Grade 2 Community News
EMP (Explicit Maths Program)
Grade 2 students have continued to work hard during our explicit instruction sessions this week! In Mathematics, we have been focusing on the following areas: division, place value, folding halves and quarters, and 3D objects. We have started an introduction to division by sharing items into equal groups. We have been looking at learning to write place value facts for 4-digit numbers. We have also been learning to fold fractions and investigate and create 3D objects from simple nets.
Fact Fluency Practice
We also encourage students to jump onto Numbots and Times Tables Rock Stars at home to get some extra practice and strengthen their recall of number facts! Parents should have received their child’s log on details during their parent teacher interviews.
InitiaLit (Literacy) Spelling!
Our Grade 2 students have continued to increase their knowledge of spelling rules this week. This week, we reviewed the trigraphs ‘ear’ and ‘eer’ in words such as near and cheer and the trigraph ‘air’ and ‘are’ in words such as hair and beware. A trigraph is three letters making one sound.
Along with this review of the trigraphs, we also investigated two-syllable words. A syllable is a beat in a word. We learnt the very important rule about syllables; every syllable has a vowel!
In addition to our focus spelling rule, the students also practiced their tricky words! We spent time reviewing how to spell three very important words: through, every, and only. We practiced reading the words, saying the letter names out loud, and writing them down to build up our automatic memory. We also learnt a new tricky word for us to practice: surprise. We encourage students to keep practicing these tricky words at home whenever they get a chance!
Comprehension and Fluency!
During comprehension this week, we explored another strategy in our comprehension toolbox: Finding the main idea. The main idea is what a passage or paragraph is mainly about. We can use the three hints: 1. Title and picture 2. First and last sentence 3. Repeated words before asking ourselves, ‘What is the main idea that the details are all talking about?’
For our storybook sessions this week, we were introduced to a new text, The Day the Crayons Came Home. Our three vocab words were: survive, horrified, and damaged. The students enjoyed seeing what situations the missing crayons had gotten themselves into and having the opportunity to plan and create a persuasive postcard as a lost crayon explaining where they were and how they got into that situation. They also had the opportunity to write their own colour poems inspired by the colours of the crayons in the book.
Growing Grammar!
In our grammar and writing lessons, our continued focus has been all about prepositions. Students have been learning that prepositions don’t like to be alone- they always go with a noun group.
In the example above, behind is the prepositions and the couch is the noun group.
Handwriting
Grade 2 students have continued to refine their neatness and letter formation during our explicit handwriting lessons.
Humanities
In Humanities this week, we continued learning about Connections to Country, with the focus this week- Lesson 3: Celebrating Culture. The students spent time exploring history by learning to identify the features and the content of various sources. We looked at the different ways that the First Nations People explored cultural expressions through art and dance.
Respectful Relationships
For our Respectful Relationships session, our focus was on stress and what stress is. We described how stress can be felt in the body, situations that can make us stressed, and strategies we can use to help us deal with stress.
Reminders
- Please ensure you are reading with your child every night. Students can borrow take-home books from their classroom libraries on their designated library days.
- Please make payment and give consent for our upcoming excursion to the Melbourne Museum. The learners are going to have so much fun!
- We encourage families to work together to get students to school on time. Classes start the day with morning circle time, and we would love all students to be at school by 8:45 am so they don’t miss out.
Continue to use Numbots and TimesTable Rock Stars at home. Logins were provided at Parent-Teacher interviews—please contact your child’s classroom teacher if you need a copy of their login details
Thank you to all our wonderful Grade 2 parents and families for your ongoing support and dedication to your child’s learning and well-being.
Warm regards,
PLC 2