Mrs.Helsen's Grade 2 and 3 Class 2020-2021

Tuesday, 9 October 2018

Liquids, Calgary's Early Beginnings, Spelling

In our "Liquids" Unit students have looked at droplets of water, oil, sanitizer and red vinegar. We learned that the droplets moved around differently and were shaped differently. The water droplets were attracted to each other and were shaped in a dome shape while the other liquids spread out. We are learning about the properties of liquids (opaque, transparent, colorless, viscosity, intro to water tension.)

We have had our first spelling test, our next one will be on Friday. The grade ones will each have 5 words, the grade 2s have 12 words plus 2 sentences made up of words from the current week plus past weeks. Please help your child study these words at home, it helps to build confidence and sight words. Grade 1 students should be able to get 4 or 5 out of 5 on these tests.

In Social Studies we are learning about Calgary's early beginnings. Today Mrs.Maze's grade 1/2 class came over to our class for a large group lesson.

We learned;
-Indigenous People have lived in the areas in and around Calgary for thousands of years
-Whiskey traders came to the Calgary area in the 1870s
-in 1875 Fort Calgary was established by the North West Mounted Police, they tried to stop the trading of whiskey
-in 1882 the CPR was built through Calgary to help join Eastern and Western Canada, a promise made to British Columbia upon its entry into Confederation.
-1872-1930 Dominion Land Act- Men (and later woman) could get 65 hectares of land for $10.00 as long as they built a homestead, cleared the land, and planted a garden within 3 years of taking possession of it. If they did do so they could purchase 260 hectares of land to call their own.

In Math we continue to work on counting both forwards and backwards, looking at days of the week, months of the year, minutes and hours in a day. We are using the laptops on Wednesday afternoons to work on Math through the Mathletics learning tool. Students may access this at home using the login provided in the front of their agendas.

Starfall.com is an EXCELLENT tool for children when learning their alphabet letters and sounds.
Starfall

The Leapfrog Letter Factory is an excellent video to watch (multiple times) for those students still working on alphabet sounds.

The Letter Factory

Please choose 2-3 pictures from below and ask your chid what is happening in them.

Question of the day!

Can you remember the order of Calgary's timeline? If so answer by clicking on "comment"

1) hint- First People
2) hint- sneaky guys
3) hint- helped people
4) hint- chugga, chugga, choo, choo
5) hint- came on ships and trains

Monday, 1 October 2018

Kananaskis in the Classroom and Terry Fox

Today we saw the "Flow Factor" presentation hosted by the Kananaskis in the Classroom (Alberta Parks) staff. We learned about the water cycle and how pollution affects the water, plants and animals. We are learning about liquids in Science, the presentation was perfect for this unit of study.

We have begun our spelling program. Students have a spelling test every Friday morning (unless specified). The words are in their agenda. Mrs.Maze is teaching the grade 1s and I will be teaching the grade 2s.

In Math the grade 1s worked on re-ordering numbers 1-16 and the grade 2s worked on number patterns 2, 4, 6, 8,___, 12, AND 5,8,7,10,9,12,11,___, ____, ____.

In Science we began looking at different types of liquids and how they move. We "observed" that some move quickly and some move slowly.

Reminders:
-Wed. bring a small tupperware like container (we are baking)
-Thurs. picture day
-Fri. spelling test (both grades)

Heritage Park- Students are invited to wear "old fashioned" clothing. Boys can wear shirts, bows, ties, button down shirts, or a fedora. Girls on dresses, big bows or ribbons, etc.

Please see Orange Shirt Day links below.

Question of the Day:

What are some ways that we can save water or use less of it?