Monkey News-November 2012 
A Good Start!
Congratulations to students on their great efforts so far. We have had a very good start to the first semester. We would like to remind students that part of their role in being responsible is to continue to come to school with the agenda signed, homework completed (e.g., Home and School Connections duotang, Calendar Activities) and library books returned on time.
Calendar Activities
The November calendar activities have been sent home. The activities are meant to serve as a review of vocabulary and concepts that are being taught in the classroom. Please return the calendar on Friday, November 30th.
Winter Clothing
With the colder weather arriving, please consider packing extra socks in your child’s backpack. Also, it’s a good idea to label your child’s winter clothing, including coats, boots, hats, mittens and scarves. Merci!
Classroom Supplies
If possible, please donate spoons, forks and straws to our classroom. At the moment we have ample paper towels and Kleenex. Thank you!
French Language Arts
This month, we will begin our autumn literacy centres which will focus on recognizing autumn vocabulary, as well as writing complete sentences about autumn. Later this month, we are introducing our new Health unit on the food groups and making healthy food choices.
Science
We are midway through our unit on solids and liquids. Assessment for this unit will be based on in-class work, short quizzes, oral conferences and a unit test. Work will be sent home before the test so that students can review at home. More information will be coming home soon.
Social Studies
This month, we are starting our Social Studies unit relating to Heritage and Citizenship. The students will learn about various traditions relating to Christmas, Ramadan/Eid, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Chinese New Year and Diwali. They will use illustrations, key words, and simple sentences to sort, classify, compare and record basic information about various celebrations. Using the 5W’s (who, what, where, when, why) the students will ask simple questions to gain information (e.g., What are the similarities and differences in celebrations among cultures? When are they celebrated?).
Class Trip
On Thursday, November 29th class 2-3 will be going to the Hamilton International Children’s Centre from 11:30-3:00 to learn about various celebrations from around the world. Permission forms are available on cashless and must be returned by November 19th.
Grade 2 Choir
Choir has begun! The grade 2 students meet every Thursday at first break in the old foyer. Regular attendance is mandatory for choir.
English Language Arts
We are finishing our unit on retell. Students have been busy retelling stories using transition words (e.g., first, then after….) and complete sentences. They have also been writing in their journals using who, what, where, when. Our next language unit will be integrated with Social Studies, specifically our unit on Celebrations and Traditions. Students will be reading both non-fiction and fiction books about various celebrations and making comparisons between the two genres. Our writing text form will be descriptive writing where students will be writing about celebrations using the 5W’s.
This month, students will begin a personalized spelling program. Students have been grouped according to their spelling needs and will work on activities designed to address those needs. For example, some students will be working on blends such st, cl etc… where other students will be working on short vowels. This approach to spelling is based on the book “Words Their Way”.
Mathematics
For the month of November, we are going to be finishing our unit on number sense. Children are encouraged to still practise their addition and subtraction facts to 18, as well as counting by 2's, 5's and 10's up to 200 and counting by 1's backwards from 100. The next math unit we are going to be working on is Time, Temperature, and Money. Our learning goals for this unit are:
- name and order the months and seasons of the year
- use ordinal numbers first to thirty-first
- tell time to the quarter hour on analog and digital clocks
- use a thermometer to see if the temperature is rising or falling
- count and create money amount up to $1.00
Thank you for your continued support. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
À bientôt,
Mme Moonjé & Mrs. Smith
| 