Feeling Behind

After being away sick for two days and then spending today catching up/finishing what was done while I was away, I feel a little behind. I always feel that way when I'm not there but it's definitely amplified after being gone for two days. I know the class continues to function perfectly fine in my absence, they have really good habits after following our class routines for months. But I always feel like I'm missing something by being away, as do most teachers I know. The students were very excited today as two players from the Kingston Frontenacs visited today to read two books and sign autographs. 

In language, the grade twos did the comptine "La pluie" to review the "ui" sound and its various spellings. We didn't get to the second comptine but will do it next week. The grade threes worked on "La promenade de Pascal" with the "al" sound. For shared readings, we did a couple more winter poems. 

In math, we continued to work on 2-d and 3-d geometry, both in their guided math groups with me and in their guided problem solving group with Mrs. McLaren. The math games were matching games of different 2-d/3-d shapes and figures with the name as well as attributes with the name, such as number of faces, edges, and vertices. While I was away, the students did a mini-unit on measurement (mass and volume) and got some practice with using the scale to measure various classroom objects. We will continue to visit this from time to time. 

We started a really fun project in visual arts, linking art and language. The students each made a snowman this week. Next week, they will write a short description of their snowman. Both descriptions and snowmen will be up in the hall and anyone passing by can try to match the description with the snowman. The class is very excited by this project!

Have a great weekend!

Rhyme Time

We started looking at some seasonal poems this week for our shared readings. We spent quite a bit of time discussing rhyming words in poems and looked for examples in the poems as well as around the classroom. Today we used a new song that the students will sing with Mme Judd next week in Music as a shared reading since it's a song about rhymes. The grade twos did the comptines "Au trot, au galop!" and "À la queue leu leu!" which reviewed the different spellings for the "o" and "eu" sounds. We also looked at rhymes within the comptines and searched through previous comptines for words that rhymed with the "eu" sound. The grade threes continued to work on the story "Mathilde et le mystère des feux follets". There were some new games in the Reading and Writing Ateliers, a rhyming word puzzle for reading and a version of Boggle to practise writing words. 

In math, we continued to learn about geometric shapes and solids, as well as symmetry. The students are completing activities that require them to identify the different 2-d shapes and 3-d solids as well as learn and compare their geometric characteristics, such as number of faces, edges (arêtes), and vertices (sommets). The grade threes have also been looking at types of edges: vertical, horizontal, or diagonal (obliques). In the math ateliers, there are games that require them to match the names of shapes/solids with their image as well as matching attributes to names. 

We did many other things this week but as I'm rather tired, I'll save some of the other stuff for my next post. Goodnight and have a great weekend! 🌝

Only 6 students?!?

I really didn't expect to start back in the New Year with only 6 students. But buses were cancelled and Kingston seemed to have quite a few weather warnings on the go. So we had a quiet day with lots of review and time for me to work with those students one on one on catch up work, especially in math. I spent quite awhile on Monday night trying to find parents on Facebook in order to remind them that our class was skating on Tuesday. We ended up having music on Tuesday morning since we would be skating in the afternoon. So, no ateliers until Wednesday. But then, it was right back into the swing of it.

Catching up and working on art

In language, the grade twos reviewed the "è" and "é" sounds in "Le secret" and "Le bébé". The grade threes are working on the "il/ol/ul" sounds in "Mathilde et le mystère des feux follets" and will continue to do so for a couple of days next week. We finished up our school themed poems for shared reading. 

The students enjoyed the new games and activities in the Reading and Writing ateliers. And I even got a chance to get a couple more GB+ reading assessments done. 

Reading Bingo Game

Guided Reading with Science booklets

Independent Writing of Monster stories

Writing secret messages

In math, we began our new unit on 2-dimensional shapes and 3-dimensional figures. There were several new activities in the ateliers that the students enjoyed exploring. Problem-solving has focused on geometry as well with that group working with Mrs. McLaren while I run a guided math group. It's great because they are actually getting two guided math groups within an math ateliers cycle. What a great start to January!

More math fact practice

Geometry problem solving

Guided Math with Mme

Making/identifying 2-d shapes