Welcome Back after March Break!

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be teaching my grade two students how to write persuasive paragraphs using the format of a topic sentence, three sentences to support the point of view, and a concluding sentence. I use the analogy of a hamburger: the bun pieces are the introduction and concluding sentences and the "meat and toppings" are the reasons for thinking that way. As always, before getting to any independent writing, we will spend time orally practicing how to support our points of view and writing many examples of persuasive paragraphs together as a whole group.

Tomorrow, March 24, community resident Mark Sutcliffe will be running 50km across Ottawa in an effort to  raise $50K for United Way. You can read more about it here:
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/sutcliffe-chases-goal-of-50-km-run-for-50000-united-way-donation  We will take a short break from our persuasive paragraph discussions to help cheer him on tomorrow morning as he passes by our school.

Animal Reports, etc.

The students are continuing to use their non fiction animal books to research and write short reports.  Next week I will be splitting the class into two groups. Presenters will sit with one person at a time to answer questions about their animal. We will brainstorm as a class potential questions that can be asked of the presenter- both "thin" questions (questions that can be answered from facts in report itself), and "thick" questions (questions that require a bit more thought, or opinion). The children have really enjoyed writing their reports and seem to have learned a lot of interesting information about their animals to share! 

This week, the word wall word duotang contained words that your child has chosen to practice from past weeks. Next week there will be five more words, as well as a new activity to help practice the words at home. 

We have also been reviewing some of the vowel rules in the classroom, namely the "magic e" and "when two vowels go walking". Some cute you tube videos that explain these rules are: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZhl6YcrxZQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fb3Pdt8kxg