Hello families of Division 7, 

My name is Mrs. Ralph and I just returned from maternity leave. This week we wasted no time to immediately dive into some new routines as well as new learning concepts and big ideas. Please follow along on our class website for weekly updates and to catch a glimpse of our learning journey. Thank you for joining us!

Math – Geometry

 

Gr 2s are exploring the multiple attributes of 2D shapes and 3D objects. Gr 3s have just been introduced to the use of their very own textbooks. They too are exploring a unit on Geometry. Their focus is currently on polygons. Can you name the polygon that has 5 sides? How many sides does an octagon have?

Science – Butterflies

Our big idea is that living things have life cycles adapted to their environment. As inquisitive learners, we wonder, how are life cycles similar and different? Just this week we looked at the term metamorphosis and how it applies to butterflies – it is the structural transformation that a larva undergoes to become a butterfly. 

We connected Science + Art together as we made a crayon resistant watercolour butterfly painting. Stay tuned as these butterflies will soon be decorating our hallways and adding a pop of colour!

Socials – Landforms 

We are beginning to review our understanding of the various landforms that shape our world. We will take an in-depth focus on how environmental factors such as wind, ice, water as well as human impact and how they affect the shape of our land. How many land and water formations can you name? Ask your child if they remember what a plateau is? How can islands be formed? 

Language Arts 

Writing – visualizing – we are working on incorporating rich, descriptive language in our compositions to allow our reader to visualize our words. Currently this week we began working on a written piece that focuses on a type of weather and we are connecting the weather to our senses. What does this weather look like? What does this weather do? What does this weather sound like and how does this weather feel?

Reading – as good readers we are working on our ability to connect to a story by making connections text to self, text to text and text to world. We are also practicing our ability to infer, to use clues to develop meaning from the text. I read the book Seven Blind Mind by Ed Young and did not show the students the illustrations. They practiced inferring by relying on clues from the text to determine what this strange and unknown ‘thing’ was. 

Core Competencies – we are focusing our attention right now on the Core Competency of Communication “ I can share my ideas and questions” and “I can listen to others.” As a listener it is important to remain respectful and demonstrate whole body listening to our speaker, this includes listening with our eyes, ears, mouth, arms and legs.