Good afternoon parents,
I have a few friendly reminders for this week.
The Christmas concert for our class is taking place this Thursday, Dec 15th at 6:30pm. The doors open at 6:00pm. Unfortunately due to a medical appointment in Calgary I am not able to attend the evening concert. Ms. Kruse along with Nurse McLeod will be wrangling up class 2A and getting them lined up and ready for the concert. The dress for this years performance is a sweater, scarf, and tuque. Any kind of pants as good.
This Friday we will be watching The Polar Express in the morning and then taking in the other class' performance of the Christmas Concert in the afternoon. We will still have our spelling test as well. New words are up on the spelling words page.
Finally, please remember to return the envelopes with the payment for the field trip next week as soon as possible.
Monday, 12 December 2016
Monday, 28 November 2016
November 28th
Hello all. It's hard to believe we are down to 4 weeks until Christmas. Don't forget that there is no school this Friday, December 2nd, as we have a PD day. Also, there are no new spelling words this week since it is a review week.
We have been moving along great in our studies in 2A. The students are engaged in their activities and we are working hard to meet our goals. The students are even now practicing for their Christmas Concert performance. Our Christmas concert will be taking place on Thursday, December 15th.
Math:
We are progressing along very well in Math. Since the beginning of our patterns unit, we have discussed numerous terms. Our main topic so far is repeating patterns. A repeating pattern is a pattern that has a section that repeats. The section of the pattern that repeats is called the core. We are also discussing attributes. An attribute is what is changing in a pattern. Examples of attributes are colour, shape, direction, or size. An example of a repeating pattern is up, up, down, up, up, down. The pattern core is up, up, down, and the pattern attribute that changes is direction. The students have been doing many activities that involve creating, extending, and recreating repeating patterns and recording their patterns in their math journals.
Science:
In science we are well into our hot and cold temperatures unit. The main thing that the students need to take out of the first few weeks of the unit, is reading a thermometer. If at any point your child has an opportunity to read a thermometer, please allow them to do so. Please reiterate with them that any temperature below zero needs to have a minus in front of it. Some other things that we have been talking about are how changing the temperature of things (melting, freezing, burning, and cooking) changes them. The students got to brainstorm how different things are affected through these changes in temperature. Also this week, we are looking at different heat sources (things that produce heat), and how to protect ourselves when handing things that are hot and cold.
Social Studies:
In social, we are looking at the early days of our three communities. For our study of the early days of Iqaluit, the students got to build their very own marshmallow igloo. The Inuit people lived in Igluit during the winter when they were following the caribou. This week and next we will be looking at the early days of Meteghan and Saskatoon.
I hope everyone has a great week ahead and beginning of December.
Mr. Aasen
We have been moving along great in our studies in 2A. The students are engaged in their activities and we are working hard to meet our goals. The students are even now practicing for their Christmas Concert performance. Our Christmas concert will be taking place on Thursday, December 15th.
Math:
We are progressing along very well in Math. Since the beginning of our patterns unit, we have discussed numerous terms. Our main topic so far is repeating patterns. A repeating pattern is a pattern that has a section that repeats. The section of the pattern that repeats is called the core. We are also discussing attributes. An attribute is what is changing in a pattern. Examples of attributes are colour, shape, direction, or size. An example of a repeating pattern is up, up, down, up, up, down. The pattern core is up, up, down, and the pattern attribute that changes is direction. The students have been doing many activities that involve creating, extending, and recreating repeating patterns and recording their patterns in their math journals.
Science:
In science we are well into our hot and cold temperatures unit. The main thing that the students need to take out of the first few weeks of the unit, is reading a thermometer. If at any point your child has an opportunity to read a thermometer, please allow them to do so. Please reiterate with them that any temperature below zero needs to have a minus in front of it. Some other things that we have been talking about are how changing the temperature of things (melting, freezing, burning, and cooking) changes them. The students got to brainstorm how different things are affected through these changes in temperature. Also this week, we are looking at different heat sources (things that produce heat), and how to protect ourselves when handing things that are hot and cold.
Social Studies:
In social, we are looking at the early days of our three communities. For our study of the early days of Iqaluit, the students got to build their very own marshmallow igloo. The Inuit people lived in Igluit during the winter when they were following the caribou. This week and next we will be looking at the early days of Meteghan and Saskatoon.
I hope everyone has a great week ahead and beginning of December.
Mr. Aasen
Monday, 7 November 2016
Week of Remembrance Day
I can't believe the weather we are having for these first weeks of November. Upper double digit temperatures, heavy rains, and lots of sun. It sounds more like late spring.There are a few reminders for this week.
