So Much Going On!

It's been a very busy week. There is so much going on around the school and in the class that it's hard to keep track of it all. In Language, the class practised the "x" and "y" sounds in "Le tyrannosaure" and "Un yack". We used some fun Christmas poems for our shared reading this week and focused on using punctuation to decide expression in both. (Question marks vs Exclamation marks) we continued to work on creating complete sentences in our writing centres. On Friday, we did a fun shared reading on the SMARTBOARD about a wolf who wanted to eat Santa and what happened to him. We spent quite a bit of time discussing vocabulary and did some follow-up comprehension questions together. We also discussed why certain words or letters were highlighted, i.e. silent letters...

In Math, we continued to complete centres on 2-d shapes and 3-d solids. We also spent some time on math talks using problems on the SMARTBOARD to initiate conversations. We also talked about the importance of making mistakes and discussing them together to help one another with reasoning and stategies to figure out how to best solve a problem. I always highlight that it's important to make mistakes in order for great learning to occur. We discuss wrong answers in the same respectful way we discuss right answers. In the case of the problem below, most of the wrong answers answered one part of the question correctly but missed the other step in the problem. It only took a bit of discussion to see that if they had included the rest of the problem, they would have been able to better check the reasonableness of their answers. I'm very happy that the class is so understanding and that we have an environment where all the students are comfortable sharing and talking about their answers, whether right or wrong!

We have continued learning about different celebrations that take place at this time of year. Jacob and Mitchell Bromberg were kind enough to come share some of their Chanukah traditions. They brought a menorah and some dreidls to show the class. Thank you very much, boys! We made menorahs and dreidls as follow-up craft activities. As I was unable to find "les soufganiots", a traditional Jewish doughnut type treat that is covered with powdered sugar and filled with jam, we made do with powdered sugar mini doughnuts topped with a bit of berry jam. Yummy!

We also learned about Christmas in England, Germany, and Sweden. We learned about Saint Lucia Day which the Swedes celebrate on December 13th of each year. The class watched a short video about how they celebrate this holiday and then we made Saint Lucia crowns. We will be learning more about Christmas in other countries next week. 

We learned about how most North Americans celebrate Christmas and where many of the traditions we have come from. (Christmas trees from Germany, Christmas cards and carolling from England, Poinsettias from Mexico...) We were busy Friday afternoon making a Christmas craft during Visual Arts but I won't be sharing what it is as many of the students are giving them as presents! 😄

Some other things that went on this week....

We watched Mme Adamson's grade ones perform "Pat le chat" plays on Tuesday. We've been busying practising for the Holiday Concert with the other grade twos. It's coming together nicely. Some of the girls have been practising with the choir for their performances. 

The Holiday Concert will take place this coming Thursday evening at 6:30 pm. Students are asked to be at school by 6:00 pm in order for classes/choirs to get organized. There will be a Dress Rehearsal on Thursday morning that parents can attend if they are unable to make the evening performance. 

Friday will be a pyjama day and there will be dances and a canteen in the afternoon. 

I have just registered the class with Prodigy Math. It's a free math game website where the students play games linked to the provincial expectations for their grade. Instructions with a student log-in and password will be sent home this week so that the students can play at home. 

Have a great weekend!

Posting for Two Weeks

Last week was the first time I did not do a weekly post. It was a bit crazy in my household with a sick child and having to be away to stay at home with him. This week's post will include information on what we did last week.

First of all, the December Newsletter has been posted at the top of the blog. Please check it out for upcoming important dates. 

Last week we looked at the "t" and "u" sounds in "La tortue" and "Une mule". We began a new cycle of Reading centres. The students really enjoyed the centre where they had to use a mirror to read words written backward. They then wrote their own words backwards and had other group members read them with the mirrors. We finished up our first cycle of writing centres. They went well. 

Last week in math, the students worked on math centres that focused on 2-d shapes and 3-d solids. They are still practising basic math facts in preparation of out next math unit on 2-digit addition and subtraction. 

Mr. McLatchie's grade twos joined our class one morning last week to watch a couple of episodes of The Magic School Bus so that he could attend an important meeting at the office. 

This week the students looked at the "v" and "w" sounds in "La vache" and "Les wapitis". They learned that the French alphabet never used to contain the letter "w" and that all "w" words in French are borrowed from other languages. They were also surprised that in French, the word "wagon" is actually pronounced "vagon". Our shared reading was the poem "On dirait que l'hiver tombe". We also started having Christmas stories as read alouds. We began another cycle of writing centres and finished up our cycle of reading centres. We will be focusing more on integrating Social Studies with Language in order to cover a lot of information on the different celebrations that take place at this time of year. 

In math, we have continued to learn about 2-d shapes and 3-d solids. There is a considerable amount of terminology that they need to know in this unit so we will spend the next couple of weeks on it. We also did a couple of "Math Talks". The students are getting used to sharing what strategies they use and are learning other strategies from their peers. 

In Social Studies, the class finished learning about London, England. Today we began learning about Hanukkah and will be doing some activities around this celebration next week. 

This week, I also began a "December Report Card" for the class. The report will cover the students' behaviour and work habits over the month. They are earning stickers for each instruction block and each nutrition break. This week I did all the tracking for them but starting next week, they will be responsible for bringing their reports to me to get their stickers. The reports will go home on the 19th. The students are also completing an advent calendar where they colour an item for each day leading up to Christmas. 

We had a great walk today for the Jingle Bell Walk. It was great that so many of the students brought in food items for the Food Bank. There is still time to contribute on Monday, if you child has not yet brought something. 

