Yr2 Weekly Update – 02/17/17
Students continued to explore the forces using Visible Thinking Routines. We used Think, Puzzle and Explore routine to reveal students’ current understanding and their questions. Some classes are working on air resistance and creating their own models of planes to check how to reduce the friction caused by the air. Other classes have been learning to make observations and working with magnets to understand why magnets stick to certain objects.
We are inquiring into how do Inquirers think and work. The students spent some time on unpacking the Learner Profile and figuring out what skills they might need in order to inquire into forces. Some classes really enjoyed designing their paper planes and testing their hypotheses.
LITERACY
For writing this unit some classes focused on writing procedures and instructions. Some of us looked at organization and sorted our ideas in beginning, middle and end. We have also been busy writing Acrostic poems on the forces.
For reading this unit, we continued to focus on comprehension strategies. This week, we looked at predicting and summarising. Students worked on highlighting the key words in the text and using them to create their own sentences.
We also used Pebble Go and Brain pop Jr. as our tools for research.
DANCE
We were lucky to have Mrs. Tucker work with us for this Unit of inquiry. Please note all the Year 2 classes will now have a dance session with Mrs. Tucker every Tuesday. In our first lesson, we worked on creating a dance that had a beginning, middle and end.
MATHS
Some classes have started learning about fractions. Some classes revisited Mass and measured mass of various ingredients from the kitchen using standard units.
We continued with our Number Maintenance and consolidated our understanding of various mental strategies such as split strategy, number line, adding on to find the difference and counting back.
We were very lucky to have Peter Sullivan in to teach both the teachers and the students more about Maths. He is currently Professor of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education at Monash University. He has extensive experience in research and teaching in teacher education.
Important: In order to provide students with the opportunities to explore questions, build prototypes, fail and retry, bounce ideas off one another and build something together, we are going to create a Makers’ space in our shared area. Therefore we are going to request you to send some junk to school. Junk includes empty plastic bottles, egg cartons, fruit trays, ice-cream tubs, cardboard boxes, lids, any plastic and Styrofoam boxes. Please make sure all the plastic bottles, jars and containers are washed and cleaned properly before you send them to school. Thanks a lot for your help!
ACTION:
Marti 2T and Prima 2P inquired through playful learning, inquiring into kites and bicycles. The children made observations, tested their theories and were able to communicate their ideas clearly.
IMPORTANT DATES:
13 March: Maths Week
17 March: ESF Choral Concert
18 March: School Fair
23 March: Student Led Conferences 3-6pm
24 March: Classes suspended for Student Led Conferences
27 March: KJS Music Concert
31 March: Last Day of Term – ENDS AT MIDDAY
