Mr. McGaughey’s Grade 4

February Newsletter

Please visit our new class website regularly at
http://par.scdsb.on.ca/classes/mcgaughey

New on the Website: 126 Ways to Show You Care, mp3 recordings of each
child’s speech, How to Play Doctor Dodgeball .

As the year progresses I will continue to post reminders, classroom
news, and examples of student work on our class web page.

Speech Presentations in Gym: Wednesday February 8, 12:30pm: 2 Students
from each junior class will be presenting their speeches. The
representatives from our class will be Tommy Tripp on snowboarding, and
Gillian Hutton on the Trent-Severn Waterway.

Units this Month:

Tuesday February 14: Scholastic Arrow book orders due.

Science: We are continuing our unit on Properties of Light and Sound.

Science Quiz—Light and Sound- February 20

Language Arts: We will be continuing our novel study of Chocolate Fever
Robert Kimmel Smith.

Health and Phys-Ed, Drama and Dance: We are learning dances such as The
Bunny Hop, and the Chicken Dance. Our focus in Phys-Ed is on aerobic
fitness and healthy lifestyles.

Math: Chapter 7: 2D Geometry: To be completed by Feb 14. Test Chapter 7:
Monday February 13

Chapter 6- Multiplication and Division Facts

For about three weeks, your child will be learning multiplication and
division facts to 9×9 =81. We will be using a variety of strategies to
remember these facts. The goal will be for your child to either recall
or be able to apply a strategy to find each fact. We will also be using
these facts to multiply by multiples of 10, such as 60, 80, and 200.

Throughout this time, you and your child can practise some activities
such as the following:

• Your child can look around for things that come in 5s, 6s, 7s, 8s, and
9s. Then they can ask and answer questions, such as “Our house has 5
front steps. How many front steps would 6 houses like ours have?” (30)

• Your child can use division to show sharing packaged or sets of
objects equally among family members. For example, this package has 24
cookies. Each person in our family can have 6 cookies because 24 ÷4 =6.

• Your child can locate items that come in arrays and identify the fact
family for each array. For example, a carton of eggs shows an array. The
fact family is 2×6=12, 6×2=12 , 12÷2 =6, and 12÷6=2.

• Your child can find items that have a measure which is a multiple of
10 or 100. Then they can ask and answer questions, such as “A new bar of
soap is 90 grams. How many grams are in 6 new bars of soap?” (540) and
explain how they know. (6×9 tens is 54 tens. 54 tens is 540.)

You may also want to visit the Nelson Web site at www.mathk8.nelson.com
for more suggestions to help your child with these units.

Sean McGaughey

Parkview School Phone #526-2091

I am Mr. McGaughey and I will be your child’s grade 2 teacher this year. Some of my interests include computers and music. I look forward to meeting you all. If you have any concerns and would like to phone or meet with me, I can be reached at the school at 322-1281, or you can email me at smcgaughey@huc.scdsb.on.ca . I can be available for meetings before or after school or at our mutual convenience.

1) Daily agenda and homework sheets.

• Your child will be bringing home a weekly timetable every day, which contains their homework, upcoming assignments, and important notices. Feel free to use the back of this sheet to communicate with me. I check the agendas every morning.

• Homework: Your child’s will have a reading log to record the books read at home. There will be a few math and spelling assignments for homework from time to time. I will send mathematics workbooks home weekly, so you can keep track of their progress.

2) We have 3 main Class rules posted in our room.

Rules for Grade 2

1. We respect teachers, other students and their property.

2. We keep our hands, feet and objects to ourselves.

3. We follow teacher directions the first time.

3) Poetry and Songs Booklet: Repeated reading of poems and songs is an excellent way to improve reading fluency. Every other week, I will add one or two new poems to practise in class. On Friday, your child will bring the poetry book home to read together with family members. Remember to return the poetry book home on Monday, so that we can begin our new poems.

4) Scholastic Book Orders: Ordering books for your child through Scholastic Book Clubs is a great way to encourage a love of learning, and it also helps to provide extra resources for the classroom. I will be sending out Scholastic order forms in the first week of each month, and they will be due back to school about a week later. Orders are usually delivered in one to two weeks.

5) Important days to remember in our class.

Monday: Poetry books back to school, Gym- Bring your Gym Clothes

Tuesday: Reading Buddies

Wednesday: Library—Bring your library book, Gym- Bring your Gym Clothes, Hot Dog Lunch $1.25

Friday: Poetry books go home, Pizza Lunch $1.25

I’m looking forward to a great year teaching your child in Grade 2.

Thank you,

Mr. S. McGaughey

Language Arts: We are reading and responding to Christmas and winter
stories.

Math: Chapter 3: Graphing: Over the next 2 weeks we will be learning
about various ways to collect and organize data, making pictographs and
bar graphs by hand and using a computer. Your child will also learn how
to interpret and extend different types of graphs and tables.

Science: Over the month of December, we will be doing a variety of
investigations and experiments to study the properties of sound.

Social Studies: We are continuing our study of Canada and its regions.

Phys-Ed.: We are doing a unit on pre-volleyball skills.

November 30- December 2: Student Involved Conferences

Our Word Wall Words for December 1-9 are:

Math

graph

survey

pictograph

Science

sound

wave

volume

ear

drum

December Words

angel

Santa Claus

snow

Christmas