The Week of May 21

NEWS
It was a fun and full week in 2AL! We continued working on powerful poetry, measuring and estimating, and exploring more about Life Cycles. The highlight of this week was our Wet and Wild celebration on Friday! Thank you so much for all the parents who came out, got wet and muddy and had a blast! 

During literacy we student continued to learn about making powerful poems. They have experimented with line breaks, powerful words, comparisons and have had fun using different kinds of punctuation to enhance meaning. Their poems are filled with emotion and some interesting interpretations of ordinary objects. They have studied the way authors use repeating lines, rhyming words and word choice during reading time to give their poems music. They are absolutely loving this unit and are excited to read and share with you during our learning celebration!

As mathematicians we were measuring machines. We had fun finding measuring monsters and objects around the classroom (including ourselves) in both centimeters and inches using a variety of tools.  We have also been working out to come up with reasonable estimates and using data to make and interpret line plots.  We will continue our measurement unit for the next few weeks and share with you when you come for our celebration.

As scientists we discovered some interesting facts about some unique life cycles. We also worked on creating our Scratch Junior teaching videos all made in computer code.  Some very impressive videos that we look forward to sharing with you as well. 

IMPORTANT
**Please note May 31st is our field trip. It is also free dress but students are to wear their SCHOOL UNIFORMS on field trips. They must also bring a hat, water bottle and a snack as we will eat on the bus. Thank you to parents who will be joining us and taking a group.   

UPCOMING
Tuesday: NO SCHOOL HOLIDAY
Thursday: Day 4 FIELD TRIP: students need to bring own snack and wear school uniform
Friday: NO SCHOOL packing day for teachers
The last week of school we will be having theme days, so stay tuned!

Happy Weekend.

The Week of April 16th

NEWS

This past week was a busy one in Grade 2!  The students took their Math and Reading MAP tests, we celebrated Earth Week learning different ways that we can help take care of the Earth, and ended our week with an Earth Day assembly. 

Thank you to all the parents who volunteered to lead our Mini Academies on Friday.  The children had so much fun and came back to the classroom excited to show their friends what they made or what they did.  It’s hard to believe that this was our last Mini Academies for the year.  The Mini Academies have been a huge success because of your commitment and dedication.  Thank you for your creativity, your time, and your willingness to volunteer for our Mini Academies throughout the year.  This is an event that the kids love and and we couldn’t do it without your help.  Thank you!

As readers the children are really enjoying reading and discussing their books in their Book Clubs.  As a class, we’ve been reading some of Kevin Henkes’ books and learning about Lilly, one of the main characters who appears in several of his books.  This week we’ll focus on looking at the language the author uses to make his or her stories so powerful.  The week will start with children looking for examples of how the author uses precise words and descriptive language to help readers visualize the event and characters from the book.  We’ll end the week looking at different types of literary language, such as similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia, and alliteration and how authors can use these to make simple things seem extraordinary. 

As writers our focus has been sharing our opinions about the characters and books we’ve been reading in our Book Clubs.  This week we’ll focus on how to make our book reviews even better by retelling the important parts of their books.  We’ll practice retelling with partners and then the students will write a brief summary of their book to help strengthen their book review.  Throughout the week as students are writing, we will also emphasize the importance of keeping the audience in mind.  Picturing their audience will help students write stronger book reviews. 

Students are excited to start our new science unit on life cycles this week!  This past week we set up observation stations in our common area where students could begin to observe the life cycle of beetles and butterflies.   We’ll start the week tuning in to life cycles by looking at some of the vocabulary words for this unit and getting an idea of what students already know about life cycles.  Throughout the week we will talk about how scientists make and record their observations. We’ll practice drawing scientific diagrams, with details and labels, of the animals in our common area.

Our unit on Developing Multiplication is coming to a close and this week will be spent reviewing the skills and concepts that were covered in this unit.  Students will complete different projects to help strengthen their understanding of rectangular arrays. We will also continue to practice making and interpreting bar and picture graphs.

UPCOMING

On May 11th the Grade 2 classes will take a field trip to visit the Butterfly and Bird Parks as part of our science unit on life cycles.  A permission slip was sent home this Friday.  Please return the permission slip by Friday, April 27 to help us with planning.  We are looking for parent volunteers to chaperone, so if you are interested, please indicate on the permission slip.

