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 March 5

NEWS

We had a super week celebrating book week with visiting author, Tad Hills,

visiting singer, Courtney Campbell, book swap and book character dress-up

day. We also had mini academy on Tuesday. Thank you to all the parents

who volunteered to make this a successful event. We are also moving through

our March Madness book bracket by reading and voting on some quality

read-aloud favorites.

As readers and writers we have been busy preparing for their student led conferences.

A lot of time was spent on reflecting on their glow (what they are good at) and grow

(what they want to better at). Students got to do some fun activities for book

week including reading BINGO, bringing in favorite books to share, nonfiction

wonderings and research about germs and some fun partner reading tasks.

As mathematicians we refreshed their memories on place values and base ten blocks.

This week, we also reviewed strategies to add two addends. Then they added 4

addends using transition words strategy such as first I added .....then I added

....after that I added....finally I got.....Students also looked at the most efficient

way to add multiple addends by making 10 and adding doubles. They then learned

to add and subtract multiples of 100.

As scientists we have just started learning about germs and the importance of good hygiene, both dental and personal. We will continue learning about different kinds of germs, and how our body protects itself and what we can do to stay healthy.

UPCOMING

Wednesday 7 and 8 March - No School-Student Led Conferences. Please bring

your child to school at the scheduled time you will have 45 minutes to conference

and the last 15 minutes to visit specialist teachers.

IMPORTANT

Some students (and Mr. Alex) have decided to take part in the Slice of Life challenge. This entails writing something every day for 31 days (basically every day in March). This is something the students are working on at home and the idea is to foster a love of writing by sharing a "slice of our life" or in other words a small personal narrative moment. This is the original site if you would like more information. This is what we have published so far in 2AL - it would be great if you could read a piece and comment (it would mean a lot to the writers and will spur them to keep going for the rest of the month). Mr. Alex's slices of life can be found here.

Dinner Questions

1 - What did you learn about dental hygiene?

2 - What was your favorite thing about book week?

3 - What did you learn from the visiting author or song writer?

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 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?

x

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?

The Week of October 9th

NEWS
As readers we will spend the next two weeks introducing students to our second reading unit:  "Building Better Readers."  This unit focuses on the important foundational reading skills of fluency, literary language, and maneuvering tricky texts.  We will begin by working on reading punctuation, adding tone and making sure students understand pace.

As writers we begin our next unit:  Lab Reports and Science Writing.  This unit will give students an opportunity to explore scientific procedural writing using the scientific method as a framework to help them elaborate each part of the scientific process.  The unit begins with an introduction to how-to writing, where students will be asked to think about something that they know how to do, and to write a text to teach others how to do it.

Our social studies unit on Communities is coming to an end and students are busy completing their assessment where they were asked to create a community and think about various aspects of their community, such as leadership, rules and laws, citizenship, goods and services, and interdependence.  Students will have an opportunity to share their projects with their peers.

We are also beginning our first science unit:  Changes in Matter.   In this unit we will explore properties of solids, liquids, and gases, and the differences between chemical and physical changes.  We’ll spend a few days before break tuning into our unit with simple demonstrations to help students think like a scientist and introduce them to the scientific method.  Students will also be introduced to our science labs to learn about how to use the space and the equipment safely while they conduct their experiments.

This week we start our second math unit:  Becoming Fluent with Addition and Subtraction.  During this unit students will learn how addition and subtraction are related, and learn strategies for solving two-digit addition and subtraction problems.  Our unit begins with a review of problem solving strategies and vocabulary.  The emphasis during these first few days will be on how to identify the operation needed to solve a story problem, and how to adequately explain our thinking.  In grade 2, students are expected to solve story problems by using a picture, equation and answer, which includes a number and label.  It is important for students to continue practicing their basic addition and subtraction facts to help them become more successful solving two-digit addition and subtraction problems encountered in this unit.

UPCOMING

Conferences are here!  Monday, October 9th and Tuesday, October 10th. This will be an opportunity for your child to share their learning so far this semester and to set personal and academic goals going forward.  

October break begins on Wednesday, October 18th.

DINNER QUESTIONS

What was the best part of our parent-teacher conference?  Why?

Tell me about one of your lessons with Mrs. Wright.

What is your favorite app to use in class?  Why?  How do you use it?

