17 Mar 2017

Year 2 Update Wk 25

Monday, 20 March – Book Character Dress Up! Dress up like a favourite book character or a Maths related outfit

Monday, 20 March – David Schwartz author visit

Friday 24th March – 5-8:30pm International Food Fair at BHS

Monday 27th March – 2K trip to Kowloon Tong MTR

Wednesday 29th March – 2G and 2M trip to Kowloon Tong MTR

Thursday 30th March – 3.30pm Junior Choir Spring Concert

Friday 31st March – School Finishes at 12pm

Lice and Fifth Disease have been reported in Year 2 classes this week. Please keep a look out for the symptoms and remember to inform your class teacher and school nurse of any diagnosis beyond simple colds.

Please note that candy is not allowed in school. Some students have been bringing and sharing candy and sweets, which can be a distraction and complicates our healthy eating and wellbeing message. Thank you for your understanding.

What a great performance from 2K in their class assembly! They did a wonderful job sharing their learning about materials and entertaining us, too!

Visiting the market stalls from Year 5 students was quite the experience. They have learned some great sales pitches, and the Year 2s were overwhelmed with the options and insights from the future business leaders. Great work!

We also had two great visiting authors!

We would like to give an especially big thank you to all the parents and relatives that were able to come on the various trips throughout Hong Kong on Tuesday. You helped make it a safe and memorable trip. Thank you!

Central idea: Transport systems are directly related to the needs of a community

Lines of inquiry:

Features/parts of transportation systems
Decisions involved in using transportation
How elements of a transport system connect to meet the needs of a community

The provocation trips on Tuesday were a great introduction into the transport systems in Hong Kong. The mixed groupings allowed students in the same class to compare features of the systems and compare the good and bad. Some thoughts from the trip were, “The Star Ferry is slow, but it leaves often and it might be faster than walking to an MTR. But it’s smelly and smoky!” “The tram was so bumpy, and we got a little bit wet. The windows open!” “The school bus is different than a public bus because everyone has to pay for the public bus. The school bus is free for kids, but the school pays for it.”

Next week, classes will take a closer look at what makes transportation a system, and how we can design our own transport systems and vehicles.

Measuring Length

Estimate and order the length of real objects using centimetres as a reference.
Estimate, measure and compare lengths of objects using centimetres with some accuracy.
Recognise objects that are longer/shorter than a metre.
Use body parts (e.g. hand spans, foot lengths, strides) and familiar objects (e.g. leaves, pop-sticks) repeatedly to match the length of things and say how many fit.

In connection with the Book Week theme, “Seven Days of ABCs and 123s”, classes read Inch by Inch by Leo Leoni – a great book about a clever inchworm that measures her way out of being eaten. Students also measured their metre long desks with objects around the classroom and compared that to more standard units like centimetres. They measured the objects and ordered them from shortest to tallest, and used parts of their body to measure the desks as well.

Non-chronological Reports

This week in English students worked to make a list of the subjects they are most interested in. Teachers will collect nonfiction books about these topics to help us take a closer look at what the features are of nonfiction texts. Many students have learned about the features of nonfiction and reports independently by paying close attention to their home readers. We will gather what students already know and inquire into texts to fill in the gaps. Then we can start writing our own reports!

Classes also did a fast write about a topic they felt knowledgeable on. This helped build their writing stamina and also serves as a pre-assessment for report writing.

There was no Golden Book this week! It will return March 27.

Has your child chosen nonfiction and information reports as a home reader? Ask them too! This would be a good time to take a closer look at the features of these books. What makes them different from fiction? Other than being true, how do the texts look different? We noticed that many information reports do not have headings and subheadings. If your book does not, can you try to give each page a subheading or title? If it has a title, try to guess what facts you might learn!

Book Character Dress Up!

Dress Up Day – Monday 20^th March

Our traditional dress up day will take place on the 20^th March. All the children and staff in school will dress up in costume. We encourage the children to be creative and imaginative with their costume. So please try and avoid football kits or the children coming as themselves!

To celebrate the collaboration between books and Maths, this year the children can choose to dress as a book character or something maths related.

Here are some pictures to inspire your child’s creations.

Book related costumes

Photo competition- Closing date 21^st March

Seeing and understanding pattern is very important in Maths for many reasons, for example to improve our knowledge of shape and space, to help estimation and solve problems in algebra. Pattern is also very important in the English language, it can be seen in spelling, sentence structure and of course poetry. Many stories follow a pattern too and understanding this can help develop children’s comprehension. This year our photo competition celebrates pattern.

Your child needs to take a photo on the theme of pattern and send it to Ms Jeves at the following address: jevese2@beaconhill.edu.hk Please can you make sure the subject header for the photo contains your child’s name and class. Closing date: 21^st March.

Year 2 Update Wk 25

Communications

News

Upcoming Events