We are hoping students continue learning over the break! Here are some suggestions for practice over the break to ensure we keep the connection between school and home. 

1. Reading - Continue to read home reading or on Raz-Kids
2. Writing - Keep a spring break journal, writing about the activities they did. Be sure to include all the items from our writing checklist HERE. Journals can be emailed to me through gmail if you wish!
3. Math - Please have your child work through some 2-digit addition problems (with sums to 100) and show you the use of a variety of strategies. Students in grade 2 should be able to use at least one strategy (other than using manipulatives) to add two digit numbers together with regrouping. Please keep practicing the following strategies at home
• STRATEGIES HERE
• MATH EQUATIONS HERE

*Update to April Schedule* 
Dear Parents, our class will be SWIMMING April 16, 17, 18, 19 in the mornings (specific times to come). Paperwork will come home after the spring break. If you think you may be able to help support in the change rooms, please email me at sllaslo@cbe.ab.ca. We are hoping to have some male volunteers to help in the boy change rooms!! :)

Don't forget to check us out on Twitter @KenTaylorYYCBE 

We are continuing to practice using open number lines to help us with adding. To support us with this, students have been practicing to count by 10s starting anywhere on the 100s chart, as well as counting by 5s. Please support your child by completing and discussing the following number patterns.

Counting by 10's starting anywhere on the 100s chart
3, 13, 23, ____, ____, ____, ____

15, 25, 35, ____, ____, ____, ____

27, 37, 38, ____, ____, ____, ____

54, 64, 74, ____, ____, ____, ____

48, 58, 68, ____, ____, ____, ____

Click HERE to practice counting by 5s!

Additional Skip Counting Game: HERE

*Update to April Schedule* 
Dear Parents, our class will be SWIMMING April 16, 17, 18, 19 in the mornings (specific times to come). Paperwork will come home after the spring break. If you think you may be able to help support in the change rooms, please email me at sllaslo@cbe.ab.ca. We are hoping to have some cleared male volunteers to help in the boy change rooms!! :)

Don't forget to check us out on Twitter @KenTaylorYYCBE

Arctic Winter Games - Ask me what games I learned about!
First Day of Spring - Ask me what I know about the season of spring!
Number Line Math - Ask me to show you my number line math work (came home today) and have me explain it to you! Practice this strategy at home! Click HERE to access practice at home.
Arctic Animal Research - Ask me what arctic animal I am learning about and what I have learned so far!

We care for our place! Check out these AMAZING Ken Taylor Ambassadors who picked up garbage this morning to help keep our school area clean and safe for the KT bunnies!

First day of Spring brainstorming using our senses!

Don't forget to check us out on Twitter @KenTaylorYYCBE

Students have been spending a lot of time looking for connections in the stories they read/listen to. These are called text-to-self connections.

Text-to-self connections are highly personal connections that a reader makes between a piece of reading material and the reader's own experiences or life. An example of a text-to-self connection might be, "This story reminds me of a vacation we took to my grandfather's farm."

Students listened to the story, No, David! and made a connection to either, a part of the story, picture, character or feeling. Here is how students plotted their connections. *click to enlarge*

Please ask your child why they put their name under the category and why they did this (what was their connection?).

We will continue to look for text-to-self connections and move into text-to-text connections and text-to-world connections. Look for these connections when reading/listening to books, shows and movies at home!

The Arctic Winter Games have begun!
What are the Arctic Winter Games? - Click HERE to find out!

The Arctic Winter Games play an important role in sport development in Canada's territories, particularly in the promotion of traditional sports, which have been a part of the Games since their founding. This year, 16 different Dene and Inuit sports will be contested.

We're looking forward to learn more about the games, who participates and how to play the games throughout the week! 

Don't forget to check us out on Twitter @KenTaylorYYCBE

As we learn more about the arctic and its animals, students read the story,  Who Would Win? Polar Bear Vs. Grizzly Bear.


Polar bears can smell a seal through three feet of ice, while grizzlies can smell a dead animal ten miles away. But would this sense of smell matter in a fight? What would happen if a polar bear and a grizzly bear fought each other? With this book, students learned the stats, predicted the winner, and then witness the imaginary battle! Students read amazing and fun facts about where the bears live, how they hunt, and what they eat. Students studied the bears’ physical features, from teeth to claws, and compared their size, hunting skills, sense of smell, speed, and more. Which bear will be the final victor? 

Here are some of the ideas we compared...

Ask your child which bear they chose to win and why they chose that bear over the other! 

