctuation, or spelling.	Some errors in grammar, punctuation, or spelling, but they do not make the piece hard to read.	Some errors in grammar, punctuation, or spelling that make the piece hard to read.	Many errors in grammar, punctuation, or spelling that make the piece difficult to read.

Here is the link to the video on Digital Tracks

We have completed our unit on Movement and Simple Machines.  Our Grade 2 students did a great job working in pairs and designed a pulley able to lift water from the well (bucket). They then reflected on their experience and what they might do differently next time. The students did an excellent job completing several quizzes as artifacts of their knowledge.

We began our unit on Liquids, Solids and Gases by completing a workshop at the Science and Technology Museum. What a fun way to start a new unit.

     

Social Studies:

Our Grade 2 class compared birthday traditions and celebrations among diverse groups and can identify some of the reasons for changes in these traditions/celebrations. They are starting to become familiar with the social studies inquiry process as they investigated some of the past and present traditions and celebrations within their own family. Each child completed their Chanukah traditions project where they compared ways in which some traditions have been celebrated over multiple generations in their family.

Math:

Problem Solving-The focus has been working on 2 step problems. The emphasis has been reading for understanding and showing your work. One of our North Stars is we learn better together, so showing how we got our answer helps others see that there is more than one way to solve a problem.

Numbers:

We worked on balancing equations and math fact families. It is very important that the students understand the relationship within each family. This understanding helps with their math fact fluency. Some have been introduced to addition and subtraction double digits regrouping and borrowing. They continue to work on using these skills when solving 2-step word problems.