Grade 2 Class Blog

We hope you are well. It seems hard to believe, but we have already reached the end of November.  It feels like this month has really flown by for those of us in the Grade 2 teaching team.  But like they say, ‘time flies when you’re having fun!’

This past week was a very entertaining one.  The students spent time inquiring into some of the ways that artists like to tell stories within their artwork. The students thought about and discussed the use of artistic styles such as mime, sand art, computer coding and wordless books. They also spent time experimenting with these different art forms. It was a lot of fun!

Students began to search for art that they appreciate at home as well as getting the perspectives of their parents. Here you can see a few examples of the many works of beautiful visual and performing arts that were shared.

This week students expressed themselves without using words in both visual and performing arts. Check out Seesaw to watch short video clips of their mime scenes and to read some of the creative wordless stories made.

For the week ahead our students will be inquiring into sculpture and design while making things out of clay and other materials.  Our students will also be thinking about how we look and appreciate different works of art, and how different people often have different perspectives. At the end of the week our students will be asked to choose a visual and performance art form that they would like to use to express themselves with, as they begin planning focused art projects for the coming weeks.

Clay At Home For Group 2 + 3: Parents of group 2 and 3 students, as mentioned we will be asking students to use clay to create things at the start of the week.  If you have clay or play dough or a material that they can mold something with that would be great.  If these aren’t available, a building material such as lego could be used as a substitute.

Sports Day this Wednesday we will have our PYP Sports Day.  Look forward to your child being led by our PE staff through some fun challenges and games throughout the day.

Reusable Utensils thanks so much to all the parents who took the effort to pack reusable utensils for their child.  As we are likely to continue our current lunch time routine of eating inside the classroom with packaged lunches, we would like to make a goal in Grade 2 to not use any single use plastic cutlery items by the new year. This is a small action that we hope can help raise awareness about good choices that we can make to help reduce waste. Thanks very much for your help with this and all your support, as always.

Dear Grade 2 Parents,

We hope you and your family are well. We’re happy to report that our students have been doing a great job at adapting to the new routines and schedules of our hybrid learning program.  Thanks as always for helping us make this situation a fun and successful one for our Grade 2 learners!

This past week the students have spent time thinking about the differences between visual art and performance art, and sorting out different examples of these two categories of art form. Afterwards they spent time inquiring into acting and dramatic art form. The students practiced working individually and in group efforts to use their voice and body language to express different emotions and character traits. It was a lot of fun, and great speaking and reading practice as well!

Continuing to find out about how we express ourselves, students brainstormed different types of art forms and categorized them into performing or visual art by participating in a collaborative silent sort.

Additionally, students participated in a variety of drama and acting scenarios throughout the week.

In literacy, students incorporated adjectives into their writing to describe a story settings.

Here you can see children’s pictorial representation of addition with regrouping.

Continuing on with shape, students were able to identify both irregular and regular polygons.

Wishing you all a happy Loy Krathong Festival! Students enjoyed making Krathongs at school on Friday.

For the week ahead our students will be inquiring into the different ways that artists use visual and performing arts to tell stories. Students will inquire into art forms such as mime, sand art, picture books and clay sculpture, and experiment with how we can use these mediums to tell a story and express ourselves. We hope that our students will enjoy making connections between the stories that can be written and stories that can be told in different creative ways.

Reusable Lunch Utensils. In an effort to reduce waste we would like to encourage our Grade 2 families to provide students with their own cutlery items that they can use to eat their school lunches with. As lunches are delivered and eaten in the classroom we are currently using disposable plastic forks and spoons for lunch. Providing your child with a cutlery set to bring to and from school each day would help us cut down on plastic waste, and be a nice example of a positive choice for our environment.

Dear Grade 2 Parents,

We hope you’re well.  Thank you so much for helping to make our first week of our hybrid model a successful one!  It was wonderful getting the chance to be back in school with the students, and to see them having so much fun interacting with their friends and classmates. We hope that our fully remote learners in Group 3 had a great week as well, and enjoyed getting the chance to interact with new students and teachers online.

