Year 2

Term 4 

I extend my appreciation to Jake Penman for stepping into Yr 2 in my absence in Term 3. The students worked so well for Jake and I'm sure he enjoyed them as much as they did him. THANK YOU Mr Penman!

It has already been a speedy 5 weeks of my return to the classroom, and the students had to readjust to having me again. Our classroom changed slightly but our routines are the same and we are getting better every day in preparation for Year 3.

If you have any concerns about your child, please make a time to see me. Semester Two reports will be released at the end of term which are an evaluation of your child's progress. It has been wonderful to witness the growth in these students across their literacy and numeracy results from the beginning of the year. InitiaLit and Ochre are the platforms that we have been guided with from this year and the students will progress into Year 3 using the Ochre platform only as InitiaLit is the F-2 program.

Our Whale sharks

A highlight on my trip around Australia was swimming with the whale sharks on the Ningaloo Reef. Prior to my travels, our story books had included these beautiful gentle giants of the sea. The students were thrilled to see a real one that I swam with, not just the picture books. Here is photo proof!

And our very talented drawing skills...

InitiaLit

"Hist!" is a whimsical poem by C. J. Dennis that captures the playful and mysterious atmosphere of a night adventure across Possum Park. We explored Hist! over a few weeks, taking us on an adventure through a park, late at night. The students identified some old world language and found words that we now use instead.

Georges Marvellous Medicine tells the mischievous story of George, an eight-year-old boy. George is stuck babysitting his awful grandmother. He decides to create a magical potion in his quest for revenge. The result is both hilarious and chaotic, transforming Grandma and everything around her in unexpected ways. 

This is the first of the chapter books to be read this year, as part of InitiaLit. Students are being introduced to narrative through fiction texts and learning important skills of summarising, inferring and using interesting vocabulary. Quentin Blake’s illustrations enhance the whimsical nature of the story.

Check out our clever drawings, following Quentin Blake's style.

Writing

We have been revising the key grammar focuses from throughout the year through our writing lessons. Students are exploring both narrative and persuasive writing, with a particular focus on the structure of a narrative and the language features that make their writing engaging. We are also paying close attention to the nouns, verbs, and adjectives students choose to strengthen their pieces, as well as ensuring that the tense used in their writing is consistent and appropriate for each text type.

Numeracy

Below is the Scope and Sequence document from Ochre Education. We commenced Term 4 investigating fractions and have moved into collection and representation of data.

Much of our daily review now contains the concepts covered over the year and the students have become much more fluent in their routines and responses to the questions. They are certainly showing readiness for Year Three!

Religion

We have been learning about God's Mission. This unit helps to recognise how humanity is better off when we share our love, gifts and acts of kindness with one another, just like Jesus did in his Ministry. 

The students looked at the bible story of The Feeding of 5000. They sat in groups and shared bread with one another. We had to imagine the fish!

Inquiry Learning

Our visit to the Swaggy Tree finally happened, after the storms and rain put a dampener on the original plans. The children were so excited to walk there and we were blessed with the sunshine, albeit the wind was blowing a gale!

We looked at the Swaggy tree and pictured what life may have been like for the Taungurung women who likely used this as their sacred birthing tree. It was later believed to become a Swaggy's camp, hence the name Swaggy Tree.

We learnt that sacred and special places and buildings need protecting so that our story continues, and future generations get to witness them too. The Swaggy Tree now has a chain to keep it together and a fence around it to keep it beautiful. 

Until next time,

Rachel, Fiona and Lisa.