There is no school this Thursday or Friday, the latter being Remembrance Day, November 11th. Wednesday is a busy day. We will be having our weekly library class as we do not have school on Thursday. Book orders are due Wednesday for anyone that wants anything from the Scholastic catalogue. We will also be having our Remembrance Day ceremony at 10:30 in the gym on Wednesday. Any family is welcome to attend.
We have no new spelling words this week as it is only a 3 day week.
Language Arts
Writing:
This unit in writing we have continued to look at aspects of narrative and expository/informative writing. We continue to talk more and more a pout sentences needing to have a subject and a predicate. We have looked at sorting details into main idea's, useful for expository writing. We have talked about opinions versus facts. Opinions reflect what a person believes and thinks, where as facts represent truthful things that cannot be changed. This week and next we will be discussing and practicing writing elaborate details in our writing, comparing general details to specific details.
Phonics:
In phonics we have finished working on short vowel sounds and are now working on all the long vowel sounds. The students are doing well to grasp the concepts we are talking about. It is important for those that have difficulty sounding out new words to remember rules like; When there is an "e" at the end of a word, it makes the middle vowel say its name, (Lake, the "e" is silent and makes the "a" say its name). When two vowels "go walking" (a vowel digraph is two vowels together), the first one does the talking. (boat says "bōt". The "a" is silent).
Math
In math we are continuing to work on different aspects of number sense. Much of the practice over the previous weeks has been using different strategies to add and subtract. We have used counting on, a number line, a hundreds chart as well as our fingers. We have also introduced the concept of adding and subtracting 10. We will be finishing up these concepts this week and beginning our patterns unit next week.
Science
We have now completed our magnetism unit with our unit test last Friday. They will be marked and sent home by Wednesday. We will begin our new unit "Hot and Cold Temperatures" this week and look to finish it up by Christmas break. This unit will look at different aspects of hot and cold temperatures, such as reading thermometers, heat/cooling sources, melting/freezing, and states of matter.
Social
In Social we are looking at the geography (land and water formations) of our three communities we are studying, as well as weather that occurs during the year and comparing them to our own community of Leduc. The students were truly amazed at the annual average snowfall amount of Iqaluit (236cm). They also learned that Saskatoon is one of the sunniest cities in all of Canada.
I hope everyone has a very enjoyable week and a great long weekend ahead.
Mr. Aasen
Monday, 17 October 2016
Middle of October
Good afternoon parents. Here we are in the middle of October. Halloween is fast approaching already and the weather is cooling off significantly. We have had some rather sketchy conditions making for not very nice commutes for some. There may be a light at the end of the tunnel by the end of the week, with some more seasonable temperatures.
A few reminders for this week are as follows. There will be lice checks at East Elementary today or tomorrow, depending when our class gets theirs done. Also, if you have not signed up for a time to do your parent teacher conference, please do so with the following link. www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F0C44A4A629A6FD0-parent2
Language Arts
Writing:
As with every week, we are continuing with our weekly journal entries. This week the students had the option to write about an event they had with an animal as told a story about a "run-in" with a skunk when I was a child. They also had the option to write about their favorite part about last Friday, as I was away at a medical appointment. Their third option was to again tell me some details about their weekend.
Our writing program has continued with looking at sentences and sentence structure. The students already know that a sentences needs a beginning capital letter and ending punctuation. I introduced to them that every sentence needs a subject (who/what), and a predicate (doing/describing). We looked at some example sentences and understood that words like I, me, we, it, his, and proper names are all examples of a subject in a sentence. The subject of a sentence usually comes at the beginning of the sentence. "Fido ate my homework". Fido in this sentence is the subject, and ate my homework is the predicate. I will begin to look for subject and predicate in the students journal writing.
Math:
The latest concept in number sense we looked at was the concept of equal and not equal. The students are familiar with the equals sign, = however we also looked at the not equal sign, ≠ . The students got to compare numbers using the equal and not equal signs. We are going to continue with number sense, looking at adding and subtracting in different ways, such as using number lines, counting on, finger counting. It is very important that the students are adept at solving basic math facts as this will enhance their ability to solve 2 digit equations later on in the school year. Social:
Social we have now finished the mapping unit. Their mapping unit tests are completed and marked and will be sent home tomorrow. It was important that the students understood where the cardinal directions go on a compass (North, South, East and West). We began our first unit in learning about Canada's dynamic communities. We are going to be looking at 3 different communities and comparing them to our own community of Leduc. The 3 communities we are looking at are Iqaluit, Meteghan, and Saskatoon. Iqaluit is an Inuit community in Nunavut, Meteghan is an Acadian community in Nova Scotia, and Saskatoon has lots of Ukrainian influence, in Saskatchewan. We began by talking about culture and heritage, and looked at the flags that represent each community, the Nunavut flag for Iqaluit, the Acadian flag for Meteghan, and the Ukrainian flag for Saskatoon. The students also got to make their own flag for their "home" and "individual" community that represented what they like and maybe some of their background. We will next be looking at geographical aspects of each community and how they affect the functioning of the communities.
