Refreshed and Back at It!

It's been a great week back! Everyone seemed refreshed and ready to get back to work. I was hoping to post sooner but was busy making my oldest son's birthday cake last night and taking care of my youngest son this morning whose sick. Finally a quiet moment as Sammy is at a birthday party and Max is asleep in my arms! So blogging on.... The grade threes worked on the ic, ac, oc, uc, and ec sounds in "Un drôle de docteur". The grade twos did the ul sound in " La libellule" and the ar sound in "Gaspar". Our newest poems were "Il était une feuille" and "Le bouleau". 

In guided reading, we worked on comprehension strategies and had some great scientific discussions about the properties of liquids. A new reading game to improve sight word recognition and fluency was introduced. The students had to practise reading word lists as fast as they could several times with no errors. If they made a mistake, they would have to start over. 

We continued with some grammar activities. While the grade threes worked on reading comprehension  with a parent volunteer, the grade twos practised breaking up groups of words into sentences and ensuring each sentence had capitals/periods. We did one on the SMARTBOARD and then they did one in their notebooks. 

Many of the students began a new writing piece, an explanation about what their favourite subject in school was and why. Although some wanted to put recess or playing, we had a discussion about what a school subject was. In another centre, the grade threes practised cursive writing while the grade twos created stories to share orally, using flash cards to help them. 

There were some new games for the math centres too! The students had to find hidden addition, like hidden words but with addition hidden instead of words. There was also a game to figure out missing terms, as some students continue to struggle with this algebraic concept. The word problems were a bit challenging for the grade twos as they struggled with the difference between "has this many more than" and "how many more than". In French, the wording is very similar and they are used to doing subtraction whenever they see "more than". But on rare occasions, the question requires addition. 

I hope everyone is having a great first spring weekend, despite the snow!  😎

And March Break is Here!

It was such a productive week, even though it was short. I gave the class a break from homework as I had several students leaving early for trips. We finished up our cycle of ateliers and had some time for catching up on some unfinished stuff too!

In language, the grade threes finished up the story "La capture de l'adversaire". They struggled a bit with the comprehension questions as the story is about playing a video game and was in a first person voice. They weren't used to answering questions as if they were in the story. The grade twos did the "elle" sound in "La ritournelle" and the "ile" sound in "Le bibliophile". We read a digital story, "Bienvenue en Arctique", each day this week as a shared reading. After much discussion with their table groups, the students did an independent reading response about what adaptations the animals had to enable them to survive in the Arctic. When they were done, we took up the question as a class and completed a very detailed answer. The students then discussed how their responses compared go the one we did as a class and what they need to do to improve their answers. We spent some time discussing the need to go back into the text, page by page, to extract the pertinent information. 

In math, we continued with 2- and 3-digit addition and subtraction but mostly focused on subtraction. While the students were doing catch-up work and math work, I had the chance to get through lots of GB+ assessments. There were lots of great jumps in reading levels for many of the students I read with. I still have 5 grade three students left to read with but will hopefully get those assessments done the week we get back. Look for new reading levels in the Book-in-a-bag coming home. 

On Thursday afternoon, we moved all of the desks to the side and Mme Judd's class joined us to begin practising for "Celebration of Dance". There are lots of songs/dances to practise over the next little while before many of the classes at Amherstview join over 3000 other students in the region in May for this wonderful activity. We will continue to practise one dance a week until we go, more if we get an indoor recess. 

Have a great March Break!

Almost Break Time

We're getting close to March Break but still working hard. Despite the snow squalls we had this week, everyone had a full week of school. We've been using the SMARTBOARD quite a lot and I have to say that I love it. I'm pretty sure the students do too because they're always anxious to get a turn to use it. This week we took a close look at sentences. We looked at complete and incomplete sentences and the reasons why they were complete or incomplete. On Thursday and Friday, we looked at run-on sentences, added the missing capitalisation and punctuation, and decided on where the sentences began and ended by listening carefully when the sentences were read aloud. Next week we'll explore sentences further by looking at subjects and verbs.

The grade twos looked at the "ette/ète" sound in "La chouette" and the "al/ale/alle" sound in "Le narval". The grade threes began looking at the "ab/ob/ad/ap" sounds in "La capture de l'adversaire" they aren't finished the reading response questions so we will continue to work on that story next week. In the reading ateliers, the class explored some new books on the computer for the listening centre. There are some great websites for listening to stories and reading along. For a reading game, we returned to activities requiring the students to read and put words in alphabetical order. The students continued to work on explanations with me in our guided writing groups. They are getting much better at ensuring that they have completed the ideas in their sentences/paragraphs. 

In math, we continued to work on two- and three-digit addition. Despite a few small computation errors, they seem to understand regrouping quite well, especially when we use the virtual manipulatives on the SMARTBOARD. We spent one math period working on subtraction with regrouping. They liked the visual representation with the manipulatives on the SMARTBOARD but will need a bit more discussion and hands-on practice before they'll be comfortable doing it with paper/pencil. Our homework over the next while will continue to be addition and subtraction practice as this is an important skill to master. 

I did a little more organizing this week as I found we'd have to sort the pencil crayons/markers every few weeks because some boxes would end up with lots and others would barely have any. I bought 5 colours of duct tape, one for each group. Then everything in the group bins were labeled with a colour. That way if something is on the floor, we'll know exactly which bin to put it back in. It's also going to help the students take more responsibility for caring for the class supplies. I topped up each pencil crayon box with new pencil crayons as we were getting low on some colours and some were getting too small to sharpen. 

One more week until March Break. Have a great weekend everyone!

Olympics and No Buses x 2!!!

