Science, Math & More

Hello families,

I hope everyone is well and enjoying this lovely weather!

Today students are bringing home their April dictée rubric. Interested students also have the instructions for a school-wide contest, organized by one of the grade 5/6 classes. As it happens, it fits in very nicely with our energy unit as the task is to build a car which is powered only by the air from one balloon. There are lots of regulations, so be sure to read the sheet and remember, the car has to be student-built, not completely parent-built. The grade 1 competition will be Monday at lunch so anyone who builds a car to enter in the contest needs to bring it to school Monday. Have fun!

Today we had our dress rehearsal for tomorrow's concert. The kids have been doing such a great job and I can't wait for you to hear our song finally! A couple things...
- Students are to meet in Area 24 at 6:15. We will be leaving and going to the music room at 6:25, so if you're later than 6:25, please leave your things in Area 24 meet us there.
- Dress is dark bottoms and a white top, plus your red, blue or beige accessory.
- Please remind your student to smile and sing out so that you can hear them even if you're way at the back.
- Please assure your student that you will wave to him/her after the song, because you know that before and during the song, he/she will be concentrating and watching Mlle Mitchell!!! (Actually, there is a spot in the song when it would be appropriate to wave... you'll see.)
- I believe we are the last act in the concert which means that when we finish, there will be a big stampede of parents leaving the gym. Please allow me to get all the children back into Area 24 before you claim them. If you take them in the hallway as we are walking, I'll worry that they've gotten lost in the crowd. Thanks!

Despite all the excitement this week, we are still getting some serious work done in class. In French, we have started planning our next project, fairy tales, by thinking about and describing our two main characters and outlining the main ideas for the beginning, middle and end of our story. We thought about how most stories go and several students were able to describe fairy tales that follow the general structure [beginning (set-up) - middle (big problem) - end (solution)]. Normally I would ask you to help your child brainstorm an idea for their story, but it seems that most of us are already well on our way! Ask your writer what they are writing about. Who are the characters? What are they like? What are they doing when the story starts? What's the big problem? How does it get resolved?

In math we are now measuring mass. Using a balance we have compared different objects to test our predictions of which one is the heaviest. We learned that, although generally bigger things weigh more than smaller things, that is not a hard and fast rule. What about a pillow v. a rock? The mathematicians always love using new math tools. We will continue using the balances this week and next. Ask your expert what is important to check before you put anything in the balance?

I should also share that I am loving the good attitudes about making a prediction that turns out incorrect. Students know that I don't like it when they erase their prediction to make it match the right answer, and they have started saying things like "I didn't guess right, but that's ok" or "I didn't get it, but I was close."

In science, we are just about done our work on energy. The scientists have done a lot of great work in this unit. Yesterday we played a fishing game and each fish had a picture of a type of energy that students had to sort into the renewable or non-renewable (renouvelable) category. We have read lots of books on how we can help take care of our planet and students are full of good ideas. I showed the class a piece of insulation and we talked about how that also helps us save energy in our homes. I also mentioned checking around their doors and windows at home to see if they have a thin piece of plastic that helps keep the air out (weather stripping). If you have time, show your scientist other things about your home that help us save energy (e.g., energy efficient appliances, low-flow shower heads).

Oh! One other thing! Someone mentioned the Planet Earth series recently during a discussion. It got me in the mood to rewatch some episodes. The very first one (From Pole to Pole) mentions the sun as an energy source for animals several times. It is very relevant to what we have JUST been talking about. The Planet Earth series is currently available on Netflix. Check it out!

See you tomorrow at 6:15!

Important Concert Details

The following note is coming home today:

Dear parents,

Thursday evening is our big concert! I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time and know that the kids will be great! Here are the details.

• Please arrive at school by 6:15 at the latest. Students should be dropped off in Area 24 and can leave their belongings there for the evening.
• At this point, parents and guests are free to go find a seat in the gym. The students and I will rehearse in Area 24 with our pianist promptly at 6:15. At 6:30 we will go meet Mr. Greene.
• After the concert, students can be picked up again in Area 24. Out of respect for all performers, please do not leave the concert early. I will be with the students until you are able to claim them.