Science:
We have been continuing to work through our magnetism unit in science. The latest activity the students took part in was testing whether the magnetic field could travel through certain materials. The students tested things like cloth, glass, cardboard, wax paper, tin foil, a jar lid, paper, plastic, and wood. The students found, that if strong enough, the magnetic field would pass through any material, having the magnets remain attracted even though the material was put between them. We will be finishing up the magnetism unit over the next week and a half. The last "I can" the students have to complete in this unit is to "Design and produce a device that uses a magnet." I will be sending home instructions later this week for the students to work on this at home with their parents and guardians.
I hope everyone has a great week ahead.
Mr. Aasen
Language Arts
Writing:
As with every week, we are continuing with our weekly journal entries. This week the students had the option to write about an event they had with an animal as told a story about a "run-in" with a skunk when I was a child. They also had the option to write about their favorite part about last Friday, as I was away at a medical appointment. Their third option was to again tell me some details about their weekend.
Our writing program has continued with looking at sentences and sentence structure. The students already know that a sentences needs a beginning capital letter and ending punctuation. I introduced to them that every sentence needs a subject (who/what), and a predicate (doing/describing). We looked at some example sentences and understood that words like I, me, we, it, his, and proper names are all examples of a subject in a sentence. The subject of a sentence usually comes at the beginning of the sentence. "Fido ate my homework". Fido in this sentence is the subject, and ate my homework is the predicate. I will begin to look for subject and predicate in the students journal writing.
Math:
The latest concept in number sense we looked at was the concept of equal and not equal. The students are familiar with the equals sign, = however we also looked at the not equal sign, ≠ . The students got to compare numbers using the equal and not equal signs. We are going to continue with number sense, looking at adding and subtracting in different ways, such as using number lines, counting on, finger counting. It is very important that the students are adept at solving basic math facts as this will enhance their ability to solve 2 digit equations later on in the school year. Social:
Social we have now finished the mapping unit. Their mapping unit tests are completed and marked and will be sent home tomorrow. It was important that the students understood where the cardinal directions go on a compass (North, South, East and West). We began our first unit in learning about Canada's dynamic communities. We are going to be looking at 3 different communities and comparing them to our own community of Leduc. The 3 communities we are looking at are Iqaluit, Meteghan, and Saskatoon. Iqaluit is an Inuit community in Nunavut, Meteghan is an Acadian community in Nova Scotia, and Saskatoon has lots of Ukrainian influence, in Saskatchewan. We began by talking about culture and heritage, and looked at the flags that represent each community, the Nunavut flag for Iqaluit, the Acadian flag for Meteghan, and the Ukrainian flag for Saskatoon. The students also got to make their own flag for their "home" and "individual" community that represented what they like and maybe some of their background. We will next be looking at geographical aspects of each community and how they affect the functioning of the communities.
Science:
We have been continuing to work through our magnetism unit in science. The latest activity the students took part in was testing whether the magnetic field could travel through certain materials. The students tested things like cloth, glass, cardboard, wax paper, tin foil, a jar lid, paper, plastic, and wood. The students found, that if strong enough, the magnetic field would pass through any material, having the magnets remain attracted even though the material was put between them. We will be finishing up the magnetism unit over the next week and a half. The last "I can" the students have to complete in this unit is to "Design and produce a device that uses a magnet." I will be sending home instructions later this week for the students to work on this at home with their parents and guardians.
I hope everyone has a great week ahead.
Mr. Aasen
Monday, 26 September 2016
Sept 26 - Sept 30
Good afternoon everyone. I hope you all had a great and relaxing weekend. There are a few very important things to run by you. First, I am not at school tomorrow, Tuesday, Sept 27th, and there will be a sub for the day. Second, picture day is this Wednesday, Sept 28th. A note is going home tomorrow regarding sibling pictures as well. If you would like your child dressed up for pictures, they are taking place in the morning on Wednesday. Friday we also have the Strathcona Ceremonial Mounted Troops performing. The performance will be happening regardless of weather and there is rain in the forecast. Please dress your child accordingly.
