What Time Is It?

By the end of Grade 3, students should be able to read time using analogue clocks, to the nearest five minutes and using digital clocks and represent time in 12-hour notation.  Grade 2 students should be able to tell and write time to the quarter hour.  Both Grade 2 and 3 students should also be able to solve problems involving the relationships between minutes and hours, hours and days, days and weeks and weeks and years, using a variety of tools (clocks, calendars).

We have been working on these expectations in our class.  We have played on 'Jungle Time' which is an amazing time-telling app.  We have done clock matching puzzles, many 'math on the move' games,  a 'Crazy Clock Booklet' and some partner problem solving using our 'learning clocks'.

We have really improved at reading/telling and recording times.  We are still practicing our ability to apply this skill to solve time problems.

You can help at home by asking your child to figure out problems like the one we did in class today:

Mr. Stacey dropped his truck off at the garage to get fixed at 9:00 this morning.  It needs the brakes repaired and the oil changed.  The mechanic said it will take 2 hours and 30 minutes to fix the brakes and 45 minutes to change the oil.  What time can Mr. Stacey pick up his truck?  

Have fun creating your own 'time problems'.

Chinese New Year and Other Celebrations

We have been using technology to help us learn about celebrations that we previously didn't know much about.  Students have shown a lot of improvement in their ability to locate and record key information about a topic.
Everyone learned about Chinese New Year.  Ask your child to tell you some of the important facts about this celebration.
Students also worked with a partner to learn about another interesting celebration.
We have noticed that many celebrations have similar traditions.  We know that most celebrations involve special foods and decorations/symbols.
We look forward to learning more about different celebrations as our school year continues!

'Matter' Matters!

We have been having a lot of fun in our classroom learning about the different states of matter.  We know there are 3 kinds of matter:  solids, liquids and gases.
We learned about the important safety symbols that are used to tell us if matter is poisonous, corrosive, flammable or explosive.
We have learned the important properties of each of these states of matter and we have investigated many examples.
We looked at various bottles that contained "mystery matter".  We identified it as either solid or liquid and used as many describing words as we could to record our observations about each bottle.
We mixed various liquids with water to see if they could be 'diluted'.
We discovered that some liquids will mix but some will not!
We mixed solids with water to see if they could 'dissolve'.
We mixed a liquid and a solid to make an interesting substance called "OObleck".
We even made a gas by mixing a liquid and a solid.
We have practiced writing about our investigations in words and diagrams! 

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Today we took some time to read about Martin Luther King Jr..  We learned that African Americans did not always have the same rights and privileges that white people had because of the colour of their skin.  We learned howMartin Luther King Jr. inspired people to stand together to change this so that all people would be treated equally and could live together in peace.  We watched a 5 minute clip  of his "I have a dream" speech and then shared some dreams of our own.

Money Madness!

We have been talking a lot about money in Grade 2/3.  By the end of Grade 2, students need to be able to estimate, count, and represent (using the ¢ symbol) the value of a collection of coins with a maximum value of one dollar.  By the end of Grade 3 these skills are extended to a maximum value of $10.00.  *Note:  All Grade 2 students in this class have extended their learning beyond $1.00.  

After reviewing the names and values of each of the coins, we played several games to practice making/counting money amounts using 'play money'.  The students quickly realized how important counting by 10s, 5s and 1s is when counting dimes, nickels and pennies! (Even though the penny has been discontinued in Canada, we still talked about it and counted it into some values).  We have raced to one dollar, played 'Money Scoot', compared money amounts in 'Who has More' or 'Do I have Enough' and we have made money amounts different ways by using different coins/bills using the ipads.

Learning about money also involves a lot of discussion about needs, wants, saving, spending, earning, lending, borrowing and even budgeting.  We have had some fantastic group conversation about money with this 'new vocabulary' in mind.

Continue to work with your child to talk about money.  Practise counting sets of coins/bills. Talk about how you spend/save/earn your money.  Next, we will practice adding money amounts together as we pretend to 'shop' for different items and solve real world money problems involving money.