Year 2 News
What’s New in Year 2?
Maths
The year 2 children have continued to develop their understanding of place value. They have completed a mystery picture where they had to colour in certain squares according to the clues provided to reveal a picture of a koala. We have looked at the extended notation of a number in both standard form eg 345 is 300 + 40 + 5 and non standard form such as 200 + 140 + 5. We used number expanders to show given numbers in different ways and completed a worksheet to put this into practise.
We played a fun game of Snakes and Ladders where the children had to write the number they landed on in extended notation. We also made place value houses where the children selected a number, showed it in MAB, wrote the standard form for it, eg 345, extended form and in words.
The year 2 children were given a challenging task as a whole class, to use their knowledge of special events/dates to put a jigsaw calendar back together. They worked as a team to complete this and experienced great success when they did as it was quite tricky!!
We have also continued to develop our Number fluency and estimation skills by activities such as estimystery where the children are shown a picture with objects in it and they have to narrow down the range of numbers it could be, by the clues provided. We discuss why it can’t be certain numbers and if they have changed their guesses and why.
Today the students started investigating clocks. We made a giant clock on the floor using a hula hoop and various cut our numbers and clock words. The students had to construct the clock using various clues. We then tried to identify several times on the clock.
Each week the children completed Mathseeds activities set by the teacher and worked on lessons to improve their maths understanding.
Inquiry
This week we completed the final Inside Out character, Bing Bong for our Unit of Inquiry: Communication is influenced by feelings and emotions. Bing Bong represents children growing up. He’s a very silly character, part dolphin, cat and elephant. We had fun talking about things the students and teachers have grown out of, but also things we’ve held on to, like Mrs Smith and her Blankey.
For our learning task the students wrote a letter to their favourite emotion, explaining why they liked them so much and how they have felt this emotion too. We’ll be sending these letters home next week for you to read.
The students enjoyed designing their own movie tickets and information posters for the Inside Out movie.
Next Monday, we’ll be celebrating the completion of the unit by dressing up as our favourite character and watching the Inside Out movie. Please encourage your child to dress up or simply wear the colour of their favourite emotion. Please also include a treat or snack that the students will be able to eat during the movie.
It’s been fabulous to see the students get to know their emotions. The students are looking forward to our celebration next Monday.
We’ll be beginning our next Unit of Inquiry 'Who We Are' the following week, which explores: A balanced lifestyle is influenced by the choices people make. We’ll be exploring what it means to have a healthy and balanced lifestyle, making healthy food choices and how we can maintain our spiritual, social and physical health.
Zones of Regulation
Last week we introduced the students to the Zones of Regulation which tied in perfectly to our current unit of Inquiry. The Zones of Regulation are a framework that uses four colors–blue, green, yellow, and red–to help students identify their feelings and level of alertness.
We had a class discussion about each zone and discussed the emotions you may feel in each zone. The students enjoyed playing a game where we placed four coloured pieces of paper around the room relating to each zone and the students went and stood in the zone they were feeling. The students were offered the chance to share why they had chosen the particular zone they were in. It was very insightful listening to the children sharing why they were standing in a particular zone.
The students then watched several animated clips and had to guess which zone they thought the characters were in. Each child received their one Zones of Regulation thermometer which they stuck on their book box on their desks.
They were also given a counter which they stick on their thermometer each morning when they come in the classroom indicating which zone they are in. The students understand that their counter can be moved several times a day, depending on how they are feeling. We look forward to continuing to use the Zones of Regulation throughout the year.
Literacy
This week the students were introduced to the picture of the Magic Keys. The students had to choose their favourite key and write about what their key opened or what magic it had. The students let their imagination run wild. We had keys opening up secret doors to candy land, keys that opened up secret passages and tunnels and keys that opened up garages with sports cars in them. The students loved this activity. We hope you enjoy reading some of the students writing.