Language Arts
Phonics:
This week in phonics we will begin unit 2. Unit 2 is a number of exercises that focus on short vowels. As the phonics works with the spelling words, we are covering the short "o" and short "u" wprds in spelling this week.
Writing:
We recently began our writing program called empowering writers. It is a program where each month has a different theme and will focus on specific areas to develop writing skills. The theme of the first month is "back to school". The main focus of our writing this month is identifying the two main forms of writing, Informative/Expository writing and Narrative writing. The purpose of informative/expository writing (generally called non fiction) is to inform the reader. To give them information. The purpose of narrative writing (generally called fiction) is to tell a story and entertain. The students have been learning differences between the two forms of writing and what to look for to identify them. We will also continue with our weekly journals. If you ever want to see your child's journal you can send me a quick message in their agenda and I can send it home with them.
Math
We are working very diligently in our number sense unit to start the year. We have done lots of work on representing numbers and also looked at number words to twenty. We also started creating word problems using the number words that we were recently studying. This week we will be discussing ordinal words (1st - first, 2nd-second, 3rd-third, 10th-tenth, etc), as well as counting and numbers to 100.
Science
As you may already know in science we have discussed that magnets have two poles, north and south. The students should be using the words attract and repel when describing what same poles (N and N or S and S) will do when they come together and what opposite poles (N and S) will do when they come together. We have also been discussing types of magnets. There are electromagnets (magnets created using electricity), permanent magnets (magnets that will never lose their magnetic field), and temporary magnets (magnets that will lose their magnetic field). We will be experimenting with creating a temporary magnet this week using a magnet and scissors. The students are going to have a great time.
Social
We continue our mapping review unit and will be wrapping it up shortly. We have continued to explore different maps, such as street maps, floor plans, and outside maps. The students are using a saying that works best for them to remember the directions of the compass rose (Never Eat Soggy Waffles) with north pointing up. We have looked at map keys/legends as well as signs and symbols. The students are becoming experts and reading and labeling maps. We will be writing our mapping unit test at the end of this week or early next week.
I hope everyone has a lovely week ahead. Enjoy the sunny warm weather while you can as it looks like some cooler wet weather is in the forecast.
Mr. Aasen
Language Arts
Phonics:
This week in phonics we will begin unit 2. Unit 2 is a number of exercises that focus on short vowels. As the phonics works with the spelling words, we are covering the short "o" and short "u" wprds in spelling this week.
Writing:
We recently began our writing program called empowering writers. It is a program where each month has a different theme and will focus on specific areas to develop writing skills. The theme of the first month is "back to school". The main focus of our writing this month is identifying the two main forms of writing, Informative/Expository writing and Narrative writing. The purpose of informative/expository writing (generally called non fiction) is to inform the reader. To give them information. The purpose of narrative writing (generally called fiction) is to tell a story and entertain. The students have been learning differences between the two forms of writing and what to look for to identify them. We will also continue with our weekly journals. If you ever want to see your child's journal you can send me a quick message in their agenda and I can send it home with them.
Math
We are working very diligently in our number sense unit to start the year. We have done lots of work on representing numbers and also looked at number words to twenty. We also started creating word problems using the number words that we were recently studying. This week we will be discussing ordinal words (1st - first, 2nd-second, 3rd-third, 10th-tenth, etc), as well as counting and numbers to 100.
Science
As you may already know in science we have discussed that magnets have two poles, north and south. The students should be using the words attract and repel when describing what same poles (N and N or S and S) will do when they come together and what opposite poles (N and S) will do when they come together. We have also been discussing types of magnets. There are electromagnets (magnets created using electricity), permanent magnets (magnets that will never lose their magnetic field), and temporary magnets (magnets that will lose their magnetic field). We will be experimenting with creating a temporary magnet this week using a magnet and scissors. The students are going to have a great time.
Social
We continue our mapping review unit and will be wrapping it up shortly. We have continued to explore different maps, such as street maps, floor plans, and outside maps. The students are using a saying that works best for them to remember the directions of the compass rose (Never Eat Soggy Waffles) with north pointing up. We have looked at map keys/legends as well as signs and symbols. The students are becoming experts and reading and labeling maps. We will be writing our mapping unit test at the end of this week or early next week.
I hope everyone has a lovely week ahead. Enjoy the sunny warm weather while you can as it looks like some cooler wet weather is in the forecast.
