Grade 2 & 3 News

I can hardly believe summer holidays are almost here! How time flies! The students just participated in the Try-All-Athon last Friday and did so well! I am very proud of them! The grade 2/3’s will be wrapping up their Structures & Materials unit in Science with a birdhouse project. The Grade 2’s have completed all of their Math units and have been reviewing for the past few days. In ELA, the grade 2/3’s worked on an author study with Mrs. Trach, and compiled a book; we have been continuing to work on reading, writing, and comprehension. In Health and Social, we will be wrapping up our units at the end of the week. On Tuesday, June 26th, the grade 2/3’s will be having their year-end party! In the morning we will be going to see the Buffalo at Les’s farm, and then we will be heading to Prosofsky’s for a pool party and bbq! I had an amazing four months with the grade 2/3’s and the staff at Hanley. I hope everyone has a fun- filled summer and best of luck for the 2012/2013 school year! I will miss everyone dearly!

Grade 2 & 3 News

Time is flying!! In Arts Education, the Grade 2/3’s have completed a second “Masterpiece of the Month,” and this time they learned about Van Gogh! The masterpieces will be displayed in the hall very soon!

Next week the students will be finishing their Spelling and Writing Trait lessons, and then we will be working on more reading activities, as well as an author study! The Grade 2/3’s have also created wonderful “Rainy Day” poems that are displayed in the hallway!

In Science we are learning about Structures and Materials, discussing the similarities and differences between nature- made structures and man-made structures. Towards the end of the month, the students will be building bridges out of a selection of materials.

The Grade 2’s are learning about 2-D and 3-D shapes in their Math Geometry unit. They are becoming experts at comparing shapes, and describing attributes of shapes, for example “a square has four vertices and four sides that are the same length.” Soon we will be moving on to a unit on Data Analysis.

Grade 2 & 3 News

Hello from Grade 2/3! In sci- ence, the grade 2/3 students will be finishing up their liq- uids, solids, and gases unit with a “design a lifeboat” activity, then we will be moving on to learn about structures and materials. In Math, the grade two’s have been working hard on addition and subtraction to 100, and will soon be starting a geometry unit. In Arts Education the students just started, and are very excited about, their “Fun with Composers” unit in music. In this unit they will be exploring classical music from compos- ers such as: Mozart, Strauss, Grieg, and more! In Social Studies the students will be starting a new unit on Canadian Communities.

Grade 2 & 3 News

Greetings from Grade 2/3! My first few weeks with the students have been very exciting, and I look forward to the rest of my time with them!

In science, the grade 2/3 students have been learning about the properties of liquids, solids, and gases. For the next while, they will be examining materials in the world around them and become aware of their properties: how they look, feel, sound, or change. In math, the grade two’s have been learning addition up to one hundred and will soon be starting subtraction to one hundred. The grade two’s have also been reviewing and becoming experts on place value! In health we started a new unit on character education and have been learning about self-esteem and compassion so far. To go along with our character education unit, each student will have a chance to be “Student of the Week” and bring special items to share with the class. In Arts Education the students are very excited about their “Masterpiece of the Month” pictures that are based on artwork by Andy Warhol. They will be displayed in the hallway very soon!

Grade 2 & 3 News

The February break is just around the corner! I would like to welcome Ms. Baylee Gabora who will be covering my maternity leave for the remainder of the school year. It has been a joy teaching the 2/3’s and I will thoroughly miss them!

In math, the grade two’s have just finished learning about measurement and will begin addition and subtraction to one hundred after the winter break. The grade three’s are also learning about measurement. In ELA, we have been continuing to read several short stories and are working on various reading strategies to support our reading skills. We have also been focusing on word choice with our writing skills, learning about nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs to assist us when we write. We have finally finished our HUGE unit on communities in social studies! In science, we have learned about different animal classifications, such as amphibians, reptiles, fish, invertebrates, insects, mammals, and birds and in health we have been discussing friendship.

Grade 2 & 3 News

Since we’ve only been back at school for a couple of weeks, there isn’t much new from the last newsletter update. The grade two’s have finished their math unit on adding and subtracting to eighteen and have begun their next unit on measurement. The grade three’s are also completing their unit on adding and subtracting with Mr. Woods-Fehr. In social studies, we are finally nearing the end of our communities unit and will have a quiz near the end of next week. I hope to sneak in a mini unit on needs and wants before the Winter break next month. We have also been quite en- gaged in science learning about all of the different groups and classifications of animals. In health class, we are shifting from the topic of bullying to what makes a good friend. During ELA, we have been reading several short stories working on different reading strategies such as making connections, visualizing, inferring, learning new vocabulary, comprehension, and working on our fluency and expression as we read. We have also spent a fair amount of time learning how to organize our thoughts and ideas as we write.

