Athletics Carnival

It was a fabulous day yesterday as the whole school attended the Athletics Carnival at Charnwood oval. The children turning 8 competed in discus, long jump, shot put as well as running races. Luckily there was even time in there to play a few games. The 7 year olds participated in a range of activities including an obstacle course, long jump, rob the nest and shot put. We also ran in a race!

Have a look at us in action.

Maths Extra

Throughout the week we have two lessons called Maths Extra.
In these sessions we have been learning about patterns,

2D Shapes

and measuring length.

 What has been your favourite learning activity and why?

Fraser Walk

We had a wonderful time walking around the grasslands behind Fraser Primary today.

We found a Canberra Tracks sign on Shakespeare Cresent. This explained to us that the trees still here today marked where the Charnwood Homestead used to stand.

We found conifer trees - they were so tall.

Also an old olive tree.

There were lots of these trees. Does anyone know what they are called?

We discovered some brain fruit, known as Osage Oranges. These shrubs were planted to protect the orchard from the wind. The early settler children used the fruit as cricket balls.

We also searched for some evidence that the Aboriginals, the Ngunnawal people, had used the land in the past. We located a scar tree near the corner of Shakespeare Cresent and Kerrigan Cresent.

We found a scarred tree where the bark had been removed by the Ngunnawal people for the creation of bark canoes, shelters, shields and containers, such as coolamons.

What was your favourite part of the walk?

Readers' Workshop - Asking Questions

This week our comprehension reading strategy has been asking questions. We can ask questions before, during and after reading.

What question have you asked that has helped you understand the book that you are reading?

Fraser Walk

This Thursday Year 2 will be taking a walking tour of Fraser. We are excited to explore the area around our school. Remember to wear good walking shoes and bring a hat.

Please make sure you have returned your permission note to the front office.

Welcome to the Year 2 Blog!

Welcome to Commotion in the Ocean! Year 2 is off to a flying start and are thrilled to be able to share our learning. We aim to update this blog each week, we hope you find it useful and please feel free to share and comment on posts with your children.

Term 1 Overview of Learning Programs

Upcoming Events:

Friday 8 March - Swimming Carnival (8 year old competitors only)
Thursday 14 March - Walking Tour of Fraser

Sunday 17 March - School Fete
Tuesday 9 April - Track and Field Carnival

Morning Reading -  We would love to encourage parents and carers into the classroom to share a story with their children - the classroom doors are opened at 8:50am each day.

Readers’ Workshop: So far this term we have discussed the perfect spot to read, reading stamina, the three ways to read a book, and schema (where we store our background knowledge). 

Throughout the term we will focus on the comprehension strategies of:
- making connections to our own experiences, to other texts and the world
- making predictions
- asking questions 

As well as some decoding strategies:
- Make attempts that make sense
- Slow down the zoom 
- Think (while you read the words)

Work on Writing: In the first half of the term year 2 has focused on the important elements of a sentence through mini-lessons including the concepts of: one idea, full stops, capital letters and ensuring writing makes sense. 

We have also started to explore the writing process to continue to develop our independent writing skills.

Throughout the second half of the term mini-lessons will focus on identification and use of nouns, verbs and adjectives. 

Word Work: Spelling is integrated into all English lessons and is a particular focus during Word Work sessions.

Fine Motor - The development of finger and hand strength as well as writing stamina are still essential skills for our students. Students participate in regular fine motor rotations. These may include beading, balling paper, playdough, tying shoe laces, pegging, cutting etc.

Mighty Maths - In Term 1 we will focus on place value, addition and subtraction. We  integrate the strategies we have learnt into problem solving activities. Students work in four groups that focus on differentiating the learning and engaging all students.

Maths Extra - These lessons this term cover the concepts of 2D shapes, patterns and length. 

Fundamental Motor Skills (FMS) - We will focus on the following skills throughout the semester:

• Running
• Catching
• Jumping

These skills are specifically taught and practised through a variety of games and activities.

Science Inquiry - In the first half of the term students will be completing a science unit called 'Bend it! Stretch it!'. During this inquiry students will be investigating the properties of materials. Students explored how we use twisting, stretching and bending to physically change the shape of everyday materials. 

Geography Inquiry - Starting this week we will begin our new Inquiry 'Me on the Map!'. Through this inquiry students will develop their knowledge of major geographical divisions and the scale of different places. 

Wonderful Wednesdays - a range of other skills and content is addressed during our Wednesday rotations with specialist teachers. Our rotations include:

• FMS
• Library (remember Library bags for borrowing)
• Japanese
• Performing Arts