DINNER QUESTIONS

What are some ways that you can help take care of the Earth?

What are some of the words the author used in your book to help you create a movie or picture in your mind?

Tell me about the book you’re reading. What is your opinion? What are the important parts?

What are you excited about learning during your life cycles unit?

The Week of April 9th

NEWS
2AL is back in full swing after a restful spring break and we are all full of energy and vigor as we enter this final home stretch of the year.

As readers we have launched our book clubs in earnest focusing specifically on how becoming experts on the characters in our series books.  We have been collecting information in our reading journals on our characters, noticing how our characters respond to problems they are facing, and how what we know about our characters can help us to predict what they might do next.  We completed a checklist in Seesaw where you can see some more specifics on the teaching points.  This work will continue in the coming weeks so that we can identify similarities and differences across our series.

As writers we have been crafting our opinion pieces through the lens of writing letters in response to our book club conversations.  Some of us are also choosing to write letters to favorite authors, football players, etc.  While the content of the letters may differ what is common is the 5 parts of a letter format (heading, greeting, body, closing, signature) and how to structure our writing.  The expectation is that we state an opinion, then support our opinion with multiple reasons and multiple specific examples for each reason.  One of our letters to Josh Funk (author of class favorite It's Not Jack and the Beanstalk) has actually proven to be surprisingly convincing and we are hoping to arrange a Skype call with him in the coming days.

As mathematicians we are still practicing adding and subtracting multiple three digit numbers with regrouping while also starting to work on arrays as the foundation for multiplication.

In social studies we have started a mini-unit on celebrations identifying similarities and differences, with a special focus on the elements of celebration such as food, colors, music, dress, rituals, etc).  The ultimate goal is for the students next week to prepare an oral presentation about a favorite celebration from their home country (or a country they strongly associate with).  The purpose is to teach each other about what the elements of our chosen celebration are (how), the purpose behind the celebration (why), the date of it, and any associated props from their chosen celebration to share with the class (this could be an artifact or food).  If you could take some time to speak to your child about a celebration they would like to choose and help them talk through the different aspects of it that would be fabulous.

UPCOMING
Earth Week is coming up next week (April 16-20).  2AL has been challenged by a group of 2AL students to take part in the Trash Hero challenge as part of their Genius Hour project.  See attached book here.  The idea is to "get caught" in the act of helping the environment by refusing plastic straws, re-using plastic bags, cleaning up some trash, etc.  Basically taking positive actions to make a difference.  When you catch your children being "Trash Heroes" please can you take a picture and email it to me.  I have started a folder where I will be collating these pictures.  On Friday ES Melawati will be having an Earth Day assembly where I would like to highlight some of the great work we are doing.  Thank you!

Our last Mini-Academy is scheduled for Friday, April 20th at 1:45pm.  Thank you to all who volunteered to lead an activity.  This is something our students always look forward to.  Last mini academies

MAP testing will be next week.  Our math time is slotted for April 18th (Wednesday) and our reading time is slotted for April 20th (Friday).  Both tests will be administered on iPads in our classroom in the morning.  There is no special preparation necessary.  The only thing we ask is that on the day prior to testing they get a good nights rest and eat a healthy breakfast.


IMPORTANT
Grade 2 will be going on a field trip on May 11th for our upcoming life cycle unit.  Paper permission slips will be going home next week, however a soft copy is linked here if you would like to read it ahead of time and/or print and send to school with your child.

PE kit. Please can we remember to include the blue ISKL polo shirt to change into our after our PE days because students are often hot and sweaty and when they go back into the air conditioning from their PE classes it is healthier for them to change into their fresh polo shirts. 


DINNER QUESTIONS
* What is the difference between a fact and an opinion?
* Tell me about the series you are reading?
* What celebration do you want to share with your classmates?

The Week of March 12

NEWS
Thank you to all the parents who attended their child's student led conferences and who supported our Run, Jump and Throw day.  Your participation always makes these events so much more special and meaningful for your children.

Mrs. Wright during guidance has started a series of lessons on what kindness is and the distinction between what is rude, mean and bullying.  We will have more conversations around these terms in the coming weeks.

