Tuesday 6 June 2017

Class Updates!

Assalamu Alaikum,
Dear Parents,

Here are some updates about what we have done so far:

Chocolate Fever Novel Study: We have finished our novel study on the book "Is there any cure for Chocolate Fever." On Thursday, May 18th, we had a good-bye party for the completion of the novel. We watched the audio version of the story and had yummy chocolatey food while socializing with our friends.
Throughout this unit, students practiced several reading strategies to comprehend the story in depth. They completed activities for each chapter, such as comprehension questions, summarizing story elements, vocabulary activities, and compare contrast Venn diagrams. Furthermore, students wrote down the main idea and summary for each chapter, while making connections. Lastly, they completed a book report as a concluding task. Studying a novel as a class was a rich experience for all of us, Alhumdulilah! 

                                                         




Math/ Fraction Fun: We completed our unit on fractions where students learned that fractions are a part of a whole or part of a set. We also learned that fractions are everywhere around us and how we use fractions all the time in real life! We had lots of fun with fractions!  


ICE CREAM SHOP FRACTION PROJECT: 

Just like last year, the ice cream project to collect money for dates is back!
The grade 2B students worked hard to complete their ice cream shop projects. We talked about different ice cream stores and their names. Before starting the project,  we went to conduct a survey in 2A to find out about their favourite ice cream flavors. The survey helped students use popular flavours in the menu of their ice cream shops. Then, we started our own ice cream shop projects.

Each student was expected to come up with a store name, make an advertisement persuading people to buy their ice cream, and make a menu with the prices (The project included media literacy, writing, math, art, and health ).

Once students finished advertisements and a menu (with prices) for their shop, the grade 2As came to order ice cream from their shop. First, each student got a customer who looked at their ice cream ad and menu. Then, the grade 2As ordered the ice cream using fractions. Next, the grade 2Bs went to 2A to place an order for ice cream sundaes and enjoyed the work done by grade 2A. Alhamdulillah, both classes enjoyed this collaboration!

                                           


Lastly, the grade 2s sold ice cream sundaes according to the pre-orders taken from each other. The purpose of selling real ice cream was to learn how fractions are used in real life and also to raise money to buy dates which will be provided to a local mosque to break the fasts of people in Ramadan. Alhumdulilah it was a great learning experience for the students as well as for me.

May Allah accept from all the students who participated in this activity, the parents, and the teachers who supported us! 

Islamic Studies: Tr. Dina, the Islamic Studies coordinator, joined us with grade 5B, and students worked in groups to put the story of Prophet Nuh (SAW) in the right sequence. We discussed some of the lessons we learned from the story, and students made a craft of the ark of Prophet Nuh (SAW).


                                                      

                                                      

Jazakum allahu Khairun!

Thursday 18 May 2017

Class Updates!

Assalamu Alaikum,
Dear Parents,

Here are some updates about what we have done so far:


Spelling: Students wrote their spelling quiz on homonyms lesson 35.


Reading/Writing: We have been doing lots of reading and writing activities related to our novel study "Chocolate Fever." Stay tuned for the detailed post.



Math: We learned how to measure the area of a shape using non-standard and standard units.  

Measuring With Non-Standard units:



                                 





                                         



Measuring With Standard units:
                                                  
                                               



We watched educational videos, did group and individual work, and other hands-on activities to explore and master the concept of measuring an area of different polygons.

Math Centres:

                       





            

We also learned about 3-D shapes. We made a 3-Dshape chart as a class. in which we wrote the number of edges, faces, and vertices of each solid shape. Students also learned about solids that roll, slide, and stack.
Moreover, they learned how to make  3D skeletons of different solid shapes using clay, and popsicle sticks.

                                                       






Science: We have finished our unit on " Movement".To conclude the unit, a project is assigned and details have been sent home.

                                                 
Simple Machines Workshop: We attended an awesome, very educational and interactive workshop on "Simple Machines" by Scientist in School. Students solidified their knowledge about the 6 simple machines we learned in class through different hands-on experiments and activities. Jazakum Allahu Khairun to all parent volunteers who donated their time. 
                                             
                                                     



 Pottery Workshop: The pottery workshop tied very well with art and 3-D shapes. Students learned how to roll a piece of clay into a sphere and then they made different creatures like monsters, beavers, and aliens using the pottery techniques taught by the 2 instructors. Their creative creatures were taken by the pottery team to be fired and glazed at their facility. The pieces will be returned at the end of May inshaaAllah.   

                                                                           






Jazakum Allahu Khairun!                                   

Wednesday 3 May 2017

Last Week's Updates!


Assalamu Alaikum,
Dear Parents,

We had a wonderful week. Here are some updates:


Spelling:  Students wrote a quiz on lesson 29 and took their spelling workbooks home to complete and review lesson 30.

Math: We started a unit called "2- Dimensional Shapes." Students learned and wrote the meaning of 2 - Dimension in their journals and also learned the meaning of different 2-D shapes(Tri- three, Penta- 5, and Hexa- 6 and so on). This week, the class learning goals were to explore and identify the names of different 2- D shapes, to identify different 2- D shapes by sides and vertices, and to sort and classify 2- D shapes into quadrilaterals and polygons.

For example, we discussed quadrilaterals, which are four-sided polygons. There are many kinds of quadrilaterals. The five most common types are the rectangle, the square, the parallelogram, the trapezoid, and the rhombus. We learned that polygons are 2-dimensional shapes. They are made of straight lines, and the shape is "closed" (all the lines connect up). Students also explored different 2- D shapes on geo -boards.
In addition to this, students learned about symmetry and symmetrical shapes around us. 


