Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to complete the project reflection worksheet on our Painted Lady Butterfly project. We began the project when we got the caterpillars on May 2nd and finished it when we released the butterflies on May 25th. This homework is due on Friday, June 1st.

PARENTS

• If your child wants to learn more about butterflies, I highly recommend a visit to the Butterfly Conservatory in Niagara-On-the-Lake. My children and I visited there several times over the years and we always had a great time. There are over 45 different kinds (species) of butterflies there! It’s a great way to reinforce concepts learned during our science unit and to learn even more about these wonderful tiny creatures. Here is the link to the website:

https://www.niagaraparks.com/visit/attractions/butterfly-conservatory/

 * I just got word that, as of next week, our school library is now CLOSED and students must return all library books. The closure is early this year as the library must be packed up to be moved to Vaughn Road Academy (our temporary school building for the next two academic years).

Important Dates:

June 8 - P.A. Day

June 28 - Last day of school for students

September 4 - First day of school for the 2018-2019 school year (@ Vaughn Road Academy)

News for May 25, 2018

News for May 25, 2018

This 4-day week the children used discarded Sun Chip bags for their math lessons, painted butterflies and rehearsed their plays.

Writing

The children finished their writing and drawing in their caterpillar and butterfly journals. They finished writing and illustrating their partner fairytales.

Math 

The children spent the four days this week using their math skills to study the Sun Chip bags they collected from pizza lunch last week.  First, the students played the “Where’s the Math?” game and wrote down their math questions about the bags. First they estimated and then counted the number of bags (160 bags), measured the length, width and perimeter of the bags, counted the number of ingredients in Sun Chips and even worked with a partner to tally the number of vowels on the front of the bag! On Friday morning the children worked together to put the bags end-to-end down the hallway outside of our classroom and measured how long they were (30m 79cm).

Science

The class completed our four-week study of caterpillars and butterflies. During the week the 22 butterflies lived in the butterfly cage in our classroom. The class continued to work through the questions that they had about the butterflies and wrote down facts in their science journals. Did you know that a butterfly actually has two pairs of wings? Each wing is made up of two parts: the forewing (top) and the hindwing (bottom). Did you know that a butterfly drinks through its tongue, which is hollow and its tongue rolls up into a spiral and is stored in its vertical mouth? The class also learned that the colour patterns on a butterfly’s wings are made with overlapping scales. Actually, a lepidopterist is someone who studies butterflies and Lepidoptera means “scaly wing” in Latin.

On Friday, the children went to the playground to release the butterflies. The butterflies flew far away and higher than the school! It’s their DNA that “tells” the butterflies how to fly. It's a happy/sad time as the class was happy to set them free but they were also sad to say good bye to the creatures that they helped to raise from 1 cm long caterpillars. 

At the end of the week, the children took home a small container with an empty chrysalis inside as a memory of our class butterfly project.

Art

The students finished their canvas paintings that were inspired by the paintings of Dayal Kaur Khalsa.

The students used what they knew about math symmetry and the structure of butterflies to create beautiful, colourful, symmetrical painted butterflies. Using dots of acrylic paint on paper, the artists folded the paper in half and squished the paint around to create symmetrical designs. When the paintings were dry they made bodies for the butterflies out of construction paper. Next week these will be displayed in our hallway to create a “kaleidoscope of butterflies” (collective noun).

Oral Communication

The children began to present orally, the fairytales that they wrote with a partner. The children are working together to read the stories aloud to the class. 

The class continued to rehearse the class play in two groups. The groups worked on creating signs and began to collect and create props for the performance.

Extra

The students had a bit of time to each make his/her own knitting “corker” to learn how to knit. Next week, the children will use these to begin to learn how to “cork” which is a simplified form of knitting.

As I s-l-o-w-l-y begin to organize my classroom to move everything to Vaughn Academy at the end of June, the children had a chance on Friday to use up consumable items like hollow tubes of plastic netting and beads. At this point in the year, it is wonderful to see what the students are able to create independently and how they share and build on ideas of their friends. We will be doing this every Friday until the end of school.

Books read aloud this week:

The Butterfly Alphabet by Kjell Sandved

Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin

The Butterfly House by Sarah L. Smith

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is for each child to cook a meal or part of a meal for his/her family, then write about what happened. Children this age LOVE to cook and to help out in the kitchen. When you prepare food with your child, especially traditional recipes, you are not only teaching them, for example, math and life skills, but also making memories with them. There is also a math sheet reviewing concepts learned this week. This homework is due on Friday, May 25th.