This was a very short week so...a very short post. With Family Day on Monday, buses having been cancelled on Tuesday and Friday, and having been away on Thursday, it was a busy week of some unproductivity. 

On Tuesday and Friday, the students who were present worked on any unfinished work. We spent a lot of time reviewing 2-digit and 3-digit addition with regrouping and getting in some extra practice. Most seem to understand it quite well. Hopefully that understanding extends to subtraction with regrouping. I think seeing how to do it with virtual manipulatives on the SMARTBOARD has made a difference. 

On Thursday I was away for doctors' appointments while the students participated in the Amherstview Olympics. It was perfect mild weather and they got to enjoy the snow before all the rain we got on Friday turned everything to ice, slush or puddles. 

On Friday we watched a YouTube video about how students in isolated regions of Nepal make their way to/from school. The students were very interested and weren't too overwhelmed by the vocabulary and the variety of French accents that they heard throughout the film. We had a great discussion comparing going to school here with going to school in Nepal. 

And we managed to fit in a little Olympic hockey to see Canada and go on to the gold/silver final.  A nice quiet week before reports go home on Monday. 

Watching the film about Nepal on the SMARTBOARD 

Olympic Spirit

It was a busy week. Lots going on at school and we began lots of new things in the class. The grade twos did the "qu" sound in "La queue" and the "esse" sound in "La princesse". The grade threes worked on the story "Jacob et la baleine à bosse" which is a sequel to last week's story "Léa en compétition". While most of the activities in the reading and writing centres stayed the same, we began working on explanations in our guided writing groups. 

In math, we looked at 2-digit and 3-digit addition both as a whole class and in three of the activities in the math centres (guided math with me, guided problem-solving with Mme McLaren, and in the numeration booklets.  The best news: our SMARTBOARD is mostly working so we got to use it to do some hands-on practice using the online virtual manipulative site. 

On Thursday, the students were divided into country groups and we held our own opening ceremonies. I picked Belgium. There are only 3 athletes competing but the just fact that Belgium produces the most chocolate in the world made me want to choose it. Mmmmm...chocolate! If you're passing by, check out the interesting facts about the country that are posted outside our door. 

Today was Valentine's Day. In addition to trying to finish up some unfinished work, the students decorated paper bags for the valentines. While we were using the SMARTBOARD to practise addition, they got to deliver their valentines in twos or threes. The bags were all hung up along the bookshelf to make it easier for them. There was a Valentine's Day dance in the afternoon. After that, we had our Friday dollar auction and then they got to open their bags. It was a great way to finish the week!

Assessments and Lost Snowmen!

The students were quite disappointed this week that we didn't do our ateliers. But with report cards looming, I had a lot of assessments to finish up. The grade twos did the comptines "Charlemagne" to review the "gn" sound and "Le telephone" with the "ph" sound. The grade threes worked on the story "Léa en compétition" with the "tion" sound. We did a reading assessment over three days to ensure that they had plenty of opportunity to read and re-read the stories to ensure better comprehension as they did the follow-up questions. On Thursday and Friday, they took turns reading the story from their assessment aloud to me. I'm definitely noticing an improvement in their knowledge of French sounds/spelling as shown in the decoding and attempts at unfamiliar words. I still have a few more students to read with but I'm hoping to get the assessments marked and sent home later next week. 

In math, we spent a couple of days finishing up the two geometry booklets that each student had in our ateliers, a regular work booklet and a problem-solving booklet. We started the 2-d/3-d geometry test on Thursday but a few students still need to finish a few questions on Monday. Once all booklets and tests have been marked, a rubric will be sent home for this unit. 

We finished up our visual arts/language "Lost Snowmen". They are posted on the bulletins on both sides of our classroom. If you are in the school over the next little while, check them out and try to match the students' snowmen descriptions with with the corresponding snowman. 

During some catch-up work, students who were done enjoyed working in small groups to write something of their choice. I was pleasantly surprised at how enthusiastic they were about this and of the quality and quantity of writing that they did in a short time. Even some of my reluctant writers were very engaged in this activity where they could write about what they chose. It was also good to see them using their personal dictionaries and our box of "mots outils" when they wrote independently and not just when they were in a guided writing group with me. 

We kicked off our Amherstview Olympics on Wednesday with Red and White Day in support of Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Each class has a country and there will be several Olympic activities over the next couple of weeks. Belgium is the country for our class. I wanted to pick a French-speaking country and of course Canada and France went quickly. We will be looking at some facts about Belgium (la Belgique) next week. 

Have a great weekend!

Winding Things Up for Reports

It's been a very short week with buses having been canceled on Monday and the students being off on Thursday when teachers had a PA day to work on report cards. I'm still feeling quite behind so we're going to take a break from our centres for a few days to finish things up. 

In Language, the grade twos did the comptine "Le chocolat brun" which reviewed the "un" sound. The grade threes finished up the story "La promenade de Pascal" with the "al" sound. Most groups finished up a descriptive writing piece on what they would do if they got to be their parents for a day. We started working on our lost snowman descriptions but with this week's breaks for reading because it was Literacy Week, we still have some more work to finish up. 

In math, we continued to work on 2-d and 3-d geometry. I'm hoping to finish up early this week so that we can begin 2-digit and 3-digit addition and subtraction. We're pretty much finished up our science booklets and will start new stuff next week. The grade threes had fun using K'NEX to build structures and then draw and describe them. 

On Wednesday it was Retro Day. The students seemed to enjoy getting dressed up. We had the 60s and 80s represented by students and I muddled up some hippie wear to represent late 60s/early 70s. Although sandals with socks just don't have the same effect.

Have a great weekend, everyone!😄