Happy Halloween!

Thank you to all of our parents who sent in treats for classmates...they were all thrilled with all they received. Special thanks to Mrs. Lesnik, Mrs. Rowland & Mrs. Kulczycki for spending the morning with our little ghouls, carving pumpkins!  To Mrs. Benson, Mrs. Bloomer, Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Rowland & Mrs. de Vos for providing the delicious snacks! Congratulations to our 3 lucky students who won the Pumpkin Raffle!  Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

On a side note, students completed their first Word Sort test on Spelling City today.  Results of how they did on this test were sent home.  I encourage everyone to practise those words that they are experiencing difficulties with.  A new sort will be sent home on Monday.

Next Week....

MATH

• Estimating & Counting to 100
• Tens/Ones
• Place value
• Mathletics/Xtra Math

LANGUAGE ARTS

• Accuracy Strategies - Cross-Checking, Chunking, Beginning and Endings
• Spelling City - Word Sorts

SCIENCE 

• Liquid water can be changed to other states - The Water Cycle
• Water is a component of many materials & Living Things

SOCIAL STUDIES

• Unit 2 - Looking At People
• Meteghan - The Acadians
• Saskatoon - The Ukrainians
• Iqaluit - The Inuit

Rumpelstiltskin is tomorrow!

We are all excited for our first field trip tomorrow to see Rumpelstiltskin!  Thank you to Mrs. Hugh & Mrs. Toogood for volunteering to keep an eye on our little ones.

In Science today, we had a demonstration where the students were able to observe that some liquids are heavier than others.  All students predicted that when vinegar (with red food coloring), corn syrup and oil were poured into a jar, they would mix and make one yucky color.  To their surprise, they observed that they didn't mix at all.  The heaviest (most dense) liquid, corn syrup, was on the bottom, and the lightest (least dense) liquid, oil, was on the top!  How cool!

Teacher Dawn is also back for yoga tomorrow!  We are thrilled!

Last Week's Update

Math 

• counting with money (skip counting with pennies, nickels or dimes)
• continuing to practise counting by 2s, 5s and 10s - forwards and backwards
• even and odd
• ordinal numbers

Language Arts

• Reading Strategy - Use Prior Knowledge to Connect To Text - Last week, students practiced making a "text to self" connection.  This comprehension strategy can help students connect their own experiences with the text to better understand and make sense of what they are reading.  A Parent Pipeline was sent home today, outlining how you can help your child with this strategy at home.
• Writing - It's fun to make believe and travel to places far away!  Last week, students were introduced to another writing format:  postcards.  Students imagined there were off vacationing and then wrote a postcard to someone at home, describing the awesome time they were having!
• Words Their Way - differentiated sorts

Science

• Exploring Liquids
• Experimented with different materials to see which were most suitable to contain liquids
• Tested different materials to see whether they absorbed or repel

Today was a building extravaganza!  Students predicted if they could "STOP THAT LEAK" by using paper. Students worked in partners in an attempt to line a container using various types of paper (tissue paper, paper towel, white paper, construction paper, wax paper, wall paper) so that it would hold water. 3 of the 10 partners were successful!!   

Our Class T-shirts have arrived!

• Return Home Reading
• Fruit/Cookie Orders due tomorrow
• Word Sort test tomorrow - some groups will be having a spelling test (all words in their sort are fair game), some groups will be asked to spell word beginnings (blends or digraphs)

Spider Pudding Pie

Creepy, crawly spiders!  Thank you to Heaven's mom for providing the ingredients for this month's Tasty Tuesday.  It was a 'spook-tacular' treat!

Today was yoga day in gym!  Teacher Dawn was here again....we relaxed, went surfing and practised some yoga poses!  Namaste!

Could they be any cuter???

School photos went home today.  The order deadline is October 29th.  

This was the first week of differentiated Words their Way sorts.  That means that students are receiving spelling sorts that will focus on their instructional level and features of spelling that they are ready to learn.  

In Math today, we completed our 4th rotation of Math Workshops.  Student rotated through activities which focused on our current concept:  Numbers to 100 - Using a 100s chart and number line.  The 4 rotations are:  Math Facts (students are working on Xtramath), At Your Seat ( a worksheet focused on our current concept), Teacher's Choice (students work with me in a small group), and Hands On (students play a game which is focused on our current concept).  

