If you attended curriculum night you may remember me explaining that this year I will be implementing a program called "The Daily 5" into our Language Arts program. If you are not familiar with the program, here is a very brief explanation (feel free to research more into the program if you wish!):

     The Daily 5 is a way of structuring our literacy program to meet the diverse needs of our students. It is also a way to teach students life long habits of reading, writing, and working independently. The goal of the Daily 5 program is to eventually be able to complete these 5 activities every day:
                     1) Read to Self
                     2) Word Work
                     3) Read to Someone
                     4) Work on Writing
                     5) Listen to Reading.

  Since the first day of school our class has been practicing "read to self." We have come a long way in building up our reading stamina, and most students are able to read independently and without distraction for about 8 minutes!

   This week we have begun the next Daily 5 activity: Word Work. We will be using Word Work activities to learn our word wall words in a more meaningful, hands-on approach than spelling tests.

   Here is a peek into what some of the Word Work activities look like! Students did a great job retrieving, setting up, and putting away their centers. Great job class!!

Mrs. Miller

Rainbow Write - Writing our words in rainbow colours!

Building our words with pom-poms

Read, Build (with play-doh), and write it center!

Building our words with pipe cleaners.

 Our word wall words spelled with letter beads. 

Good Morning!

   Today you will be receiving permission forms for our Terry Fox run/walk, which will be happening next Monday, October 3rd during our last block of the day.

   I have also sent home in your child's mailbag a sticker and a temporary tattoo. If your child wishes to wear the tattoo on the day of our run please put them on at home before he/she comes to school. If you wish to fill out the name of a person your child will be running for onto the label, please fill it out and send it back in the mailbag and I will display the stickers in our classroom (the whole school has been asked not to wear them and instead display them).

   Please try your best to send your child's mailbag everyday to school as I will sometimes have mail to send home.

  Thank you, and have a great day!

 Mrs. Miller

This weeks word wall words are up! We will be starting the year by reviewing some of the grade 1 word wall words, and then moving into the grade 2 words.

   Just a reminder that there will not be any spelling tests. These words are simply our focus words for the week and we will be doing many activities all week working with these words to learn them.

 Shelley Miller

I hope everybody had a wonderful weekend!

    Just a quick reminder that tomorrow (Monday) is our library day. If you haven't already done so, please return your child's library book so that he/she may choose a new book tomorrow.

   I will also be posting on the blog tomorrow afternoon this weeks 5 Word Wall Words, so check back to see those!

 Mrs. Miller

We have some important events coming up!

   Tomorrow (Tuesday, Sept 20th): Picture day!

   Wednesday, Sept 21st: Curriculum Night. Come and join us from 6:30-8:30 to meet your teachers and learn about the upcoming school year.

   

Wow, two weeks of school finished already! Students had another busy week, and thank goodness the heatwave finally broke; we were much more comfortable in our classroom this week!

    Today students were able to go to the Library for the first time and check out their books. Our regular Library day will be on MONDAYS, however because we are unable to go check out books next week I decided to bring them today. Starting on the 26th we will be going every Monday afternoon. Please return the books back to school every Monday morning so they will be able to pick new books that week.

   I am looking forward to meeting you all next week at Curriculum night! It will take place next Wednesday, September 21st, from 6:30pm-8:00pm. This will give you a chance to see the classroom, discuss some of the important events coming up in Grade 2, learn about how the year will be structured, and of course meet myself and your child's french teacher.

   I hope you all have a wonderful, relaxing, and safe weekend!

      Mrs. Miller

We are well into our second week of school now and starting to fall back into school routines. Our days are still very new and very busy, but the students have been doing an excellent job! Thank you to all our students and parents for your support as everybody settles into their roles this year.

   This week we have been reviewing a lot of important concepts in Language and Math as both a refresher for the students and as a guide for myself to lead my teaching this year.

      In Language this week we have been reviewing:
                         - Grade 1 sight words.
                         - Including important features in our work (i.e. name, punctuation, neatness, etc,,,)
                         - Making meaningful predictions and connections to read-alouds.
                         - How to read a book to yourself (productively!).
   
     Our review in Math has included:
                         - Counting and writing numbers up to 100.
                         - Math games to reinforce number sense and counting.
                         - Review of simple patterns.
                         - Creating and interpreting information found in graphs.  

    We began our science Unit this week on "Growth and Change in animals." Students were introduced to the 6 classifications of animals and completed a sorting activity to place a variety of animals into their proper categories: mammals, birds, fish, insects, reptiles, or amphibians.          

    Today we started our first Art activity where we created Name art and only used two elements of design to decorate: lines and shapes. They are looking magnificent!

     We celebrated two birthdays this week: Happy Birthday to Dahlia and Gabe!

     Some parents have started asking about daily homework assignments. I will update everyone soon on the homework program I will be following. In the meantime I would suggest to read with your child every night and to play math games to reinforce their number sense and counting skills (these can be electronic games or simple dice/cards games).

    It has become very clear to me this week that our class is filled with very hard workers who take pride in the work that they do and I am so excited to see how the rest of the year unfolds with such a great group. Please continue to check this blog for updates, now that we are settling in I hope to update it often :)

    Cheers,

        Mrs. Miller

                     

What a busy and exciting first few days we have had!! We have been spending our days so far getting back into the routine of being at school.

   You may have figured out that our classroom is located in the port- a-pack this year, which can get quite hot with the extreme weather outside. Thank you for sending your child with water bottles to keep hydrated! We have also been escaping the heat by spending time in the library in the afternoons.

   An important note from the office went home today so please check your child`s mail folder.

  Here are a couple of the activities we have been working on this week:

Our first day included a read-aloud of the book "You're Finally Here." Students then wrote out and drew what they did during the summer months (or, what they were doing that kept Mrs. Miller waiting to meet them!)

Today students did amazing work to figure out some facts about Mrs. Miller!

And then students had a chance to put some information about themselves in numbers :)

I hope everybody has been enjoying the week as much as I have!

Sincerely, 

       Mrs. Miller 

Here is a peek at our classroom!

Welcome to Mrs. Miller's Grade 2 class blog! I will be using this blog as a communication tool to keep you informed about what is happening in our classroom and in our school. I will be updating and using this Blog frequently so check in often!