The children thoroughly enjoyed the trip to the farm! Take a look at the slideshow! We were able to see animals, a garden full of vegetables, an orchard with cherries growing on trees, and even a milking machine! Some children were interested in the vegetable and fruits growing in the garden and others were interested in the manure used as fertilizer in the garden! Of course we all liked the animals; horses, cows, donkeys, goats, ducks, rabbits and chickens! Each child was able to take a picture with my digital camera! Tala had an interesting Show and Tell. Her mom came in and showed us how to make Lebanese bread which looked as thin as a piece of paper. The bread was a mixture of corn and wheat. It was really good! We read the story 'Miguel and his Tomatoes', a story of how Miguel harvests his tomatoes and their journey to a factory and then on to the supermarket! We are writing our own versions of the story!

This week we reviewed the long/u/ sound and wrote stories about 'Sue and June'. We wrote on our student whiteboard and reviewed long/a/ and long/i/. We continued writing sight words and we wrote stories about a bird in a nest, using those sight words. The children enjoyed writing silly sentences with new and unknown words.

In maths, we investigated addition and subtraction to 13 and different strategies used to explore 13. We also looked at using different types of manipulatives used in problem solving and how to describe and explain mathematical processes. We worked with base ten and numbers to 20. We looked at patterns on the 100 number chart and explored patterns when couting by 2's, when looking at even numbers and doubles. We discussed weight and how heavy or light foods processed in a factory might weigh!

Pictures in Year 2C will take place on Wednesday Morning, November 25, 09. The children should be dressed in their school uniform.

However, our field trip to the farm is taking place tomorrow and children should come to school dressed in their P.E. uniform.

Due to the weather we decided to reschedule our field trip to the farm. We were all extremely dissapointed but we had to make a decision the day before and decided the weather could not be trusted. We were wrong but rescheduled the trip to the farm for this coming Tuesday, November 24th! Instead of going to an actual farm, we watched videos on different types of farms; fish farms, produce farms, dairy farms,etc. At the end of the day we had a picture of farms and processes that take place on the farm, at the market and in factories. We made investigations into different foods and worked on a timeline to show what happens at the different stages of food production. During 'Show and Tell' Bailey showed us how whole oranges could be processed into orange juice using a simple hand juicer!After a hard day's work in school, the juice tasted so great!

This week we enjoyed reading the story 'Sue and June'. The long vowel /u-e/ and /ue/ proved to be more difficult than the long /a/ and long/i/ sounds. We investigate the word families associated with long/u/ and the children discovered that the sound says the name of the letter 'u' but actually reading some long /u/ words can be a bit tricky. Take the word 'sure' for example! We will continue working on this sound and the spelling of words next week. Our story writing activity is almost completed.Wait until you read our story 'Waves'.We have 6 different versions! We are focusing on sight words associated with our upcoming field trip to the farm!

In Math this week we investigated addition and subtraction facts to 11. We explored different strategies for adding and subracting these numbers. The children recorded their answers on paper and had to explain their number sentences and the reasoning behind their stories. Most children understood the concept of doubles and discovered that doubles were also even numbers! We worked with the number chart and examined patterns. We reviewed the concept of counting by 2's and 10's. The children learned the meaning of capacity and weight.

Our field trip has been rescheduled to take place on Tuesday, November 24th. Monday and Tuesday are forecasted to be sunny days so we hope our luck holds out! Although class pictures are scheduled on this day, I have been assured that the pictures can be taken later in the afternoon or on Wednesday. I will inform you as to the situation with uniforms on Monday.

In our Unit of Inquiry from 'Field to Table' we visited a windmill in Alcabideche. Take a look at the slideshow. The children thoroughly enjoyed the activities! We learned about the different types of windmills and the purpose of a windmill! The wind wasn't blowing hard enough so the workers turned on an engine so that the huge stone wheel would work. We saw wheat crushed and turned into flour. We sieved the flour and kneaded the dough. Then we made bread rolls! The most exciting part was waiting for the bread to bake and eating it! We made paper ice cream cones in class and learned about the ingredients and the processes involved in making ice cream! Natalia's mom is going to class to demonstrate how ice cream is made at home and we will be able to taste it!. This coming week,Tuesday, we are going to the farm.
In reading and maths we reviewed work from the previous week. We reviewed the long /a/ and /i/ sounds and worked with the word families. In math we reviewed odd and even numbers!

In our new unit entitled `From Field to Table´, we will be looking at the processes foods go through before they reach our table. If you have a simple recipe you would like to share with us, please let me know. You can come and share your cooking ideas and skills with the children! We are looking at processes, so if you would like to show us different cooking processes and techniques, you are most welcomed into our class! It doesn´t have to be complicated, we like simple things!

As part of our unit of Inquiry ´From Field to Table´,we will be going on a field trip on Friday, November 13, 2009. We will be visiting a windmill and exploring how a windmill was involved in food processing.
On Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 we will be going to a farm. Please ensure that your child is wearing their P.E.uniforms on both days!.Depending on the weather we hope to have lunch at the various sites!