Getting ready for Wednesday

The children have been busying getting ready for our celebration on Wednesday morning. The children have completed their Haikus, scored them and been practicing their performances in small groups. The poetry performances will tie together what the children have learnt about writing poetry, projecting their voice and using actions to support the words in the poem to make the performance entertaining for the viewer. 

What is scoring?

• Highlighting words you will put emphasis on when reading aloud
• Note where you will pause
• Mark the text for pacing
• Note ideas for gestures/actions 

Some examples of how the children have scored their Haikus:

Action Required: Please return library books

As it is coming to the end of the year we had our last opportunity for borrowing books from the school library this week. If children can begin to return the library books they have finished reading that would be greatly appreciated. Leigh has asked that all books be returned by the end of Week 10 (2 weeks).

 

Week 9 Happenings!

Year 2 Celebration on Wednesday

Monday
2:30 Visit to 3/4 Neighbourhood (second transition) - children will be taking their bags, please collect from the Year 3/4 Neighbourhoods. Children will be split at random for this transition, and will NOT be in their homegroups for 2016. 

Tuesday

Art & Italian (2J)

PE & Art (2S)

Italian & PE (2A)

Singing with Deb

Wednesday

9-11 Year 2 Celebration (details below)

Thursday 

Art (2A)

PE (2J)

Italian (2S)

Singing with Deb

Library

Friday

3pm Assembly

Reminder: Neighbourhood Celebration Wednesday 2nd December 9am

Dear Year Two Parents and Carers,

On Wednesday 2^nd December 9am-11am we invite you to join the Year Two Neighbourhood in celebrating our learning.

Program for the morning:

9am: Parents/Carers arrive and are seated in front of the Year Two Veranda

9.10am: Inquiry Overview and Songs with Deb

9.30am: Poetry Performances by the children (2 large groups)

10am: Open Neighbourhood (film footage of poetry performances, Poetry and Art Exhibitions, shared poetry writing experience)

10:30am: Morning Tea Outside

THINGS TO BRING:

1.    It would be wonderful if you could please bring a small plate of food to share for our Morning Tea.

2.    Try and bring a favourite poem of yours now or when you were a child (incl. music lyrics) and how it made you feel.

We look forward to seeing you next Wednesday.

Simone, Jessica and Steve

Week 8 Happenings!

Hong Kong visitors in the school

Monday
2:30 Visit to 3/4 Neighbourhood (first transition)

Tuesday

Art & Italian (2J)

PE & Art (2S)

Italian & PE (2A)

Thursday 

Art (2A)

PE (2J)

Italian (2S)

Singing with Deb

Library

Friday
9:10 Short presentation from Hong Kong children and their buddies

3pm Assembly 

Coach Approach Third Week

What a ripper of a day for Coach Approach! We had the pleasure of learning juggling, teamwork, ultimate frisbee and aerobics. Big thanks to the parents that came along to help. Here are a few photos of the students giving 100% to building there skills. With one week left it has definitely been a great opportunity for students to work together across the grades and enjoy the company of different aged students.

Nurturing Biodiversity: The Return of the Sacred Kingfisher

Nurturing Biodiversity: The return of the Sacred Kingfisher

Celebrate a living story of hope for our future and the rejuvenation of the Merri Creek. Learn how humans can support biodiversity, at the Village Green, CERES.

Every year since the Sacred Kingfisher was seen again in the Merri Creek environment, we celebrate it's return to the woodlands of Victoria.

We also celebrate the great work regenerating the Merri Creek and demonstrate how we can support biodiversity, which encourages flora and fauna to thrive in the catchment.

Sunday 22 November 2015

Workshops and tours from 1.00 pm

CERES site groups, Wild Melbourne, the Australian Wildlife Conservancy and Friends of the Merri Creek are just some of the amazing groups focussing on biodiversity and the creek environment.

Story and Boogie 4.00pm

C E R E S Corner Roberts & Stewart Streets, Brunswick East

> Walk > Ride > Tram 96 > Bus 508

ASSEMBLY CANCELLED THIS FRIDAY 13TH

Hi everyone,

Due to the Bazaar set-up in the gym and the weather forecast, the whole school Assembly has been cancelled this Friday 13th November. The year twos were scheduled to present this week but instead, we will be sharing our learning with families in the neighbourhood on December 2nd 9-11.30am.

