News From Room 209Mrs. Ireland’s Grade 2 Class

November 3, 2005

The World is at ourFinger Tips

We have been learning a lot from our epals through pictures, emails, power point presentations and a radio broadcast. Our friends from Dubbo, Australia sent us a radio broadcast of the interview with their class and our Bruce Moose. Check it out at: http://www.abc.net.au/westernplains/stories/s1482067.htm We enjoyed listening to their accents and the things that Bruce has done with them on the ABC broadcast.

Our Australian epals

Our friends from Plymouth, England have sent lots of questions, some photos and a power point of their classroom. We compared their

classroom to our classroom on a Venn diagram.

Our British epals

Our friends from Moriya , Japan have sent us many power points, photos and emails.

Our Japanese epals

DUNCAN J SCHOULAR PUBLIC SCHOOL41 McGill St. South, Smiths Falls Ontario K7A 3M9Telephone: (613) 283-1367 FAX: (613) 283-1955

Mr. P. Graveline, PrincipalMrs. S. Halladay Vice-Principal

Animals Alike and Different

We have learned about five kinds of animals; mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish and birds. Our research taught us that each kind of animal has a different body covering. We found some interesting facts about each kind of animal, sorted and coloured pictures and created a book. Using a rubric we marked our own work and now know how to improve our work for our next project. We learned to tell carnivores, herbivores or omnivores apart by looking at their teeth. Christina, Mrs. Ireland’s daughter, brought in Jenny her dog to show what her teeth looked like. After studying animals that migrate and hibernate we wrote and illustrated acrostic poems using the word FALL.

Our Walk-a-thon

Finally the weather was good enough for our walk-a-thon. We walked for over an hour, ate apples,

took turns carrying Totoro, Barbaby Bear and Tangles, and raised $120.00.

Math Makes Sense

We have been working on place value. We used ten sticks and ones cube manipulatives to make double-digit numbers. We have been adding and subtracting on our place value mats and then answering questions with pictures, numbers and words. We have also investigated the 100 chart by locating numbers before, after and between other numbers. Did you know you could use the 100 chart to add and subtract? We can!

What is QDPE?

All classes in our school are physically active for a minimum of 30 minutes every school day. QDPE is Quality Daily Physical Education. Our QDPE on Monday and Thursday is in the gym with Mr. Abbott. During October we have been working on the skills of cooperating as a member of a team and following game rules through playing soccer and dodge ball. On Tuesday we go to the gym with Mrs. Ireland and Mrs. Tyler. On Wednesday and Friday we have our QDPE in the classroom. This month we enjoyed dancing to songs, movement to poetry. All students need to have indoor running shoes If you have any

running shoes that your child has out grown we might be able to use them at school. Some students have been regularly missing out on QDPE due to not having gym shoes. Please let Mrs. Ireland know the size of any running shoes you might be able to loan our class. We would like to have all students participating in every QDPE class.

It’s Getting Cold Outside The weather is getting colder and many students are finding it difficult to enjoy our 20-minute and 40-minute outdoor daily recesses. Please ensure that your child comes to school dressed appropriately.

Music is in the Air

We have been experimenting with rhythm and melody in music by composing Soh-Mi melodies, matching/writing rhythms to words and then playing our compositions using boomwackers and bells.

Five Pumpkins Different Sized Pumpkins

We enjoyed carving our Jack-o-Lanterns for Halloween. The students worked cooperatively in groups scooping out the seeds, designing the

face and then carving it. Mrs. Ireland had us save the seeds. What could she want us to do with them at Christmas time?

Family Challenge

Congratulations to the eight families who participated in our October family challenge. The new challenge is to make words from the letters in REMEMBRANCE. Words are due on Monday, November 7th.

Please fill in, sign, cut out and send in this portion of the newsletter. All students who return this will have their name put in a draw.

We have checked out the class webpages at http://www.ucdsb.on.ca/djschoular/Ireland/irelandhome.htm

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