In writing we completed our healthy choices book using all the craft moves that we have learned.  We went through the checklist to ensure all the elements needed in non-fiction writing were included. This was done independently with the help of their peers and these books will be coming home to you shortly.  I will also send a copy of the original home and it would be great if you had the opportunity to ask your dentist or doctor whether they would be willing to "showcase" the book in their waiting area.  This would be a great way for our young authors to feel like they have an authentic audience that cares about the topic they are writing about.  I have 3/4 dentists and doctors I have spoken to that would love a copy of our students writing for other young patients (and peers) to read while they wait for their appointment).  Next, we will be shifting our writing focus to opinion writing for the next couple of weeks.  More on this to follow soon.

In reading we have focused on using our note taking skills to note down important facts for our healthy choices books.  Our non-fiction reading is now over and after a few assessments we will be shifting to fiction reading again, with a focus on book clubs and having rich conversations about our books.

In math students practised two and three digit addition with and without regrouping using multiple strategies such as using place value disks, base ten blocks, number lines, and decomposing into parts. This week we will focus on subtraction of three digit numbers.

UPCOMING
Tuesday, March 20th is back to Day 2!

Friday 23rd March: Terry Fox run at 8:15

Spring Break is from Saturday 24th March - Sunday 1st April

DINNER QUESTIONS
1 - Which part of the healthy choices do you think you need to work on? Why?

2 - Can you tell some details that you learned from a non-fiction book that you have read?

3 - What is the difference between rude, mean and bullying?

The week of February 26

NEWS
This week was full on in 2AL with a beautiful Chinese New Year celebration on Friday morning.  I have uploaded some of the pictures in the shared album.  Here is a quick link to it.  I am also happy to report that the contractors fixed our A/C issues and our room is now cool and comfortable yet again!

As readers we’ve been using all our non-fiction strategies to access information on personal and dental hygiene which is our science focus.  Jotting down new information, making comparisons across texts, and growing our expert vocabulary were some of our mini-lessons this week.

As writers we have been busy editing our two informational writing pieces with a focus on accurate English language conventions, namely simple sentences and punctuation.

As mathematicians we have started our new unit 4 which is all about addition and subtraction using multiple addends and using 3 digit numbers.

As scientists we have now shifted to the third component of our healthy habits unit which is all about hygiene (both personal and dental) and what we can do to keep our bodies and our teeth healthy.

IMPORTANT

Please take note of these wonderful community events coming up in March.

March 3 - Walk for Children (event details here) 

March 15 - Run, Jump & Throw Carnival (details here)
March 23 - Terry Fox Run (details here)

UPCOMING

• February 27 - Mini Academies
• March 7 & 8 - Student Led Conferences (details below)
• March 15 - Run, Jump & Throw Carnival (details here)
• March 23 - Terry Fox Run (details here)

Also, March is very busy with two exciting events.  The first being March Book Madness challenge, which we will be kicking off as a grade level on Monday.  March is also the the start of the Slice of Life challenge which is basically a challenge to write every day for 31 days about a "slice of your life."  This is an optional event that students can choose to participate in but they will need to do the writing at home and then bring the writing to school for me to take a picture of and post (or you can also take a picture and email me a link to it;)

Finally, March 7th and 8th will be our Student Led Conferences.  We have been busily preparing for them this week and I know we will be very excited to share with you how we have grown throughout the course of this year.  Your child should have posted to Seesaw a copy of the letter with the date and time of your SLC conference, and a hard copy of this letter should have also gone home.  

DINNER QUESTIONS
* Why is it important to take care of my teeth?
* What facts have you learned about dental hygiene that surprised you?
* What is one thing this week you did that was challenging? How did you overcome the
challenge?

The Week of February 5th

NEWS

Thank you to all the parents who came to lead the mini academy on Monday! The hat parade on the hundredth day of school was a nice experience for second graders. Thank you for helping your child with their creative hats! 

As readers, students practiced rereading like an expert when they come across words that they are not familiar with. Rereading not only reinforces fluency but it also supports understanding. Summarizing continues with looking at the main topic, heading and key facts and details about the heading.

In writing, students have started a new book with a specific audience in mind. We are learning to use all the features of informational writing with purpose and are working towards writing an introduction to hook readers and a conclusion to wrap it all up.

As mathematicians we continued to practice noticing and describing polygon shapes and their attributes. We also explored cubes, including all of its associated vocabulary like edges, faces, and base. Finally we started exploring partitioning pans as the foundation for equal shares and fractions.

