Page 5 - SN October - Grade 2
P. 5
EAL
MS. DIVNA STAKIC
High Beginners Group
Dear Parents,
We started the school year with excitement and joy, as we shared our summer adventures. Then we
smoothly transitioned into supporting the PYP trans-disciplinary theme Sharing the Planet. EAL stu-
dents were actively engaged in language building activities related to the Unit of Inquiry, and its cen-
tral idea: “All living things depend on each other for survival.” We inquired into connections among
living things, and introduced the unit vocabulary related to the concept being taught in the home-
room: producers, consumers, decomposers. Apart from building oral language, special focus was on
developing literacy skills. We started reviewing and enforcing basic reading strategies that were intro-
duced last year, and practiced retelling skills paying attention to the sequence of events. We intro-
duced basic sequence words – first, then, next, after that and finally. In-class support also included
pre-writing strategies: brainstorming ideas, writing a first draft, and tips for writing an explanatory
paragraph.
