Ms. Mary's Class
Class 2C at the Elementary School, ASD, Doha.
Week 27: March 18th, 2015
Please make sure you have received your child's report card today.
After you have read it, please have an enjoyable holiday, in Doha or elsewhere.
We will begin new units in Reading, Writing and Maths on our return so please get some rest! It's a long 11 week run to the Summer holiday!
Enjoy the break!
Kind Regards,
Mary Mulqueen
Some facts about St. Patrick
The modern celebration of St. Patrick’s Day really has almost nothing to do with the real man. In fact, most don’t know that the patron saint of Ireland wasn’t even born in Ireland. The boy, whom some suggest was originally named Maewyn, was born in Britain (or, some believe, Scotland) around A.D. 390 to an aristocratic Christian family. Despite growing up Christian, the boy felt unsure about the faith. It wasn’t until he was 16 years old that his views changed. The teenager was kidnapped and sent across the sea to Ireland as a slave. There, in a cold mountainous region of Ireland, he toiled for seven years as a shepherd. During his time in bondage, he heard voices in his head compelling him to escape, which he did, eventually reuniting with his family. The experience changed him, and he felt compelled to return to Ireland and change his name to Patrick. Before his return, he was ordained as a Catholic priest. He made it his mission to convert the largely pagan Irish population to Christianity. The work was hard, as he was routinely beaten by thugs, harassed by the Irish royalty, and admonished by his English superiors in the church. After he died on March 17, 461, stories about Patrick continued to be told for centuries.
The shamrock
The most common story attributed to his missionary work was his use of the three-leafed clover (shamrock) to explain the Christian concept of the Holy Trinity to the native Irish. As the shamrock consisted of three leaves growing from a single stem, Patrick reportedly used it to illustrate the belief that God (the stem) consists of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (the three leaves). Today, people celebrating St. Patrick’s Day often wear a shamrock. Botanists consider the trifolium dubium—the wild-growing, three-leaf clover—to be the official shamrock, as it is an annual plant that germinates in the spring. The shamrock is the national flower of Ireland, and the word “shamrock” comes from the Irish word seamróg, meaning “little clover.”
Science Unit on Forces & Motion
We began a new Science unit on Forces & Motion this week. Already we have made predictions about how far a toy car might move with different push strengths, we have applied different pushes to the car and we have recorded the data. We then compared our predictions with the actual experiment and we discussed why the car moved further with a stronger push. We will explore the following topics over the next few weeks...
- What is a force? What kinds of forces are there?
- What makes moving things slow down?
- What makes things fall? What makes things balance?
- What do magnets do?
- How do we use forces in everyday life?
Here are some books from MyOn website that will give your child a great start to the unit...
Making Thinks Move
Pushes and Pulls
Crash Course in Forces and Motion by Max Axiom
The Gripping Truth about Forces and Motion
Thud! Wild Coyote's Experiments with Forces and Motion
How Do We Stay On Earth?
Buddy Reading with 5C
Folk tale puppet shows at the Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium
Garbage Monster: a Karagoz Performance
With The Istanbul Karagoz Puppet Foundation
8 May, 9 May, 6pm
Join us for a contemporary Karagoz performance by the Istanbul Karagoz Puppet Foundation in celebration of the 'Marvellous Creatures: Animal Fables in Islamic Art' exhibition. Karagoz shadow puppetry began in the Mamluk period in Egypt, and travelled to Turkey with the Ottoman conquest of the region. Puppetry is an exciting visual and aural performance with live music and traditional songs to delight the whole family.
Reading & Role Play
Before role-playing, we spent a lot of time summarising our folktales, 'across 4 fingers' or in 4 or 5 sentences. We were careful not to include details that are unimportant and we made sure we included the important ones. This will be a very important skill in Grade 3!
How do readers roleplay characters?
Readers have to close read to notice the clues that will help them role play their character.
How do readers push themselves to dig deep into character feelings?
Readers ask and think “Why is the character feeling this way?” to dig deep into character feelings.
How do reader’s envision a character’s perspective?
Readers read closely noticing the characters' actions and feelings to envision a character’s point of view
New Math Unit - Solving problems with Addition & Subtraction strategies
Where we are now ....
Place Value Representation & Vertical Adding
Read the problem - more than once if you need to
Draw and label it - to understand what you know and what you need to find out
Write a number sentence - plus or minus?
Write a word sentence - to answer the question
International Children's Digital Library
Our next Reading Unit will be on Folktales from around the world: check out this free resource which has 228 Folktales in several languages.
The mission of the International Children's Digital Library Foundation (ICDL Foundation) is to support the world's children in becoming effective members of the global community - who exhibit tolerance and respect for diverse cultures, languages and ideas -- by making the best in children's literature available online free of charge. The Foundation pursues its vision by building a digital library of outstanding children's books from around the world and supporting communities of children and adults in exploring and using this literature through innovative technology designed in close partnership with children for children.
Ongoing Extension at home....
- Please wait until Wednesday to complete Math homework as we often have not completed teaching the Math points until then.
- Practice 'Accountable talk' with your family during dinner.
- Be a Math Hero - know all the combinations to 20 by heart! Play Close to 20 game.
- How many different ways can you show the number that is today's date? (standard form, expanded form, word form...)
password: dragons
Password: 123456
Elementary Playground after school
Absence from School
We kindly request that you contact the Lower Elementary Office Manager, Mrs. Krista Wilson if you know your child will be absent. Her contact information is kwilson@asd.edu.qa or you may prefer to call the elementary office at 4459-1550
Important Dragon Band Announcement:
If your child uses their Dragon Band to purchase lunch at school it is important to "top up" the band at the vending machine on a regular basis. Campus Card will send reminders to parents once the card dips below 100 QR.