Summer Programs

Hello and welcome to May!!

As summer draws nearer (40 days!) I thought I would post some suggestions for French summer activities. The new link list (to your right) contains many great-looking summer camps that I have heard of through teachers and parents. The majority of them are in French, or offer French options - this would be wonderful for any French Immersion student who might not otherwise do much French speaking over the summer. I highly recommend looking into one of these options.
At the bottom are a few other good options that focus on music, sports and visual art.

If you have had a great experience at a French camp in the past, please let me know so that I can add it to the list!

Hope this is useful,
Tamara

Les nouveaux mots

This week, we are reviewing a few “j’ai” expressions, and comparing them to a matching “tu as” expression. Tu as is the verb avoir in the 2^nd person singular (“you have”). You can practise using “tu as” to replace every “jai” in the phrases from the last 2 weeks!

Already at school we have practised making an "I" statement (e.g., "J'ai un chat à la maison.") and then having a different person repeat what they said back to them (e.g., "Tamara, tu as un chat à la maison.")

We also talked about the silent 's' on the word "as" when it follows "tu". Just like the rule where the word after "je" ends with 'e' (e.g., je marche), this is just another thing we have to memorize.

The 10 reading words for the week beginning April 29^th are:

J’ai six ans.	Tu as sept ans.
J’ai les cheveux courts.	Tu as les cheveux longs.
J’ai les yeux clairs.	Tu as les yeux foncés.
J’ai un poisson.	Tu as un oiseau.
Je n’ai pas fini.	As-tu fini?

In French this week, we're also going to attempt to finish planning the beginning, middle and end of our stories. We know that all stories have some kind of problem in the middle, which is resolved at the end. We have already spent some time thinking and planning what our problem might be, but it would be worth talking about at home just in case ideas are needed (sometimes my ideas don't seem to help!).

Otherwise, we're chugging on with the stuff I posted about last week, but with some subtraction thrown in. Look out Wednesday for 3 very important notes coming home!

Talk to you soon,

Tamara

Our community

We have begun our new social studies unit on The Local Community!

This unit will include talking about the needs of people in the community, how we meet our needs, different ways of travelling, what different communities look like, and an introduction to reading and creating maps. This unit will also include a tour of a fire station - look for the note next week!

We have begun by talking about different jobs (métiers) that people in the community have. For example, policier, vétérinaire, enseignante, constructeur etc. Each student picked a job and got a little mannequin dressed for work. Here is a chef and a police officer:

Many students wanted to pick the job that one of their parents does. Our next task will be to think about what our little worker's responsibilities are, so it might be neat for you to spend some time talking about what you do all day with your child. What are your responsibilities at work? Do you have to wear a special uniform? Why is it important that you dress this way for work? What do you like about your job?
(I think all the moms will be delighted to hear that one of the children wrote "maman" as the job they are writing about! No "papas" yet, but don't worry, we appreciate you too!)

Like our previous social studies unit on Rules and Responsibilities, this is an easy unit to connect to home life, as we are all living in a community, and we all share certain needs. Anytime you're out walking around, take a look around at the buildings, the roads and the lake. See if you can prompt your student to tell you why each part of our community is important.

Happy exploring!

More Art!

Here are our finished 'Klees'. They look really great from a distance!

More area 24 art is on display in the front hallway of the school. We made these mixed-animal collages with Donnely.



And on another note...

On a trip to the Toronto Zoo last weekend, the word "Energy" on a sign caught my eye. We haven't talked about geothermal energy at school, but it would be a neat extension to talk about at home. Here is a little introduction to what geothermal energy is:

Geothermal energy is the heat from the Earth. It's clean and sustainable. Resources of geothermal energy range from the shallow ground to hot water and hot rock found a few miles beneath the Earth's surface, and down even deeper to the extremely high temperatures of molten rock called magma. ...

To read more, and explore other renewable energy sources, click here.

Look for this sign next time you're at the zoo (near the macaques)!

La Journée de la Terre

In honour of Earth day, we all read books about our planet and about how we can help take care of it. From these books, or from what we have learned in science or at home, we came up with ideas and wrote in our journal about what we can do to help the earth. Ask your student what his/her idea was.
This afternoon we went outside and, armed with a glove, picked up tons of garbage from the school yard. We filled 2 medium garbage bags!

