This Week in Room 21...

Hello and Happy Friday! It's hard to believe the month of September is al.most over! Time sure flies! This has been a busy week with lots of special events and activities. Take a look!

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In Language arts we reviewed the sounds of /s/ and /i/. We continued to build words using our movable alphabet and practiced blending letters to sound out words. We also continued to develop our ear to listen for beginning and ending sounds in words, listen for syllables and break words down into their syllables.

This week in math students were introduced to the skill of subitizing. Subitizing is the ability to count a set of objects at-a-glance rather than one-by-one. In order to do this students must learn to look for patterns or groups in a set of objects that lets them quickly group and count the items. For example, when shown a set of dots for only a few seconds they might notice 2 dots and 3 dots, then mentally calculate that as a total of 5 dots. 

In math students began to use base ten blocks to build teen numbers. They extended their learning of teen numbers being a ten and ____ more to ___ tens and ____ ones. For example, 10 and 2 more is 12. This can also be shown as 1 ten and 2 ones blocks.

Students in grade 2 continued to develop their skills at using skip counting to complete more challenging skip counting puzzles and games.

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In social studies we began looking more closely at the three groups of Indigenous People in Canada-- the Metis, Inuit and First Nations. We watched some videos about each group and then created a chart showing some of the homes, clothing, food, transportation and other things historically associated with each.

We also learned about Orange Shirt Day. What it is and why it is an important day to remember and reflect on past wrongs done to Indigenous people's.  The students watched some videos about the experiences of children in residential schools and attended an assembly commemorating this day.

In gym we practiced training for the Terry Fox Run. On Wednesday, the students got together in their colour groups and ran around the school field to raise money for cancer awareness and research.

Important Information & Reminders:

• Library Day is on Wednesday. If your child misses a Library Day we will try to send them on a different day, however, it will not always be possible to do so. Most times they can simply wait for the following Library Day.

Upcoming Events and Dates to Remember:

Sept 29 - No School

Sept. 30 - National Day for Truth & Reconciliation

Oct. 9 - Thanksgiving/No School

Oct. 10 - School Council Meeting (6pm)

Oct. 19 - Halloween Dance? (TBD) - more info. to come

Oct. 22 - PD Day/No School

Oct. 23-27 - Inline Skating

Oct. 30 - Picture Retake Day

Oct. 31 - Halloween