October News for Grade Two
Bonjour!!!!
This past month was busy getting to know each other and learning new routines. It has been a pleasure getting to know all the children and their families as well! We have been working on (and will continue to work on) RESPECT. It is the cornerstone of our classroom community: Respect for self, for others, for the class, and for the school. I invite you to have a discussion with your child on ways to show respect in these areas......add your own to it e.g. respect for parents, grandparents, visitors, etc....
Portfolios
Last week the students were introduced to portfolios. This is a folder where they will store their work, showing evidence of their growth and progress throughout the year. Metacognition is a very important part of keeping a portfolio and is an important part of the curriculum. Students will be asked to explain and reflect upon their work. At the end of the school year, you will be invited to our Student Led Conferences where your child will share his/her portfolio with you and celebrate his/her learning with you.
Literacy/Library
We are doing a Daily 5 Reading program. Daily 5 is a reading method to foster literacy independence with students. There are 5 components to the method; Reading to Self, Reading with a Partner (students practise reading fluency and comprehension with a classmate), Writing, Listening to Reading (students listen to examples of good literature and fluent reading), and Working with Words (students practise sight words, phonics skills and grammar). The students have been introduced to all 5 components and are now practising and building stamina (and learning to do so quietly!). Once proper routines have been established Guided Reading will begin in small groups. Students will be using the library during Daily 5 time. In small groups they will go once a week to exchange books and to practise Read to Self. Children will visit the library together as a class once a week in addition to their Daily 5 time. This gives children a chance to exchange books more often if they choose. Please send books back once your child has finished with them, so that new books may be signed out.
Homework
Homework in Gr 2 will be mostly reading every night. In Grade 2 it is important that your child also practises reading in English. In order to facilitate this we will be using Razkids. As in past years, I will send you the log in information as soon as I receive my account info and set up the students' accounts. Please watch for this in the weeks to come. We will also soon begin our French home reading program (more info will follow). In order to become better readers, students need to practise each day with books that are at their "just right" level. More explanation will follow in the home reading letter. I will also be sending sight words via an email to you, for students to practise at home. This is also important to practise daily. If students do not complete their classwork during the allotted time, and I feel they just require more time (rather than help) I will send it home for completion. Sometimes a special homework assignment will be sent home, such as the assignment to find a picture of a family.
Math
The students have completed the non-numerical portion of the Patterning unit as well as Data management. Their work will be coming home soon. They are now working on Number Sense and Numeration where students will count by 2's 5's 10's and recognize numbers to 100. They will also be introduced to solving problems involving addition and subtraction up to 18. We will look at different strategies for adding and subtracting including mental math strategies (e.g. doubles).
Social Studies
The Big Idea for the unit of inquiry is:
The traditions that people celebrate today have developed over the generations.
The students will inquire into their own traditions as well as global traditions. In the next few weeks, the students will be bringing home a survey/interview to further inquire about their traditions and celebrations at home. If you (or grandparents) are interested in sharing some personal traditions/celebrations we would welcome your input.
Skills taught in this unit will be mapping. Students will look at various maps and their features and purpose. They will learn about map legends, a compass rose and cardinal directions (Never Eat Soggy Wheat!) If you have any old maps please send them in for us to use in class. Merci!
This past month was busy getting to know each other and learning new routines. It has been a pleasure getting to know all the children and their families as well! We have been working on (and will continue to work on) RESPECT. It is the cornerstone of our classroom community: Respect for self, for others, for the class, and for the school. I invite you to have a discussion with your child on ways to show respect in these areas......add your own to it e.g. respect for parents, grandparents, visitors, etc....
Portfolios
Last week the students were introduced to portfolios. This is a folder where they will store their work, showing evidence of their growth and progress throughout the year. Metacognition is a very important part of keeping a portfolio and is an important part of the curriculum. Students will be asked to explain and reflect upon their work. At the end of the school year, you will be invited to our Student Led Conferences where your child will share his/her portfolio with you and celebrate his/her learning with you.
Literacy/Library
We are doing a Daily 5 Reading program. Daily 5 is a reading method to foster literacy independence with students. There are 5 components to the method; Reading to Self, Reading with a Partner (students practise reading fluency and comprehension with a classmate), Writing, Listening to Reading (students listen to examples of good literature and fluent reading), and Working with Words (students practise sight words, phonics skills and grammar). The students have been introduced to all 5 components and are now practising and building stamina (and learning to do so quietly!). Once proper routines have been established Guided Reading will begin in small groups. Students will be using the library during Daily 5 time. In small groups they will go once a week to exchange books and to practise Read to Self. Children will visit the library together as a class once a week in addition to their Daily 5 time. This gives children a chance to exchange books more often if they choose. Please send books back once your child has finished with them, so that new books may be signed out.
Homework
Homework in Gr 2 will be mostly reading every night. In Grade 2 it is important that your child also practises reading in English. In order to facilitate this we will be using Razkids. As in past years, I will send you the log in information as soon as I receive my account info and set up the students' accounts. Please watch for this in the weeks to come. We will also soon begin our French home reading program (more info will follow). In order to become better readers, students need to practise each day with books that are at their "just right" level. More explanation will follow in the home reading letter. I will also be sending sight words via an email to you, for students to practise at home. This is also important to practise daily. If students do not complete their classwork during the allotted time, and I feel they just require more time (rather than help) I will send it home for completion. Sometimes a special homework assignment will be sent home, such as the assignment to find a picture of a family.
Math
The students have completed the non-numerical portion of the Patterning unit as well as Data management. Their work will be coming home soon. They are now working on Number Sense and Numeration where students will count by 2's 5's 10's and recognize numbers to 100. They will also be introduced to solving problems involving addition and subtraction up to 18. We will look at different strategies for adding and subtracting including mental math strategies (e.g. doubles).
