Look at these great photos Joseph brought in

Help your child to feel successful when reading

Suggestions for comments when your child is reading 

©        You are doing an excellent job with those tricky words

©        You are working very hard to make sense of what you are reading

©        I like the way you re-read that bit to check that it made sense

©        I like the way you stopped when it didn’t sound right and you self-corrected

©        You are concentrating well

©        I knew you would do a great job with this book

©        Your reading is very smooth (fluent)

©        I like the way you tried that hard word by sounding out the beginning

©        I like the way you used the context to make a sensible prediction

©        You are very good at pointing to the words

©        It’s great that you know what that word started with

©        Sounding some words helps you to work them out

©        I can see that you know the words have to make sense

©        I enjoyed listening to your reading

©        I noticed that you stopped at each full stop and took a break at the commas

©        I could tell that you really enjoyed this book – I could hear it in your voice

©        Well done, that was a good choice of book

©        I think your reading is improving every day

©        You read with good expression–you used your voice in an interesting way

©        Good thinking and problem solving

©        You sound very confident

©        I like the way you asked questions when you didn’t understand

©        You did a great job of explaining the pictures to me

©        You should be very proud of yourself

©        I like the way you linked something in the book to something you have done

©        You seem to really understand this story

©        Well done for remembering the tricky words

The Lorax Voice Thread

The class first  created an individual avatar on the Build Your Wild Self website which was a lot of fun.  (I have added a link in Literacy Links in the Other section if you would like to build some more.) Next week they will be writing descriptive sentences about their avatar.  I then used a program called Voice Thread to record oral responses from the children to the literature. I needed some technical assistance from another blogging teacher in Western Australia!

The children were aware that the movie The Lorax is coming soon.  You can view the trailer on YouTube if you wish but be careful of the pop up ads.  Mrs P has shown the teachers how to use Quiet Tube on our Macs.  This program allows you to watch YouTube videos on a blank white backdrop with no advertising or comments seen.  Thank you Mrs P, this is much less distracting.  Next week we will be discussing the differences between the movie version of the Lorax and the book.

I hope you enjoy watching our Voice Thread. Ms Taylor

Literacy Groups

During literacy groups the children rotate through a variety of activities. This week we have two groups practising their sight and spelling words. Two groups are working on their keyboard skills on the MacBooks. Two groups are organising groups of words according to their word families. For example, mop, pop, shop all belong to the op family. One group is sorting pictures to match their initial sound and the final group are playing sight word bingo. It takes a few days to rotate through all the activities. It is very important that the sight word children have their sight word book at school every day so they can be learning their words at home and school. The activities in literacy rotations are highly engaging and regularly changed to keep the student's interest high. The classroom can be quite noisy but mostly it is 'working noise'. Ms Taylor

Check Your Spelling

Hi 2B. Comments with spelling errors will not be published because I cannot edit them for you. Remember to get an adult to check your comment. If you do not see your comment published within 24 hours it is probably because it has an error. Check your spelling and comment again. Remember, a red line does not go under every spelling mistake and sometimes people's names are underlined even if they are correct. Ms Taylor

New Song - Doubles

Untitled from Sam Taylor on Vimeo.

Look How Plants Move Every Day

I found this interesting time lapse video.  Plants move everyday but they move so slowly we can't see them.  This is what it looks like when it is sped up.  If you look closely at the clock you could work out how many hours the film maker filmed for.  Ms Taylor

No Sight Word Testing

We do not require sight word testing help on Friday 17th February.  A relief teacher will be in for the morning as I have a year seven Leadership Assembly to attend for my daughter.  Please come next week though.  I value your support.  Ms Taylor

Ash Wednesday Liturgy

Next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. Year 2 will lead the school in a liturgy at 9 am. All are welcome. More than half the grade are actively involved and the others will play special parts in our next liturgy, mass or presentation. All children will be participating but unfortunately, I will be at a inservice on this day and will miss out. I will also be away on the Tuesday before and Miss Lavan and a relief teacher will lead the classes in their final practice. If your child has a reading part you will find a lavender reading sheet in their home folder tomorrow. Please assist them to read it fluently. You can keep it at home, we have laminated copies for school use. Below is a link to a You Tube clip to do extra practise on one of the hymns. Actions will not be needed on the day.

 If the clicking sound from the bean movie is driving you mad, just click on the little speaker on the bottom of it, on the right to turn the annoying sound off!!!

PARENTS NOTE: At the end of a You Tube clip there may be advertisements for other clips.  They may not always be suitable so ensure your child only clicks replay. If any one is more 'tech savy' than me please let me know how to change this.