Going forward, let's be conscious of where we are putting our wrappers and food scraps, especially when we take snack outside.

Happy Earth Day!

Math Activities

Bonjour!

I think it's time for a math update. The number sense unit we are working on is a big one, and, like all math strands, will be built upon in future grades, so we want to make sure we do a good job! There are 3 major parts to this unit: skip-counting, adding & subtracting and working with coins. We have been alternating between these different areas for variety and to keep things moving forward.
We have already developed some helpful strategies for adding numbers up to 20 and are building a strategy chart that we can refer to. We have strategies for adding with '0', '1', '10' (kind of) and any number doubled. We also talked briefly about a 'doubles +1' strategy (e.g., 5 + 6... we know 5 + 5 = 10, so just add 1 more). We have discovered that when we write down the results of doubles questions (1+1, 2+2, 3+3 etc.) it makes a pattern, counting by 2. It would be very helpful to have the doubles facts memorized so that we can use them as jumping-off points for harder questions.
We have practiced skip-counting by 2, 5, 10 and backwards by 2 from twenty (a calendar is helpful). Skip-counting is a great introduction to repeated addition and multiplication.
We have also practiced using and adding pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters through fun activities like buying objects from a pretend store. The children have been challenged to figure out how to pay using the smallest amount of coins possible, to select two things they can pay for using a single coin, and to see how many different ways they can make one money amount (e.g., what are 4 different ways to make 10¢?).

There are tons of simple activities you can do at home to help your child practice these skills. They don't take long, and can be done while you're multi-tasking! Here are some of my ideas, but feel free to come up with your own. I find that when I make myself think about it, I find teachable moments in all kinds of situations (especially at the grocery store!).
- draw playing cards and add both numbers
- roll dice and add both numbers (or 3 numbers!)
- make piles of candies which need to be added before they can be eaten
- dump out your change and have your expert add it all up
- count up all your socks by skip-counting by 2
- toss a ball back and forth asking a question each time, or counting by 5 with each toss
- use an addition sentence each time you would have said a number (e.g., "you must eat 9 + 9 peas")
- asking your child to count all the marbles in the jar (and then sort them into groups of 10)
- if you're paying in change, let your child help you count out the right amount
- make up a story with numbers (e.g., Matt is 26 years old. Darcy is 2 years younger than Matt. How old is Darcy?)
- see if your expert can make up a math story for YOU! (we haven't done this yet)

Happy adding!

In language this week, we started the story-planning process. First, we took apart a story (Le Dragon de Mimi) that we read, identifying the 2 characters, what they are like, where they live, and the beginning, middle and end of the story. Then, we started inventing our own unique characters, drawing and naming them, and writing down a few things about them. Next week we will start to plan out how the story starts, what the big problem is, and how it is resolved in the end. Ask your writer what they have thought about so far! They can definitely tell you about their 2 characters, and which one they built during art time.

As I have been late posting the last couple words of the week, I'll attach next week's words now JUST to make extra sure I don't forget on Monday! You can get a head start this weekend.

The words for next week are:

J’ai froid.       (NOT  Je suis froid.)	J’ai mal au dos.
J’ai raison.	J’ai mal aux pieds.
J’ai tort.	Je n’ai pas mal aux pieds!
J’ai faim.	J’ai fini.
J’ai soif.	J’ai un chat.

Words of the week

Words of the Week – Les Mots de la Semaine

“J’ai” (“I  have”) is the present of the verb “avoir”. We use it all the time in conversation and in our writing. With it are common phrases, and some negative versions (adding the “ne” + “pas”). Miming helps children associate the action with the word and the correct pronunciation.

J’ai peur.	J’ai mal au ventre.
J’ai chaud.	J’ai mal à la tête.
J’ai 7 ans. / J’ai 6 ans.	Je n’ai pas vingt ans!
J’ai les cheveux longs.	Je n’ai pas les cheveux longs.
J’ai les yeux foncés.	J’ai un chien.

 Bonus:

J'ai faim!

Art Show

For those of you who couldn't make it to the Art Show, here's what our area looked like!