Thank you,
The Year Two Team

Emotion Haikus

This week the children have had the opportunity to write Haikus that explain an emotion. Below are three fabulous Haikus that were written today. I have chosen to share these poems because the children were able to explain what the emotion looks and feels like in only 3 short lines. 

Excited

Jumping up and down

Running around being wild

Having lots of fun

By Grace

Sad

Flop onto my bed

Tears running down to my hand

Cuddling my bear

By Aria

Happy

Warm hugs for people

Relax inside your hammock

Good inside you heart

By Leo

Year 2 Celebration Wednesday 2nd December 9am

Hi Parents and relatives,

We would like to invite all of you to join the Year Two Neighbourhood to celebrate our learning on Wednesday 2nd December from 9.15am-11am, followed by a picnic lunch.

The children have been developing their understanding of how we can provoke others and impact other people's emotions. We have been reflecting on how different provocations make us feel, and whether people of different ages would have the same response. Concurrently, we have been exploring how poetry can provoke us to feel different emotions, depending on our prior life experiences and memories. The children have been writing and performing various forms of poetry with the intention of provoking emotion in others.

The children would like to share their poetry with you and see how you respond.

There will be class lists on our welcome board for you to tick if you can attend (please advise how many people). It would be wonderful if you could please bring a plate of somewhat healthy food for our lunchtime picnic.

Hope to see many of you there!

Writing a Haiku

Today the triangles learnt how to count the syllables in words in order to write a Haiku. A Haiku is Japanese Poem that is composed of seventeen syllables in three short lines. The first line usually contains five syllables, the second line seven syllables and the third line five syllables. For their first attempt at writing a Haiku the children were invited to write a 'Who am I?' or 'What am I?' with clues. Here are a few examples. Can you guess what the clues are for.

What am I?

I have massive claws

I live in the amazon

I prey on monkeys

By Luis

What am I?

Walks like a human

Funny and good at climbing

Eating banana

By Zara

Who am I?
I am very nice
I have two, funny daughters
I'm very pretty
By Zahra

What am I?
They like bananas
Their boss has a pointy nose
There are lots of them
By Angus

What am I?
I'm soft, black and white
I have tiny feet and swim
I have fluffy fur
By Zadie

What am I?
It's Trunk is lengthy
It has massive, floppy ears
Likes water to swim
By Raveena

Bazaar Update!

Dear Year 2  Families,

Just a note to ask for your assistance with bringing in donations for the spinning wheel hampers that are currently in your childs class. The spinning wheel is a very popular activity at the Bazaar and the donations you make are used to put hampers together as prizes - they are fantastic! The themes allocated this year are

2 Steven - Instant Gratification (sweets, chocolates, teas, champagne, pampering products)

2 Jessica - Grow Your Own ( seeds, gardening tools, pots, gardening magazines, vouchers)

2 Simone - Hamp it up (Oils, spices, gourmet foods, drinks, condiments, pasta's and tableware)

If you haven't accessed the roster system to help out on please use this link and donate some time...http://volunteer.phpsbazaar.org

Dress up Day: November 6th

This Friday the 6^th of November there is a fundraiser for State School’s Relief. State School’s Relief is a charity raising money for kids in need of school resources, so shoes, clothes, books, pens and so on. We would like you to dress up in a uniform or anyone that goes to work in a uniform. It could be a policeman, fireman, doctor, lawyer, a school uniform, a sportsperson etc. Remember to bring in a gold coin donation and hope to see everyone dressed up.

Rosie Jones Eliza Gorman-Jacobs and Luca McGhee on behalf of JSC

P-2 Coach Approach

Our first P-2 Coach Approach was a little soggy so we had to go undercover. We had some great time playing team activities, soccer skills, taekwondo and hip hop. Massive thanks to Antonija and Caroline for their help on the day. Here are a few snaps of group 7 and 8.

Reach for the Stars - Space Incursion

We're in the process of writing recounts of our experience, so stay tuned. In the meantime, enjoy a few snaps from the day.