Have a great weekend!

Mlle Carmichael's Last Week

We were very sad today to say goodbye to Mlle Carmichael. It's been great having her in the class for the past six weeks. She has been home sick since yesterday morning so we were worried that she wouldn't be there for the small celebration we had this afternoon. Luckily she felt well enough to come in at the end of the day.

This week we read "Feuille rousse, feuille folle" for our shared reading. We practised the "r" sound in "Le robot" and the "s" sound in "Sissie". We finished up another cycle of reading centres and began a new cycle. One of our activities was to practise reading words quickly to improve fluency. One of our new activities is to read words using a mirror. We also began writing centres this week. They are rotating through a guided centre with me where we are doing mini lessons and then practising the skills being learned. This cycle is focusing on writing sentences. Another centre is using play doh to practise spelling word wall words. There is also a centre is to practise skills independently. Two of the centres are to practise the spelling patterns they need to master, one a booklet with sorting activities that they practise independently and the other a typing activity of words with that spelling pattern. The last centre is a group poem writing activity. 

In Math, we have been finishing up the unit on graphing. Next week we will be beginning a new unit on 2-D shapes and 3-D solids. We will begin a new cycle of centres. We have been completing activities for the interactive math journal we started. 

In Social Studies, we have been learning about Europe. This week the students learned about Sweden. 

Les champs flamands on display 

A Time to Remember

It has been a great week! As a former military member, I enjoy teaching the students about The importance of Remembrance Day and having them participate in the assembly we have at school. It was so great to see so many families come out for such an important occasion. The students did a wonderful job in their performance of "En souvenir" and were so respectful during the assembly. Their wonderful Remembrance Day art looks so great in the hall. 

In language this week, the students read "Des habits neufs" for their shared reading. They practised the sounds "p" and "qu" in "Petit Pierrot" and "Quatre écureuils". I have reorganized the guided reading groups and we began a new cycle of centres. Several of the students earned a reward for having worked well in 25 centres and are now working towards 50. We will be beginning writing centres next week and I'm looking forward to beginning guided writing groups with the class. We spent some time on subjects and verbs and will get into that more in our guided writing centre. 

We have finished up math centres for now as we need a bit of time to complete independent activities before moving onto our next unit. Mlle Carmichael has been doing measurement and grid movement activities with the class and will continue with this next week before finishing up her placement in our class next Friday. 

In Social Studies, we began to learn more about the continent of Europe. The students enjoyed the fact that Russia is located on two continents, both Europe and Asia. We have seen some general facts about a few European countries and contrasted their populations with that of Canada. We will be looking at a few of the countries in closer detail, as well as some major European cities. 

In Music, the class learned some French terms for quarter and eighth notes. They listened to recognize what rhythms were clapped and played on sticks. They also created and shared their own rhythms. We will continue to explore this over the next few weeks. In Visual Arts, the class is working on colour contrasts. I hope to get those up on display later next week. 

The students continued to enjoy body and brain breaks using "Go Noodle". This week they have been doing some sprint and hurdle training. There are so many activities on there that we still haven't tried all of them. Until a flash update was installed on the computer attached to the Smartboard, several of the activities haven't been available to us. Now that this has been installed, we are definitely enjoying access to these other activities. 

It has been great to have the opportunity to meet with so many parents this week and share all of the great progress your children have had. 

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Cold and Rainy November!

It's been a cold, wet week. The students practiced the long and short "o" sound in "Un oiseau" and "Nicole". Our shared reading was the poem "Mois d'automne". I finished doing GB+ reading assessments with all of the students. They will be bringing home harder books in their "Book-in-a-bag". When we restart our reading centres next week, their guided groups will be changed slightly to reflect their new levells and their needs for their guided reading groups. Most of the students who have been going with Mme McLaren for some extra reading will continue to do so. I also did a spelling assessment this week that gave me great data on which sounds they have mastered in their writing and which sounds they need more practice writing. Next week I will be starting writing centres so that I can do guided writing with small groups. Some of the games that they will be playing at the centres will be designed to help them practise those spelling patterns. 

In math, we continued to do our math centres. We also began an interactive math journal so that they have somewhere to review math concepts whenever they need to. Mlle Carmichael completed most of her assessments on the measurement unit she taught. Next week she will have the students doing centres that help them master some of the measurement concepts that they are still struggling with or to give them a measurement challenge if they understood all the concepts well. 

Mlle Carmichael did a Language/Social Studies lesson on Rembrance Day. She read the book "Un coquelicot pour se souvenir" as a read aloud. The students watched a slideshow on the poem "Les cimetières flamands", the French translation of John McRae's famous poem "In Flanders Fields". They did some worksheets on Remembrance Day for their Social Studies duo tangs. Later in the week, they did another shared reading with Mlle about Remembrance Day. 

Mlle Carmichael also did a 3-d art lesson with the class on the poppy fields of Flanders. They turned out very well. Look for a couple of the pieces on display in one of the art frames near the Office and the Resource Centre in the gallery of art. The rest will be on display on one of our hall bulletin boards. I will post pictures next week once all the students have completed their art. We also practised our Remembrance Day song quite a bit and are all ready for Tuesday's assembly. A note will be going home on Monday about the students wearing red, black, or white on Tuesday. If they have a uniform (Beavers, Brownies), they can wear that instead. I hope many of you will be able to make it to Tuesday's assembly. It will start at 10:45 am but come early as it is always busy. 

I'm looking forward to meeting with most of you next week to discuss all the progress your children have made so far. Have a great weekend!