St. Veronica Elementary School
May, 2014
The Grade 2 Times
Welcome to
Mrs. DeSouza’s
Grade 2 Class!
Information Items
First Holy Communion
Saturday May 24, 2014 at 10:00a.m., St. Francis Xavier Church, arrival
time, 9:40 a.m. Please review the information letter sent from the Parish.
Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at the
school.
Agenda
Please continue to sign and return your child’s agenda each day and also
the “You’ve Got Mail” folder.
School Newsletter
Please continue to view both the classroom Newsletter and also the
school’s Newsletter for information items regarding school events.
At Home Reading and Writing
Please continue regular reading and writing activities at home with your
child, reading books and responding to them in written form (eg. making
connections – text to self, text to text, and writing about them, drawing a
favourite part and writing about it, editing writing for spelling and
punctuation). Please return reading logs upon completion for a prize from
the Treasure Chest.
Toys and Special Items
Please ensure that your child leaves their toys and special “treasures” at
home so they are not lost or misplaced. Your support is greatly
appreciated.
Money
Please send money for pizza, cookies, popcorn etc. in a closed/labelled
envelope, Ziploc bag, or wallet and encourage your child to keep it in a safe
place in their backpack until it is time to spend it. Thank-you for your cooperation.
Calendar
Please check the attached calendar for important dates this month.
Mathematics
Language Arts


Comprehension Strategies
-identify several reading comprehension strategies and use them
before, during and after reading to understand texts (eg. Activate
prior knowledge to ask questions or make predictions about the
topic or story, use visualization to help clarify the sights and
sounds referred to in the text, ask questions to monitor
understanding during reading, identify important ideas to
remember).
Metacognition
-identify some strategies they found helpful before, during and
after writing (eg. A writer’s notebook to record ideas for writing,
new and interesting words, graphic organizers that could be
used).
Visit www.starfall.com for interactive Language activities
2. Using Knowledge of Form and
Style in Writing
1. Developing and Organizing
Social Studies
Content
People and Environments: Global Communities
This term, students will be learning to:

Describe some similarities/differences in the ways in which people
in two or more communities in different parts of the world meet
their needs and have adapted to the location, climate, and
physical features of their regions.

Use the social studies inquiry process to investigate aspects of the
interrelationship between the natural environments, including the
climate, of selected communities and the ways in which people in
those communities live.

Identify and locate various physical features and selected
communities around the world, and describe some aspects of
people’s ways of life in those communities.
Students will be learning to:
Measurement
Estimate, measure, and record length, perimeter, area, mass, capacity, time,
temperature and money using non-standard and standard units.
Compare, describe, and order objects using attributes measured in non-standard
units and standard units.
Next Unit …. Data Management and Probability
Collect and organize categorical or discrete primary data and display the data, using
tally charts, concrete graphs, pictographs, line plots, simple bar graphs and
read/describe data. Describe probability in everyday situations and simple games.
Please note – students and teachers continue to be engaged in their numeracy
inquiry while exploring strengths/needs of students and then differentiating
instruction accordingly. The “inquiry” continues to focus on how students feel
about Math and how they understand math language. The use of anchor charts
assists students with better understanding math terms which helps them to feel
successful in their math journey. The “inquiry” continues to focus on reasoning,
reflecting, connecting, representing and communicating findings both in large and
small group math situations.
Visit www.nelson.com for interactive activities related to each grade 2 unit of
study. Also, www.coolmath.com is a good website.
Guided, Independent and Shared Reading
Word Study/ Working with Words
Virtue Education
This Month’s Virtue is Acceptance
A person who demonstrates acceptance, treats all people as
members of one human family, sees the differences as gifts,
does not express prejudice, solves conflict through listening
and finding solutions.