mrsbarker.ca - Millgrove 2B

Coding

10/12/2018

We’ve started coding in our class, which means that we’re telling a computer, app, phone, or website what we want it to do. This week we used an app called Lightbot and a some robots named Dash and Dot to practice our skills in communicating, solving complex problems, and thinking logically and critically. The class found designing repeating patterns using Dash and Dot especially fun!

As this CBC article reports, "Today, computing is involved in almost all aspects of our lives, from communications and education to social media, banking, information, security and shopping. Networked computers are capable of controlling our homes’ thermostats and lighting, our cars and our health records... Computational thinking allows preschoolers to grasp concepts like algorithms, recursion and heuristics—even if they don’t understand the terms, they’ll learn the basic concepts."

I had the privilege of working with Dr. Cathy Adams at the U of A on some research during my Education degree, and she was recently interviewed here and here about coding in our new curriculum, saying: ""This is not about raising a generation of coders, but about educating a new generation of creative, engaged and ethical citizens who are able to understand, participate and critically evaluate the new digital landscapes that we are increasingly working, playing and living in."

You can read more about the thinking behind students being exposed to coding here, and we will keep you updated on our further adventures in coding!

Working with Numbers to 100

10/12/2018

We've been busy with numbers up to 100 recently in Math, whether we were skip counting with money (a big highlight), investigating even and odd numbers, counting toothpicks like Raymond from Rain Man, and using ordinal numbers to describe objects (such as first, second, 3rd, 4th). The students were expert money counters, and felt quite prepared to spend their pretend money! If you'd like more practice at home with numbers to 100, the linked games below are focused on some of our learner outcomes for this unit.

Magnetism This Week

10/12/2018

In Science this week, we explored different magnets’ north and south poles, which materials are transparent to the magnetic force, different magnetic devices, and examined magnetic fields. The students enjoyed making a temporary magnet with a nail, and used various devices to view the effects of invisible magnetic fields. Stay tuned for our upcoming magnetic device project!

Zones of Regulation

10/9/2018

2B has been working through a Health curriculum called Zones of Regulation, and the students have really taken to it! The Zones is an approach used to teach students self-regulation by categorizing al the different ways we feel and states of alertness into four zones. As the Zones of Regulation website explains:

The Red Zone is used to describe extremely heightened states of alertness and intense emotions. A person may be elated or experiencing anger, rage, explosive behavior, devastation, or terror when in the Red Zone.

The Yellow Zone is also used to describe a heightened state of alertness and elevated emotions; however, one has some control when they are in the Yellow Zone. A person may be experiencing stress, frustration, anxiety, excitement, silliness, the wiggles, or nervousness when in the Yellow Zone.

The Green Zone is used to describe a calm state of alertness. A person may be described as happy, focused, content, or ready to learn when in the Green Zone. This is the zone where optimal learning occurs.

The Blue Zone is used to describe low states of alertness and down feelings, such as when one feels sad, tired, sick, or bored.

The Zones can be compared to traffic signs. When given a green light or in the Green Zone, one is “good to go”. A yellow sign means be aware or take caution, which applies to the Yellow Zone. A red light or stop sign means stop, and when one is the Red Zone, this often is the case. The Blue Zone can be compared to the rest area signs where one goes to rest or re-energize. All of the zones are expected at one time or another, but the curriculum focuses on teaching students how to manage their Zone based on the environment and people around them. For example, when playing on the playground or in an active/competitive game, no one would think twice about one being in the Yellow Zone but that would not be same in the library.

Stay tuned for more of our learning on our Zones of Regulation!

The Scream

10/1/2018

In a month that we often associate with fear, we were inspired to paint like Edvard Munch and make our very own versions of his piece “The Scream.” We learned about Munch’s history as an artist, and looked at many examples of other artists’ adaptations of “The Scream.” The students painted their own background of a sunset on the sea, and posed with their best poses of terror! Their pieces of art turned out brilliantly, as you can see below.

Math in October

9/29/2018

In Math, we are beginning a new focus on numbers up to 100 and solving word problems. This unit will focus on deepening your child’s understanding of number relationships, counting, and place value. Below you can find a game and video we've been playing to get this unit off to a fun start!

The learning goals for this unit are to:

Read numbers to 100 in symbols and in words.
Build numbers to 100 with concrete materials.
Estimate the number of objects in groups to 100.
Count forward and backward using different tools, such as objects, a number line, a 100-chart, and coins.
Show numbers to 100 as tens and ones using a variety of materials.
Develop and use mental math strategies to add and subtract two 1-digit numbers, including zero.
Understand and solve word problem.

You can help your child achieve these goals with the following activities at home:

Help your child skip count forward and backward by 2s, 5s, and 10s.
Place a nickel on a table. Ask your child: “How many cents are on the table” Add a dime to the table and ask: “How much money is there altogether?” Continue adding dimes to count until you reach 95 cents.
Share addition and subtraction story problems about things in your home or neighbourhood. For example, “There are 15 houses on our street. 9 of them have a garage. - How many do not have a garage?"
Line up 10 items in a row, such as spoons, forks cups, or plates. Ask your child: “What is third? Fifth? Ninth?”
Gather a collection of about 40 small objects for your child to count, such as toys or buttons.
Ask your child to count the collection by grouping the objects in different ways. Select a number between 50 and 100.
Ask your child to draw a picture for the number, then show you how many groups of 10, and how many that 1s.
Have your child play pretend shopping games with coins at home to accurately pay for imagined items.

Setting Goals for Writing

9/29/2018

The writers of 2B have been goal-setting to hone their skills this week, and every day they've been assessing their daily writing. This week we've been focusing on punctuation, capitalization, and syntax, and soon we will be adding ideas, sentence fluency, and organization to what we're looking at in our writing. We have a rubric to assess our writing, and the students started out assessing their own writing in three areas according to that rubric. At the end of the week we started assessing our peers' writing which the students really enjoyed! It's important that we are respectful and constructive when giving peers feedback, and the students have demonstrated that in these writing conversations. It's neat to see growth in the class' writing already!

Increasing Patterns

9/24/2018

We are wrapping up our focus on increasing patterns in math this week. Increasing patterns are a brand new concept in grade two, and can often prove to be tricky, but the students in 2B have worked hard to describe, reproduce, extend, and create increasing patterns over the past couple of weeks. You can practice increasing patterns by taking the link to the game below!

Cooperative Games in PE

9/22/2018

PE this month has been focused on learning expectations for the gym and building teamwork skills by playing cooperative games! They especially enjoyed getting across the lava-like gym floor as a team using gym equipment, and playing Colours. Next up in PE, we'll be brushing up on our running skills!

Designing Fabric with Repeating Patterns

9/22/2018

Continuing with our work on repeating patterns, this week our class learned about the process of designing fabric, and used our knowledge of repeating patterns to design our very own fabrics and identifying their elements, rules, and cores. The class made some convincing advertisements about why potential customers should purchase their fabric, and did a great job of describing their patterns using mathematical terms. The only downside of some of these fabrics was the seven figure price tag that many of them had!