Mr. Aasen
Monday, 12 September 2016
Sept 12 - 15
Good afternoon everyone. I hope you have had a great start to the school year. We have had a wonderful start this year in 2A. We currently have 22 students and they are all settling in nicely.
This week we have a couple of important times. We have our first library class this Thursday. Students are allowed to take two books each week out of the library. One must be a reading book, and one may be a look book or another reading book. Also on Thursday, we are having the annual Terry Fox Run. The run/walk will begin at 1pm and will consist of approximately a 1km excursion for the grade 2's. It is going to be a great time in support of cancer research.
Language Arts
Spelling:
The weekly spelling words will always be posted in the spelling tab at the top of the blog.
Phonics:
Our first area of focus in phonics is in beginning and ending consonant sounds. A consonant is any letter in the alphabet that is not a vowel.
Writing:
Currently in writing, there is an emphasis on beginning capital letters and ending periods. We will be doing weekly journals as well as writing activities during work on writing sessions in Daily 5. We also have a writing program called Empowering Writers that we will be following throughout the year that focuses on different writing skills.
Math
We have begun our math unit focusing on some review and number sense. We have looked at recognizing numbers as well as comparing numbers using words like more, less, and fewer. This week we will look at number words (zero, one, two, three, etc.) and some addition review.
Science
Our first science unit is magnetism. We have done some exploring with magnets and learned of first definition. Attract- "to draw by force". We use the word attract when we talk about the magnet being attracted to something else. We are trying to not use the word "stick". The force of the magnet attracts it to things made of metal. We have learned that only metals containing the metal "iron" will be attracted to magnets. Metals containing nickel and cobalt also are attracted however we have not discussed these as they are not part of metals around the classroom typically. We will continue to learn more about magnets over the coming two month concluding with our magnets unit at the end of October.
Social Studies
In social we have began our mapping review unit. We have talked about the compass rose on a map and its purpose. We have also come up with a saying to remember the directions on it. (Never Eat Soggy Waffles) Clockwise from the top the directions are North, East, South, and West. We have also talked about a legend and what are some symbols we might fight on a map, such as an H for a hospital, or a tent, for a campground. We will continue with this unit for a few more weeks.
I hope everyone has a great week and a reminder that we have no school on Friday as it is a PD day.
Mr. Aasen
This week we have a couple of important times. We have our first library class this Thursday. Students are allowed to take two books each week out of the library. One must be a reading book, and one may be a look book or another reading book. Also on Thursday, we are having the annual Terry Fox Run. The run/walk will begin at 1pm and will consist of approximately a 1km excursion for the grade 2's. It is going to be a great time in support of cancer research.
Language Arts
Spelling:
The weekly spelling words will always be posted in the spelling tab at the top of the blog.
Phonics:
Our first area of focus in phonics is in beginning and ending consonant sounds. A consonant is any letter in the alphabet that is not a vowel.
Writing:
Currently in writing, there is an emphasis on beginning capital letters and ending periods. We will be doing weekly journals as well as writing activities during work on writing sessions in Daily 5. We also have a writing program called Empowering Writers that we will be following throughout the year that focuses on different writing skills.
Math
We have begun our math unit focusing on some review and number sense. We have looked at recognizing numbers as well as comparing numbers using words like more, less, and fewer. This week we will look at number words (zero, one, two, three, etc.) and some addition review.
Science
Our first science unit is magnetism. We have done some exploring with magnets and learned of first definition. Attract- "to draw by force". We use the word attract when we talk about the magnet being attracted to something else. We are trying to not use the word "stick". The force of the magnet attracts it to things made of metal. We have learned that only metals containing the metal "iron" will be attracted to magnets. Metals containing nickel and cobalt also are attracted however we have not discussed these as they are not part of metals around the classroom typically. We will continue to learn more about magnets over the coming two month concluding with our magnets unit at the end of October.
Social Studies
In social we have began our mapping review unit. We have talked about the compass rose on a map and its purpose. We have also come up with a saying to remember the directions on it. (Never Eat Soggy Waffles) Clockwise from the top the directions are North, East, South, and West. We have also talked about a legend and what are some symbols we might fight on a map, such as an H for a hospital, or a tent, for a campground. We will continue with this unit for a few more weeks.
I hope everyone has a great week and a reminder that we have no school on Friday as it is a PD day.
Mr. Aasen
Wednesday, 7 September 2016
Meet the Teacher Night
Just a heads up that tomorrow, Thursday September 8th, is meet the teacher night at East Elementary from 6pm-7pm. Come and meet your child's teacher and other staff at East.
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