Reading Comprehension/Writing: Students continued to complete comprehension activities for chapters 7 and 8 from our novel study of "Chocolate Fever". They wrote summaries for chapter 7and 8 independently. 


Science: We learned what movement is and discovered different position words while they played in the playground. Next, we learned the two types of forces; Push and Pull. Then, we identified the six basic types of simple machines – lever; inclined plane; pulley; wheel and axle, screw, and wedge. So far, we explored inclined planes and pulleys in detail.

Islamic Studies/Writing:  Students learned how to summarize the story of  Prophet Nuh by using a graphic organizer "SWBST" which is an acronym for S- Someone, W- Wanted, B-But, S-So, T-Then.



Quran Competition::


 Congrats to all who participated in the Quran competition from 2B. The winner for the Abraar Annual Quran Competiton 2016-17 from grade 2 is Sumayyah Boutaleb MashAllah!


Cooperative  Loops/Games:

During the month of April, the grade 2's were responsible for the character trait of April, which was Cooperation. Each class was given a  task to make a cooperation loop where the students had to write an act of cooperation on a paper strip according to the assigned colour of their class. Then they had to attach the strips to a loop. On a weekly basis, lLoops from all classes were collected and joined together to cover the school from one side to the other side! The idea was the more loops the classes make the more cooperative that class is! We are still adding cooperation loops in order to reach the other end!
                                         
                                     

In addition to this, Tr. Anam and I planned to provide cooperative games to the whole school. These games were played by all grades last Thursday and were much enjoyed by everyone. The games that grade 2 played were "Pool Noodle" and "Save Harry". Ask your child about these games as we had a blast after playing those fun cooperative games. :)

                                                   


                                                      

                                               


                                                 
                                                




Cooperative Spring Mural: Here is the final picture of our Cooperative Garden that we started to make last week.

                                             












Sunday 23 April 2017

Class Updates!


Assalamu Alaikum,
Dear Parents,

Here are some updates regarding what we have accomplished in the past two weeks:

Spelling:  Students wrote a quiz on lesson 28 and completed activities for lesson 29 (words with vowel pairs such as ea, oe, and ie). Students wrote the spelling list words in their agendas to practice for the quiz.


Math: We started and finished learning about probability. Students learned to describe probability as a measure of the likelihood that an event will occur, using mathematical language (i.e., impossible, unlikely, less likely, equally likely, more likely, certain). We practiced this math skill through different activities. We completed related worksheets, watched videos to solidify our concept, invited math buddies to play a game of pulling out skittles from a bag without looking, and made flap books to describe each probability vocabulary word by writing a sentence about each. Last Friday, students wrote a pop quiz to show what they know about probability.

Starting Monday, we will start a new unit called "Geometry and Spatial Sense" inshaaAllah. Our focus in the coming week will be identifying and sorting two-dimensional shapes (2-D Shapes) according to their attributes and also locating the line of symmetry in  2-D shapes.

Reading Comprehension/Writing: Students continued to complete comprehension activities for chapters 6 and 7 from our novel study of "Chocolate Fever". They wrote summaries for chapter 5 and 6 independently. Moreover, students did a self to text connection through a compare and contrast activity where they compared Henry's breakfast with their own breakfast. They also learned how to find the main idea and supporting details of a fiction text. They also found the main idea for each chapter of our novel study. Last but not least, they came up with a story and acted out in their groups to show the story elements of their skit (character, setting, problem, and solution). This activity helped them to identify the characters and settings for each chapter of the "Chocolate Fever."
The plot of "Chocolate Fever"" is very engaging and has lots of lessons to be learned. Ask your child to retell the story to you until chapter 8. 

Social Studies: We've been busy exploring interesting facts related to the earth's  7 continents and 5 oceans for the past two weeks. We watched an educational video to learn some fascinating facts about the 7 continents and 5 oceans and then completed related worksheets to solidify our knowledge.

Islamic Studies:
 We read the story of Prophet Nuh and are currently working on a comprehensive package to thoroughly understand the story of one of the earliest prophet of Allah (SWT).

Science: We started a new unit in Science called "Movement". In this unit, students will:
  • Investigate and describe different kinds of movement (e.g., by observing how toys and other everyday objects move) 
  • Investigate the structure and function of simple machines.
  • identify the six basic types of simple machines – lever; inclined plane; pulley; wheel and axle, screw,  and wedge – and give examples of ways in which each is used in daily life to make tasks easier.

Cooperative Spring Mural: We started to work on our "Cooperative Spring Mural". Students showed cooperation by taking turns painting the sky and the grass for our spring mural. We can't wait to see the complete result of our cooperation.:)




Diversity Trail Mix Project Update: Students made a big batch of "Diversity Trail Mix" to be distributed among the guests who came to learn about Islam in the MAC event. The "Open Doors" event happened on April 15th and we are very thankful to Allah (SWT) that grade 2B was a part of that event.
A big JazkumAllahu Khairun to our awesome parent volunteers Sister Suha and Sister Mahveen who helped us in making the Diversity Trail Mix bags.








Reminders:

  • Homework pack is due on Thursday.
  • Spelling quiz on lesson 26 will be on Tuesday inshaaAllah. Students wrote their spelling words in their agenda to practice for the quiz but just in case your child forgets to bring his/her agenda, here are the list words: beat, roads, mean, lay, main, lower, pie, tie, toes, read.
  • bonus: probability, Prophet Nuh, and flood.
  • Encourage your child to read on Razkids every day for twenty minutes.
J Jazakum Allahu Khairun!