Hello Parents and/or Guardians,
Happy New Year! In this post, I am going to share some of our lessons and activities that the class worked on during the month of December. I meant to post this before the Christmas Break but time got away from me. I do apologize for not updating the blog in a timely manner.
Language
In Language, we moved onto two new units. In reading, we focused on the reading comprehension strategy of visualization. Visualization is the strategy of creating a mental image in your mind as you read a story. In writing, we focused on the writing form of descriptive writing. The students learned about how our five senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell) and adjectives help describe people, places, and things.
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| This was a shared writing activity in which the class and I completed. We focused on describing the Christmas object of a candy cane. We focused on using our five senses and well as strong adjectives. |
One of our favourite reading activities involved the story, "There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow!" On each page, the main character swallowed a different object. The goal was for the students to visualize all of the objects and determine why the cold lady was swallowing them. In the end, the cold lady swallowed all the pieces needed to build a snowman. The class loved the story so they created their own version.
Math
In Math, we began our unit on Geometry. Our focus was on identifying two-dimensional shapes as well as sorting and classifying the shapes by their geometric properties (e.g., number of sides, number of vertices, etc.) Both grades learned about 2D shapes however they focused on different properties. The grade 2 students focused on the geometric properties of number of sides and number of vertices. The grade 3 students focused on identifying and comparing various polygons and sorting them by number of sides, side lengths, number of interior angles, number of right angles, etc. Below is an anchor chart of various polygons and their number of sides and vertices.
The class explored 2D shapes while using geoboards. The students were able to make different polygons using elastic bands.
In this activity, students created unique snowflakes using pattern blocks. Then the class cut out polygons out of paper to create a paper copy of their snowflakes. The students also had to identify the shapes and how many of each they used.
Religion
Our focus in November and December was on Advent. During each week of Advent, our class participated in an in-class liturgy celebrating Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. We prayed, read passages from the Bible, and sang songs. Learning about the Nativity Story and preparing for Jesus' birth was our goal for the month of December. Our class also created our own Advent wreaths using construction paper and tissue paper.
Science
In Science we continued our units on plants and animals. The grade 2 students learned about the various physical characteristics of animals (e.g, fur or feathers, legs or no legs) as well as some changes animals go through to adapt to their surroundings. The grade 3 students learned about the major parts of a flower (e.g, stamen, pistil, seeds, fruit) and how seeds travel. Both grades also learned how humans can have a positive and negative impact on both plants and animals.
Art
In Visual Art, we focused on the terms of foreground, middle ground, and background. The class learned these concepts through creating a portrait of a snowman. First, we learned what a portrait was. Then the class drew a portrait of a snowman. After, the students added detail in the middle ground and background of their picture.
In keeping with a winter/Christmas theme, the class learned about various lines (e.g., horizontal, vertical, curvy, diagonal, straight, thick, thin, etc.) through the directed-drawing activity of a reindeer.
