Word Investigation

Dipper and Filler

As part of our inquiry into ‘Change’ we are using the words, dipper and filler, to investigate words with double letters.  The children have made a great start on the whiteboard and they are also writing words in their word study journals as part of Learning Agreement.  Children can continue their word investigations at home and write their findings in their Readers and Writers Journal.

Book Talk

Hello everyone!

We had yet another great book talk session yesterday! Thank you very much to our parent helpers; Giuliana Rigoni, Nerida Hodgkins, Sam Seidler and Uma Wharekawa.

We were also very lucky to have some year 5/6 helpers, who were fabulous book leaders and role models for the year 2 students. Thank you to Grace Markovic, Jax Faulkner, Mara Nicolini, Salmaan Ali and Ella Perkins.

 During book talk this week, we used the headlines thinking routine to guide our discussions, and the students had to create a headline for each book that really captured the meaning of the story. Here are some photos of the day, and of our wonderful headlines:

Kevin, Elizabeth and Sia

Welcome Picnic

Please join us on Thursday 27th of February for the welcome picnic. The forecast is looking good!!!!

When: Thursday 27th February, 6:00 pm onward

Where: Princes Park (near the playground)

All families are invited to attend the school welcome picnic. Please bring some food to share.

We look forward to meeting you.

Kevin, Sia & Elizabeth

Nude Food

Lunch boxes at Princes Hill Primary

 In order to reduce waste and rubbish on our school grounds at Princes Hill primary asks all it’s students to keep any waste from their lunchbox and take it home to be recycled or sent to landfill. We celebrate the efforts of parents and students to create nude food lunches. Nude food lunches are lunches that don’t have any waste such as wrappers, plastic or even things that can be recycled such as bottles or cardboard. Here are some photographs of some nude food lunches that have been spotted so far this year. Thanks for any effort in this direction. It makes a difference.

Mathematics Information Evening

Hello everyone,
Thank you to those who were able to attend the mathematics information evening with Di Siemon last night. We hope you enjoyed her talk as much as we did, and that you came away with some new ideas about mathematics.
If you were unable to make it, or are interested in a but of further reading, here are two documents outlining what she spoke about on Monday, as well as two templates that you can use at home. Thanks, Elizabeth, Kevin and Sia

50 ways to change the world

Last week we further developed ideas and understandings on ‘Change’.  We read the book 50 ways to change the world (a book brought to school by Nina). The book gives us very achievable suggestions on how to change the world and how small actions can change the world. The children discussed and developed ideas on small ways they can change the world. Some of the suggestion the children discussed were, planting trees, cleaning up our school yard, walking or riding to school, giving to those in need, doing other things instead of watching T.V. and turning off electrical equipment.  The children wrote and drew pictures and we created a display in the classroom. Please come and have a look.

Kevin, Sia & Elizabeth

Headlines

As part of our inquiry on change we read the book, The Red Tree by Shaun Tan.  The book is full of imagery that evokes feelings of sadness, confusion, and sometimes hopelessness. The message is not sad but that there is always hope.

The children were asked to capture the heart of the message using the thinking routine Headlines (Visible Thinking @Harvard Project Zero).  The student’s responses are displayed in our neighbourhood.  Please come in and have a look.

Kevin, Sia & Elizabeth

Book Talk

Thank you to all the parents who joined us this morning for Book Talk.  The parents read a book to a small group of children and participated in the Thinking Routine, Step Inside.  

Book Talk:- Wednesday mornings 9.00-10.00am

Thanks again.

Kevin, Sia & Elizabeth

Happenings in Learning Agreement Week 4

School Picnic Rescheduled

The school picnic on Thursday 20^th February has been cancelled due to the stormy weather prediction by the weather bureau.  It has been rescheduled for Thursday 27^th February.

Rescheduled

Welcome PicnicWhen: Thursday 27th February, 6:00 pm onward
Where: Princes Park (near the playground)
All families are invited to attend the school welcome picnic. Please bring some food to share. 

