Spring Flowers, More Mosaics, True Flix

Spring Art

Even though today is a little chilly, here are some spring flowers the students created for our windows. We created collages in either primary colours or secondary colours. We read the book 'Mouse Paint' to help solidify this knowledge of colour theory. 

Students were able to choose their colour combination. Here is a primary colour tulip. 

Secondary colours

Mosaics
The whole school is getting ready for our school wide mosaics. To practise, we used paper to create mosaics using simple line or shape. Can't wait for the real project to start! We have been very lucky to have parents in our community offer to help with donations of building/art materials. 

True Flix
Many of my students are familiar with Book flix which allows our students to have free access to fictionalized stories and books. True Flix is similar in format but offers non-fiction subject matter. I showed the students how to use this free site and where to locate it. It is a great free source for those students who gravitate towards non-fictionalized reading material. Unfortunately I can't post a working link as you have to navigate from the home site. Here are instructions:
(Go to Florence Meares webpage and find elementary internet tools. Scroll to bottom, right hand side of the page and you will see an icon for True Flix. Your child has their 'log in' information on a sticker inside their agenda. This will grant you off school access. Enjoy!)

Funny Little Bunnies

Looking for a quick Easter video that includes lots of 'simple machines'? Here is a very old cartoon that is a lot of fun, very quick and the students enjoyed spotting the many levers, screws, wedges, pulleys and inclined planes. Enjoy!
                           Funny little Bunnies movie

Cursive writing, Growth Mindset learning and Mosaic Art

Welcome Spring! Hope everyone had a great March Break. 
Cursive Writing
During the break, I spent some time talking to people about teaching. Yes, even though I was on a break! Two separate discussions involved someone asking me "why don't children learn how to write in cursive anymore?" I have also recently read an article in the Hamilton Spectator about this and if interested you can read it here: Hamilton Spectator article on cursive writing
After reading a number of articles and thinking about what my students need currently (who knows what the future holds), I decided it was important that my Grade Two students be able to recognize their names in cursive and be able to write their names as well. So, off came the old printed desk tags and I wrote each childs' name in cursive for their desks. I will encourage them to try to practise writing their name in cursive on their work. I think this is a life skill and something that is easy to teach especially while the students are eager to do it. Yes...they are very eager to try!

Growth Mindset activities
Another topic that interests me is cognitive learning and memory. Essentially, I am always interested in teaching students not just 'what' to learn but also 'how' they learn. For example, it took me years to learn that I am a visual learner. I remember being very frustrated trying to memorize things that didn't mean anything to me and then wondering why some of the strategies weren't working for me. How many of you remember cramming for a test or exam and then not being able to retain the information almost immediately after the test? Eventually I learned some tricks on how to study and what strategies were successful for myself as a learner. I hope to teach my students how to do this as well. This week, we have been doing some activities about how our brain learns best. If you are interested, here is a short video that helps students understand how their brain functions and how to move through stress or frustration to achieve success. Brain function and learning movie
We also co-created a chart to help students understand what happens when they use 'fixed' mindset phrases like "I give up" or 
"I'm not good at math". The students re-phrased these to become more positive. We found that adding the word yet (e.g., I'm not good at math yet) could make all the difference!

(Interested in this subject? Consider reading more information by Carol Dweck)
 We have also been busy making 'Bitstrip' comics to visually show how a situation can be changed and learning can happen with a positive attitude! 

Mosaic Art 
Did you know that Florence Meares Public School is busy planning a Mosaic art experience with the whole school? Teachers are busy staying after school and working hard to learn the art techniques necessary to teach the students. We are being led by artist 'Heather Vollans' on the technique. It should be exciting! Here is a sample of a sculpture that Heather did with some students as part of a community project. It will give you an idea of her talent! Can't wait to teach the students all that we have learned! 

Earth Rangers Visit, Blue Spruce books, Geometry

Earth Rangers!
Our school had a wonderful visit from the Earth Ranger team. We learned a lot about animal conservation, endangered species and the 'Bring back the Wild' campaign. Although the focus was on animals in their natural environment, the team did bring 4 animals to show and share. The students saw a snake, two birds of prey and a pine marten (my personal favourite) The marten was just as interested in the children as they were in looking at the pine marten. I did try to take pictures but was a bit far away to take really good ones. This is a young bald eagle. The students were amazed to know the bald eagle only weighed about 10 lbs. Equally amazing was the fact that a young eagle looks more brown until it begins to mature and then the feathers change. 

