Welcome to Grade 2! My name is Mrs. Plett and I am so excited to start the new year with you! We are going to have a lot of fun as we learn new things throughout the year!

The purpose of this class blog is to keep parents and family members updated on agenda messages as well as what we are doing in class. I know that kids often give vague responses when asked what they did in school, so this will hopefully alleviate that challenge! Please check the blog as regularly as possible to stay updated on what we’re doing, as well as to best support your child through continuing conversations with them at home! Also, feel free to leave comments on the different posts with comments or questions. I love to read everyone’s thoughts!

I always love talking about this, firstly because it is interesting, but most of all because of the various interpretations of what the words truly are. For example, precipitation often turns into participation. My personal favourites are when the word condensation turns into constellation or even better, constipation. Always so hilarious!

Challenge: What are some examples of solids, liquids and gases in your house? 

I can’t believe it’s already June, and this month is jam-packed with awesome-ness!!! Here are a couple updates that are/will be in the agenda, but good to know on here as well:

~ Pioneer Acres field trip is on Wednesday, June 8. The weather looks pretty hot with the possibility of some rain, so please make sure that your child is well sunscreened before coming to school, is wearing proper footwear to be walking around in a farm/field environment, hat and a lunch.

~ Today, our last field trip form will be going home. We are celebrating year end with our buddies by walking to the Roxy theatre to go see “Finding Dory”! Forms and payment (online preferred) are due this Friday, June 10.

~ Activity Day is an AWESOME tradition at Ralph McCall on the last day of school, June 28th from 12:30 – 2:30. We need help from our FABULOUS parent volunteers to help run the different stations, so if you are able and interested, please email me to let me know! If you are wanting to volunteer, you MUST have your criminal record check completed and handed in to the office.

~ A few of you (parents) have let me know if you’re child will be done school early before June 28th, but if you could send me an email to confirm that I would greatly appreciate it as I have so many things flying around in my brain and I can’t exactly remember who those kids are!!

We are starting to do some research on small crawling and flying animals. We started reading through books in our class to find information, but will also practice researching online as well! Below are some websites that I found that have some information on the different topics. You are welcome to do some research at home and bring it to class as well! Just make sure that YOU are doing the research since your parents and older brothers/sisters have already done Grade 2!! 

http://www.insectidentification.org/

Ants:
http://pestworldforkids.org/pest-guide/ants/

http://antark.net/ant-facts/

Butterflies and Caterpillars:
https://kidskonnect.com/animals/butterfly/

http://www.iggybiggybuggy.com/funfacts.html

http://www.preschoolinspirations.com/2014/03/10/fun-butterfly-facts-for-kids/

Amphibians and Mollusks:
http://kids.sandiegozoo.org/animals/amphibians

http://www.ducksters.com/animals/amphibians.php

http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/amphibian1.htm

http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Mollusca/

http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-mollusks/

Worms, Mosquitoes and Leeches:

http://www.wormfarmingrevealed.com/fun-facts.html

http://ecowatch.com/2014/03/08/10-facts-about-earthworms/

http://pestworldforkids.org/pest-guide/mosquitoes/

http://animalstime.com/%C2%ADmosquito-facts-for-kids-amazing-facts-about-mosquitoes-for-kids/

http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Hirudinea/

http://www.softschools.com/facts/animals/leeches_facts/458/

Beetles:

http://pestworldforkids.org/pest-guide/beetles/

http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-beetles/

http://www.preschoolinspirations.com/2014/08/07/ladybug-facts-for-kids/

Bees and Wasps:

http://www.ngkids.co.uk/animals/Honey-Bees

http://www.bees4kids.org.uk/fun-facts-about-honey-bees/

http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-wasps/

http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Hymenoptera/

Spiders:

http://www.kidzone.ws/lw/spiders/facts.htm

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/animals/spider.html

http://www.theschoolrun.com/homework-help/spiders

http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-spiders/ – This one even has a video at the bottom!!

Our fabulous Early Literacy teacher, Ms. Imorde, has created a Home Reading Support blog for anyone and everyone to use! I would encourage any parent who would like ideas or strategies in supporting your child’s sight word practice, reading strategies or other areas of literacy support at home to check it out!

https://readingtipsforhome.wordpress.com/2016/05/24/sight-words/ 

We have had some good theme spirit days at school, but this one is always a favourite of mine. We had lots of cowboys, cowgirls and even a few bandits in our class… This little guys was a true cowboy from head to toe!!

Whoa… it seems to have been a while since my last post update!! I still can’t seem to send pictures from my phone app (checked with tech support so hopefully we can get that figured out), but I figured it was time!

In math, we have started looking at measurement and why/how we measure things. In Grade 2, we are only focusing on non-standard units of measurement, so the last couple days we have been exploring and measuring various objects around the classroom using our fingertips, hands and arms.

Challenge(s): 

• What are some things that you use at home that are measured? (ex. time)
• Measure some various objects around your house using fingertips, hands and arms
• How many hands/fingertips/arm lengths would your house be?? What would be the best tool to measure your house: fingertips, hands, or arms??

Sincerest apologies, but some of the Mother’s Day videos on one of the ipads is proving impossible to share (via cord to laptop, email, google drive… everything!!!). I will connect with tech support on Monday and get them sent out asap. Thank you for your understanding!

Happy Mother’s Day to all you amazing moms 🙂