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Students were introduced to another addition strategy: using a number line! We have used number lines in the past to jump by ones, but now we are looking to use number lines to add two digit numbers. We can use a number line and jump in groups such as jumping by 10s, and 5s to get closer to the number. This is a very visual representation of numbers which some students may prefer. At home with your child, please view the following picture and discuss how they could use the number line to add the numbers together.

Try some of these at home! We will continue to work on this strategy at school.

Please continue to practice these math games for practice:

1. Double Digit Addition
2. Place Value Game
3. Build Addition Skills
4. Base Ten Fun

Tomorrow is Day 2 for inline skating! Ask me how I did today!

• March 16 is Subway Fun Lunch
• March 22 - Half day and Last day of classes before Spring Break!
• April 3 - Return from Spring Break

Don't forget to check us out on Twitter @KenTaylorYYCBE

Our inline skating begins tomorrow! If you would like, please send your child's helmet to school. If you do not have a helmet, dont worry! We have some the students can use :)

Today we read the story, The Lonely Inukshuk and learned more about the significance of the Inukshuk to the Inuit people. In the story, the Inukshuk is lonely and is trying to figure out why he is all alone at the top of the hill near the mountain. He tried to ask a few arctic animals, but they were all busy! Finally, he hears a father and son who were passing by. Read the following passage to learn what the Inukshuk heard.

Upon reading the story, students engaged in a Sketch and Stretch to focus on our comprehension. Students were asked: What is the most important part of the story and why? Here are our sketches! Please ask your child to explain their work to you.

Please continue to practice these math games for practice:

1. Double Digit Addition
2. Place Value Game
3. Build Addition Skills
4. Base Ten Fun

• March 14 - School Council meeting (6:30 - 8) Grade 2 team is presenting! :)
• March 16 is Subway Fun Lunch
• March 22 - Half day and Last day of classes before Spring Break!
• April 3 - Return from Spring Break

Don't forget to check us out on Twitter @KenTaylorYYCBE & @MrsSimBrar

To help support our learning with addition at school, please have your children play these learning games throughout the week.
1. Double Digit Addition
2. Place Value Game
3. Build Addition Skills
4. Base Ten Fun





We continued to learn about Nunavut, focusing on the capital of Iqaluit. We compared their capital, to the capital of Alberta, Edmonton. Please ask your child. How are the two cities the same? How are the two cities different?

Iqaluit                                                Edmonton

• March 14 - School Council meeting (6:30 - 8) Grade 2 team is presenting! :)
• March 15, 16, 19 - our class is skating! Helmets are welcome but not required.
• March 16 is Subway Fun Lunch
• March 22 - Half day and Last day of classes before Spring Break!
• April 3 - Return from Spring Break

Don't forget to check us out on Twitter @KenTaylorYYCBE 

Alien Inline

We will be rollerblading with Alien Inline on March 15, 16 & 19. If you would like, you may bring your own helmet.

A.M.A. (Ask Me About)

- Today we began learning about Nunavut by exploring some of the geography. We found Nunavut on Google Earth and also learned about glaciers and the tundra. What is the tundra? What did I learn so far? What else can I discover?

- Students have been working hard on practicing expanding numbers using base ten blocks and the place value chart. This practice will help us with breaking down numbers so we can add them together. We are hoping to start this strategy with two digit addition next week. Over the weekend, please review THIS video with your child and practice expanding numbers into tens and ones.

Here is more of an explanation of the strategy we would like students to begin to use next week. Feel free to come up with your own numbers at home to practice this strategy.

Students can also use or draw base ten blocks to help support our visual learners. Here is an example below

Thank you for supporting our learning! :)

March 14 - School Council at 6:30
March 15, 16 & 19 - Alien Inline Skating
March 16 - Fun Lunch
March 22 - Half Day & Last Day of Classes
March 26 - Apr. 2 - Spring Break

Check us out on Twitter @KenTaylorYYCBE 

Alien Inline

We will be rollerblading with Alien Inline on March 15, 16 & 19. If you would like, you may bring your own helmet. 

A.M.A. (Ask Me About)
We have a new wall story on our bulletin board! Read it with your child tonight and try to practice it throughout the weekend! Ask your child to point out the juicy adjectives and to read the story with expression. Can you guess what our settings is this time?

March 14 - School Council at 6:30
March 15, 16 & 19 - Alien Inline Skating
March 16 - Fun Lunch
March 22 - Half Day & Last Day of Classes
March 26 - Apr. 2 - Spring Break

Check us out on Twitter @KenTaylorYYCBE