Dates to remember in our class

Monday: Poetry books back to school, Gym

Thursday: Gym. Library—Bring your library book.

Friday: Poetry books go home.

May 3: Hands on Science: Activities in the Gym. The cost for this
program is being covered by the school

May 9: Seussebration in the gym. 2pm

May 21: Victoria Day—No School.

Science

After we complete our unit on simple machines and movement, we will do a
unit on Animals. Your child will be studying the different classes of
animals, their habitats and the effect that humans have on wildlife.
Your child will also complete a brief research project about a specific
animal. We will include the information from their research project on
our class web page.

Language Arts

During the month of April, we have been doing an author study of Dr.
Seuss to prepare for a special primary literacy celebration on May 9 at
2pm in the gym. You are welcome to attend for a presentation of
readings, songs, and skits with a Dr. Seuss theme.

Math Chapter 13- Probability

Probability is the likelihood or the chance that something will happen.
In Grade 2, students predict whether things are likely or unlikely to
happen. We will be making predictions about outcomes of games or
experiments, trying them out, and then checking the results. Students
will learn to use what they have observed to help make predictions about
what might happen if they tried the same activity again. Try some of
these activities with your child:

• Look for ways to use probability language at home. Take turns
completing sentences that start with “It’s impossible that …,” “It’s
unlikely that …,” “It’s likely that …,” and “It’s absolutely certain
that ….” Other probability words are possible, chance, and probably.

• When you’re reading together, consider events in the story that are
likely and unlikely to happen and ask your child to explain why.

• Choose a number from 1 to 6, and have your child do the same. Take
turns rolling a die or pulling number cards for 1 to 6 from a bag. Keep
track of how often your number comes up. The first number to come up 10
times wins the game.

• Make predictions about what is about to happen. Predict who is more
likely to walk through the door next, or the likelihood of hearing a
certain song on the radio. Encourage your child to provide reasons for
his or her predictions.

Chapter 14- Patterning

In late May, our focus in mathematics will be on exploring patterns with
shapes and numbers. Your child will flip, turn, and slide shapes to
create visual patterns and explore skip-counting patterns (e.g.,
counting by 2s, 5s, 10s).

Try some of these activities with your child:

• Find shape patterns on curtains, wallpaper, bedspreads, floors, and so
on. Ask your child to tell you how each pattern works. If it’s a
repeating pattern, ask what part repeats. If it’s a growing pattern, ask
how many things are added each time the pattern grows.

• Look for examples of patterns where things are arranged in equal rows
(e.g., eggs in rows of 2 in an egg carton or cans in rows of 4 in a
case). Ask your child to show you how to use skip counting or adding to
figure out how many things there are in the pattern.

• Give your child some loose change to count. Show your child how to
sort the coins first, and then how to use skip counting to see how much
each set is worth.

• Do craft activities that can include patterns, such as stringing beads
or using stickers or ink stamps.

• Use building toys for patterning. Try building a series of shapes in a
pattern and asking your child to show you what comes next. Or let your
child make a pattern and cover part of it so you can guess what’s hidden.

500 Book Challenge

In the last 2 months, the grade 2 students in Mr. McGaughey’s class have
read over 250 books at home. We are going to do this have a popcorn
party after the class has read 500 books (or chapters) at home. Each
child may record 1 or 2 books (or chapters) in their reading log
nightly. Everyone needs to have at least 25 books on their reading log
to participate in the popcorn party.

Current Events

Remind your child to bring their current events scrapbook home weekly to
write their article in and to reread old articles with you. Please
encourage your child to write in complete sentences. If they want to
skip the W’s and write a paragraph about their news story, that would be
even better.

Monday: Colter, Jaden,

Tuesday: Alexis, Rebecca Brendan, Colton

Wednesday: Jared, Shaelyn, Carter, Danny

Thursday: Jordan Sam, Chevy

Friday: Gage, Nicholas, Simon