Week 2-3 Communication

We hope you are well.  Thanks very much to all of you who were able to join us the other day for our Grade 2 Parent Forum. It was very nice to get a chance to say hello, answer a few questions and get some valuable feedback from our parent community. Please note that if you ever have any questions or would like to speak individually to your child’s classroom teacher, feel free to contact us directly via email. This past week was a fun and eventful one in Grade 2.  The students did a great job following their full weekly timetable for the first time this year.  They also did a great job demonstrating their reading and writing skills, and their understanding of place value and number concepts.  We were very excited to see our students engage in their activities with so much enthusiasm!  This week was also marked by the creation of our Grade 2 Essential Agreement.  To create this agreement all of the students shared their thoughts about what they can do to create the best Grade 2 community possible. These thoughts were put together into one agreement that we hope can guide students and help us understand how to work together, despite being in a remote learning environment.

In the week ahead we look forward to digging deeper into the big ideas within our ‘How We Organize Ourselves’ unit of inquiry.  Our students will spend time thinking about communities, what they are, how they function and different ones that they are a part of.  We will also look at communities while focusing on our KIS Houses, as we get ready for our first House Day of the year next Friday, Aug. 27th.  For more details about the week ahead please see the Weekly Overview attached below. Also detailed planning information, including our unit details and curriculum outcomes, can be found on our Grade 2 Blog in the tab entitled ‘Current Unit of Inquiry and Planning’. Next week, our Grade 2 students will begin using Google Classroom on Wednesday, August 25th as the main hub for communication between teachers and students.  Beginning next Wednesday, students will be asked to log in to Google Classroom to find their Morning Message, schedules and activities, and their live classes. Thank you for your help supporting this transition. This Tuesday morning our Grade 2 teaching team will spend time preparing the take home packs for Grade 2 students. As mentioned these packs will be prepared and ready for pick up on Friday, August 27th.  Finally, attached to this email is a letter from our new PYP Curriculum Coordinator, Ms. Tania Mansfield regarding plans for our start of the year reading and math assessment plans.

That’s all for now. Thanks as always for all your support.  It’s been wonderful getting to know all of our new Grade 2 students, and we’ve been so pleased with how this year has begun. We hope you have an excellent weekend!