The children are quite involved in our new unit 'My Body is My Responsibility'. They were very excited about taking home a meal chart to keep track of their meals from Breakfast to Dinner. We will discuss their charts when they are returned on Monday.
This week we investigated the food groups. We searched through magazines for different types of food; healthy and unhealthy foods and drinks. We sorted plastic food samples by shape, color and in pairs drew the five groups. We read fiction and non-fiction books and discussed the affects of unhealthy foods on our bodies. Next week, we will take a look at exercise and its' effect on our bodies! We have a variety of planned activities which the children will enjoy!

The Children are on board in language arts and very enthusiastic to continue their discovery of new words and sounds. This week the children were introduced to the long 'a' sound and we continued reinforcing the short 'a ' sound.We started reading Jake and Kate and investigated all the long 'a' sounds in the story. At this stage some vowel sounds may become confusing!Remember the short vowel sound 'a' makes the sound of 'a' in cat but the long 'a' vowel is special! It says the name of the letter A! The children investigated words such as lake, make and take and found a pattern! These words ended in 'e'. The 'e' at the end of these words is magic and actually made the 'a' sound say the name of the letter. What a tricky letter and sound!

In Math this week, the children investigated number bonds to 8. Next week we will continue finding bonds that make up numbers 9 and 10. We have reviewing writing numbers to 10 and found out that writing 'eight' is harder than writing other numbers to 10. We found a pattern when writing numbers from 10 to 20. The word teen appeared in many numbers and we will investigate this is in the coming weeks and months. What does sixteen mean and why is 16, 10+6? We worked on simple story problems and strategies/words used to find out whether a problem is an addition or subtraction problem. Next week we will be graphing data taken from the P.E. class on exercise.

Our first unit of inquiry is entitled "A Healthy and Strong Body is My Responsibility". We have started off the unit by investigating the body. The children are quite excited learning about the different organs and their functions. Did you know that there are 600 muscles in our body? We have a model of the body in our class and the children have enjoyed taken it apart to discover the kidneys, heart, lungs, intestines, and stomach! Unfortunately, they couldn't take the esophagus out and some were quite dissapointed in this! We will now begin discovering which foods are healthy and the benefits of exercise. This week the children will do a survey of foods eaten at the dinner table at night. Our goal is to write a healthy menu for your family. If you have any old magazines with pictures of food and exercise would you please donate them to our class? Thank you!


In Language Arts, we have been reviewing short vowels, consonants and word families. We have been getting back into the swing of reading and writing creative stories as well!


In Math this week we have been reviewing numbers to 20, story problems, writing numbers in words, jumping forwards and backwards on a number line and the number chart to 100.

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Hear all about it!

Just a few reminders

Please return the reading folders on Mondays only. At this time the books will be changed and new books will be sent home for the week. Please make sure you have signed and dated the reading log.

Library takes place on Mondays and Wednesdays. However, our librarian, Mrs. Czyzewski, requests that you return books and library bags on Wednesdays only. At which time the children will take out new books for

the week.

P.E. classes take place on Mondays and Thursdays. Children are to come to school dressed in their P.E. uniforms.

Recycled socks can be used for many purposes such as board erasers. Keeping in line with our status as an eco school, I would like to ask each child to bring in one (1) old ,clean, sock to use as an eraser to clean off their individual student whiteboards. This will save on the amount of paper towels needed when writing on the student boards. Thank you!

WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL!
I would like to welcome all the children back to school. I hope everyone had a great summer holiday and that we are all energized for a new school year.I am looking forward to a great year teaching Year 2. I had the privelege of teaching some of your children in year 1 last year and I am looking forward to continuing on a new journey of discovery with new and returning children. Please feel free to come and see me at anytime. I am always available before and after school to discuss any concerns you may have.
Our goal at this time of the year is for the children to settle into routines and to work towards becoming independent learners. Our routine at the beginning of the day will be slightly different than in Year 1. The children will keep their morning and afternoon snacks in their backpacks. Please keep labelling the snacks, Snack 1, for the morning snack and Snack 2 for the afternoon snack. If not labelled the children may get confused and ask us which snack they should eat first. Please inform the school if your child will be eating the school lunch. If you decide to change your child's lunch status, please inform the school as well.
The children will be expected to empty their backpacks by themselves, take out their folders, open their diaries and place them in the appropriate box. Please allow them to do this independently. It may take time but it is part of each child's responsibility in Yr.2. It will also help us begin the day promptly and efficiently.
Please take note of the Yr 2C Schedule. The first 2 weeks will be spent on review and assessment. This year the children have P.E. and Library twice each week. On P.E.days the children wear only the P.E. uniform. Please ensure they have a hat and an extra bottle of water in their backpacks. Our new Librarian will inform us as to which day the children will change their books. Circle Time will begin in the 3rd week of School. It will take place from Monday to Thursday only. We will begin the at home reading program at the end of Week 2. I am in the process of assessing reading skills so that the children are placed in the appropriate level.
We are off to a great start and I am confident we will have a great year! I look forward to working with your children and interacting with all of you throughout the year.