Maths

During maths this week, we continued to practice positioning numbers in their correct value places. To add a bit of fun to the lesson we used our laptops to practice this. We first started by rolling two dice, and recording both numbers. If we rolled a 5 and a 1, we put the two numbers side by side and recorded it as 51. We then used the groups of tens and the units images on the laptop to place them into wither the tens or ones column to show the number’s value.

Later in the week we did this again but this time we used three dice and we had a hundreds, tens and units chart.

Science

During Science we continued our investigations into water.

We put our thinking caps on and began searching within our prior knowledge to see what we already know about water, and learn from others and what they already know.

We focused on answering four questions in as much detail as possible,

1. Where does water come from?
2. What is water used for?
3. How can I use water responsibly?
4. Who or what uses/needs water?

Writer’s Workshop

During week six the Writer’s Workshop focus was on listing possible book ideas and matching a book type to that idea.

That way when we are ready to start a new book, they can refer to their list for quick ideas.

HASS

In HASS we have continued exploring our place in the world. Today we focused on our country, our states and our capital cities.

Students drew and labelled their own map of Australia.

Reader’s Workshop

During reader’s workshop we have continued to develop our reading stamina.

Health

This week we dove into an intensive week of learning about bullying and its affect on others. We will continue our learning about this into week 7.

At this age many of the children are beginning to develop a greater social awareness, but can still be quite unaware of how their words and actions affect others.

We started by reading a book about a bully, we talked about the actions that this bully was taking, and discussed that a once off insult to someone does not instantly make you a bully, but if every day you purposely say and do things to harm others, then you do become bully.

We also unpacked what actions makes someone a bully and what actions makes someone a buddy.

The children also participated in an activity where each child was given a paper heart, we read a book about a girl and each time the bullies said or did something to hurt the girl the children screwed their heart up and unfolded it again, by the end of the book some hearts were in pieces.

We talked about how these actions damage our hearts and the damage is not possible to repair, even if you change the way you act toward that person their heart will carry damage forever.

As usual, we had another week full of wonderful learning opportunities.
Now that the focus is off of our Assembly we have been able to establish
a predictable and consistent learning routine within the classroom and
as expected the children have responded well.

Science

During science we started this Term’s investigation into water. Children started by exploring what our senses notice when it comes to water. Each of the children sat with their water bottle and tasted, smelt, felt, listened to, and looked at the water while they engaged in discussions about what water tastes like, sounds like, feels like, looks like and smells like. Some of us were able really pop our science hats on and think outside of the box. Hudson considered the fact that not all waters from all sources will have the same answers, and he gave the example of salt water from the ocean and how that will not taste like the water in your drink bottle. This opened up a new perspective for the rest of us scientists to consider.

Maths

During maths we continued our learning about place value, showing with physical materials that we understand how many ones makes up one group of ten. This can be a difficult concept for children to grasp at first, as one group of ten can look like one, but it is in fact ten. With repeated practice using physical materials children begin to understand this concept which sets them up with the basis of understanding numbers and how we write them and what their quantities are.

We played a bit of a game too… in pairs children took it in turns to roll a die. What ever number showed on the die, that child had to collect that amount of blocks. Children continued doing this and adding to their block pile until all of the blocks in the classroom ran out.

The pairs then had to sort their blocks into groups of tens and left over ones.

After they had a go at recording their number in a HTU (hundreds, tens and units) chart.

Brain Food

Every morning, between 9:40 and 10:20 we find some time to stop, get outside into nature and enjoy a healthy snack. It is a great reset time for the children and allows them that opportunity to recharge themself for more learning. Our morning block is our longest block of learning for the school day as it is two hours long. The other blocks throughout the day are an hour and a half long.

Please ensure your child has a healthy snack in their lunch box for this recharge time, as sugary, salty and processed foods do not provide children with the long lasting type of energy they need to get through their learning. Research has proven time and time again that without the right foods children (and adults) are unable to maintain optimal focus levels.

Ideas include, fruit, cheese and crackers, crackers, vegetables, yoghurt, yakult, boiled egg, oat bakes, dips and crackers.

HASS

During HASS we have been exploring the concept of where we are and where we live. We have had lengthy discussions about how we live in our house, which is on a street, which is in a suburb, which is in a city or town, which is in a state, which is in a country, which is in our world.

We talked about how everyone has an identity which is unique to them and we have special documents which prove we are who we say we are.

The children then created their own passports.