Our Word Wall Words for this week are:

there
not
friends
I 
went

On your marks, get set, go!!!  Today in science we raced 5 liquids (dish soap, plum sauce, syrup, molasses & oil).  Students used the knowledge they gained from exploring the liquids earlier in the afternoon,  to predict which liquid would cross the finish line first.  It was fun to cheer as the dish soap and molasses were neck and neck for third place.  But in the end the order from fastest to slowest was: oil, syrup, dish soap, molasses & plum sauce.

Return Home Reading Tomorrow! Minutes will be tallied.

It is important to participate in the Home Reading program for two reasons:

• to become better readers
• it is fun!

In 2S we have Home Reading Checkpoint Prizes as an added initiative to read at home.  Here is what we decided:

100 minutes - a bookmark
750 minutes - a pencil
1500 minutes - a bouncy ball
2500 minutes - a book of their choice
5000 minutes - a DQ ice cream treat

Minutes will be tallied on Fridays, so please ensure all Home Reading bags are returned then.

Have you ever felt the pain from a belly flop?? Ouch!  That's because of surface tension!  Today in science, we got a close look at the 'cohesiveness' of water.  So cool!

New Word Wall Words

Information about the Lego Movie and the NED show will be emailed shortly, but on our website, under Calendar, you can click on the NED Show Link to see a video explaining the NED show; plus we have info on the family movie night and a link to the poster.

RBES

Sort #2 was sent home today.  Just a reminder that students should be completing their sort at home nightly.  This week, again, is a picture sort to help them gain confidence and understand the expectations.  On October 20, students will begin bringing home word sorts based on their spelling pattern level.

Students received their first Word Wall Words: 

• because
• saw
• when
• was
• are

Students will not be tested on these important high frequency words, but are expected to spell them correctly in their daily writing.  Each week, we will continue to add 5 new words to our Word Wall.

Students had their first 'lab' in Science today.  Moving through various stations, students were able to discover the many characteristics of water.  Ask them to show you their favorite experiment!

This week in 2S!

During the Character Assembly, we celebrated all of those students who received Student Of The Week.  Students' names are then entered into a monthly draw to have Pizza With The Principal. Good luck!

The Canada Puzzle is finished!!  Many students contributed to the completion of the 250 piece puzzle!

Daily 5

This week we introduced 'choice' during Daily 5. Students have worked hard to build their stamina working independently!  We also launched our third Daily 5, Buddy Read!

Buddy Read increasing the following:

• quantity of reading
• level of attention to reading
• reading motivation
• opportunity to practise skills and strategies
• fluency
• expression
• reading rate
• word-attack skills
• vocabulary
• love of reading

Math

Grade 2 students are expected to apply strategies for addition and related subtraction facts to 18 as well as recall addition and related subtraction fact to 10 by the end of Grade 2.  This week students were introduced to the online Math Facts program:  Xtra Math.  This program will be one tool used this year to help students master their number facts.

We have also been working with Hundreds Charts and Number Lines to build a strong number sense. Counting by 2s, 5s and 10s at home is great practise!

Science

We started our Exploring Liquids unit!  We began by sorting and classifying examples and non-examples of liquids, as well as discussing the 3 States of Matter.

After reading, The Pigeon Finds A Hot Dog, we worked on a persuasive writing assignment:  The Turkey Wants A Hot Dog!  This activity sees Tom Turkey decided to disguise himself as a pigeon and try to convince families to eat hot dogs rather than turkey on Thanksgiving!  Students wrote from the turkey's point of view about why hot dogs are a better choice for their holiday menu.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Picture Day tomorrow!

Curriculum update for October 6 - 10th

• Home Reading   
• Books went home today.  Students are asked to read a minimum of 15 minutes/evening.
• Words Their Way 
• Today our first word sort was sent home.  For the next two weeks, the sorts will focus on beginning sounds in order to get an understanding of the routines of sorting.
• Daily 5 - 
• Continuing to build our stamina during Read To Self and Writing Time
• Introduction of Choice!
• Reading Skill:  Check For Understanding
• Introduce Buddy Read
• Math
• Completed Patterns Unit assessment
• Unit 2:  Numbers to 100
• counting by 2s, 5s and 10s, forward and backward
• recognize if a number is even or odd
• counting with money
• ordinal numbers
• Social Studies
• Looking At Places
• Early Days in Iqaluit, Meteghan & Saskatoon (Why did these communities settle here)
• Daily Life - What is daily life like for children in these communities?

• October Book Orders went home today.  They are due back on October 30th.
• Hot lunch and Milk orders are due on October 5th, this is a Sunday.  No late orders will be accepted.  All orders are to be placed online following the directions that were sent home last week.  If you require assistance, please contact the office.

Our Smartboard is functioning!  So exciting for 2S!