It's been a very busy first week back from our holidays. We spent the first few days finishing up some work from before the holiday. Those who were done had a choice of reading and writing activities while the others finished up.
On Wednesday, we got back to our Daily 5 Centres. Our shared reading this week was "Bernard le canard bavard" which focused on the "ar" sound. At the guided reading centre, the students are working on narrative texts. They are using the skills learned in the fall to answer a variety of multiple choice and short answer questions. They continue to listen to reading on a variety of websites, read with a partner, and read to self. They are currently playing a reading game to match subjects with verbs.
In guided writing, they are looking at examples of descriptive writing (both table and paragraph format) and will be writing several of their own. In other activities, they are still working on word activities, playing a grammar game on identifying the parts of sentences (subject, verb, adjective), and writing independently in their journals or the class journals. They are still working through the alphabet in cursive.
Early in the week, we looked at a really fun math website mathisfun.com, where the students were able to input information from their own graphs and then print them out. The site is in English but the graph can be done in French. Students who didn't have any work to finish up brainstormed ideas for surveys, completed the survey, and then made their own bar graphs on graph paper. They then used either the desktops or iPads to put in their graph information on the site and we printed off their completed graphs. They really enjoyed this.
As in Language, we went back to our Math centres on Wednesday. They are doing a unit on 2-D shapes. They immediately needed to put what they learned in the data management unit to use because they had to make a tally chart and a bar graph for the very first activity. The problem-solving centre focuses on identifying shapes and symmetry. In the numeration centre, they are reviewing rounding numbers to the nearest ten and hundred as some students are still having some difficulty with this. In another centre, they are playing "Pige dans le lac", a version of "Go Fish".
In Science, the students worked on building solid and stable structures in small groups. We discussed the criteria and the building materials they were allowed to use and they all got to work on their structures. They did great! All of the structures were able to hold a running shoe and all stood up to the blow test. The class looked pretty cluttered for a few days but the students really enjoyed it. It was noisy during Science but such great French conversations going on about Science and so much enthusiasm.
In Art, the class continued our art project from December. They are drawing snowflakes with fine-tipped markers, focusing on filling the space. They will be then using watercolour paints to add dimension and colour to each snowflake.
On Tuesday, our class will be going swimming. Scholastic orders are due Wednesday. The Dance-a-thon will be on Friday and students will need to return their pledge sheets by then.
Have a great weekend!