You may recall that last week, in our art periods, we began work on our "Scratch-away Klees". Well, this week we painted over our pastel faces, let it dry, and then started scratching the paint off with wooden blocks. We're not going to take all the paint off, of course. The Klees looks really cool with some of the chipped paint on there, they look like they belong in a gallery.

What a workshop!

I hope your scientists told you all about our fantastic energy workshop! Our leader, Scientifique Emily, was amazing and had prepared 5 different energy centers, UV bracelets for each child, and even a play that she put on with the kids' help! Of course, none of this would have been possible without our fantastic parent-teachers who each had to do a quick-study of one center so that they could teach it to the children. Thank you all SO much, I hope you got our little thank you notes!

I'd love to explain each center just a little so that you can get your child talking about it over the weekend! Here goes...

Solar Panel Center
Scientist Emily used a lamp to activate solar-powered devices, such as a toy car, a light etc. (I'm told the solar-powered car can be purchased at Mastermind, if anyone has a birthday coming up.) One of the machines that was solar-powered was a spinning machine which was used to create artwork by spinning paint on a disk. We learned that solar panels require light energy from the sun to produce electricity.
How did Emily make the car move without touching it?
What is the most important source of energy?

Solar Energy Center
Students discussed the harmful effects of the sun and what we can do to protect ourselves. They learned about how the sun makes the wind and made a pinwheel which uses the wind in order to move.
How can we protect ourselves from UV rays? (I heard at least 4 different ideas)
What happened to your UV bead on your bracelet outside? Try this again, it will work 100 times!

Can you describe how the sun makes the wind? (think about hot and cold air)

Heat Energy Center
Students made predictions about which colour would absorb the most heat, and then measured the temperature as a bulb shone on a white shirt and a black shirt. Students also experimented with heating up air inside a bottle. By warming the bottle with their hands, and because hot air rises, they were able to create a bubble on top of the bottle. It shrank when the air was cooled by dipping the bottle in cold water.
Which t-shirt absorbed the most heat, black or white? Was your prediction correct?
How did you make the bottle blow a bubble? Try this at home!

The link above is an activity similar to the one we did. We didn't squeeze the bottles. We simple rubbed our hands together and "hugged" the bottle to heat it up.

Light Energy Center
Students discussed how the sun is the most important source of energy for the world, and how it helps us grow food, which in turn gives us energy. Students discussed where different objects (e.g., flashlights) get their energy (e.g., batteries) and whether those sources are renewable or non-renewable.
What does renewable and non-renewable mean?

Where does a night-light get energy? Is this a renewable source?

Energy Conservation Center
Students were given a little model house where they had to identify areas where energy was being wasted. They talked about why we should be trying to save energy, and doctored up the house with new pictures and various forms of insulation so that it would be a more efficient home. They played a game which encouraged them to think about alternatives to using an energy-dependent device (e.g., what could we do instead of vacuuming, or watching tv?).
How was energy wasted in the pretend house?
Why is it important to save energy?

I hope this makes for some very interesting conversations. It was interesting how some of the experiments connected to each other, and to what we have been talking about in class. We will spend a bit more time on this unit, certainly going back over some of these experiments, and then we will move on to our final social studies unit of the year, on People and Buildings in the Community.

Shoes?

Now that we're back to warm-ish weather, you might want your children to have their running shoes at home. While the kids are always allowed to keep shoes at school in our bin (a good idea so that we're always prepared for gym), they can also bring them home and just wear them to school everyday. Of course, on rainy days when they come in boots, they will need to think about bringing shoes for gym. If you'd like your child to bring home his/her school shoes, let him/her or me know and we'll make it happen.

Area 24 was well-dressed to celebrate le jour de rose today. As a class, we talked about girl colours versus boy colours (is that really a thing?) and decided that it's ok for anyone to like any colour. In fact, some of our boys really love pink, and some of our girls really love blue. We also talked about what to do if we see someone being bullied in the school yard. If you're standing nearby, there is something you can do to help. Some examples are: get an adult, report the incident to the office, be a friend to the person in trouble, encourage the trouble-maker to think about how the other person feels, or even just yell for help. We talk about this type of thing often at school, but they are good conversations to have at home as well. Today, the children had a lot of "but what if...?"questions about what to do in different situations when they're not at school.