Grade 2 & 3 News

I can’t believe it’s Christmas holidays already! We have had a busy month preparing for the Christmas concert and have had a few special guests join us in grade two and three. At the be- ginning of the month, Mrs. Leier (our school councillor) came in a couple of times to present a bullying workshop with us for health class. Then Mrs. Prout (my mom who’s a retired school teacher) came to make a Christmas craft with the kids. This week, Miss Rugg (an intern majoring in art) came to teach us how to draw people. We have sure enjoyed having all of the extra company! We have also spent a lot of time on our writing skills, working on organizing our thoughts, using details, and we also wrote friendly letters which we mailed to Santa Claus. We recently got some new readers in that we are using for guided reading in ELA as well. Please continue to read with your child at home on a daily basis, as some students have not been filling out their reading logs consistently. Remember that the students should have a chapter book to read to you and that the story books may be more appropriate for you to read to them. We’ve spent a fair amount of time on social studies and are hoping to wrap up our community unit within the first couple of weeks in January. We haven’t had a lot of time for science, but will continue with our animal unit in the new year. In math, the grade two’s are half way through our unit on addition and subtraction to twenty, while the grade three’s are learning to add and subtract with three digit numbers. Please continue to practice mental math skills at home to strengthen these con- cepts as well. I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Christ- mas holiday and I look forward to seeing you in the new year!

Grade 2 & 3 News

Christmas is just around the corner! We have already begun practicing for the upcoming Christmas Concert on December 14th. The grade 2/3’s are elves, which means that we are in need of some green clothes for the concert. The elementary end is also having the Christmas Basket Raffle this year. The theme for our class is specialty food related items. We ask that each student please donate something to add to the class basket, spending between five and ten dollars. Some ideas could include dip mix ingredients, specialty crackers or pita chips, spices, chocolates, hot chocolate, apple cider, candy canes, epicure items, or other festive holiday snacks. Please give me a shout if you are in need of some guidance with what to donate.

In ELA, we are continuing with our Eric Carle author study. We even tried out some of his art techniques while on our field trip at the Mendel Art Gallery! We’ve moved on from ideas to the topic of organization with our writing skills as well. In math, the grade two’s are learning about numbers to one hundred, while the grade three’s are learning about numbers to one thousand. We are just reviewing our magnets unit and will soon begin a large unit on animals. We are also continuing with our communities unit in social studies, focusing on pioneers.

Thanks to all of the parents and students who participated in the parent-teacher interviews last week. It was really nice to see everyone again!

Mrs. Romanchuk

Grade 2 & 3 News

Wow, Halloween is just around the corner! I will soon send out information regarding our Halloween party and potluck lunch. In ELA, we are completing an author study on Eric Carle. As he is also a fabulous illustrator, we have been look- ing into his art techniques and plan to try some of them out in art class. We are also focusing on using clear, concise topics with our writing, focusing more specifically on details. In math, the grade two’s are learning about numbers to one hundred with me, while the grade three’s are learning about numbers to one thousand with Mr. Woods-Fehr. In science, we are nearing the end of our magnet unit, in social studies we are continuing to learn about communities of the past, present, and future, and in health class we are working on self esteem. Have a wonderful fall!

September 2011 Grade 2&3 News

Wow, I can’t believe that we’re nearing the end of September already! In math, both  grades are learning about patterns. I am teaching the grade two math this year, while Mr. Woods-Fehr is teaching the grade three math. In science we are learning about magnets, in social studies we are beginning a fairly large unit on communities, and in health we are starting to learn about self esteem, and then delving into friendship. Mr. Cory will be teaching one of the three phys ed classes in a six day cycle. For the month of September, we have been focusing on co-operative games showing our sportsmanship, participation, and teamwork. In ELA, I would like to spend more emphasis on writing and reading strategies this year. I hope to get guided reading up and running by October and start some centers again. I will soon be sending some information regarding book reports, which we will begin next month. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you’re finding that your child’s chapter book is not appropriate for them; the students really seem to enjoy selecting their own home reading this year!

I hope to see you all tomorrow night at the “Meet the Staff” barbeque starting at 5:30!