Welcome

Dear Parents,

Thank you for supporting your children and teachers through the past fortnight of home learning. Students are becoming familiar with routines and we hope this is helping the home learning environment run smoothly. We would like to remind you that, in line with the BPS Online Learning Policy, students should be accessing Google Meets from a public area of the house and with parental supervision.

Writing

This week in writing students will learn about the structure of an information text. They will sort information into categories and use sub-headings. From this plan, students will follow modeled examples to write sentences and add more details. They will then work on editing their writing and improving their word choices. Students will incorporate some topic-specific vocabulary from their reading. Students will then publish their writing. They may use digital technologies.

Reading

This week in reading the students will continue learning about non-fiction information texts with a focus on animals and habitats. The learning intentions are to use comprehension strategies to build on prior knowledge and to expand vocabulary. The children will continue to be able to choose each day from the selection of reading activities: Read to Self, Read to Partner, Listen to Reading or Work on Writing. It might be helpful for students to keep a checklist to ensure they complete each activity across the week. Specifically, the students will learn to use the glossary to tune into interesting/scientific words and read with an open mind: "I used to know... Now I know..."

Word Study

This week students will revise and learn the final portion of codes, up to 70. We will begin to learn Rule 4, that the vowels a, e, o and u say their second sound at the end of a syllable. This week we are going to be 'bootcamping' this rule during our morning Google Meets.

Maths

Our number skills game for this week is called Make 100 Dice Game. Students should continue to practise this game every day before their Maths task. This game focuses on revising addition strategies. If students need to be challenged and extended the other operations can be used. On Tuesday, students will be introduced to a game that combines directional language and coding called ‘Feed the Mouse’.

Last week student learnt about positional and directional language and put it into practice. We will build on these skills by introducing how maps are used to understand location and give direction. Our learning intentions are:

Following and giving directions
reading and using a key to interpret a map
how to read grid coordinates.

Unit of Inquiry

Students have begun to learn about the classes of vertebrates - mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles. This week they will have a chance to record their wonderings, find out about invertebrates, complete some further activities about these classifications and begin to find out about the role of adaptations in helping animals survive in their environments. We are also including a science activity by Ms Murray to test the "Best Beak" for a range of food items.

Wellbeing

We continue to encourage families to break up their home learning day in a balanced way that reflects your individual home requirements.

You may like to refer back to some of Brighton Primary's home learning support materials on the school website.

Some online activities for break times are:

Go Noodle - has short dance clips, mindfulness, yoga and some printable activities

Smiling Mind - this is a free app that offers short mindfulness activities for different age groups. Parents will need to sign up and select the program for 7-9 year olds.

Cosmic Kids Yoga on Youtube

Art for Kids Hub on Youtube - guided drawing lessons.

Here are some ideas for interesting non-screen activities.

The Grade 2 Team

2A - Angie Fifer

2B - Angela Alderuccio

2C - Elise Newnham

2D - Breallen Cole

HU- Christie Walsh

Issue 8

Issue 12 · 31 Jul 2020

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