Health

During health we have been learning about different emotions, how we can identify them and which emotions are comfortable feelings and uncomfortable feelings. Together we though of eleven different emotions, the children then organised them into two groups, comfortable and uncomfortable.

The week that was…

Week 4 sure was a busy week in the lead up to our Assembly. Every day we set off to the stage to practice and rehearse.

In between many learning opportunities were experienced.

Every day after lunch we engage in a mindfulness experience, the lights are dimmed and calming music is played. The children focus in on their breathing and focus on letting worries and thoughts pass by, in order to focus in on themselves in that very moment. Some of us are really trying to embrace this challenge and resist the urge to be distracted. Well done to Makai and another student who moved themselves away from their peers to ensure their concentration would be at its best.

During Writer’s Workshop we have been learning to really focus on our work and maintain focus. Some find it challenging much like during mindfulness to ignore those distractions around them, but already we have become much more independent and focused writer’s than we were in Week 1.

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On Friday afternoon we ended the week on a calm note. The children had a go at putting their drawing skills to the test. They used technology to follow drawing tutorials, and follow the step by step instructions on how to draw illustrations of their choice.

Friday was the big day, the day the children had so eagerly been waiting for. They all did an amazing job and performed just as we had rehearsed all week. We received lots of positive comments from students and teachers throughout the school.

Well done to all of the children for their amazing efforts!

During Maths the children have been showing their different strategies for counting large numbers quickly. We then shared our different strategies and talked about the most effective ways of counting large numbers and recording them. Some children chose to count by one but quickly realised how long it was taking before changing strategies and counting by twos, fives, tens and some even counted by twenties.

From here we will move into how to record these large numbers using place value.

We had a super busy Week Three with the start of Lent. We had Shove Tuesday, followed by Ash Wednesday. On top of this I spent a bit of time out of the room doing my own learning which will in turn make me a better teacher to the children. We also spent time preparing for our Assembly which we will be presenting with 2SD this Friday!

Have a look at what we have been up to!

The children wrote prayers, thanking God for sending us Jesus who showed us how to live. We also explored who Jesus was as a person. Later we will look into the Bible and find evidence through scripture which tells us what kind of person Jesus was.

Konrad returned from his trip to Queensland! He shared so many amazing photos with us and worked on his oral language skills while he described and explained what he did on his holiday!

During week 3 we also released more Purple Spotted Gudgeon into the Billbongs, which is super exciting. These fish are endangered and it is wonderful to know that at our school we are breeding these fish and giving them a safe environment to live in.

The first lot of Purple Spotted Gudgeon which were released into our Billabongs last year are soon to be released into the River Torrens.

We explored what we would promise or sacrifice for the 40 days of Lent and recorded our thoughts.

During Writer’s Workshop we have been exploring how we can be true authors who keep writing and creating new books all the time. The children are so used to finishing a piece of work and moving on, that the idea of a never ending project is new to learn. We created a list to help us remember what we can do once we have completed a book.

On Shrove Tuesday we enjoyed some tasty pancakes. As well as this we had a look at the pancake procedure and created our own ‘how to’ books with the step by step process of how to make a pancake. For this we put our new laptop skills to the test.

The first two weeks in 2EV have been full of wonderful learning opportunities for the children.

They have adjusted well to their new environment and to their new status as a Year Two student. Already I have seen tremendous growth in the children. How exciting is that! Imagine how much they will grow throughout the whole year!

READING

First of all their reading stamina has already increased. Every morning we read for 30 – 40 minutes. What a way to start the day, in one of the riches ways to increase word, and phonics knowledge and to extend vocabulary. You can hear a pin drop during this reading time, that gives you an idea of the level of focus during this time.

TECHNOLOGY

Laptops! They are new, they are exciting and would you believe the children can already log in, and create a Power Point presentation with added text, and images from google. I am already seeing some extraordinary digital books being created by our young authors. On day one, they opened their laptops and looked at me with a puzzled expression, but every single child believed that they could do it and they did it! How capable we all are!

CHARACTER STRENGTHS

We have had a look into our Character Strengths, and the children explored which Character Strengths they use to strengthen themselves as a learner and a person. Some of the most common were love, kindness, zest, honesty, gratitude, and love of learning. What a group of truly amazing learners we have!

MATHS

In Maths we have seen the children dive into their knowledge of number and we will continue to build on this knowledge throughout the year!

Thank you for taking the time to explore our learning with us! Please feel free to leave a comment and keep an eye out for new posts, we intend on  doing marvelous things in 2EV.