Superflex and Social Thinking

Reminders

• No school tomorrow (PD Day) - Enjoy the long weekend!
• Math extension work was sent home today for extra practice with the addition strategy of stacking - please complete what you can and return for Monday
• Look for sticks and rocks in your yard or outside at a park and bring them in :)
• we will be using the sticks to hang the weavings up when they are complete
• we are collecting the sticks and rocks in class as "loose parts" for story making
• Soapstone carving on Tuesday, Feb.4 with Teacher's Pet -- if you can volunteer please sign up: https://volunteersignup.org/events/summary/283126 
• Please remember to return any library books or home reading books next week

Learning Highlights

• This week we learned a lot about being a responsible and caring citizens in our classroom. We are learning about how we can use "Flexible Thinking" to help us achieve this goal. We having been reading a lot of social stories and discussing strategies on productive and positive communication. Superflex, has been one of our favorite stories! He is a "Social Thinking" hero who helps to teach us about different ways of thinking. Ask us about some of the "villains" in this story and what we can do to make sure they do not invade our brains! We are all trying to be like Superflex and think and act in positive ways to ensure that EVERYONE in our classroom community feels welcome, accepted and safe! Ask us about some of the strategies we are trying out to make sure we can be like Superflex.

• We learned that the Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis, is not just seen in the north pole - it can also be seen in the south pole areas. 
• the Auroras are colored lights that move in the sky
• they occur because the sun gives off some electricity through the hot gases that are released. This hits the top layers of the air on Earth and zaps it! Then, we can see the lights from the surface of the Earth. 
• Ask us:
•  "why do the north and south poles get zapped by this electricity? - in other words, why do the auroras happen in the north and south poles?"
• "If auroras are caused by zapping air with electricity, can we make our own auroras? If so, what are some examples?"

• We also started on our weavings. First we studied images of auroras and then created a blueprint of what we wanted to weave based on the colors and patterns that we found. Then, we started weaving with various colors of yarn to match our blueprints.
• A huge thank you to Ms. K for making the looms and coming each day to help us start off our weaving projects!!

• In Math we shared our findings and strategies from the t-shirt factory task from last week. We realized the most efficient way to add multiple digit numbers was through stacking, but it is important to understand why and how to re-group numbers. We will be moving on to learning the procedure of regrouping through the stacking method. 

Calgary Public Library & CBE Presents: Keeping The Home Language Alive

Bow Habitat - Importance of Water / Collaborating on Addition Strategies

Reminders:

1. Please remember to read, comment/sign, and return Home Journals on Monday.

2. Volunteer for Guided Reading at: volunteersignup.org/FXHFB

3. Monday, Jan. 27 – Family Literacy Day – wear PJs, Bring Stuffy & Favorite book to read with our Kindergarten buddies!

4. If possible, bring in yarn for our upcoming weaving project in art. Our class will be exploring fiber arts by creating weavings on handmade looms. Our inspiration for the weavings is tied into our study of the Arctic. Through reading Arctic stories, students have been learning about the importance and the connection that people from the Arctic have with nature. We will be using the Northern Lights as our inspiration for the weavings

Students should be using at least two colors to depict the patterns that can be seen in the Northern Lights. Colors such as lime green, navy blue, turquoise, bright pink, purple, or black would work great. If you have any of these colors and would be willing to donate them to our class, we would be incredibly appreciative! 

  

5. Jan. 31 Non-instructional Day – No school for students in CBE schools 

Learning Highlights:

• In Math, we started working in groups to strategize different ways to find out the total sum of our t-shirt orders for our factories. Each group got at least 3 separate orders of t-shirts and had to figure out how many t-shirts the factory had to create. This is helping us to understand how to add 2-digit and 3-digit numbers in different ways. 

This group used the base ten blocks to represent the numbers for each order...

Then, they drew it on their -shirt factory poster. 

Afterwards, they started representing the tens blocks as "rolls of 10 t-shirts".

Question: What do you think the next steps should be?

This group used multiple strategies!

 Try to identify the strategies:  (1) t-chart, (2) stacking numbers and adding with re-grouping,  

(3) drawing images of base-ten blocks, and (4) tallies. 

Questions: Which strategy do you like the most? why?

Which was most efficient? Why? 

Other groups tried using number lines but then realized the numbers of t-shirts in their "orders" were too many to fit onto the number line drawn, so they tried using other addition strategies to figure out the total sum...

This group illustrated their t-shirt order numbers as base-ten blocks then used the stacking method to check their total.