Here is a good article about the benefits of cooking with your child:

https://www.zak.com/articles-7-surprising-benefits-of-cooking-with-kids

* LIBRARY DAY IS NOW ON TUESDAYS! Please help your child to remember to return his/her library book.

Important Dates:

May 21 - Victoria Day

June 8 - P.A. Day

June 28 - Last day of school for students

September 4 - First day of school for the 2018-2019 school year (@ Vaughn Road Academy)

News for May 18, 2018

News for May 18, 2018

This week the children learned about measuring mass and capacity, continued to ask questions and learn facts about the caterpillars/chrysalids/butterflies and even welcomed a robot cat to our classroom!

Writing

The children finished writing their book reports on their favourite Dayal Kaur Khalsa book. The students also learned some biographical information about the author and put some of this information into their reports. Did you know that she was born in the USA but lived much of her life in Canada?

The children worked with a partner to write a dice story fairy tale, where a roll of the dice determines the number of words that partner can write. At this time of year, the stories are much longer and more detailed. The students will present the stories orally next week.

Math 

The children learned about how to measure mass and capacity.  Mass is the amount of stuff or matter that everything is made of. Capacity is the amount that an object can hold. The children talked about relative mass, or which object has more or less mass and relative capacity or which object can hold more or less. We also talked about the standard units that are used to measure mass, kilogram (kg) and gram (g) and capacity, litre (L) and millilitre (mL).

PARENT NOTE: The use of the words mass and capacity are required by the Ontario Curriculum. For grade 2 children mass and weight can be used interchangeably because mass equals weight on Earth. The word capacity (the amount an object can hold) is now used instead of volume (the amount of space an object takes up).

Reading

The class began a short study of the near-fiction books by the author James Bowen and his cat Bob. James was a young man going through a difficult time when Bob the cat entered his life and changed it for the better. To help the class understand the power of how caring for an animal can teach responsibility, caring and empathy, our class now has a life-size robot cat…named Bob, of course! Here is a link to a video of the real James and Bob the cat:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UlytJkufQDw

Science

The class continued to study the life cycle of the butterfly. For most of the week, the caterpillars were still in their chrysalids. HOWEVER, on Friday, 6 butterflies had emerged! It was very exciting! The children wrote down their ideas of how the caterpillar was changing into a butterfly in such a small space inside the chrysalis. The students took 10 bricks of lego and made a caterpillar shape. Then they put their lego caterpillar into a small ziplock bag. Then they tried to make a lego butterfly using the bricks without opening the bag. It’s difficult! So the children got a first hand idea of how amazing it is that a caterpillar goes in the chrysalis and a butterfly comes out!

At the end of the day, we talked about how to give the butterflies food over the 3-day weekend. Did you know that butterflies drink but do not eat? Inside the butterfly cage are now pieces of fresh orange and a dish of orange Gatorade. (The caterpillar supplier says that Gatorade is very close to real flower nectar.)

Social Studies

The children talked about the reason for this holiday weekend…Victoria Day. The class read about Queen Victoria and how she was head of the British Monarchy for 64 years! Her actual birthday was May 24 and Canadians have been celebrating her birthday since 1845. It's a day for families to spend time together and there is a tradition of watching fireworks. Did you know that she became queen when she was only 18 years old?

We also talked about food traditions. After reading a book about birthday food traditions, we discussed similar traditions in the students’ families.

Art

The students were inspired by the paintings of Dayal Kaur Khalsa and planned and began to create beautiful art of their own on canvas boards. 

The children went outside to create pencil drawings of the silver maple tree that we’ve been studying.

Oral Communication

The students read through a new play this week called “Always Do the Right Thing”, a play about honestly and integrity.  The children then chose the roles that they wanted to play. They are now in two groups and are rehearsing together. Our class will be performing these plays at the Character Assemblies for junior and primary classes at the end of the month.

The children had a great opportunity to see the amazing oral storyteller Nathalie Vachon perform on Friday. She told the students stories with only her voice (no text or pictures).

Extra

On Friday, the class started a big project using discarded Sun Chips bags from Pizza Lunch. The children created signs to make sure that the other students in the school didn’t put the bags in the garbage. A few weeks ago, the students learned that the bags are made from metal and plastic that are fused together and therefore not recyclable. Next week, the children will clean the bags and then do some math, writing and art activities with them, in an effort to keep these bags out of the garbage.

