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

Happy Holidays

Well, we've made it to the holidays. It's been a pretty hectic week. Monday was our concert dress rehearsal. The show was pretty long and between practising getting on/off the stage, practising our song, and working out the kinks in the show, it was a pretty long day. Tuesday was the matinee and evening performances. Our class also went swimming. I think the students were pretty tired when it was all over. I know I was. We finished up our last "ateliers" in between all of that. Wednesday was definitely a "Ketchup" day, with a little yoga thrown into the mix in the afternoon. We even got a math test done on measurement. "Finally Thursday came. The week seemed so long, probably as everyone was looking forward to a break. We did a little more "Ketchup" in the morning. We had a block where the students made some seasonal crafts and worked on their art. By the end of the day, the students were so excited that even a story didn't really do its usual magic of calming them. 

I was at school for a while once the children left. With a little Christmas music playing, I prepared everything for when we get back in the new year: calendar, board, ateliers. We still need one more day of "Ketchup to get everything finished up but that will be a good thing to do on the first day back to get them back into the swing of things. Then it'll be back to the ateliers on the following day. Also, we're skating on the Tuesday back so hopefully everyone has skates ready. It'll be a busy start to the new year at school!

I HOPE EVERYONE ENJOYS A SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAY WITH THEIR FAMILY!

Gearing Up For the Holidays

We're now into the third week of "ateliers" and they are going well. The students began to earn rewards this week as they reached 25 times that they worked well during centres. They were very excited to choose from the available rewards. Those who have not yet reached 25 are getting close. We will finish up this rotation of "ateliers" next week and then will start again after the break. I'm getting a little more organized and have made folders and bought boxes for all of their work during the centres. One side is for their reading activities and the other is for their writing activities. 

In language, the grade twos did the comptines "Maman" and "Les petits pois" reviewing the "an" and "oi" sounds. The grade threes read the story "Arthur visite Irma" with the "ir" and "ur" sounds. They aren't quite done all of the reading response activities but we will finish them up next week. 

A new activity from our writing "ateliers": secret messages

In math, we continued to work on measurement, both in guided groups with me, and in some of the activities at the math centres. All measurement activities should be complete by the end of next week. Hopefully we will be able to fit a short assessment into the middle of next week.

les ateliers de maths

We've been busy practising our song for next week's Holiday Concert. Our dress rehearsal is on Monday and we'll get to see what all of the other classes have prepared. On Tuesday, we will have a matinee performance but we will be working in our class until it's our turn to perform our song and flag dance. Immediately afterward, our class is going swimming. Wednesday will be a "Ketchup" day to finish up all unfinished work. Thursday we will be doing a holiday or winter craft in the morning. It will be an extremely busy week so hopefully the students will be well rested for all of our upcoming activities!

Flexibility

Well it's been another week where the flexibility and patience of the students have been called upon. It started out as a normal week. But then then on Tuesday, the power went out for awhile, limiting what we could do in class, especially with our "ateliers". The electricians chose that time to show up to run electricity to the projector for the SMARTBOARD. But with no power, they decided to come back on Wednesday morning. When we got the power back a little later, the installers from the SMARTBOARD company showed up to install the speakers that had been on backorder. It was a little noisy to work through but we managed. 

The electricians were already at work on Wednesday morning when I arrived. It was just a slight inconvenience to find somewhere to take my class for the morning compared to the water ban that had been put in place that morning. We weren't allowed to drink or even wash our hands in the water. It wasn't long, however until there were water coolers throughout the school and hand sanitizer in the halls and classrooms. By Thursday, a hand-washing station had been installed. The students loved going to the water coolers. They definitely drank more water than ever before. 

Luckily on Wednesday, Mme Deloughery was kind enough to allow us to come to her class for the morning while the electricians worked. The two classes practised our song for the Holiday Concert on December 17. We are doing the song "Ça sent la banane", which compares winter on a tropical island with winter here. It is a fast but catchy song and the children seem to be enjoying learning it. We then had reading buddies and some independent work before heading back to our own classroom. 

One of this week's poems projected onto the SMARTBOARD 

In language, the grade twos did the comptines "Le lutin" and "Poustache" to review the "in" and "ch" sounds. The grade threes finished up "Le concours des fourrures" on Monday and then did the booklet "Le voleur des choux-fleurs" with the "eur/oir" sounds the rest of the week. We did "ateliers" every day except Wednesday and Friday. The centres were mostly the same. There was a new game in the reading centres where they needed to match an image with the syllables that make up the word. There were new poems to complete in the writing centres and the students now have dictionaries to complete vocabulary activities. 

Syllable game

Partner reading and follow-up activity

In math, we continued to work on measurement activities. Some students are still finishing up some graphing activities as part of the guided math centre with me. They had a new game in a centre where they had to order a list of numbers from smallest to largest (review). There were also new problems in the group problem solving centre. Mrs. McLaren comes in everyday for 1/2 hour during our math centres. She usually works with the students who are doing the group problem while I am with the guided math group. 

While the SMARTBOARD still isn't set up to use, we can use the ELMO with the projector on it. I hope the guys from IT come back soon to finish setting it up. I would like to be able to play our song on it while we practise, instead of just playing it on my iPad, which is not ideal. Right now I can only project the words. 

Our song

I'm getting things much more organized now that we're getting used to the "ateliers", disruptions, and changes to the classroom. "Les buts d'apprentissage" board has been updated in its new location and there are more anchor charts and visuals up. I'm still preparing activities and games for the centres but I'm getting through it. The next big project is to organize the math games by strand as I'm starting to have quite a few. But that's next week's project...

More games

Snow Day and All

Despite being away on Monday at "Le Français en coeur" conference and Wednesday's snow day, it's been pretty busy. We began our second week of "ateliers". The grade twos did the "ou" and "on" sounds in the comptines "Tourlou" and "Gaston". The grade threes are working on the "ou" sound in the story "Le concours des fourrures". In guided reading, we began reading and working on non-fiction science booklets. We are continuing with descriptive writing in guided writing. Those who did not have any "Ketchup" work did a snowman retelling activity with a self-selected book at their level. 

I have been doing some more GB+ reading assessments to see how the students have been progressing since I first assessed them at the end of September/beginning of October. Although I have only gotten through about half the class so far, I'm very excited to see that mostly everyone has increased a couple of levels since then!

This week's shared poems

The students are still finishing up some graphing activities in guided math; however we began a unit on linear measurement this week. The grade twos will use various non-standard units and some standard units to measure, while the grade threes will use the standard units of cm, m, and km in the math activities. 

I'm very excited that our SMARTBOARD has finally arrived. It's halfway set up so we can't quite use it yet. The students were great and showed excellent flexibility when we had to move around from place to place in the school on Tuesday when they were installing it and we had to be out of the classroom. We still managed to complete our problems of the day and our math ateliers while moving from the gym, to Mme Anne's room, to Mme Judd's room. A little more installation was done today but it's still not quite ready. The projector is powerless until an electrician can come run power to it and the speakers are on backorder and will be installed sometime over the next few weeks. I've had to move a few things around, particularly the book case with the class library to make things a little more accessible. I'm really looking forward to learning how to use it and all the great things we'll be able to do with it. 

Have a great weekend!