We had a big week last week, with projects going on in every subject. In French, we continued our work on our procedural texts, "How to decorate a gingerbread man". They are coming along nicely and should all be completed in the next week. After that we will read them to each other and have a fun little surprise.
During our reading time, I (and some wonderful parent helpers) have been trying to meet with groups of students to work on a skill that those particular children are ready for. I try to do this in a fun way, so that it feels like we're playing a game. Some groups have been using large magnet letters to review their sounds and practice making and reading syllables. This is a good skill for everyone to practice at home. The group below is playing a no-stress version of scrabble. The letters are all face up, and anyone who has an idea for a word can add one at any time. I am there to give suggestions for words, and to help with spelling. This is a great chance for us to learn about the very common silent letters on French words, that I don't put any emphasis on when we're writing.
Ask your student if they have had a group meeting during reading time yet, and what game they played. Maybe you can play it at home too!!
In math, we completed our survey projects by graphing our results and answering some questions on what our data taught us. Ask your student which of their 3 choices was the most (plus) popular and the least (moins) popular. Finally, students had one more opportunity to interpret a graph by telling me which season they believe was suggested on an old weather graph that I reinvented.
In science, I'm sure you're up-to-date on our boot project. Students are well on their way to building a boot that will hopefully be warm and waterproof. Each group started by agreeing on a plan and deciding which materials would be best for each part of the boot. Tests were done to see if materials were waterproof, and now we are in the building stage. We will complete this project in the next few days.
In art, even though we have our workshops with Donnely, we have almost completed a Valentine's Day-themed project that explores the use of shadow. Each section of the heart and background is divided into 2, and one half is coloured white, the other half grey. When you look at it from a distance, you can easily see the heart shape, but it has a neat shadow effect. If you're in the school in the next little while, you'll enjoy looking at our bulletin board from down the hall. They look amazing!
