Grade 2 News
Upcoming dates/Important Info
DATE:
Friday 27th June - School Disco (Prep-Grade 2: 4:30-5:30)
Monday 30th June - Consent Due for Grade 2 excursion (Cranbourne Botanical Gardens)
Wednesday 2nd July -
Thursday 3rd July - Cultural Afternoon "Around The World" 3.40pm - 5pm
Thursday 3rd July - Cultural Day Special Lunch
Friday 4th July - Last day of Term 2 (2:30pm dismissal)
Monday 28th July - Grade 2 Excursion (Cranbourne Botanical Gardens)
Parent Helpers Wanted!
If you would like to join us on our upcoming excursion to Cranbourne Botanical Gardens, please fill in the below form by Wednesday 2nd of July. https://forms.gle/SRAgDa2iFmw5pCw79
Weekly Timetable
Please note, next week is Design Week and the students have an alternate specialist timetable.
2D - LOTE, PE, Art, Music (Wednesday), STEM and Mrs Halstead (Thursday)
2B - STEM, LOTE, PE, Music (Wednesday), Mrs Halstead and Art (Thursday)
2H - Mrs Pepper, STEM, LOTE, PE (Wednesday), Art and Music (Thursday)
Learning in Action
Literacy
Over the past two weeks, we have begun our new literature unit, ‘Imaginative Texts’. Over the course of this unit the students will engage with texts that encourage the reader to think deeply, ask questions and use their imagination to understand the text and the big ideas that the text is portraying, through the orientation, problem, solution and resolution of the text. The first text that the students explored was, ‘The Boy and The Elephant’. This book is a wordless book, where as a class we discussed how the illustrations conveyed meaning. The Grade 2 students also engaged with the book ‘Accidentally Kelly Street’, where we discussed how authors use symbolism to help readers understand.
In sentence level writing, the students have continued to look at converting fragments into sentences, by recognising that for a sentence to be clear and make sense, it typically needs a who/what and a verb. Such as:
The students have also been reviewing their previous learning about subordinating conjunctions (if, when, before and after), and being introduced to ‘even though’ and ‘although’. The students have been provided opportunities to identify the subordinating conjunction being used, identify parts of the sentence, and complete a sentence using a sentence stem.
Preview - In the coming weeks, the students will complete the ‘Imaginative Texts’ literature unit by reading the text, ‘One Tree’. The students will also be given the opportunity to write their own story using the skills learnt in our imaginative texts unit.
Word Work:
Maths:
During the last fortnight, the Grade 2 students have continued to review and learn subtraction strategies to solve problems. The students have been provided time to work on their maths goals through the rotations of working with their teacher, fluency practice and solving worded problems. This week we have also further highlighted the connection between addition and subtraction. The students have been reminded that addition is adding parts together to make a total whereas subtraction is taking parts away from the total.
The students have been introduced to the bar model to visually see the total and parts of a number sentence. We have then discussed how we can move the sections around to make addition and subtraction number sentences, or flip a number sentence to find the missing part. For example using this bar model we can write the following number sentences:
In our applied measurement unit, we have begun introducing the students to the concept of area. The students have explored how we can use different methods such as handspan, counters, square tiles and paper to measure the area of a 2D shape. The students then discussed how we can get different results when we measure the area with different objects and discussed what might be the best method to measure a book, such as, is it better to measure a book using handspan or with square tiles. The students will be further practising these skills by using square tiles to measure the area of zoo enclosures.
Preview - In the final weeks of Term 2, the students will be further reviewing and consolidating their understanding of addition and subtraction strategies, through whole class activities and games. In our applied measurement unit, the students will be learning about volume and capacity.
Wellbeing:
This week students have continued strengthening their stress management skills, with their special friend Wibbly! Wibbly sent the grade 2 students a letter, asking for their help to get to sleep at night. He often lies down in bed but feels too stressed or worried to fall asleep, lots of students connected with Wibbly, identifying that they often feel that way. To help Wibbly out, we tried two different relaxation techniques, try them out at home too!
Melting Moments - Close your eyes. Scrunch up all your muscles so you are as hard as a block of ice. Hold tight. Now slowly let go. Scrunch up again. Now let go. This time imagine your block of ice is melting into the floor. Your muscles are getting softer as you melt. Let your fingers melt. Let your feet melt. Let your back melt. Now wiggle your fingers to wake them up. Wiggle your toes to wake them up. Open your eyes. Sit up slowly.
Floating Cloud - Close your eyes. Picture a fluffy white cloud. It is as gentle and soft as feathers. Imagine you are lying on this soft and gentle cloud. It makes your arms relax and feel floaty. It makes your legs relax and feel light and floaty. It makes your back feel soft. When you are all soft and settled, the cloud is going to slowly lift you up and take you for a ride. It is going to take you to a really nice place, to your favourite place. Can you imagine now what you can see in this special place? Is there something nice there? Is there something fun to do? Is there something peaceful there? In a moment your cloud will be bringing you back to the classroom. Imagine that it is gently setting you down now. Wiggle your fingers to show you are back. Wiggle your toes to show you are back. Open your eyes, and slowly sit up.
Preview - We will be writing letters to Wibbly, who is stressed about moving to a new place and making new friends.
Grade 2 Homework options
Grade 2 Teachers
Bronte Darvidis, Mikayla Harvey and Taryn Bailey