Books read aloud this week:

The Birthday Feast by Heather Hammonds

My Name is Bob by James Bowen

Bob to the Rescue by James Bowen

Where in the World is Bob? By James Bowen

Eight Ate - A Feast of Homophone Riddles by Marvin Terban

Derek the Knitting Dinosaur by Mary Blackwood

Update from Ms. R

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Room 204 families! The children worked very hard to design and make their gifts and to create homemade cards and wrap the presents for their mothers. I hope everyone has a beautiful day together.

***The class attended our school’s annual “Jump Rope for Heart” assembly this week. Our school participates every year in this fundraiser to raise money to help the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. Information was sent home with each child on Friday. Here is the online information:

 www.jumpropeforheart.ca

Homework 

The homework for this week is for students write about a family tradition in the homework writing journal and to complete the worksheet with math and punctuation review questions. This homework is due on Friday, May 18th.

* LIBRARY DAY IS NOW ON MONDAYS! Please help your child to remember to return his/her library book.

Important Dates:

May 21 - Victoria Day

June 2 - FUN FAIR

June 8 - P.A. Day

June 28 - Last day of school for students

September 4 - First day of school for the 2018-2019 school year (@ Vaughn Road Academy)

News for May 11, 2018

News for May 11, 2018

This week the children watched the caterpillars turn into chrysalids, learned how to use quotation marks in their writing and designed jewellery!

Writing

The children learned how to use quotation marks when writing. Quotation marks are used to show which words are spoken by a character in a story.

The children finished writing the good copies of their fairy tales and created story posters with illustrations. These are now in the hallway outside of our classroom.

Math 

The children reviewed two-digit subtraction with regrouping. They played a game using “fancy” dice (actually a small die inside a larger clear die) to determine the numbers to add and subtract. This is probably the hardest math concept the children have learned this year. I'm happy to say that at this point in the year the children are now very good at solving these questions using the standard algorithm.

Reading

The class continued our author study focussing on the work of Canadian author/illustrator Dayal Kaur Khalsa. We now have read all 9 of her books. Next week the children will pick their favourite one and write a book review.

The class is now studying a new writing genre: fables. The students learned a bit about the story of Aesop, the most famous fable storyteller. Did you know that he lived in Greece 2,500 years ago?

Science

The class continued to study the caterpillars. This week they watched the caterpillars grow to an amazing 5 to 6 cm long! The children continue to write down their observations and questions each day. They learned that all insects have 6 true legs, but caterpillars have extra legs called “prolegs” to help them move. Did you know that caterpillars breathe through holes in the sides of their bodies called “spiracles”? Did you know that caterpillars eat but do not drink?

By the end of the week, each caterpillar had changed into a chrysalis. These are now hanging in our butterfly house. Did you know that a butterfly comes out of a chrysalis but a moth comes out of a cocoon?

Social Studies

The children talked about the history of Mother’s Day. We also discussed traditions they have in their families in preparation for their homework writing this week.

Art

Some children had a chance to experiment doing art like the book illustrator Su Blackwell using pages from an old German book.

The students learned how to design a necklace and choose beads to create necklaces for Mother’s Day. They also reused the packaging from old potato chip bags to make cards as well.

Extra

Tanya spoke with our class about the old silver maple in our schoolyard. She is making a video about the history of our school (before we move to Vaughn Road for two years while our new school is being built). The children estimated that the tree is about 12-14 metres tall!

Books read aloud this week:

Tales of a Gambling Grandma by Dayal Kaur Khalsa

Cowboy Dreams by Dayal Kaur Khalsa

Green Cat by Dayal Kaur Khalsa

Magic School Bus - Butterflies (DVD)

Butterfly House by Eve Bunting

Aesop’s Fables by Louis Untermeyer

Snail surprise in our fish tank….

Snail surprise in our fish tank….

On Friday afternoon, after the children had gone for the day, I was cleaning our classroom fish tank and I saw something EXTRAORDINARY. (That was a bonus word wall word this week…)

Our tank contains our class pets, two African clawed frogs and and two golden mystery snails. Well, as you can see from the photo, one of the snails laid eggs! (Actually there are two clutches, the other one is on the back wall of the tank.) This is a wonderful coincidence because the class is now studying animal life cycles. In my 14 years of teaching this has only happened once before, so this learning opportunity is very special. Let’s see what happens…

Update from Ms. R

Homework 

The homework for this week is for students to complete the worksheet with math and science review questions. This homework is due on Friday, May 11th.

