Dear Parents and Carers,

There's excitement in the air with Mardi Gras and the upcoming swimming program. We thank you for your support if you are able to come and help.

Reading

In reading, the students will continue with a focus on narratives. They will be learning how to describe plots including orientation (characters and setting), complication and resolution. They students will learn strategies to retell important events in sequence such as a "5 finger retell".

They will also learn how the title and the blurb often connect to the key events in a story.

We will be regularly assessing the children's decoding skills. As their knowledge and skills progress, we will update their allocated take home decodable book.

Word Study

In word study, we will continue "boot camping" using the reading and spelling tools. We will begin learning the rule: y replaces i at the end of English words. They boot camps include a focus on handwriting and segmenting or blending sounds for reading and writing.

Learning the codes will help students with their reading and spelling. Click on this link for a two minute video that students can use to practise the codes 1-30 at home.

Writing

In writing, we have a focus on sentence structure, including the punctuation that is required. Students will learn to recognise when a sentence is complete, what a simple sentence is and how to create a compound sentence using connectives, such as ‘and’, ‘but’ and ‘because’. We will also be focusing on handwriting and correct use of upper and lower-case letters within sentences.

Students are writing personal narratives and learning to tell their stories about memorable experiences, times, places and people. Strategies such as using visuals to add detail, re-read and jump back in when you have had a break, and writing in the first person will be taught. We will focus on adjectives to improve descriptions.

Numeracy

Next week Grade 2 will begin to focus on number patterns. Our learning intentions are:

Investigate number sequences, initially those increasing and decreasing by twos, threes, fives and tens from any starting point, then moving to other sequences
Describing patterns with numbers and identify missing elements in patterns

Unit of Inquiry

Who We Are: Self-awareness promotes positive relationships.

The students will start to look at personal strengths as well as areas for improvement and start to create their own personal goals. Students will come up with a plan to achieve these goals, and ways to measure their progress. The Unit of Inquiry will also link back to writing, as students will have the opportunity to write a personal narrative about a time they have achieved personal growth.

Well Being

Students will continue to utilise strategies such as the Zones of Regulation and the class catastrophe scale to monitor and regulate their own emotions. Some common strategies students have utilised to move back into the green zone, or the ‘Ready to Work’ zone have included: taking deep breaths, practicing mindfulness, taking a break, going for a walk, and thinking of their happy place.

Homework

Please check the Student Planner for the weekly homework.

Important Dates:

Labour Day: Monday 8th March

Swimming Program: 15th - 24th March

From the Grade Two teachers:

2A Angie Fifer

2B Maddy Long

2C Breallen Cole

2D Angela Alderuccio

Issue 8

Term 1, Week 7 & 8

Issue 3 · 04 Mar 2021

In this issue