As scientists we are wrapping up our exercise part of our Healthy Choices unit and will be moving into nutrition next week, specifically the different food groups, and how we can make healthy choices regarding the food we eat.

IMPORTANT

After school activities start on Monday, February 5th. Your child should have sent you a picture of their ASA bus (as well as taken home a hard copy of the paper).

DINNER QUESTIONS

*What plane shapes do you see at the dinner table? Can you describe the shapes using their attributes?

* What is your nonfiction book about? What information do you think they want to know?

* How will you maintain a healthy exercise habit?

* Tell me about the book "Mahji Moves a Mountain." What was the author's message?

The Week of January 29

NEWS
Next week promises to be exciting with our Mini Academies and 100th Day of School celebration!

As readers we have been busy reading informational books and learning how to use different text features to locate information.  We’ll begin our week reviewing how to unlock new vocabulary by using context clues.  In addition, we’ll begin working on how to summarize our reading.  We’ll practice identifying the main idea of a chapter. Throughout the week, students will be reading informational books to learn more about the topic they are writing about in their Writer’s Workshop.

As writers we have just finished our first informational books and students are setting goals for their next piece of writing.  With the completion of this book, we now turn our focus to our next book.  Students have identified a topic of interest and selected some books from our library and from online sources to help them learn more about their topic.  We’ll start by reading for information and identifying the important vocabulary words and information from our reading.  From there students will begin planning their new book.  They’ll start by breaking their topic into subtopics, mapping out what they already know about their topic, and then drafting their book section by section.

As mathematicians we have been working with plane and solid figures this week.  We continue practicing how to use attributes to describe plane and solid figures.  Last week we introduced the vocabulary words, square corners and parallel lines.   These terms are essential in identifying and describing the plane figures we work with in class.

UPCOMING
Our Mini Academies are scheduled for Monday, January 29.  Thank you to the parents who have volunteered to lead an activity.  These are always special events and the children love learning from our very talented parent community.

Our 100th Day of School is Friday, February 2nd.  We have some exciting events planned to help us celebrate the day.  I’m looking forward to seeing the creative hats that the children make!  We’ll have our Hat Parade in the morning before recess.  Please remind your child to bring his or her hat to school on Thursday, February 1st.  Linked here is the 100th day of school letter.

IMPORTANT
Swimming will start again this Monday, Day 2 during PE.
These are other swim dates in the semester:
Monday, January 29, 2018
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Monday, February 19, 2018
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Friday, March 9, 2018
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Thursday, April 12, 2018
Friday, April 20, 2018
Thursday, May 3, 2018

Students will need to bring their swimsuit, towel, and long hair needs to be tied back.  Goggles and swim caps are optional. There is no "ISKL school swimsuit". Appropriate swim attire (one piece swim suit or swim bottoms and rash shirt).  If students forget their swim gear, they can borrow a swimsuit if available or they can use their PE uniform. If students cannot swim for any reason, a detailed email or note must explain why.

DINNER QUESTIONS
What are some nonfiction topics that interest you?  What do you know about them?
What is the topic of the book you’re writing?  What text features will you add?
What shapes do you see around our home?

The Week of January 22

NEWS

As readers we our continuing our non-fiction work paying attention to all the information available in a non-fiction text (including using text features such as maps, diagrams, labels, etc.) while also tuning-in to what information we might expect to be learning from our non-fiction texts using our reader’s notebooks to document our thinking.

As writers we started working on our first informational pieces, with the aim to teach our reader’s about our chosen topic.  We planned our stories using sub-topics that we then used as the basis for our table of contents page.  In the coming weeks we will be taking this work further by including the features we are noticing in our non-fiction reading and applying these to our writing.  

In science as part of our “Healthy Choices” unit we have started learning about the importance of exercise as part of establishing healthy routines.  We took a baseline “fitness” assessment and the students have been tasked with completing various exercises on a daily basis with the ultimate goal of gauging whether at the end of this unit exercise has helped us get healthier and in better shape.

As mathematicians we our continuing our Geometry unit learning about the attributes of 2D shapes (sides, angles), how and why some shapes are polygons and some aren’t, and using this knowledge to create our very own regular and irregular polygons with different attributes.  

Mr. Alex will be absent on Thursday (25th) and Friday (26th) of January as he will be attending an ISKL hosted workshop (so the students might see him on campus but not in class).