*Note: Please make sure your child is dressed for the weather. Some days are cooler than others and so they need a light jacket or sweater on some days. Children are outside for 15 minutes in the morning, 30 minutes at lunch and 15 minutes in the afternoon. Also the gym teacher often takes our class outside. Sunny weather means sunscreen, HATS and water bottles. Hats are often forgotten but necessary as the sun is very hot and over exposure can lead to sunstroke (headaches, fatigue, vomiting).

* LIBRARY DAY IS NOW ON MONDAYS! Please help your child to remember to return his/her library book.

Important Dates:

May 21 - Victoria Day

June 8 - P.A. Day

June 28 - Last day of school for students

September 4 - First day of school for the 2018-2019 school year (@ Vaughn Road Academy)

News for May 4, 2018

News for May 4, 2018

This week the children created math/art tessellations, learned algebra basics and started a caterpillar/butterfly life cycle project!

Writing

The children continued their work on retelling their favourite fairy tales story with his/her own personal twist. The children have finished writing, editing and revising their work are now writing the good copies of their stories and accompanying illustrations.

The class wrote reflections on the tessellation art they created as well as some information about the artist M. C. Escher. 

Math 

The children reviewed how to measure temperature and the temperature benchmarks. (That is 0°C - water freezes, 20°C - room temperature, 37°C - human body temperature, 100°C - water boils.) 

The class learned how to do beginning algebra, where students learn how to determine the value of different parts of addition and subtraction equations. They also learned about the main property of the “=“ or equals sign, by figuring out if both the left and right sides of an equals signs are, in fact, equal (for example, 8 + 4 = ? + 6).

At the end of the week we began a review of two-digit subtraction without regrouping, the words that mean subtraction in word problems (for example, give away, eaten) and how to check if the answer to a subtraction question is correct (for example, 57 - 23 = 34 can be checked by 34 + 23 = 57).

Reading

The class continued our author study focussing on the work of Canadian author/illustrator Dayal Kaur Khalsa. We have read six of her books so far this year. One of the books we read, “I Want a Dog” was made into an animated short film by the National Film Board of Canada. Here is the link to the film:

https://www.nfb.ca/film/i_want_a_dog/

Science

The class learned about another type of simple machine: the inclined plane. Simple machines make doing work easier and inclined planes like playground slides and stairs makes it easier to go up and down.

However, the BIG news this week was the arrival of our caterpillars! As part of our study of animal life cycles, we are studying the life cycle of the Painted Lady Butterfly (Vanessa carduii).

The children have small science journals and are writing and drawing their observations and research in their journals each day. They measure the length of the caterpillars, look at them with magnifying glasses and write down the questions they have. Did you know that caterpillar poop is called “frass” or that the caterpillar’s job is to eat and grow (the black blobs in the cup are actually its cast off skin)!

Social Studies

Although we have talked about traditions and celebrations all through the school year, the class started to discuss this subject more formally. We began by starting to list common traditions and celebrations (e.g., birthdays, Valentine’s Day) and ones that are unique to families and other groups. For example, it is traditional in Room 204 to have an annual 100 Books Party and to learn how to weave, but other classrooms may choose to do different activities.

Art

The students learned about the Dutch mathematician/artist M. C. Escher (1898 - 1972). He was an artist who skillfully combined math and art by creating beautiful tessellations or uniquely shaped tiles that cover a flat surface with no gaps or overlaps. Here are two videos the class watched about his work:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ERAIqVfKF5o

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Kcc56fRtrKU

Each child used the tile they created last week (by cutting and putting back together a square piece of cardboard) to create his/her own tessellations like M.C. Escher. They traced the shape with pencil over and over to cover a piece of paper. Then they used Sharpie marker and watercolour pencils to create beautiful, colourful patterns. These are now on display in the hallway outside of our classroom.

Media Literacy

The children created posters of their tessellation art and reflections they wrote about the artist M.C. Escher and their creative process.

We compared the book and the short film, “I Want a Dog” by Dayal Kaur Khalsa.

Books read aloud this week:

Sleeping Beauty by Su Blackwell

The Golden Goose by Barbara Reid

M.C. Escher - The Graphic Work by Taschen

Get to Know Inclined Planes by Jennifer Christiansen

I Want a Dog by Dayal Kaur Khalsa

Customs and Traditions by Bobbie Kalman

Julian by Dayal Kaur Khalsa

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Sleepers by Dayal Kaur Khalsa