Yr2 Weekly Update – 04/11/16

We have enjoyed another week of learning about how different people celebrate.  Students continued gathering information about why people celebrate differently by asking questions to our KJS experts.  Mr. Fay spoke about St. Patrick’s Day, a celebration important to his family. Some classes began comparing and contrasting how and why some people celebrate the same special day.  For example, some classes heard Mrs. Doucette share her family’s Christmas tradition and thought about how it was similar or different to how their own teacher celebrated Christmas.  In other classes, students tried the same thinking exercise with a class buddy.  As a way to apply their data handling skills, students recorded their thinking using Venn diagrams.

We have begun some new learning in Sports and P.E.  During our Sports lesson, Year 5 students worked with the Year 2s to use the playground zones and a variety of equipment safely and creatively.  Year 2s are also stretching and strengthening their bodies in P.E. by learning gymnastics skills.

In Literacy, students continued to work on setting criteria for strong speaking skills.  They could then use their success criteria when sharing ideas about celebrations and when taking part in reading.  Writing tasks centered on writing strong sentences that have enough, but not too much detail.

Math engagements throughout the week challenged students to use the number strategies they have been developing to solve different kinds of problems.
Example:
In a photo of a farmyard, you can see 10 legs.  Draw what the animals might be.  Give more than one possible answer.

Year 2 classes have had the wonderful privilege of learning new Art skills and concepts from our resident artist, Mr. McArthur.  Over the last 2 weeks, students have explored the elements of line, colour and texture.  Last week, students created abstract pictures inspired by Canadian artist, Ted Harrison using pastels and watercolours.  Today, students viewed examples of cave art and then used charcoal and pastels to experiment with creating lines and the appearance of texture.  We are excited to continue learning with Mr. McArthur over the next few weeks!  Every child will end up with an amazing portfolio of unique artwork.