This past week we began our new ‘How We Express’ ourselves unit of inquiry.  The students spent time, at home and at school, thinking about what it means to be creative, and how we can express ourselves in many different ways. The students also spent time experimenting and creating new things, and then sharing the things that they made.

Above you can see the Padlet where students documented all the creating they did at home and at school this week. What a fun way to tune into our new unit, How We Express Ourselves. Check out more of their awesome work here: https://padlet.com/jordanro1/znjp1n6mgqaigj53

In maths, we shifted to shape by identifying and describing polygons. And let’s not forget about the beautiful and symmetrical shape creations.

In language, students thought about characters in stories and wrote about one they created from a picture prompt focusing on traits and interests.

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We loved welcoming back some of the students to school this week! Playing on the “big kid” playground was a highlight for many of the children.

Next week our students will be asked to consider some of the big questions from the unit, such as what is and what isn’t art, and what are the attributes of a successful artist? The students will also think about all the different forms of artistic expression and then work to sort them into categories of visual art and performing art. From there students will think about and experiment with different types of performing art, such as drama and music.

Reminder: if you have any of the reading books, or whiteboards that were sent home in the original learning pack, please send them in with your child next week.  Any of the notebooks should be kept at home for use during remote learning days.

Thanks again, for all your support with our transition into this new hybrid model.

Dear Parents,

We hope you are well.  As you know, we have been very busy this week preparing for next week’s return to school. Attached to Friday’s email is the schedule for the new hybrid model for Grade 2. It is different in many respects.  Most notably in that our Grade 2 group of students is now more of Group 1, 2 and 3, and less of G2A, G2B, and G2C. Nonetheless, we have been working hard to make sure that each group and each child will receive the same balance of teaching and learning, in a way that works best for all 3 groups of students, while also still getting a chance to connect to their homeroom each Wednesday when we’re learning remotely. When you get the chance, please take a minute to look over the schedule with your child, and if you have any questions please email your child’s classroom teacher.  

This past week was an exciting one, as our students worked hard to transfer their learning throughout the unit, and demonstrate their understanding of some of the key concepts we’ve been focussing on. The students spent time reflecting on choices that they could make that would have positive effects to their wellbeing, and also demonstrated their ability to connect some of the different ideas and content they have learned about during the unit. We hope that our students’ ‘Wellness Plan’ will be something that we can revisit later in the year as we continue to encourage self improvement and a growth mindset throughout the year.

In maths, children practiced familiar addition and subtraction strategies using a number line.

We concluded our Who We Are unit by creating personal wellness plans. Please help your child work towards achieving their goals.

Happy Diwali! Grade 2 enjoyed learning about this special Indian festival of lights celebrated every fall.

The week ahead will be an even more exciting one!! We are very excited to be getting back into the classroom with our Grade 2 learners.  We are also excited to begin our new ‘How We Express Ourselves’ unit of inquiry.  During this unit the students will be inquiring into creativity and all the many ways that people can express themselves through the arts. In the week ahead students will spend time experimenting and creating new things, as we get ready to consider some big questions about what art is all about, and what it means to express ourselves artistically.  It should be lots of fun!

We hope you have a great weekend!  Thanks to all the parents who were able to join us at yesterday’s Grade 2 Parent Forum. Again, if you have any questions schedule please feel free to email us directly.

Dear Grade 2 Parents,

We hope you are well.  As always, thank you so much for supporting us and taking such an active role in your child’s learning. It was so nice seeing all of the healthy and delicious meals during our ‘day of healthy eating’ activity. We hope that it was a valuable experience for your children. The food looked so good I think we might need to make a Grade 2 Family cookbook one day. Here is the padlet link to all of the student sharing if you would like to take a look. Grade 2 Healthy Eating Padlet

Lots of Halloween fun in grade 2 this Friday.

Students and teachers showed off the healthy choices they have been making at meal time on a Padlet.

This week children thought more about the concept of causation by thinking about cause. Here you can see  how the choices they make affect their health and wellbeing.

In language, children learned about main idea and details when reading nonfiction text. The table structure is one way to visualize this reading strategy.

