Grade 2 this week have been sharing their learning with their families. Thank you to all parents who attended the 3 Way Conferences and listening carefully to their child talk about their learning. Grade 2 worked hard at the beginning of the week to prepare for their conferences; identifying their strengths and where they would like to improve and then creating their goals for this term. Each student chose what they wanted to share with their families and then rehearsed their comments with a friend so they would be ready with confidence at the conference.
In literacy this week, we have been building our writing fluency by writing for 10 minutes in the morning. I provide a writing prompt; however, students can write on a topic of their own choosing. This will build students strength in getting their thoughts onto paper, explore a variety of topics and begin to build their vocabulary and spelling skills. Reading groups continue to meet to develop our reading strategy skills, learn phonics and discuss the plot of fiction texts. When we read non-fiction text we are beginning to identify non-fiction text features, such as, charts, photographs and captions. Our main writing this week has been linked to our current UOI.
Our new UOI: Sharing the planet (please see last Broadcaster for complete details) has been a lot of fun to explore. We have identified what animals need to live and where habitats can be located around the world. We thought about our prior knowledge and listed this in our UOI book. The students have completed a visible thinking activity after watching a video about ecosystems. This thinking routine helps support the students in developing their critical thinking skills; this one is called 3-2-1 and it helps bridge from collecting facts to asking a good question which can then be further explored. We have identified which animal live in particular habitats and have just begun finding out about animal adaptations. I have created a library of books on Epic for this unit which students can access at home during the day.
In maths, we have recognised and drawn shapes having specific attributes and identify, cubes, prism, spheres and pyramids. We have identified the attributes of a variety of 3D shapes and which 2D shapes make up a 3D shape. The students have also built cubes from different materials. For our mental maths, we have practised identifying 3D shapes when given only the attributes of a shape and then we have also been working on thought-provoking puzzles for math called: Which one doesn’t belong? Another activity to foster critical thinking skills and making connections.
As you can see, it’s been another busy week in Grade 2SB!
Please see the parent pipeline below to help support your child in reading at home: