2D Newsletter
Week ending May 19th
Tomorrow we will have our Grade 2 mini market to help raise money for the Shukran dinner. Please remind your children to bring any items they made to sell. If your child wants to buy something from the market, all items will be 1 or 2 QR. The Shukran dinner takes place next Monday May 30th from 5-7 p.m. in the HS/MS. We are excited to be helping host this dinner of appreciation for all the ASD workers. The Second Grade teachers will be supporting the event by cleaning up at the end of the evening. Second Grade students have asked how they could further help this evening be a success, and it has been suggested that they could provide a dessert for the buffet dinner. It would be wonderful if you could support your child in making a dessert for the evening. This will allow the Second Graders a further opportunity to support their ASD community. If you do plan to support this annual event, please send the dessert with your child on the morning of Monday, 30th or deliver it at the end of the school day. These will be taken to the cafeteria for refrigeration, if necessary. Please ensure that your plate is named or easily identified if you wish for it to be returned.Thank you for supporting your child and the Shukran Committee in this event, it is truly appreciated! And a big thank you also for the support with sending in donations.
A reminder that 2D will be going bowling on Wednesday 25th from 9-11:30am at the Qatar Bowling Center. I look forward to seeing all those wanting to join us.
Have a lovely week.
Kindly,
Penny
Curriculum Updates
Math: This week in math, students used math drawings to represent equal groups, and relate them to repeated addition. They also were introduced to arrays and how to compose arrays from rows and columns and count to find the total using objects.
Reading: Most students have now been assessed using the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA). Part of the assessment is having students write about what they do well as a reader and what they would like to improve. In 2D we worked on these in small groups. The reflection process led to some interesting discussions. Although our unit titled Series Books has come to an end, many students have discovered series they enjoy. Our last unit of the year is an independent project. The project allows students to continue growing their reading skills and working towards their individual reading goals.
The last two weeks I have been administering the year end DRA to all students. At this stage of reading development students continue to read aloud with fluency and expression while thinking deeply about their text. They are asked to make predictions and interpret specific text features. Additionally they summarize the text, infer about the characters, and determine the author's message. At the beginning of grade 2 this was was mostly an oral assessment. Now the end-of-year expectation is for these skills to be shown through written response. This is an exciting time for both me and your child as we get to see great growth!
Writing: Our final writing unit this year is a review of all things fiction. Students took part in the ASD common writing prompt and the information gained from this writing activity will help shape our writing lessons for the next 2 weeks. We look forward to building on what we already know strong fiction writers do and even exploring new genres of fiction.
Science: Students expanded their knowledge about forces this week by learning about magnetism. Instead of using words like push and pull, we tried to use the more scientific language of attract and repel. We learned not every metal attracts to a magnet. We also learned the power of a magnet does not always depend on its size. Wanna play a fun magnet game at home? Check out this site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/7_8/magnets_springs.shtml
Upcoming Dates and Events
May 23 - Grade 2 Mini-marketplace
May 24 Full Day of School – Tuesday Morning Schedule
May 25 - Bowling Trip 9:00-11:30am
May 30 Irish Storyteller Visit - Library will provide further details
June 5 Step up Day 8:10-8:40
June 7 Full Day Tuesday – Tuesday Morning Schedule
June 9 Last Day Assembly @ 9 am
June 9 Last Day of School - Student Dismissal at 12:00pm – Report Cards go Home