The Week Ahead will be our final week of this ‘Who We Are’ unit of inquiry.  During the week our students will be asked to show their understanding of what they have learned throughout the unit. They will work to make connections between the different aspects of a balanced lifestyle and our personal wellbeing. They will also work to create their own ‘wellness plan’ with ideas about things that they can do to help them live happy, healthy and balanced lives as they grow older.  We hope that the learning during this unit will lead to student ‘action’ in the form of the development of healthy habits for their future.

Grade 2 Parent Forum

We will be offering an optional parent forum next Thursday, Nov. 4th at 11:00 AM.  We trust that parents will have a number of questions regarding our return to school and how our hybrid teaching model will function. We’re happy to try to answer any and all of your questions regarding Grade 2 teaching and learning, and our return to in person learning.  A Zoom link will be sent next Wednesday for this meeting.

As always, thank you so much for your support for our Grade 2 Remote Learning Program.  We hope you have a great weekend!

Dear Grade 2 Parents,

We hope you’re well!  Thanks as always for your support and for those of you who are able to take part in your child’s learning. We appreciate it so much and are very proud of all the quality learning that’s been taking place during this current unit of inquiry!

This past week our Grade 2 students spent time inquiring into nutrition and healthy eating habits. They learned about the main food groups, and worked to sort the foods they eat into these different categories. The students also reflected about their personal eating habits, and worked to plan a ‘day of healthy eating’ with their family members.

Here you can see pictographs that the students made from a set of data.

Students shared ways they stayed well and balanced over the mid-term break.

Being able to self-assess our personal choices is an important thinking and reflection skill we are developing in grade 2.

In the week ahead our students will get the chance to share and reflect on their day of healthy eating. Students will be asked to think about the choices they make with regards to the food they eat, and how they can take action towards their own health and diet going forward. This week our students will also be inquiring into the concept of cause and effect.  For example, how the choices we make can directly affect our bodies, our minds, and our hearts. It should be a fun and interesting week!

Halloween!  This Friday, the PYP will be celebrating Halloween with the students. There will be a selection of fun Halloween activities for students to do, and students will be encouraged to dress up in their favourite Halloween costumes.  We understand that not all families enjoy taking part in this festival, so if you would prefer for your child not to take part in the Halloween activities please contact your child’s teacher.  Thanks!

Day of Healthy Eating. As mentioned, this Tuesday is designated as the day for our students to take part in their healthy eating day where they help plan and possibly help make the meals and snacks for the day. We respect that families are very busy, so if it’s easier for this to happen over the weekend or on Monday, that’s great too!  Just remember to take lots of pictures of all parts of the process so that the children can share these photos during the week.  Also, if this activity is not something that you and your family have time for, that’s fine.  We understand!  Please just email your child’s teacher so that they understand the situation and adjust accordingly.  Thanks!

Grade 2 Parent Forum We would like to have another Grade 2 Parent Forum on Thursday, November 4th.  We will wait until that date, because by then we will be able to clearly explain all of the plans for our return to campus. As it stands now, there is a comprehensive plan in place, but as a Grade 2 team there are still a number of details to work out and it’s best to wait until we can answer all of your questions with confidence.  In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns about our hybrid model, or any other aspect of Grade 2, please feel free to contact your child’s classroom teacher. 

Dear Grade 2 Parents,

We hope you and your families are well.  We trust that you are looking forward to a well deserved break from school next week. Below is a wrap up of the learning that has been going on this past week, the experiences that we have planned for the week after the holiday, and some simple things that you and your child can do at home to extend your child’s learning over the holidays.

This past week our students learned all about the ‘zones of regulation’ as a way to better understand the emotional part of who we are as people. The students reflected about the different feelings they have in the different ‘zones’, and thought about ways that they change their emotions when they become negative. Our Grade 2 students also applied their reading and thinking skills, while inquiring into non-fiction texts about the benefits of regular exercise and healthy sleep habits.

Wow Work! from the week: 

Here you can see examples of student work from our Who We Are unit. Students are using the Zones of Regulation as a tool to help us be aware of and control our emotions.