UPCOMING

January 29th- Mini Academies and start of Semester 2 Aquatics

January 31st- No School

IMPORTANT

• Linked here is the home learning menu for January.
• The first aquatics class for the year will take place on Monday, Day 2 January 29th.  Students will need to bring a swimsuit, towel, and long hair has to be tied back.  Goggles and swim caps are optional. There is no "ISKL school swimsuit". Appropriate swim attire (one piece swim suit or swim bottoms and rash shirt).  If students forget their swim gear, they can borrow a swimsuit if available or they can use their PE uniform. If students cannot swim for any reason, a detailed email or note must explain why.  

These are the 2AL swimming dates for 2018:

1. Monday, January 29, 2018
2. Wednesday, February 7, 2018
3. Monday, February 19, 2018
4. Tuesday, February 27, 2018
5. Friday, March 9, 2018
6. Tuesday, March 20, 2018
7. Wednesday, April 4, 2018
8. Thursday, April 12, 2018
9. Friday, April 20, 2018
10. Thursday, May 3, 2018

DINNER QUESTIONS

1 - What is a polygon and how do you know?

2 - What are some healthy choices that we can make as a family at home this year?

3 - Tell me about the informational book you are writing?

The Week of January 15th

NEWS
Welcome back everyone! It was such a joy to have our students back and to hear about all of the travels, fun times with family, and special events.  We welcomed four new students to grade 2 this week! In our classroom, we welcomed Mingyo who is coming from Korea.  This brings our total up to 20 (10 boys and 10 girls).  The students have been very welcoming and I know the rest of the ISKL community will help reach out to these new families, organize play dates and make them feel welcome as they settle into their new lives in ISKL and Kuala Lumpur.

In terms of curriculum, we had a busy week launching our new units and doing some community building activities!

As readers we dove into our nonfiction reading and unit this week. We reviewed features of nonfiction texts and discussed how authors use certain features to teach their readers. Students learned how to read diagrams, maps, charts and models by paying close attention to the details of what those features were teaching them.

As writers we started brainstorming ideas for some wonderful nonfiction books. We have started planning out topics, subtopics, creating a table of contents to guide their book, and will be busy in the coming days writing them all out. Next week we will spend a lot of time studying mentor authors and strategies that authors use to teacher their audience all that they can in an engaging way. 

In science we have been tuning into our new unit “Healthy Choices” this week and brainstorming what kinds of choices we make everyday that are helpful or harmful to our bodies. Students will learn about the importance of good hygiene, proper sleep, 3 forms of exercise, healthy eating and water consumption and even mental health. This usually has lasting effects throughout the year, so please help include your child in grocery shopping for healthy food, doing fun and active things as a family and help them track their sleeping habits.

As mathematicians we have started our Geometry unit this week and students have reviewed 2D shapes and some attributes. This unit will cover both 2D and 3D shapes and attributes as well as fractions.

UPCOMING
January 15th-ASA registration opens on Powerschool
January 29th- Mini Academies
January 31st- No School

IMPORTANT
Linked here is the home learning menu for January.

DINNER QUESTIONS
1 - What is something new you hope to learn this year?
2 - What are some healthy choices that we can make as a family at home this year?
3 - What are some ways you can show kindness at home and at school this year?

Week of December 4th and Looking Ahead to the end Semester 1

NEWS
We had a busy week! Christmas Around the World was so much fun! It is always a privilege to see how other people celebrate this festive occasion with commonalities and differences. The concert was a roaring success!  The math learning celebration was well attended and the swim carnival ended the week on a high note! Thank you to all the parents who came to volunteer, support and cheer on your children during all these special events!

UPCOMING
This week will be a short week with lots of cooperative learning opportunities across classes. We are not digging into any new curriculum but tying up loose ends and having a week full of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) perhaps a little baking, and some winter cleaning to get our library ready for the upcoming Non-Fiction units when we return! There will be lots of reading, writing, science and math weaved in during these times.

IMPORTANT
Monday, 11 December - No school. Sultan of Selangor’s Birthday
Wednesday, 13 December - Field Trip (Royal Selangor Pewter Factory)
Friday, 15 December - Last day of the semester
Monday, 8 January - First day of second semester

DINNER QUESTIONS
* What was the best part of your first semester?
* What did you learn during Christmas Around the World?
* What are you most looking forward to in the second semester?

