Curriculum News - Grade ½
December 2019
Dear Parents
and/or Guardians,
This is a brief outline of what the Grade ½ classrooms have
been working on throughout the duration of this reporting period. As each
teacher’s schedule varies depending upon when she has Music and/or Physical
Education, subjects including: Math, Science and Social Studies take place at
different times throughout the day.
It is also important to remember that Science and Social
Studies are often integrated with Language Arts.
Language Arts
We usually begin each morning with a variety of Balanced
Literacy types of learning tasks including: guided reading, guided writing,
shared reading, shared writing, calendar tasks, teacher read alouds, an
assortment of word work activities as well as independent journal writing.
Teachers have many personal favourites when it comes to what books they like to
read to the students but, we select and share texts pertaining to topics which
are currently being studied. We also read a high number of books about mental
wellness, self-esteem, bullying, getting along with others and friendship
skills.
Math
The primary focus for the students has been learning all
about creating, extending and translating repeating patterns. The Grade 2
children have also been introduced to growing or increasing patterns.
The Grade 1 students have been working on developing Number
Sense by enhancing their ability to subitize arrangements of dots from 0 to 10,
counting by 1s up to 100, skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s up to 100,
representing numbers from 0 to 20 in a variety of ways as well as working on
mental recall of the basic addition/subtraction facts up 20.
The Grade 2 children have been introduced to the strand of
Statistics and Probability. They have engaged in a variety of graphing tasks
which include: conducting surveys, collecting data in the form of tally marks
and interpreting the data in the form of bar graphs and pictographs. The
students have also been developing Number Sense by participating in a wide
assortment of learning tasks revolving around the use of dice games (i.e. Hit
100, Hit 0), Power of Ten cards and problem-solving types of activities.
Science
Creating Colour and Seasonal Changes are the two units of
study which have been presented this term.
Throughout the Creating Colour unit, students have engaged
in learning tasks pertaining to primary colours, secondary colours, tints,
shades, value and tones. They have conducted various experiments relating to
colour (i.e. chromatography where they learned the colour black is actually
made up of all of the other colours).
Throughout our study of Seasonal Changes, the students had
an opportunity to go on a Community Walk to Confederation Park to explore the
changes in nature as we transitioned from summer to fall (ie. colour changes,
leaves falling). We also went to the Leighton Art Centre where we had the opportunity
to discuss animal patterns as they get ready for winter. We read many stories
about fall, collected natural found objects and created nature collages.
Social Studies
In Social Studies, we have begun the unit of study entitled,
“My Family, My History and My Community.” Students have been discussing or
bringing in items from home to share their family’s heritage, traditions, and
celebrations with their peers. We have talked about all of the different
languages students speak at home and have engaged in whole group discussions
about how every family is special with their own unique culture.
Physical Education
The students have been developing their basic skills (ie.
locomotor, non-locomotor) in the areas of Cooperative Games, Skipping, Soccer,
Volleyball, Badminton and Curling. Throughout these units, students have also
been working on developing the skills of sportsmanship, fair play, teamwork and
communication needed to be successful in team activities.
Health
Making healthy food choices, engaging in physical fitness,
establishing positive friendships, setting personal goals and mental wellness
are all integral components of the Health program.
Sincerely,
The Grade ½
Team
*Please Note – You can access more information
about the Alberta Program of Studies by
going to the link
below:
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