Specialist Timetable

Year 2 Specialist Neighbourhood Timetable

Monday       

2.30pm

Red              Sport

                   Green           Art

                   Blue             Italian

Tuesday

12.10pm

Red              Art

                   Green           Italian

                   Blue             Sport

1.05pm

Red              Italian

                   Green           Sport

                   Blue             Art

Tuesday

10.00am      Library and Home Reading

Welcome Picnic

When: Thursday 20 February, 6:00 pm onward

Where: Princes Park (near the playground)

All families are invited to attend the school welcome picnic. Please bring some food to share.

Thanks,

Kevin, Sia and Elizabeth

Compass Points

Last week we introduced the year 2 students to the Routine, Compass Points (Visible Thinking – @ Harvard Project Zero) a routine for examining propositions. Compass Points help students to flesh out an idea or proposition and to eventually evaluate it. It also gives teachers and other students a deeper understanding of student’s inner thinking.

The students wrote and drew on a piece of paper,

E - What excites you about school?

W - What worries you about school?

N - What do you want to know at school?

S - Do you have any suggestions?

Student responses assist teachers to respond to worries, interests and suggestions for our neighbourhood.  Responses can be viewed on display in our neighbourhood.  Please come in and have look.

Kevin, Sia & Elizabeth

Have you filled a bucket today?

Last week Alexis Koufidis brought to school a book called, Have You Filled a Bucket Today: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids by Carol McCloud.  Kevin read the book to the year 2 neighbourhood and we have been developing ideas about ‘changing’ our behaviour and trying to recognise whether we are ‘bucket fillers’ or ‘bucket dippers’.

The story tells us that each one of us has an invisible bucket. It is constantly emptied or filled, depending on what others say or do to us.  When our bucket is full, we feel great. When it is empty, we feel awful. We sometimes become bucket dippers when we dip into other people's buckets by saying or doing things that hurts others.  The more we dip into other people’s buckets with negative emotions, our bucket also diminishes. The more we fill other people’s buckets, the more our bucket fills up too. We all face a choice every moment of every day: We can either fill one another's buckets, or we can dip from them.

A green bucket has been established in our classroom to promote a collective Year 2 Neighbourhood of bucket fillers. We place unifix blocks in our bucket every time positive action is taking place in our neighbourhood.  We seem to be filling our bucket very quickly!

Kevin, Sia & Elizabeth

Mathematics Information Night

MONDAY 24^TH FEBRUARY

6:00 – 7PM

PRESENTER: DIANNE SIEMON

Dianne Siemon is a Professor of Mathematics Education in the School of Education at RMIT University (Victoria). She is involved in the preparation of pre-service teachers and the supervision of higher degree students. Di has been responsible for a number of State and Territory-wide numeracy research projects involving Prep (Transition) to Year 9.  She is a popular professional development presenter whose interests include the development of the ‘big ideas’ in number, the teaching and learning of mathematics in the middle years, and the use of rich assessment tasks to inform teaching. Di is a past President of the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers and the Mathematical Association of Victoria. Di will present to parents what they can do at home to support teachers build mental objects for numbers (looking at strategies such as part-part-whole, doubling etc.) She will discuss strategies for mental computation and importance of these, link briefly to 'algorithms/processes' and then spend some time unpacking multiplication and strategies for learning number facts based on understanding.

AS THIS IS A FORMAL PRESENTATION WE DO ASK THAT THIS IS AN ADULT ONLY EVENT.

CHILDCARE ARRANGEMENTS CAN BE MADE FOR SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN THROUGH MANDY AT OHSC at SCHOOL GYMNASIUM

Borrowing from the Junior School Library

It is wonderful to see children borrowing from the Junior School Library in the mornings or afternoons. From next Monday, we ask that borrowing take place through the electronic system. There are two computers in the JSL which will be on and ready to scan your books in and out. Parent helpers will be assisting. Books being scanned in can be done so quickly and books being borrowed go under your child's name.

If you would like to offer your help for 10-15 minutes for scanning in the mornings or afternoons please see Rita.

Thank you!

Parent Representatives

If you are interested in being a Parent Rep we ask that you speak to one of the teachers in the year 2 neighbourhood. 

