Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been lovely to see the children embracing the swimming program with such enthusiasm and commitment. Please note students will need to bring a spare T-Shirt and shorts for their water safety lesson on Wednesday 24th March.

Reading

In reading, students will complete their unit about narratives and retelling of stories. This is a great skill to continue practising as you read stories at home. You can prompt your child by asking them to give you a "five finger retell" beginning with, "This is a story about...".

In our next unit, we will begin reading non-fiction information texts. Students will use the knowledge they have gained to identify non-fiction texts and their key features such as headings, contents page, index page, glossary, diagrams and maps. They will be using these texts as well as websites to assist their research about animals and their habitats in our next Unit of Inquiry.

Word Study

In word study, we will continue "boot camping" using the reading and spelling tools. The next rule that the students are learning is /c/ and /g/ make their second sound if they are followed by /e/, /i/ or /y/. The boot camps include a focus on handwriting and segmenting or blending sounds for reading and writing.

Learning the codes will help students with their reading and spelling. Click on this link for a two minute video that students can use to practise the codes 1-30 at home. This link includes codes 27 - 49.

Writing

In writing, students are working on their personal narrative about a time they experienced personal growth. This is also an opportunity to apply various writing strategies they have been learning and apply the codes in their spelling. Students edit their work with a focus on adding or changing words, and of course checking they have used capital letters and full stops when required. They then produce a 'published' version either by handwriting or typing in Word and include an illustration. Correct posture and pencil grip is being reinforced.

Numeracy

In numeracy, students will continue to focus on number patterns. Our learning intentions are:

Investigate number sequences, initially those increasing and decreasing by twos, threes, fives and tens from any starting point, then moving to other sequences
Describing patterns with numbers and identify missing elements in patterns

Unit of Inquiry

Who We Are: Self-awareness promotes positive relationships.

The students will continue to learn about themselves as they understand their various strengths and areas they need improvement on. They will set achievable, realistic, measurable goals with a time frame, devise strategies to achieve these goals and monitor their progress.

In the last week of term we will introduce our new Unit of Inquiry. How the World Works: Living things are connected to their environment.

Well Being

The students have done a brilliant job with their efforts during swimming. We are noticing that many of them are feeling more tired than usual. Using the Zones of Regulation, students may find themselves 'blue zone' and it might be helpful to talk about strategies to manage how they are feeling. We will keep these discussions open at school. The students may also like to bring an extra snack to have after swimming.

Homework

Please check the Student Planner for the weekly homework.

Important Dates:

Swimming Program: 15th - 24th March

24th March: Water safety lesson, bring clothes to wear in pool

28th April - Excursion to Werribee Open Range Zoo. Information about this excursion will be provided prior to the end of term.

From the Grade Two teachers:

2A Angie Fifer

2B Maddy Long

2C Breallen Cole

2D Angela Alderuccio

Issue 8

Term 1, Week 9 & 10

Issue 4 · 18 Mar 2021

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