Have a safe and wonderful Holiday and see you all back in 2018!

The Week of November 27

NEWS

As readers this week we have focused on the author’s message.  Is there a message in the stories we are reading?  If so, how do we know, what evidence do we have from the text?  This is complex work around reading comprehension, laying the basis for inferring from texts (or understanding what is not explicitly stated in texts) - and it is work that we will be continuing next week as well.

Our science and writing were integrated this week.  We planned and prepared for our experiments and then independently wrote up a full lab report.  These will be shared with you next week. A time lapse of a portion of our lab for your viewing pleasure is included below:

As mathematicians we continued working on adding and subtracting two 2-digit numbers within 100 using various strategies such as base-ten models, number lines, and various other strategies.  This work will also continue into the coming week.

UPCOMING

Christmas Around the World is scheduled for Monday, December 4th.

For those with children performing in our elementary school holiday concert, the performance is next week on Thursday, December 7 at 7:00pm. ISKL will be live streaming this event at this URL: https://livestream.com/iskl

Swim Carnival is scheduled for Friday, December 8.  Please follow the links below with details about the event:

ES Physical Education Website

Swim Carnival Schedule   

Grade 2 Learning Celebration is scheduled for Friday, December 8 from 10:10 – 10:45 (before the Swim Carnival).  Students will have the opportunity to share with you some math games, addition and subtraction strategies, and problem solving strategies that they’ve been learning this semester.  Please let us know whether you plan to attend by completing this Google invitation form so that we can plan our groups accordingly.

REMINDERS

Our Home Learning is posted on our blog under the "Class Documents" tab.  While these activities are optional, students are encouraged to complete one activity of their choice each week.

DINNER QUESTIONS

Tell me about your science experiment?  What were your results?  Do you have any other questions?

What is your favorite addition and subtraction strategy?

Tell me about a favorite book you read this week?

Week of November 20th

NEWS
Thank you to the parents who came in this week to help us make Christmas tree ornaments to kick off the holiday season at Melawati.  Another big thank you to all the parents who came out to lead a Mini Academy session - I know the students always look forward to them with much excitement.

As readers this week we’ll continue reading and discussing books with partners.  In addition to asking questions about the book, students will also begin thinking about the author’s message.  They will review comprehension strategies (Making Predictions, Asking Questions, Retelling, Rereading, Visualizing, Making Connections), and will practice finding evidence in the story to support their thinking.

Our science and writing are integrated this week with students preparing and conducting their own science experiments.  We will generate a question to investigate and we will then have the opportunity to go through the scientific process as we each conduct our own experiments.  The students will form a hypothesis, conduct the experiment, make observations, record the results, and form a conclusion based on the outcome of their experiment.  Each step of the process will be written up in their final lab report, which is the assessment for our writing unit.  Teachers will be on hand to help students with their experiments, but the writing of the lab reports will be done independently without teacher support.  The writing of the lab reports will be done over several days spread throughout the week. 

As mathematicians this week our focus is on subtraction two 2-digit numbers within 100 using various strategies such as base-ten models, number lines, and various other strategies.  We will not be teaching the standard addition and subtraction algorithms (where you "carry over" the one, etc.)

UPCOMING
No School on Friday, December 1st.

Grade 2 Learning Celebration is scheduled for Friday, December 8 from 10:10 – 10:45.  Students will have the opportunity to share with you some math games, addition and subtraction strategies, and problem solving strategies that they’ve been learning this semester.  An invitation with an RSVP will be sent closer to the date so we can determine how many parents will attend.

REMINDERS
Our Home Learning is posted on our blog under the "Class Documents" tab.  While these activities are optional, students are encouraged to complete one activity of their choice each week.

DINNER QUESTIONS
Tell me about a science experiment you would like to conduct?  What do you expect to happen? 
What have you learned about writing science lab reports?
Do you prefer writing personal narratives or science lab reports?  Why?

Week of November 13th

NEWS
Thank you to the parents who are coming in this week to help students make their Christmas tree ornaments.  This is a wonderful way to kick off the holiday season at Melawati.

As readers we have started reading partnerships to grow our comprehension skills by discussing books with partners and using note taking strategies to help us jot down our thinking about books.  Students will practice writing their ideas, questions, and thinking on sticky notes throughout the book and at the end of chapters.  These notes form the basis of collaborative conversations with their reading partner.