If you have spelling errors in your comment or mention a surname of our children or the school name I will be unable to publish your thoughts.  This is for our security and to model good spelling for the class.  Kids - get an adult to check your comments please.  I cannot let you know it will not be published so if you don't see it within 24 hours check back and leave another comment. I try to edit my own writing but if I make a mistake (yes, I make them too), leave a comment and I will correct it. Thank you.
 Ms Taylor



 

Counting to 100

Untitled from Sam Taylor on Vimeo.
On the fourth take we finally got our video 'blog worthy'. I hope you enjoy it and practise it often. Look out for our next video about counting in 2s, 5s and 10s.

Thank you for watching our video everyone.  By Imogen


I liked Geordan's moves and I danced with Abby which was fun.  By Claudia


I liked making the video because it was fun and we got to watch it after.  By Finn


Do we look cool parents?  By Maya


Finn looked amazing in our movie because he had good moves.  By Ethan


It was cool and fun to make this movie.  By Hannah S


We liked it because everyone was joining in.  By Luka


I thought the best dancer was Luka.  By Nicholas

How Are Our Beans Going?

Take a look at how our beans are growing. Some are very tall and have leaves. Some are just small shoots and others have hardly started growing at all. Do you know why they are all growing differently? You could make a comment with your ideas.

Week 3 Update

Hi Everyone,

I am loving all the comments we are getting on our blog.  See if you can find and read a comment from Finn's friend in Africa.  I wonder how old he is and if he is interested in telling us what it is like where he lives?

I know you are eagerly awaiting the rap of the class counting to 100.  We did film it on Friday but it needs to be redone on Monday because a few children were having a little chat instead of joining in.  I do not want to publish that version because a few children would not be proud of their efforts.

Please bring a cap in on Monday so we can do it one more time and hopefully it will be perfect.

Please bring in your sight word books everyday.  Some children could not receive their new list on Friday because they forgot their books and could not be tested.

A few people did not submit their homework on Friday either.  On Monday you will receive the next 2 weeks of sheets so if you forgot to bring the scrapbook on Friday, pack it for Monday please. If you forgot to return your home readers on Friday you need to remember them for Monday because we borrow 4 new books on Monday morning after dancing.

Don't forget Swimming on Monday and Tuesday.

Thank you to the generous parents and grandparents who came to help this week with reading and sight words.  It will really benefit the children with this one on one support.

Have a great weekend.

Ms Taylor

Growing Bean Seeds

Our bean seeds have been watered each day and are beginning to grow. First they swell up as they absorb the water to about three times their original size. Next they begin to sprout. Some have roots and some have shooted. The roots grow down looking for soil. The plant stem sprouts up looking for sunlight.

Week 3 Learning

On Monday mornings we participate in Footsteps Dancing. We have been making 2 digit numbers with all sorts of materials.

We have MacBooks!

The children have enjoyed the MacBooks this week.  They have learnt to unplug them from the laptop trolley, start them up, log on, use the Bookmarks bar to access our Blog and find a link, shut down and put the computers back on charge.

MacBooks are a little different to PC laptops.  They have a trackpad not a touch pad and it operates slightly differently.  The trickiest part is scrolling up and down.  You use two fingers and pretend you are stroking a pet up and down.  Most children have now mastered these new routines and techniques.

On Friday we had over 1000 hits on our blog!  The class were very excited about this and are referring to the hits as 'our fans'.  I have added a map to see where our visitors are coming from. We have had our first international visitor today.  Several teachers from interstate are regular visitors.  I visit many other classroom blogs from around the world to gain new ideas.

WOW! LOOK WHAT I'VE FOUND

Have a look at this fantastic website I have found for you to view 100's of free ebooks at loads of different levels.

You can find this link on our Literacy Page as well.

Oxford Owl

I have had a look and highly recommend it for all of you.

Ms Taylor

What We Did on Wednesday

Highlights -


 Music and Drama lessons


Science - We began our unit about Living Things.  I presented a seed to each child and asked them what it might be.  Some ideas were; a nut, a seed and a coffee bean.  I told them it was a Runner Bean seed and we were going to grow them.  We tried to use magic to get them growing which didn't work.  Vivian thought it was because I had not attended Hogwarts to learn any spells.  We decided they needed water and sunshine to grow and the children were surprised to learn they didn't need any soil.  We placed a test cup inside the cupboard which we will still water but it won't get any light  and one in the sunshine but will not water it.  Xavier knew a lot about growing seeds and included in his workbook drawings of what he thinks will happen.  He said if you water them too much they 'go yucky' and die.  I wonder if he is correct?  We will keep you updated on our seeds as they grow.


Life Education Van - We visited the Life Education Van where Alisha and Harold (he is a giraffe puppet) taught the children about healthy bodies and warned them not to pick up any sharp things they see like needles.


Another busy day!!!