Goodbye Grade 2

 Our final few days of Grade 2 were busy with finishing up some artwork for our unit on how we express ourselves,  sharing of our poetry and story books,  a bit of math work on chance and probability to finish our red Cambridge math books, a test on fractions, some classroom clean up and some parties for summer birthday kids and to say farewell to Grade 2.

The final art project for our unit was on creating an original print. Using styrofoam trays and a pencil the students etched into the tray to create a drawing or message. They then rolled on paint with a roller and then pressed it down on a sheet of paper to create their own unique prints.

In PE, we ended our gymnastics unit by having the students perform their gymnastics routines. Everyone was a real risk taker this unit as they tried their best to improve existing skills and to learn some new ones.

On Tuesday, we celebrated 4 birthdays for our friends who have birthdays coming up in July.

On Wednesday, the students worked hard helping pack up their things and to clean up the classroom so that we could enjoy our final day together yesterday by playing some of our favourite games together such as Kahoot, Prodigy and Mojo’s island. We also had a teary farewell to Mathieu, and even I got a bit choked up saying not goodbye, but “au revoir” to him and the class.

Thank you all for sharing your children with me this year. It has been my pleasure to get to know all of them so well and to have seen them all grow and develop over the year. I wish you all a wonderful summer break and good luck in the future!

Collaboration, Conferences and Colouring!

 Our final full week of Grade 2 was full of fun as we flipped, filmed and frantically finished up some of our work with fantastic friends to show off to our families at the student led conferences on Thursday evening. Thank you to all the parents (and grandparents!) who came out to support and see what the students have accomplished this year! 

Early in the week we finished up the puppet theatre stages for the lower primary collaborative project and the students also started rehearsing the productions together with Grade 1 handling the lighting and sound effects while the preschoolers handled the puppets and dialogue. Our productions will premier at the assembly next week.

In unit time today, the grade 2 students worked on learning about different art movements by choosing one that they’re interested in. Like many great artists before them, they learned how to create art by copying famous paintings.

In PE, they continued to work on their gymnastic skills and will have a chance to perform for their classmates next week. 

Next Tuesday, we will celebrate some of the summer birthdays together and have a small class party. We will also start sending things home on Tuesday and Wednesday so that we don’t have too much to carry all at once on the last day so please send your child with a sturdy bag (like an Eco bag) to carry some books and work home on those days. 

Also, please make sure that your child has a hat for outside playtime otherwise they won’t be allowed to play as it is getting warm and heatstroke is a concern.

One Twentieth of the Year Remaining

 With only 9 days remaining from our 180 days of class, that is the fraction of days we have left. It is sure to be a busy few days as we prepare for the student led conferences next Thursday, June 13th between 17:00 and 20:00. We also need to wrap up our unit on art as well as some fractions in math as well as a gymnastics unit in PE.

This week we were busy with all of the above topics! 

In unit we worked on two projects this week. After looking at some self-portraits by Vincent Van Gogh, the students learnt about facial proportions and then created their own. We even made some connections between our unit and our current math unit. Did you know that the eyes are halfway between the top of your head and your chin? Or that your face can be divided into thirds from your chin to the bottom of the nose, then another third from the bottom of your nose to your eyebrows and the final third from your eyebrows to your hairline. After carefully sketching their face, the students painted them with bright colours. The paintings and other artworks will be on display on Thursday night for the Student Led Conferences.

They also worked on a second art project, this time a collaborative effort between all three lower primary classes. Preschool wrote some stories for how we express ourselves, Grade 2 will make the setting/ scenery for the puppet theatre, and Grade 1 will be in charge of lighting and sound effects. 

In math, we used fraction strips to help us compare and find equivalent fractions.

We also had a special guest teacher on Wednesday as Ella from grade 5 came to share a story that she wrote for her PYP exhibition about a polar bear that was struggling with climate change and she inspired and motivated the grade two students to help her take action by creating bracelets out of non-toxic and biodegradable clay beads which will be sold at the exhibition in order to raise money to be donated.

Finally, during PE we continued our gymnastics unit. We tried some new skills such as cartwheels, handstands and handsprings. Next week the students will combine a few moves into their own tumbling routine to show off their skill.