As writers we have continued our work writing like scientists this week by documenting some experiments we have been doing in the lab.  Our focus now is on the importance of using exact measurements, science vocabulary and detailed steps as we write our procedures.

As scientists we continue learning about the differences between physical and chemical changes.  Through our readings and experiments, we explored how chemical changes are irreversible and create a new substance.  During our experiments this week, students will have an opportunity to see matter go through both physical and chemical changes.

As mathematicians we have started to write and solve multi-step story problems with same and mixed operations including multiple addends.  During our work on these problems, students have been encourage to be flexible in their thinking in order to combine or take apart numbers to help their accuracy and efficiency.  As with all story problems, students are expected to show their thinking with a picture, equation and answer that includes the unit.  Our upcoming focus is on double digit addition and subtraction using base-ten models, number lines, and various other strategies.  The big idea is to be able to demonstrate understanding of place value on a conceptual level as opposed to merely solving an algorithm.  This might look very different from the way many of you know how or  have been taught how to solve addition and subtraction equations, thank you for your patience and understanding and we will be happy to explain this all to you during our Math Learning Celebration (read on).

UPCOMING
Swimming during PE is this Thursday, November 23rd.

Mini Academies is scheduled for Thursday, November 23.  Thank you to the parents who volunteered to lead an activity.  These are always special events and the kids love learning from our very talented parent community.

Grade 2 Learning Celebration is scheduled for Friday, December 8 from 10:10 – 10:45.  Students will have the opportunity to share with you some math games, addition and subtraction strategies, and problem solving strategies that they’ve been learning this semester.  An invitation with an RSVP will be sent closer to the date so we can determine how many parents will attend.

REMINDERS
Our Home Learning is posted on our blog under the "Class Documents" tab.  While these activities are optional, students are encouraged to complete one activity of their choice each week. 

DINNER QUESTIONS
What are some chemical changes that you might see at home?  How do you know?
Practice a reading partnership with your parents.  What are some questions you can ask them about the book you read? 

Week of November 6th

NEWS
Visiting author and illustrator Bryn Barnard came to visit grade 2 this week!  He shared some ideas about gathering information for his nonfiction books and illustrations and told the students about some interesting sea creatures!  This link has more information about him.

International festival both at Melawati on Friday and at Ampang on Saturday was a resounding success and always a great reason to gather and celebrate the many nationalities at our school. 

As readers this week we did some hard reading work taking our comprehension skills to the next level. Students learned how authors use literary language to help the reader picture things in their minds, describe characters and help give them a better understanding of what is happening. We noticed similes, alliteration sound words and some playful idioms that made students stop and question and have a few giggles.  We also worked on our fluency by practicing some reader's theater.

As writers we continued working on our lab report procedural writing with a few more science experiment. Students were testing ways to make liquids turn into gases with different heat sources. This week they wrote their lab reports independently applying the things they have learned as Science writers: detailed steps, using their senses to record observations and sharing their findings in their conclusions.

As mathematicians we continued our work into story problems. We continued practicing how to set up an equation with the known information and a symbol for the unknown with a focus on subtraction problems. We then used strategies such as number lines, drawing base ten blocks, manipulatives or other equations to show our thinking and writing the answer with the units.

As scientists we tried different ways to change matter from liquids to gases week. Some ways that the students explored were putting it on a bunsen burner, on the stove, and in the oven. We used a fixed amount of time (7 minutes) as a control and observed and recorded our results for how much water evaporated from each beaker and compared findings.

UPCOMING
Mini Academies (Monday, November 23rd) at 1:30pm - there is still time to sign up!

DINNER QUESTIONS
What was one interesting thing you learned from the author presentation?
How else could you try to make liquid evaporate?
What was something you did this week that was challenging? How did you figure it out?

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The week of October 30th

NEWS

This week we celebrated Halloween and Deepavali.

As readers our focus was on fluency, specifically adjusting our voices to match the mood of the characters, "talking" like the characters, and making sure we are reading at a "just right" pace. The big idea behind this is that when read fluently we help our comprehension and this is really the reason that we read books in the first place. Next week our focus will be on identifying and understanding special language author's use to make their writing more interesting, basically similes, idioms, metaphors, and the like.

