Grade 2 News
Important Reminders
Monday 9th June - Monarch’s Birthday (no school)
Friday 27th June - School Disco (Details to be confirmed)
Monday 30th June - Consent Due for Grade 2 excursion (Cranbourne Botanical Gardens)
Thursday 3rd July - Cultural Day (Details to be confirmed)
Friday 4th July - Last day of Term 2 (2:30pm dismissal)
Monday 28th July - Grade 2 Excursion (Cranbourne Botanical Gardens)
Production dates:
Tuesday 2nd September
Wednesday 3rd September
Weekly Timetable
Learning in action
Literacy:
The last two weeks we have finished our literature unit on Connection to Country, ending with a bang as students presented their poems to the class. There were many nerves but all students did a fantastic job. Students were asked to complete a self evaluation afterwards and reflected on the following things:
- Emotion and voice
- Pace and structure
- Volume and fluency
During sentence level writing, we have been focusing on unscrambling sentences. Students have been identifying the first word, noun, conjunction and last word to help them with ordering the words into a complete sentence. Students have really enjoyed this topic and had some fun creating their own sentences for others to unscramble.
We have also had a focus on converting fragments into sentences which you can see some examples below:
Preview - In Literature, we will start a looking at imaginative texts and dive into new picture story books. In sentence level writing, we will continue to look at converting fragments into sentences.
Word Work:
oi & oy
ey & eigh
Maths:
Over the past fortnight, the Grade 2s have been delving into subtraction, making connections to addition. Students know that whilst addition is adding parts together to make a total, subtraction is taking parts away from the total.
We learnt about the three different types of subtraction problems including:
- Taking parts away from the total eg. Miss D had 15 books. She gave 7 away, how many books does she have left?
- Missing parts - eg. Mrs Bailey had 7 pencils in her packet but it was meant to hold 12. How many pencils does she need to fill the packet?
- Finding the difference - eg. Miss Harvey kicked 5 goals and Mrs Dealy kicked 8. How many more goals did Mrs Dealy kick than Miss Harvey?
Students have been practising solving these different equations using their personal maths goal strategies (pictured below).
Preview - Next week we will look at breaking down numbers to find easier ways to solve two digit equations, before focusing more closely on the connection between addition and subtraction.
Knowledge Rich:
Congratulations to our brave Grade 2s that got up at assembly and taught the whole school about our previous Knowledge Rich unit on Uluru. Well done Evie A, Raph P and Ruby M!
The Grade 2s have begun our second Knowledge Rich unit titled 'Growing Colonies.' Over the course of the unit, the students will learn about the conditions and challenges in the daily life of an early settler, be able to explain reasons why people settled in new areas of Australia, how they adapted to different challenges and understand the impact of colonisation on the Indigenous people of Australia. Students will develop their understanding through lessons focused on:
- The first British people that came to Australia
- Why people came to Australia
- The growth of colonies
- The life of an early settler
- Why people moved to Australia
- The Gold Rush
- Transportation
- Impacts of colonisation
The students have engaged in this topic by reading facts and information, looking at photos and maps, and reading stories and letters based on the experiences of people during this time. They took time to consider the positive and negative impacts of colonisation and change.
Preview - Growing Colonies is our last Knowledge Rich unit for term 2.
Wellbeing:
In Wellbeing, we have been developing our understanding of the word stress and recognising what it feels like in our body. The students were introduced to Wibbly and we engaged in discussions provoked by the following questions:
- What do you think Wibbly means when Wibbly says ‘feeling stressed’?
- How does Wibbly look?
- What emotions do you think Wibbly is feeling?
We brainstormed what feeling stressed looks and feels like and co-constructed a definition of stress as a class.
The students then had the opportunity to draw a picture of what might have caused Wibbly to feel stressed.
In our next lesson, we brainstormed ways to help Wibbly, thinking of strategies to help us calm down or cheer ourselves up when we might be feeling stressed. Here are some of the things that the Grade 2 student’s came up with:
The students then got the opportunity to write and draw some strategies that they could use to help calm themselves down or cheer themselves up when they are feeling stressed.
Preview - In the coming weeks we will continue to look at stress management, by exploring relaxation techniques and writing a letter to Wibbly, brainstorming ideas to make new friends.
Grade 2 Homework options
Grade 2 Teachers
Bronte Darvidis, Mikayla Harvey and Taryn Bailey
Updates from around the school
Green Team News:
Green Team Newsletter #2
The enthusiastic Green Team members from grades 3-6 continue to meet with Mrs Alexander and Mrs Stokol Wednesday lunchtimes. After checking in re how the yard cleaning roster is going, they share which areas of the yard are the cleanest as well as those that have more rubbish, and then make suggestions for improvements. Whether it’s helping to keep the school free of rubbish, looking after and developing the plants gardens, educating the school community about sustainability is high on the agenda and everyone has fabulous ideas.
The new initiative we’d recently introduced for the collection of 10c containers is doing well and we have raised over $30 in a few weeks! This involves the Green Team manning the collection bin out front of the canteen every lunch order day, as well as going to each classroom at the end of the week to gather those that have been put aside in specially labelled tubs. With everyone saving these containers on a daily basis, we are helping them from going to landfill and turning them into cash for the Green Team initiatives. Look out for the Sustainability display in the gym over the next few weeks.
Did you know that you can nominate LPS as your donation partner? Just download the app or follow this link Victoria's Container Deposit Scheme | Learn How To Donate
It’s planting season, and what’s better than free plants?
Free plants can be gained by playing a game. Did you know that the Knox Environment Society (KES) provides prizes through a Nature Discover Passport ? Wouldn’t it be great if these were donated to our school for the Green Team to plant?
Head to one of the many reserves in Knox on the weekend to explore your local ecology. Find stamps, and collect prizes. And who says the fun is only for the kids? Head to the above hyperlinks to learn more.
Thank you, every little bit helps.
Mrs Stokol and Mrs Alexander