In maths, children collected and organized data into bar graphs this week.

Students have been practicing reading nonfiction books with some being connected to health and wellbeing.

During the holiday the main goal we suggest is for our students and families to relax and enjoy themselves, and to get as much of a break from screens and devices as possible. The one thing we ask students to do over the break is to take pictures of anything that they do that connects to the ‘Ways of Well Being’ that we learned about this past Wednesday.  These ‘ways’ include: staying active, taking notice of things, connecting with others, giving to others, and learning at home. We would like to use these pictures after the holidays to have students reflect and think about their well-being after the holidays are over. If your child enjoys expressing themself in writing, or drawing you might also like to encourage them to keep a journal, or create sketches of the things they do over the break. These are optional activities though.

For the week ahead after the holiday our students will begin the week, as mentioned, by sharing and reflecting about some of the things they did over the holiday to benefit their well-being. Afterwards we will begin inquiring into nutrition and healthy eating habits. Our students will read and learn about nutrition, think about their own eating habits and work to find and help prepare some examples of healthy meals and snacks. It should be lots of fun and we hope that our families can enjoy getting our Grade 2 students involved in the food planning and preparation for a day at home.

We hope your week away from remote learning is a fun and relaxing one.

Dear parents,

We hope you and your families are well. Thanks as always for the support for our Grade 2 learning program!  We are so pleased with the progress and quality of learning that we’re seeing from our Grade 2 students thus far.  Here’s a brief overview of the learning this past week, and what we have planned for the week ahead:

This past week our Grade 2 students inquired into what it means to be a balanced person.  They learned that to be balanced we need to consider different aspects of who we are, specifically our mental, physical and emotional sides. Our students then reflected on their own personal balance, and the things that they do to help fill their own mind, body and heart. Afterwards students learned about mindfulness and reflected on how we can use this practice to help our wellbeing.

 Wow! Work from the week:

This past week the students spent time ‘tuning in’ to our new ‘Who We Are’ unit of inquiry. To do so they spend time reflecting and sharing information about themselves such as their likes, their character and their passions. The students also got a chance to gather some information about healthy and balanced lifestyles from their knowledgeable and awesome parents.

Wow Work! from this week:

Here are a few marvellous models inspired by George’s Marvellous Medicine. 

Children interviewed a parent at home to tune-in to the new unit of inquiry, Who We Are.

The special House Day on Friday gave students a chance to earn house points for their team through art, music, PE, and Thai.

Above you can see the Grade 2 Passion Padlet which let children about Who We Are as individuals. Check out all the amazing and diverse passions in grade 2!

For the week ahead our students will be learning more about the different aspects of personal well-being, and inquiring into what it means to be a balanced individual. It should be a fun and interesting week of learning!

Best regards,

Jordan, John, Jessica, Nook, Pik and Cash

Last week was a short, but eventful one. This past week was the last full week of our ‘How We Organize Ourselves’ unit, and the students worked hard to demonstrate their understanding of how systems can be used to improve a community.  We look forward to sharing and reflecting together on the community systems that our Grade 2 students created at the start of next week.

Wow! Work Photos from Week of September 13-15th: 

Above is some end of unit work sharing on Padlet. Students chose a system to improve within their community demonstrating their understanding of the central idea.

As you can see, students expressed their artistic creativity in a variety of Dot Day activities.

In the week ahead we look forward to introducing our second unit of inquiry for the year.  This unit’s theme is ‘Who We Are’, and during the unit students will inquire into what it means to live a balanced lifestyle, and the different aspects of our health and well-being. It should be an interesting and timely inquiry for our young students.

Attached to the weekly parent email is the sign up sheets for our Parent Teacher Conferences Friday, September 24th. Please open the sheet from your child’s Grade 2 class and sign up for a time that works for you. We look forward to speaking with you then.  If you are unable to join us Friday, please email your child’s classroom teacher if you would like to set up a meeting time at a later date. Thank you!

All the best,

Jessica, John, Jordan, Cash, Nook, Pik