Farewell Grade 2

It has been a fun-filled year, full of exciting topics like our five senses, life in the past, light and sound, forces, structures, the Earth’s resources and fractions! We enjoyed a return to normal with events such as the sleepover and regular field trips and a daily life without masks for the first time in over 3 years! 

Our final days were spent finishing up unfinished stuff from the poetry unit in language, the money unit in math, and posters, booklets or videos for conserving resources and playing some fan-favourite games of tag during PE.

Amongst all of the fun, we managed to file away and pack up all of the posters and student work from around the classroom. Leaving the walls and displays bare, ready to be filled up again by a new group of second graders as this class moves up to Grade 3. I wish all of the students and their families a wonderful summer holiday wherever they may be. 

We also sadly had to say farewell to two of our close friends who have been such important members of this class for the last few years. 

Amalia’s bright smile and caring personality has helped teach the rest of the student about how to be caring and accepting of others. Evah’s friendly and out-going personality helped her get along with everyone and her presence in class will be missed. We wish both girls and their families all the best in their next adventures abroad, wherever life takes them.

We also had to say goodbye to Ms Ida, who has been together with this group of students for the past few years and we wish her all the best in her next adventure!

Thank you to all of the families for your support and understanding this year! I truly enjoyed our year together and look forward to seeing what this group of students can go to accomplish in the years ahead. Have a wonderful summer together with your children. As a teacher I get to “borrow” your children for a year, and then return them at the end with a bit more knowledge and skills than they began with at the start of the year. 

Action, SLCs, and Poetry

 This week was all about wrapping things up as we completed our sixth unit of the year by taking action to create posters, books or videos on ways to help the environment.

On Wednesday evening, the students became the teachers as they hosted their parents for the Student Led Conferences. In preparation for the event, the students helped choose and setup displays of some of the memorable work and activities that they did for each of the units this year. Some of the things on display included posters of the sensory organs, how roads were built in the past and present, the meaning of different colours, pieces of paper to fold and connect to build a tall tower and plenty more in our classroom alone! There were plenty of other things on display in all of the specialist classes as well!

In language we have been working on learning about poetry and the students have been doing a great job of creating different types of poems and will bring the poem booklets home next week.

Report Cards

Report cards were sent out via email at 3:30 this afternoon. Please take a look at it together with your child  and discuss.

Yearbooks

Your child’s 2022/20233 yèarbook was sent home earlier this week please enjoy taking a look at it together! 

Large Bag to Pack Up

Speaking of bringing things home next week, please send your child to school with a large bag on Monday and Tuesday so that we can start packing up some of their things so that they don’t have too much to bring home all at once.

Class Party - Wednesday

On the last day of school, Wednesday, June 21st we will have a class party and start our lunch time a bit early so that we can wrap things up by 13:00. I have some popcorn and other snacks to share and families are welcome to send some food in for the students to share before saying goodbye for the summer. 

Only One Week Left!

 It’s hard to believe that we’re already down to the last 7 1/2 days of Grade 2! 

This week the students shared their Environmental Issues presentations with each other and learnt some basic facts about the negative impact humans are having on the Earth. 

After hearing the story of The Lorax, the students reflected on which environmental issues were brought up in the story and then we discussed the different types of positive actions we can take to help the environment. The students shared and discussed their ideas within their groups and came up with lists of ideas then presented them with the class. 

In PE. we took on another type of action ase practiced our climbing, jumping, balancing and swinging skills on a little outdoor obstacle course on the new playground equipment.

Next week, the students will share what they’ve learnt this year at their SLCS on Wednesday night from 17:00 - 20:00. We look forward to seeing you there. 

Wet, Watery Week and Waste Water Treatment Trip

 Well, rainy season has come early this year but just in time for our week all about one of our most important natural resources: Water.

In class, during unit time we did some reading and answered comprehension questions about water. The students also worked on completing their environmental issue slideshow and will present them to their classmates on Monday.

On Wednesday, the highlight of the week was a short field trip to Kobe Aqua Gallery/ Higashi Water Environmental Center in order to learn about how the waste water from all of our homes is treated to make it clean again before releasing it back into the ocean.

Mr Sasakawa was our tour guide and we watched a short video before touring the facilities. Each day the equivalent of five hundred 25m swimming pools of water is cleaned and recycled back into the ocean from this facility. Thank you to Ms Wysk and Ms Nishimura for joining us on the trip.

In PE we worked on our throwing and catching skills with partners.