A brochure was sent home in your child's agenda. Consider having your child join the Earth Ranger team. It looks like a lot of fun :)


Blue Spruce books
Mr. Cann, our wonderful librarian has begun the Blue Spruce program once again. Each week we introduce a new book and showcase it. This past week he read, 'Young Frank, architect' by Frank Viva.  This is the 'Museum of Modern Art's' first book. The students really enjoyed this one.

Geometry
Students have been working through 2D and 3D Geometry. We have done a lot with symmetry and understanding flips, slides and turns. If you are interested in the Ministry curriculum outcomes for Grade Two, I have written about them in a previous post. 
Here are some examples of art we did with 2D Geometrical shapes. 

There is real learning and value when understanding how to use shapes in art. As well, we learned how to make an object appear in front or behind another object. 

We have had many indoor recesses in the last two weeks. I'm looking forward to slightly warmer temperatures and the students getting the opportunity to play outside :) 
                                    Have a great week!

Snow Day and Symmetry

*****Snow Day*****
Well, February 2nd was a surprise for the 'Groundhog' and those of us not expecting a 'Snow Day'! 
As part of our 'Traditions and Celebrations' unit, we learned about the origins of 'Groundhog Day' by reading a few books, watching a movie and working on our shared reading paragraphs. The students joked that yesterday 'Wiarton Willie' probably couldn't get out of his den because of all the snow! Here are a few pictures of the snow build up on our windows at school. Remember we are on the second floor!

Symmetry
Here are some of the great examples of symmetry that the students built. We used a ruler to create the line of symmetry and then students built one side and a partner built the other side. Pretty amazing!

                                                              Have a great week!

Welcome 2015! Procedural writing and Math talk

Welcome 2015!
Hope everyone had a Happy New Year! We are off to a busy start in Grade Two.

The students are enjoying knitting on their knitting machines while I read aloud 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. I will post some pictures of the knitting as we get more projects done. I am liking the Ninja headbands some of the boys are making :)
Here is a great link to a video about why learning a skill such as knitting as a child can be an important skill as an adult. 
Knitting to learn mathematical skills


Procedural Writing
We have been learning to write 'How to...' instructions. Using everyday tasks, the students are writing instructions. I have been introducing success criteria as well as we are using the 'Bump it Up Wall' to move our writing along a continuum. We recently wrote about such topics as, "How to brush your teeth", "How to wrap a present", "How to put your jacket on", "How to use the slide", "How to do a somersault" and "How to build a snowman". Students had to plan out the steps and in some cases role play to figure out what steps are involved. Using language such as 'First, Then, Next, Finally' we planned out how sequenced instructions need to be detailed and concise. I have seen big improvements with our writing as we continue to read instructional books and make personal connections to our every day life. A great moment happened when one of my students got out a 'knitting book' from our library and one student read it while the other taught herself to finger knit. Then they both came to me and said how important it is to have detailed instructions or else they never would have figured it out. A fun connection!

Math Talk

 Here is a chart outlining the questioning that I have taught the students prior to our math talk.

Here is an example of how students counted an array. The numbers at the top were the student answers as to how many dots were on the plate. If an answer is wrong, we accept that answer but through discussion we talk about how to count to achieve accuracy. The sectioned areas are how we 'Subatized' our thinking! In case you are wondering (as I did at first) what subatizing was, it is merely a word that refers to the 'rapid, accurate and confident judgement of numbers'. When you consider that most primary students are still consolidating the idea of number and value, then this is a skill that will improve through familiarity and experience. By showing and discussing the varied strategies that other students are using, we can expand and further develop those strategies. 

Trip news: We are planning a winter trip. Stay tuned for more details once they are finalized. 

Knitting club, Holidays, Character traits,

Knitting Club
In the New Year, I will be starting knitting club for those students who might be interested. If you have a child that might want to learn, perhaps Santa or a family member might be interested in picking up some 'beginning knitting' tools for Christmas. While I do provide much of the wool from my own stash or donations from friends, I will gratefully accept wool donations throughout the year. Beginning knitters work well with the cheap, colourful acrylic yarns that you can get at any department store. Just make sure it isn't too thin as this is a struggle for a new knitter to manage. Please see this link from last year for ideas:   Knitting club: what to buy 



Holiday Concert
Thank you to all who attended the Holiday Concert! It was very exciting for the 'Grade Two' students to present their songs to you. If you had a chance to look around the gym, the snowflakes were all done by our students! 

Character Traits 
In language we have been talking about character traits and how to use them in our writing. Here is an example of our class discussion using the fictional 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' by Dr. Seuss. We have also been learning about letter writing. We used this skill when writing our letters to Santa using e mail. The students were very excited to get their replies. We have learned so much about life at the North Pole! 

                    Have a wonderful and relaxing holiday!