Yr2 Curriculum Update – 07/12/18
Working together to achieve success for every child
Welcome to the 8th edition!
How We Express Ourselves: “People express themselves through celebrations.”
Transdisciplinary Learning – It’s all connected!
Students continued to explore why and how people celebrate by examining pictures and artifacts from various celebrations. They then worked together to create a definition, or criteria, for what makes a celebration. They applied their Literacy skills while establishing their understanding of the central idea. They looked for key words in dictionaries and then tried to rewrite it in a way children would better understand. For example, one group wrote, “We can show our feelings or ideas by doing something fun to remember an important day.”
Students also used their reading and viewing skills to look through books and online databases in order to find out the whys and hows behind different celebrations.
Given that this unit falls under the transdisciplinary theme, “How We Express Ourselves” students have been given opportunities to think about creative ways people share their celebration stories (e.g, visual art, music, dance, etc.). Using loose parts, construction toys and art materials, they have also been challenged to recreate symbols of familiar celebrations as a way to show their own creativity.
As an authentic Maths link, students worked together to determine different ways they could represent their class birthday data, such as bar graphs and pictographs.
Our “Who We Are” unit of inquiry is carried throughout the year. Over the past month, the Year 2 students have considered their role as responsible community members at KJS by developing composting and recycling systems for the year group.
Literacy
Our students had the privilege of meeting author Gail Clarke. They listened carefully to hear about her inspirations for writing, and they engaged in creative storytelling using actions and sounds as she shared her stories.
Author Gail Clarke keeps children engaged and inspired during her storytelling.
Maths
Students have continued to apply their understanding of place value in order to solve problems both collaboratively and independently. Problem solving examples included determining how zero can change a number, creating incorrect representations of numbers and explaining why they were silly, and finding different ways to show the same number using only hundreds, tens and ones (e.g., 45 can be 4 tens and 5 ones, but it can also be 45 ones).
Year 4 Buddies
In order to establish strong community relationships across the school, Year 2 classes have buddied up with Year 4 classes. Throughout the past few weeks, classes have worked with their buddies on various tasks, from researching celebrations to helping prepare the school’s Secret Garden.
Chinese
In the Chinese classrooms, Year 2 children are inquiring into who they are, including their families. They have started inquiring into Chinese birthday celebrations and how this may or may not be the same as their own culture.
Here’s a glimpse of some of our classrooms:
Year 2 Christmas Celebration
Next Thursday, December 13th, we will have a Year 2 super celebration exploration time. To make the day more festive, we ask that you provide your child with an extra special party lunch of their own (nut free, thank you). You may wish to cancel your child’s hot lunch on that day if you want to send the holiday lunch from home. Students may also dress in festive celebration clothes for the day.
Suggestions for Supporting Learning at Home
*During the holidays, take pictures of any ways you are celebrating as a family. Think about what you are expressing through those traditions (e.g. We eat a family dinner because we want to share love with each other). Please feel free to email photos to your class teacher for sharing.
Important Dates
Thursday 13 December Year 2 Christmas Celebration
(Wear festive clothing & send a party lunch from home)
Friday 14 December Last day of term – half day
17 December to 4 January Term Break – No school
Monday 7 January First day of Term 2
We wish you a safe and joyful holiday with your families. See you in the new year!
Kindest regards,
The Year 2 Team