The Week of September 25th

NEWS

In reading have been exploring comprehension strategies. Specifically understanding that the purpose of reading is to gain understanding, whether of a topic of a story, and that just saying the words without understanding the context is of little value in our lives as readers. We added a few word solving strategies to our repertoire and practiced apply more than one strategy at a time in our reading.

In writing, through mentor texts, students learned to add more craft to their writing emulating

"master" authors such as Mo Willems. Specifically, adding details in our writing through dialog, action, and setting. We also revised how to hook our readers with bold beginnings and making sure we wrap up our stories with strong endings. All the pieces to writing powerful personal narratives are now there and we just need more time to practice independently.

In math we have been applying our understanding of numbers in base ten to solve challenging word problems and riddles. We have also been identifying patterns in skip counting mentally and in writing, as well as extending our understanding of how numbers are composed through number bond modeling which is another way of decomposing numbers.

In social studies we focused on responsibilities of individuals in their social group and what it means to be good citizens in our community. Namely what jobs or roles do people have in their community and what happens when one chooses not to contribute in a way that is expected.

Important Dates

IMPORTANT

By popular demand, I have been instructed by 2AL students to send out the link for the KidPresident video that we watched in class this week ... here it is below. 2AL students love him and the videos he puts out are always great for conversations around citizenship particular and "being awesome" in general.

UPCOMING

Our first mini-academies will be held on Tuesday, 26 September from 1:30 p.m. in the grade 2 common area. There is still time and space to sign-up for mini-academies. Please click here to access the Google doc (you must be signed in with your ISKL email). It is still not too late to sign up! Alternatively, please let our room parent know the activity that you want to lead and we’ll be happy to add your name to the list.

Free dress day is on Friday, 29 September .

DINNER QUESTIONS

* If you are skip counting by 100 from 105, will 300 be in your count?

* Why is it important to be good responsible citizens?
* What are some strategies that have helped you read a tricky word?
* What can you do to make your writing more interesting?

The Week of September 18th

NEWS:

In reading our focus this week was "word attack" strategies. Basically this entails first cross-checking ourselves to see whether what we are reading makes sense and if it doesn't then using strategies to solve words successfully by looking at the beginning, middle, and ending of words. We are also continuing to jot down notes on our reading about things we find interesting, puzzling, or want to explore further as a means to aid our comprehension.

In writing our focus this week remained on developing our small moment personal narratives and extending them further by elaborating on details using the senses to make our writing more interesting, adding dialog, and action to our stories. Some of us have published stories on SeeSaw and our hope is that as we keep publishing other stories you will see the evolution of our writing in action as we learn to apply what we learn more independently.

In math our focus remains on work with base ten relationships and modelling. This week we played games and solved riddles around the value of digits in each place, representing numbers in various forms (expanded, standard base ten). We are also working on skip counting, especially what happens when you go over certain milestone numbers (for example from 90 to 100 when skip counting by 10s). This work will continue for another week or so before we transition to time.

In social studies we started building our own ideal communities, discussing what needs we have and what we would like in our community. During the next week we will be discussing rules, laws, and leadership and will be putting our community together in a BookCreator book that we will share with you.

Home learning has started. Here is the menu of options. This page can also be accessed through the "Class Documents" page of our class blog.

IMPORTANT

Book Universe is an an app that was introduced last week. In your child's home learning journal you will find a username/password to login from home. This app is for reading books online and there is an app that you can download as well as logging in through a desktop/laptop. Click here to go to the website.

RazKids is another app that we have started using this week.  Your chid should have in their take-home baggie a username/password combination.  Click here to see the web based site.  You can also get an app to use on tablets.  The purpose behind this app is to have a selection of "just right" books that the kids can choose from virtually at home that is fun and engaging.  Please let me know if you have any difficulties logging in.  

We have updated pictures! Click here or navigate to the "Photos" tab at the top of this page.

Please subscribe to this blog via email to receive notifications of blog posts. New posts for the upcoming week will go out every Sunday around 4pm.

UPCOMING

ES Parent Teacher conferences will be held on Monday,  October 9th and Tuesday, October 10th. We will send more information regarding specific dates and times for appointments soon.

Subscribe to the ISKL ES Google Calendar and also our Grade 2 rotation calendar to stay up to date with any last minute changes (on the right hand side of your screen).

DINNER QUESTIONS
*What was your favorite Hari Raya station?
*What strategies have you learned to solve tricky words?
*What kind of laws will you have in your community?