This group explored the stacking method and found the sum, then asked for more "orders" to challenge their ability to add 2-digit and 3-digit numbers!

• Our Bow Habitat field trip was also full of activities which supplemented our study of water. We had fun activities to reinforce our understanding of the water cycle, and then did some science experiments to learn how to clean the water in our world!

Ask us to identify at least 2 different things that can be used to clean water!

Many of us really enjoyed the part where we got to feed the fish!

Water, Water, Water, Water, Water Cycle!

Learning Highlights:

• For inquiry we are learning about the water cycle. We learned that water changes state depending on the temperature. We also learned that the molecules in solids, liquids and gases behave differently. Ask me to "act" like the different molecules (gas, liquid, and solid).

• We used the Water Cycle movement break from GoNoodle to help us remember the key terms. If you would like to practice it at home, check out this link: Water Cycle - GoNoodle
• We also conducted a science experiment to find out what happens when we throw cold water and hot water in the freezing cold air.  (Please do not try at home without and adult supervising!) 

Here is the cold water in the freezing cold air...

Here is the boiling water in freezing cold air...

Click below to watch video of Ms. C throwing the boiling water:

Ask me why the boiling water turned into gas but the cold water did not!

A good review of our learnings about the water cycle can be viewed on this video here: Water Changes

• We have started a schema map of the Arctic. We started by sharing information that we already know, then as the week went on we added information under New Learning. 

• Ask us these questions to demonstrate our learning so far:
• Why do trees not grow in the Arctic?
• How much sunlight is there in the Arctic in the winter versus the summer?
• What languages are spoken in Nunavut? 
• Why are the pipes and sewage above ground?

• For literacy, we brainstormed a list of winter and arctic words to help us add descriptive language in our writing. Afterwards we discussed how descriptive language adds interest and details into our writing. 

Then, we used this picture as inspiration for a writing task. 

We had to make sure that our writing included all components on the Writing Checklist:

We also learned about orally summarizing stories that we read - and how it helps us to improve on our reading comprehension skills. We are using the story string to help us identify key moments from the stories we are reading, which will also be very useful when having to write our own stories soon. We will continue to use this as we read more Arctic stories in the upcoming weeks. 

In math, we worked on grouping numbers into tens and ones to help us add 2-digit numbers.

 

We also, expanded on our understanding of 10s and 1s by connecting it to the story of Grandma Eudora's T-shirt factory. We learned that 100 t-shirts can be bundled up into 10 rolls of 10 t-shirts, but if a customer came to buy a single t-shirt (rather than a bundle of 10 t-shirts), we would have to un-bundle a roll of 10 shirts first, making it into 9 rolls of 10 t-shirts with 10 loose t-shirts. Then we realized that 100 t-shirts could be groups into other ways - see picture below:

• Finally, we met with our Kindergarten buddies to create Buddy Bookmarks! We learned how to make bubble letters and we started decorating it with patterns. We will continue creating these the next time we meet with our buddies. 

Reminders:

1. Bow Habitat Field Trip will be on Jan 22 (Wednesday)!
• Bring extra pair of DRY close-toed shoes
• Bring a NUT FREE lunch, water bottle, and snacks
• Meet at gr.2 doors at 8:50am (we board the bus at 9:00am and will leave by 9:10am) 
2. Still needing volunteers for Guided Reading - sign up at: Guided Reading Volunteer Sign-up
3. Return the following items:
• Home Journals and Library Books (by Monday)
• Home Reading books (by Thursday)

Family Literacy Day

“Family literacy activities strengthen the relationship between family members which, in turn, encourages lifelong learning.”

Royal Oak School will be recognizing Family Literacy Day on Monday January 27th. Students are invited to wear pajamas, bring a stuffy and a favourite book to share with a friend. Regular curricular activities will continue on this day so please make sure your child wears pajamas that allow them to participate in recess, gym, etc (no footed pajamas or nightgowns)

Further information and ideas for home can be found at www.familyliteracyday.ca

All About the New Year!

Highlights:

This week we met Mrs. Yoon and got to learn some facts about her. We found out that many of us have many things in common with her - ask us what we had in common. :)

There were a few changes to the classroom, such as our new "Calming Corner" and strategies for dealing with problems that occur in the classroom. Ask us what some of these are!

We also talked about what it means to be respectful and how to demonstrate whole body listening skills while a presenter or speaker is talking. We are working to build better habits and use positive and calm voices in the classroom.