Beginning of the week update!

Happy Monday! Hope you had a nice weekend!

The kids had a blast at Friday's dance-a-thon, I saw some amazing dance moves! We used a calculator to add up how much money our class raised for the school. The total was over $1330.00!  That's quite an accomplishment. On behalf of Dewson, thank you!

This is another exciting week, with our science workshop and the art show both happening Thursday afternoon. Please remember to send in your $5 tomorrow if you haven't already. Also, if you volunteered to help with our workshop, please check your student's bag today for a note and confirm with me whether you are still available. I am inviting more parents than the presenter requested, but I still wasn't able to fit everyone in. Don't worry, there will be other opportunities to help out with special activities before the end of the year.

In our own science lessons, we've been talking about everyday objects that need energy, and where they get it from. For example, the sun provides a lot of energy, but objects also use batteries, plug in, or use gas in order to move. When we started looking around our class, and imagining our homes, we came up with lots of examples for each source. At home, you can invite your child to stop and think about different moving objects and explore what is making it move.

In math, we have started our important work on addition. So far, we have been using pennies and nickels to help visualize 2 groups being put together. We have come up with a few helpful rules for adding with certain numbers. For instance, when we add 0 to another number, the other number always stays the same. We also noticed that when we add 1 to something, we just have to count up 1, so that's not so bad. When we add 10 to another number, we sometimes say "dix" and then the other number, and we usually replace the 0 in 10 with the other number, but there are exceptions to both of these rules. It is also always true that you can exchange both numbers in an addition sentence and the result remains the same (e.g., 1 + 8 is the same as 8 + 1).
Last week, students practised reading an addition sentence that we had displayed with numbers and pennies (e.g., "Huit plus un égal neuf.") and showed me that there are different ways to make up the same amount of money using different combinations of pennies and nickels.
This may seem like simple stuff to us, but it's important to get some good basic strategies under our belts this year, so the more review we can do, the better. We will be starting to add other combinations of numbers, and work on additional strategies, such as doubles facts (2+2, 3+3). At home, and with very little effort, you can make up simple stories to help your child practise adding numbers up to 10. For example, I am going to pack 1 chocolate egg in your lunch on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but I'll pack you 2 on Friday. How many eggs will you get this week? (Have eggs on hand for counting!)

In language, we are working away at learning our lines for our plays (going surprisingly well) and are slowly working away at learning our verbs. When we write in our journals now, students have more opportunity to decide what they would like to write about (rather than finishing a sentence that I start). Some children write about what they have done recently (as I often prompted them to do), others write about something they imagine (candy land, for example), and others have started writing a story which they add to each time. Ask your student what he/she has chosen to write about recently, and if you like, brainstorm an idea for next time.
In our morning message, we are focusing on how we put a sentence together. Occasionally I mix up word cards which students read and try to unscramble, and other times I have brave volunteers come up to write the message for me. This is fun because it gives everyone a chance to look for improvements (such as adding a period, or making a bigger space between words).

Words of the Week – Les Mots de la Semaine

 “Je suis” (“I am”) is the present of the verb “être”. We use it all the time in conversation and in our writing. With it are frequent feelings. The feminine version is on the right and mostly involves adding an e. Miming helps children associate the action with the word and the correct pronunciation. 

masculin	féminin
je suis content	je suis contente
je suis triste	je suis triste
je suis fâché	je suis fâchée
je suis calme	je suis calme
je suis fatigué	je suis fatiguée

In art, we have started another neat project called "Scratch-away Klee", after the artist who did the original. Last week, everyone used pastel to completely colour in a face made up of geometric shapes. I gave students the basic face, and they added to it, using circles for eyes, triangles for shoulders, rectangles for hair and so on. Each face is very interesting, colourful and unique. This week, we will completely paint over our careful work (awww) and then scratch most of the paint away to create a really neat aged effect.

Check out the new link in the language section! It's got tons and tons of French songs, many with videos, music and words! There are some songs on here that we have sung in class (e.g., "Ah! Vous dirai-je maman", "Les petits poissons").

Here are some pictures of the "Klees", our egg hunt from a week ago and some of our building-time creations.