As writers we have continued writing like scientists to describe our science experiments in a guided fashion. The focus this week was on identifying a question and coming up with a hypothesis. The focus next week will be on analyzing the results and coming up with conclusions. The end goal is that we will be able to put all the pieces together independently in a few weeks (namely coming up with a question, hypothesis, procedure, results and conclusion) with an independent investigation.

In math we are continuing our work on word problems, with the focus this week on "change unknown" problems. This means you start with something (say 10 apples) then Mr. Alex gave you some more (change) and in the end you had 15 apples. How many apples did Mr. Alex give you? We solved problems and created our own focusing on understanding the problem, making a model or picture, writing the equation, and identifying an answer with a unit representing the amount. Next continue this work with "start unknown" problems, as well as starting "take-away" problems which are basically the beginning of subtraction before switching gears to addition and subtraction with regrouping and borrowing double digit numbers in the coming weeks.

In science we are linking closely to our writing unit making links to the different states of matter and how matter can change states through the addition or removal of heat through a series of experiments melting an ice cube (and coming up with hypothesis as to how we can make it melt faster). More experiments coming up next week and we encourage you to support your child's curiosity at home by asking "why" and allowing them to explore and create their own experiments at home. If you are curious this time lapse is "the control" group time-lapse in our classroom. Total time to melt as 1 hour 32 minutes!

UPCOMING

Friday, November 10th is the International Flag Parade day. Your child can come to school wearing their traditional outfit from your country. Parents are welcome to watch the parade from 8:15 - 9:15 a.m.

Saturday, November 11th is International Fest at the Ampang campus.

DINNER QUESTIONS

Can you tell a story/word problem with start/result unknown?

Practice saying “I’m hungry” in 3 different moods, happy, grumpy, sad.

What are some transition words that you can use when you teach someone something?

What wonderings do you have as a scientist?

The Week of October 23rd

NEWS

As readers we have started “amping up our reading power” by paying extra special attention to our fluency and how we are reading our books.  Our lessons focused on being mindful of our fluency as we read with others or in our heads, pay attention to punctuation and word strings to scoop up our reading in larger phrases and pausing at appropriate times, and where dialog is present in our texts reading like the characters.  This fluency work will continue into next week.

As writers we started exploring the way scientists document their work and their thinking by introducing lab reports.  Our main focus for this week was the procedural aspect where the students observed and then wrote “how to make popcorn” including using diagrams with labels, a list of materials needed, and the detailed steps involved in the process.  We will keep building on the this work to include all the different aspects of lab reports like the question, hypothesis, results, and conclusion.

In science we started our investigation into matter and the difference states of it (solid, liquid, gas) through a series of small experiments.  We will unpack how matter can change states and the difference between physical and chemical changes in the coming weeks by conducting further experiments.  It is my hope that all the students see themselves as scientists and that by asking questions and investigating they are open and excited to explore the wonders of the world around them.  

In math we introduced word problems, using base ten models and various strategies like counting on or making models or pictures to solve result unknown problems.  In the coming weeks we will continue to solve word problems with unknowns in all parts of the equation (start and change) and continue working on our computational fact fluency.

UPCOMING

On Monday, October 30th we will have our Mini-Academies.  Thank you to the parents that have signed-up to lead a small group.  Seeing our parents share their skills is always a highlight for our grade 2 students.

On Tuesday, October 31st we will have a Halloween bash.  Students are allowed to come to school wearing costumes however in order to be sensitive to our diverse beliefs and cultures we ask you to be mindful of the following:

• No scary costumes
• No blood
• No masks
• No weapons

On Friday, November 3rd the Melawati campus will be celebrating Deepawali with hallway activities and an Elementary wide assembly at 11:00.  Parents are welcome and encouraged to join us.

IMPORTANT

Party time! This blog post is going out early this weekend to make sure parents are aware of the 2AL potluck/get-together. A big thank you to Ms. Sumiti Tandon for taking the lead on this and making it happen - Ms. Yuka and I are excited to meet all of you in a different setting.

Put a smile on your face and listen to the laughter in our class after some unexpected science demo results.

REMINDERS

Some individual and class pictures have arrived and have been sent home with your child on Friday.  Please check their bags.

Our class photos have been updated. Click here to see the latest pics!

DINNER QUESTIONS

What are the traits of a scientist?

What does it mean to read fluently?

Tell me about how scientists write?

What strategies can you use to solve word problems?