We also started guided reading! While one person reads a page, the other group members are to follow along by tracking with their fingers. After everyone had a chance to read, and we finished the book or chapter (depending on the book we had), we noted down any unfamiliar or challenging words.

The next day, we read the same book, to reinforce reading and fluency, but worked on making connections to the book.



Starting next week, we are hoping to get some parent volunteers (who have police check clearance) to come in during our guided reading time to help us out! - Please email Mrs. Yoon if you are interested!







For literacy, we went to our flexible groupings and worked on various skills that will help us in reading and writing - such as digraphs, blends, short vs long vowel sounds, and syllables.

Here is a student in Mrs. Yoon's "Blends" flex group working on an interactive sort activity for pl, sl, and bl blends!

In gym we started a new unit of gymnastics! We learned all sorts of safety rules that we need to maintain in order to enjoy gym and be safe, such as "three in a tree", "wood is good", and how staying quiet is very important during gymnastics - ask us what these rules mean!

For math, we learned about place value and how numbers can be grouped in different ways. We learned that number can be represented in standard form as well as expanded form. And we learned that the value of a digit in the tens place (of a 2-digit number) will always be greater than the value of the digit in the ones place - ask us why this is!!

We are also reading a story called Grandma Eudora's T- Shirt Factory, which expands on our understanding of place value. After reading the story, we were given cards that had numbers on it. The number represented the number of t-shirts we had. Then we had to figure out how many of those t-shirts we could roll into bundles of ten. We will be using this story to continue our understanding of numbers next week.



In art, learned about tints and shades. Using our knowledge of tints and shades we winter scene with snowy trees. We used various mediums to add interest.
First, we took smooth cardstock and tore it up to create the snow and the moon, and placed that against textured construction paper for the sky.



Then, we used black pain for the trees. We had to be careful to lift the brush when we got to the top of the tree so that it was more narrow than the base.


Then we added white paint to the black to use for the light on the tree (from the moon) and the shadow behind the tree (on the snow).

Here is a final product:



Finally, we for inquiry, we learned about the design thinking process. After solving problems together as a class, working through the design thinking process, we went off on our own to interview someone in the classroom and find a solution to a problem they are having. The extra challenge was to use magnets in our solution. We brainstormed solutions after defining the problem, then presented them to our partners. After getting feedback, we selected one idea and created a diagram of an imaginary prototype that we built. Afterwards, some of us got to present our prototypes to the class and get more feedback. We learned that in designing solutions to problems, the process is not linear - it is often very important to get lots of feedback and go back to the ideation stage in order to enhance our original design.

Reminders:

1. Please return field trip forms - Bow Habitat field trip will be on Jan 22
2. Parents who would be interested in volunteering for Guided Reading - please email Mrs. Yoon. If there is any parent volunteer who is interested in being the Room Parent, to help organize future volunteering opportunities - also contact Mrs. Yoon. 
3. Jan 27th is Family Literacy Day - Wear your pajamas 
4. Jan 30th - Non Instructional Day - no school for students

A Message from PE

Dear Parents and Guardians

We have started our gymnastics unit in our regularly scheduled Physical Education classes. This unit will run until the end of January. Safety procedures are being carefully covered with each class. While students in elementary school are not expected to change their clothing for gym, I do talk to them about being dressed in preparation to participate. 

Please consider the following when sending your child to school:

• Clothing that allows freedom of movement (no special uniforms or outfits are required – sweats and a t-shirt work best).

• Loose fitting/baggy clothing may get caught on equipment when climbing.

• Tucking shirts in may help to prevent an accident.

• All jewelry that could get caught on equipment should be removed (left in classrooms or left at home). e.g. watches, rings, necklaces, etc...

• Students with long hair should have their hair tied back. Tying hair back with elastics is recommended.

• Students may wear shorts under clothing if they wish.

• Students will participate in bare feet unless there is a medical reason (warts).

Please be aware that students have Physical Education class each day. Students will be reminded that they must remain very quiet while participating on the climbing equipment. 

Sudden noises could startle a student using the equipment and result in a fall.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to email me. Thank you in advance for your understanding in helping to ensure the safety of our students.

Sincerely,

Helen Hennick (hdhennick@cbe.ab.ca)

First Day of School in 2020!

Welcome to Ms. Yoon's Grade 2 blog!

Happy New Year! Hopefully everyone had a very enjoyable winter break.

I am very excited to be your new teacher for the remainder of the school year :) 

Our class will be posting blogs on here every Friday with learning highlights and reminders for students and families to read, so please stay tuned!