Action Required: Visit on Monday or Wednesday Morning

As part of our inquiry into 'Wonderings', we like to invite you to come in and share your responses to some of our provocations. Your responses will help us develop an understanding of audience and ability to empathise with older people.

If you could stop in either Monday (2^nd) and Wednesday (4^th) mornings 8.45 to 9.15am, we’d love to have your input.

Action Required: Parent Helpers for Tabloid Sports

Beginning in Week 5 (next week) and continuing for the following 3 weeks, Prep - 2 will be taking part in tabloid sports on Thursday mornings between 9 - 11am.

We are looking for 3 parent helpers to assist for the morning, if you are able to help out for 2 hours on any of the Thursdays, please speak with Jessica. 

Children will need to be wearing a hat and sunscreen as we will be outside for 2 hours in the sun. The children may like to bring their own drink bottle to keep close. 

Week 3 Happenings!

Start bringing in supplies for the Bazaar Hampers

Tuesday

Art & Italian (2J)

PE & Art (2S)

Italian & PE (2A)

Thursday 

Art (2A)

PE (2J)

Italian (2S)

Singing with Deb

Library

Friday

3pm Assembly 

Action Required: Bazaar Collection Tubs

Our collection tubs have arrived and are sitting on the lockers near the performance space ready to be filled. Each tub has a different theme. Here are the tubs themes and ideas for each homegroup. 

2AK - Instant Gratification: sweets, chocolate, tea. coffee, drinking chocolate, biscuits, wine, Champagne, lollies, pampering and bathing products. 
2SK - Hamp It Up: gourmet foods, alcohol tableware and cookware, oils, spices, wines, pasta, condiments, preserves, pasta sauce, chocolate, sweets, serving dishes, cookbooks and tableware. 
2JB - Grow Your Own: gardening tools and accessories, seeds, patio equipment, planting pots, garden care products, outdoor decorations. 

ACTION: Please bring in things that have PROVOKED YOU

Hi everyone,

We are exploring provocations using all of our senses that evoke different kinds of emotional responses. For example, we will be watching dance performances, reading and listening to poetry, watching advertisements, blind touching and smelling objects, listening to music, etc. and voting how they make us feel. We can then analyse the variation in emotional responses from different children and adults.

Can you please help by having conversations with your child about things you see or experience that provoke a particular response in you and why. Please bring in any videos, photos, objects, experiences etc. that your child could share next week to discuss how and why it provoked them.


THANKS!

Year 2 Learning: Current Foci

OUR INQUIRY
So far this term we have been providing the children with provocations (experiences through images, videos, objects) and having them respond with what they see, feel/think and wonder. From their initial responses, we observed that the children need to develop broader vocabulary to describe what they objectively see, and also descriptive language for how they feel.
Over the next few weeks we are exploring different provocations that evoke a range of emotions and comparing our different emotional responses. We will also explore why people would try and evoke these different emotions.

Here are the Concepts, Big Ideas and Understandings that we are exploring through the Inquiry:

Wonder is a noun (wonder of the world, to feel a sense of wonder and awe) and a verb (wondering, questioning)

Why do we wonder, why is it important to wonder?

What people wonder depend on their experiences and prior knowledge. Will children of different ages and adults wonder different things and respond differently to the same provocation?

What does provoke mean? In what ways can be be provoked? Why do we provoke and why do people provoke us (i.e. advertising, entertainment, connection)?

People can be provoked to feel any kind of emotion (anger, sadness, guilt, excitement, urgency etc.) 

Do different people react differently when provoked? 

Can we predict how others might respond to our provocations?  

LITERACY FOCUS

Mystery Writing and Reading - shared and independent writing of mystery stories. What devices do authors use to build suspense, intrigue, mystery, wonder? 

Vocabulary - building descriptive vocabulary in a range of contexts

Poetry - Speaking and Listening focus

• Performance Poetry, fluency, expression
• Building Confidence

Punctuation 

NUMERACY FOCUS

Marathon Maths Inquiry: exploring the number 42 using a range of approaches and materials; estimating and measuring distances around the school.

Subtraction worded stories and strategies

Multi-step problems