Spirit Day

To celebrate Spirit Day Grade 2 participated in many fun and educational activities.  For example, in the morning they visited the Grade 1 class to real aloud some scary poems they had written and rehearsed earlier in week.  The younger boys and girls were definitely a captivated audience!  One of the language aims of Grade 2 is for students to develop strong presentation skills.  The visit provided an excellent opportunity for the class to practice using well-paced, loud, and clear voices.  In the afternoon, Grade 2 completed a Spirit Day themed science activity called “Bubbling Witch’s Brew”.  With help from their teacher, they each created their own chemical reaction by mixing together vinegar and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda).  The results definitely looked magical!  The class also discussed new words such as “hypothesis” and practiced doing safe science.

Some of the students requested that I post the (at home) instructions for the activity, so here they are:

Bubbling Witch’s Brew

1.       Half-fill a glass jar with clear vinegar.  Add several drops of food colouring.

2.       Add a good squeeze of dish soap to the jar.  Then, gently stir the mixture with a metal spoon to mix everything together.

3.       Put the jar in the middle of a baking sheet or a sink.  Add a heaped spoonful of baking soda to the jar and see what happens.

If you’re interested in doing other experiments at home with your child, I recommend checking out the following links:

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments.html

 http://www.kids-science-experiments.com/index.html

Happy Spirit Day,

Ms. Christine Aberley

Fall Scenes

This week, Grade 2 discussed what colours we see in the different seasons.  They looked at a series of photographs from around the world, categorized them and described the colours they saw.  Afterwards, looking outside for extra inspiration, Grade 2 experimented with water colour and oil pastel to create a fall scene.  Orange, brown, red, yellow, and blue were the only colours used.  The activity included many steps such as mixing colours, layering, outlining, and thinking about perspective. 

Grade 2 has also begun a short study of poetry.  As a class they wrote a “cinquain” to go along with their artwork.  A cinquain is a unique five line poem - ask your child to tell you the special rules.  For those interested in exploring and listening to poetry at home, I recommend checking out The Children’s Poetry Archive.  You can search for different forms of poetry on hundreds of themes, which have all been recorded.  It’s an excellent way to improve listening skills while having fun!

The Children's Poetry Archive

Grade 2’s Fall artwork and cinquain is currently on display outside our classroom.  Please feel free to come and have a look. 

Kind regards,

Ms. Christine Aberley

Colour Scavenger Hunt

To start off our new unit “A Colour Perspective”, Grade 2 participated in a Colour Scavenger Hunt in the classroom.  Together with a partner, they searched high and low for examples of their assigned colour - red, orange, yellow, blue, or green.  The green team even managed to spot my rain boot!  One of the main aims of the activity was to view the classroom through a new or “colour” perspective.  For example, blocks normally seen as numbers became bright colours instead.  Grade 2 also came to realize that colour is everywhere, especially if you look for it.  Afterwards, they wrote about the scavenger hunt in their Writing Journals.

On a sad note, Grade 2 said good-bye to Ms. Zeender last Friday.  The class celebrated her hard work with a trip to the park and some delicious treats.  The class also took some time to share their favorite memories from the beginning of the school year and present a card they had all decorated.

Kind Regards,

Ms. Christine Aberley