Social Studies
The Big Idea for the unit of inquiry is:
The traditions that people celebrate today have developed over the generations.
The students will inquire into their own traditions as well as global traditions. In the next few weeks, the students will be bringing home a survey/interview to further inquire about their traditions and celebrations at home. If you (or grandparents) are interested in sharing some personal traditions/celebrations we would welcome your input.
Skills taught in this unit will be mapping. Students will look at various maps and their features and purpose. They will learn about map legends, a compass rose and cardinal directions (Never Eat Soggy Wheat!) If you have any old maps please send them in for us to use in class. Merci!
Home Reading
Home Reading Program
The more children read
The better they become at reading
It’s as simple as that!
This week we are beginning our home reading program. Here’s how it works:
Once a week the children will bring home a book chosen from our home reading selection. Most of these books come from the Alpha Jeunes or GB+ series, and are similar to the levelled books we use during our daily guided reading lessons and activities.
The children may keep their book for the entire week and return it the following week, when we will do our home reading exchanges. This will give your child plenty of time to read and re-read his/her book at any time during the week. The more they practice their book the better they will acquire sight words and decoding skills. In addition to their INDEPENDENT reading level books, your child will bring home 2 library books to supplement their home reading.
For home reading, the children will choose a book that is at their INDEPENDENT level (which I will give to them at school). This is the level at which a child does not need excessive help or instruction. This is done to make French reading at home an enjoyable and rewarding activity for all. Your child will be reading texts at a higher or instructional level at school, with teacher support. This is where the instruction will be occurring as we work in Guided Reading groups. After your child reads his or her book with you, you could certainly ask them questions such as:
Who are the characters in the book?
Was there a problem in the book? Explain it.
What was your favourite part? Why?
What was your least favourite part? Why?
Can you tell me what happened at the beginning, middle and end (retell)?
Can you read me your favourite part?
Remember that comprehension of reading material is equally important as fluency (ease of reading) and accuracy. We have several types of books at each level so the children should explore many books in each level in order to build a rich vocabulary.
In addition to reading French, your child should also be working on reading in English at home. In the near future we will send you the login information for the RAZkids online reading program, which you may do at home with your child at your convenience.
Below are some tips and strategies when reading with your child!
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask!
Reading Strategies that are helpful:
1. Sight words recognition- ( high frequency words that your child automatically reads, e.g; voici, c’est, papa, maman)
2. Picture clues- do a picture walk before reading an unfamiliar book and discuss words that might show up when reading.
3. Sounding out the words ( say each letter or syllable sound out loud and then blend them together e.g; a-m-i ami or read a-mi.
4. Looking for familiar chunks in the word e.g; le, sa, mi, bon, ou, oi . This includes looking for smaller words in bigger words e.g., saut and elle in the word “sauterelle”.
5. Keep reading (skip the word and read the rest of the sentence and then go back and see if you can fill I the unknown word with a word that makes sense)
6. Cross-checking (look at first letter or syllable and then look for a picture clue that matches)
With early readers it is useful to have them track or follow the words with their finger as they read.
The more children read
The better they become at reading
It’s as simple as that!
This week we are beginning our home reading program. Here’s how it works:
Once a week the children will bring home a book chosen from our home reading selection. Most of these books come from the Alpha Jeunes or GB+ series, and are similar to the levelled books we use during our daily guided reading lessons and activities.
The children may keep their book for the entire week and return it the following week, when we will do our home reading exchanges. This will give your child plenty of time to read and re-read his/her book at any time during the week. The more they practice their book the better they will acquire sight words and decoding skills. In addition to their INDEPENDENT reading level books, your child will bring home 2 library books to supplement their home reading.
For home reading, the children will choose a book that is at their INDEPENDENT level (which I will give to them at school). This is the level at which a child does not need excessive help or instruction. This is done to make French reading at home an enjoyable and rewarding activity for all. Your child will be reading texts at a higher or instructional level at school, with teacher support. This is where the instruction will be occurring as we work in Guided Reading groups. After your child reads his or her book with you, you could certainly ask them questions such as:
Who are the characters in the book?
Was there a problem in the book? Explain it.
What was your favourite part? Why?
What was your least favourite part? Why?
Can you tell me what happened at the beginning, middle and end (retell)?
Can you read me your favourite part?
Remember that comprehension of reading material is equally important as fluency (ease of reading) and accuracy. We have several types of books at each level so the children should explore many books in each level in order to build a rich vocabulary.
In addition to reading French, your child should also be working on reading in English at home. In the near future we will send you the login information for the RAZkids online reading program, which you may do at home with your child at your convenience.
Below are some tips and strategies when reading with your child!
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask!
Reading Strategies that are helpful:
1. Sight words recognition- ( high frequency words that your child automatically reads, e.g; voici, c’est, papa, maman)
2. Picture clues- do a picture walk before reading an unfamiliar book and discuss words that might show up when reading.
3. Sounding out the words ( say each letter or syllable sound out loud and then blend them together e.g; a-m-i ami or read a-mi.
4. Looking for familiar chunks in the word e.g; le, sa, mi, bon, ou, oi . This includes looking for smaller words in bigger words e.g., saut and elle in the word “sauterelle”.
5. Keep reading (skip the word and read the rest of the sentence and then go back and see if you can fill I the unknown word with a word that makes sense)
6. Cross-checking (look at first letter or syllable and then look for a picture clue that matches)
With early readers it is useful to have them track or follow the words with their finger as they read.