Parent Reps help to promote communication with the parents of the year 2 neighbourhood and assist in asking for volunteers to support school-related events, activities and excursions. Please talk to a neighbourhood teacher if you would like more information.

Generally there is one parent rep per roll group. 

Kevin, Sia & Elizabeth

Step inside

The year 2 neighbourhood has been exploring the Thinking Routine Step inside (Visible Thinking @ Harvard Project Zero).   We used the Step inside routine to explore character and to get inside each character’s shoes.

We read the story ‘The paper bag princess’ and asked the students to step inside the role of each character. We documented the student’s responses and a display has been created in the year 2 neighbourhood.  Please come in to view the student’s learning.

‘This routine helps students to explore different perspectives and viewpoints…’

Kevin, Sia & Elizabeth

Year 2 Inquiry Update

Since the beginning of term, the year two neighbourhood students have been working very hard to investigate, What is change? As a part of this inquiry, we have developed ideas on the meaning of 'change', created timelines of important changes in our lives, brainstormed examples of 'change' using the Visible Thinking routine 'chalk talk' and looked at different stories or items that show change.

Thank you to those students who have been bringing in baby photos or special items that are meaningful to them and that relate to our inquiry. 

We have had a fabulous start to our inquiry on change. Keep it up year 2's!

Here are some photos of the chalk talk and timelines:

   

Book Talk

Thank you to the parents who joined us on Wednesday morning from 9 am to 10 am for Book Talk. The morning was very successful. We welcome all parents to come in on Wednesday mornings to take a small group of children to read and discuss a book.
Kevin, Sia & Elizabeth

Assembly Presentation

The Year 2 neighbourhood will be presenting at assembly on Tuesday 18th March.  We look forward to seeing you there and joining us later for a cup of coffee at the coffee cart.
Kevin, Sia and Elizabeth

Tissues

Just a quick reminder to parents to bring along a box of tissues to the neighbourhood.
Thanks Kevin, Sia & Elizabeth

Indoor Plant Planting

 A group of very eager students and a very helpful parent helped to replant indoor plants into new pots.  The pots were distributed by the students and placed across the school into the neighbourhoods. Thank you to Julie (Hannah M’s mum) for taking time out of her busy schedule to guide and help the students with the re-potting. 

Kevin, Sia and Elizabeth 

Chinese New Year Assembly

The year 2 neighbourhood was excited to present at the first assembly for the year.  We made quite an entrance with the beating of drums and the clanging of cymbals, followed by the entrance of the Chinese dragon.

Thank you to Alekzia, Greta, Allegra, Archie, Sabine, Xavier and Issac for presenting at assembly.  A special thank you to the students under the dragon.

Kevin, Sia and Elizabeth

Hello everybody!

Welcome to the Year 2 Neighbourhood Blog for 2014. We have had a great start to the year, and are looking forward to sharing our learning with you. 

Below is some important information for you regarding upcoming events in the school:

Parent Information Evenings

When: Thursday 13 February, 5:00-6:30pm

Where: PHPS Gymnasium.

The evening will commence with information about student learning and student wellbeing. This will provide an opportunity for parents to become acquainted with staff responsible for the range of programs operating across the school.

Following this introduction and information sharing, parents are invited to visit their child’s/children’s neighbourhood/s to talk with the teachers. Parents may direct any questions they have about programs and organisation to the neighbourhood teachers

Parents Information Evening – Maths

When: Monday 24^th February, 6:00-7:00pm

Where: PHPS Gymnasium

Presenter: Dianne Siemon

More information on this session will be sent home shortly.

Welcome Picnic

When: Thursday 20 February, 6:00pm onwards

Where: Princes Park (near the playground)

All families are invited to attend the school welcome picnic. Please bring some food to share.

Also, please see Kevin if you are interested in any of the following:

• Helping with Book Talk on a Wednesday morning (9-10am)
• Being a library helper
• Being a parent rep for our Neighbourhood (we need two or three) 

Thanks,

Kevin, Sia and Elizabeth