Ms Courtney's Class

Welcome back to school. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday last week. This week we began our final unit of inquiry for the year. Our Central Idea is Products can go through a process of change before they are distributed and consumed. We completed a number of learning experiences about where our food comes from and how it has changed. Go Bananas To start the unit the students were given a photo of one stage of the process bananas go through from seed in Columbia to the shop in the UK. First the students needed to think of all the questions they had about this photo. After this the students were given a different photos and needed to think and draw the stage before and after the photo they had. This really made the students think about the photo and what would happen before and after. When all the groups had finished the students arranged the photos in the correct order. Provocation On Wednesday the students had the opportunity to explore a range of food products. ...

The students were fabulous at assembly this week. They all did a wonderful job presenting, singing, and being on stage throughout the assembly. UoI We are only two weeks into this unit of inquiry and the students have began to observe artifacts closely and think about what they may have been used for, who might have used them and where as well as how the artifacts can help us to understand Cambodia. On Monday we did an 'archaeological dig' in the sand pit. The students first had to decide the best way to complete the dig. The sectioned the sandpit off and worked on different sections. During the dig we all stopped when an artifact was found to record where we found it. After the dig we looked at each object and found clues about where the artifact might be from and who may have used it. Then on Thursday our assistances showed the students artifacts from Cambodia that were special to their families. The students had many questions to ask and learnt a lot about ...

The weeks seem to go quicker and quicker. We have had another fun week of learning in Grade 2. Readers Theatre This week students presented their Reader's Theatre scripts. The students demonstrated excellent viewing and presenting skills. Readers Theater is a dramatic presentation of a written work in a script form.  Readers read from a "script" and reading parts are divided among the readers. No memorization, costumes, blocking, or special lighting is needed. Scripts are held by the readers. Lines are not memorized. The focus is on reading the text with expressive voices and gestures. http://www.teachingheart.net/readerstheater.htm The hungry little caterpillar One Fish, Two fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish Paperbag Princess Where the Wild Things Are Community Development We had the opportunity this week to have six guest speakers come to Grade 2. Each guest speaker did two workshops with the students on an art form they are passionat...

Welcome back. I hope you all had a very relaxing break last week. We commenced our second unit of inquiry this week under the theme How We Express Ourselves. Our Central idea is: Personal perspective influences how we create art. We will continue this unit until the water festival break. Please check the previous post for upcoming dates. Next week is book week. Every day the students will be participating in a wide range of activities and taking part in a number of writer and illustrator's workshop with our author in residence. It is going to be a great week ending in a Book Character dress up day on Friday. Please help your child create a costume for this day. Welcome Takuto We welcomed Takuto to our class this week. Happy Birthday Jona! On Monday we celebrated Jona's 8th Birthday. UoI Central Idea We looked at our new central idea on Tuesday. Students spent time translating this into their mother tongue and finding the meaning of unknown words. ...

It was a short week this week. We welcomed Phallyka to our class and continued to inquire into nutrition. Welcome Phallyka to our class PE with Helmi's Mum Saara helped Mr Andy teach the class one of Helmi's favourite games from Finland to our class. Our school Lunch On Tuesday I took a photo of each students lunch and we spent time looking at the food groups on each plate and the variety of food the students ate. Asking thick and thin questions We introduced students to the idea of 'thick and thin' questions. Thin questions generally have a yes or no answer and thick questions will give you a lot of information. We did this to help students develop good inquiry questions they will research next week.

After our visit to the playground last week the students each created a drawing on A3 paper of their visit. They draw the equipment they played on, what they did and which simple machines they saw and used. We then transferred these on to a green screen and the students presented their work. Reflection is important in students learning, it helps to process their thoughts, develop new ideas and questions and deepen their understandings.