For the choir performance, students are expected to wear black on the bottom and white on the top. For our class performance, I am hoping each student can add a red, dark blue or beige accessory to their outfit. This must be something that students can bring and leave in our classroom while they perform with choir, then put on quickly and independently before our class performs. Good ideas include a scarf, vest, cardigan, pin or a hat that does not block the face. Ties, bowties and hair accessories are also great and can be worn the entire evening. Please make sure your singer knows how to add this accessory to their outfit quickly.

Thanks for your help. I hope you enjoy the show!

Tamara

Words of the Week

A review of all the ‘en’s this week. You’ll notice many of them are I (Je) statements. See if your writer can invent some sentences using these as starters. For example, Je mange une pomme chaque jour.

comment, je pense, ensemble, je mange, 

je chante, je range, je danse, je plante, 

ans, ventre Bonus words: grand-père, grand-mère

Science

We have been talking about the SUN! We thought about where people get the energy to walk, run, open doors, bounce balls, skip, learn and everything else. We know that our food gives us the energy we need, but where does that come from? Ask your scientist where our food comes from and where it gets the energy to grow.

We also thought about devices which are solar powered (e.g., calculators) and, with the help of some very patient parents, we built 5 different solar powered toys, including a dog that wags its tail, 2 planes, a car that really moves and a boat that propels itself across water! 

Finally, we talked about how, even though we need the sun, the sun's ultraviolet rays can burn our skin. Each student was given a UV bead that changes colour when it detects UV rays. Students wore them out to recess and found that they immediately changed colour. It's an interesting experiment to talk about at home. The beads will change colour even when it's cold, and even when it's cloudy, proving that you need sunscreen even on cloudy days. An at-home extension to this experiment would be to put your bead behind glass with sunscreen on it to see how well your sunscreen works. Enjoy!

Happy Earth Day

Armed with rubber gloves, we helped clean up our school yard. We also turned half our lights off for most of the day, and the children brought home any left over food rather than throwing it away.

Look, look, look!

I just figured out how to use the book binding machine! Check out what we did!

Happy Earth Day!

Science Search

Hi families,

Thanks for the last minute catalogues! We ended up with plenty and didn't even need to use the pre-cut pictures I'd prepared. We used them to search for electronic devices that use batteries or are plugged in and we sorted them accordingly.

We will be reviewing ‘oi’ this week. See if your writer can invent some sentences using some of these words. For example, Je vois trois étoiles dans le ciel noir.

étoile, je vois, je dois, bois, j’ai soif, 

poisson, voilà, noir, au revoir, trois

Bonus words: boîte, miroir

Tomorrow your student will be meeting a new reading buddy from the grade 6 side of Mlle Segreto's class. Be sure to ask who their new buddy is and what they read together!

Prints are done!

Hi there,

This week we completed the art project that used all those styrofoam trays you sent in. We used them to create a stencil by carving it into the styrofoam. We used a roller to cover it with paint and then we gave our stencil a nice little massage to help the paint transfer onto paper. Each artist made 3 prints. One is white on black (pretty cool), the second is a mix of colours on white, and the third is the same mix of colours on a big mural paper. One stencil got to come home today. The others are now up on our bulletin boards. Next time you're in the school, stop by to check them out!

We have also finished our class book, "Vingt enfants imaginent comment changer le monde". I'm working on getting it laminated and bound so that it can become a permanent part of our classroom library. It is very well done, and just on time for Earth day next week.

Today we had a science lesson about wind energy. We already noticed that the wind can move many things outside, and we know that people can use wind energy to generate electricity. We learned that wind is actually created because of the heating and cooling of air by the sun. Ask your scientist to explain how this works! The scientists each made pinwheels to experiment with in the wind. Enjoy!

This afternoon I went over what we are wearing for the concert. This is outlined in a post earlier this week if you missed it. I assured students that you would be able to help them figure it out. There were many questions and concerns about not having the perfect outfit. Remember, you don't need to buy new clothes! Don't have black pants? Dark blue or dark brown will be just fine. Some students suggested that they might have 2 accessories in our Paris colours. In that case, I suggested that they decide which one they want to wear and bring the other one (on the night of the concert) to lend to someone that couldn't find anything.

Have a great weekend,
Tamara

Science help... again

Hi parents,

Today the social skills rubric for April is coming home. We pretended to not know each other and everyone had to interview their partner to find out their name and one thing they like doing. Then, we each presented our partner to the class (e.g., "Voici mon ami..."). We introduced them by name, said one thing that they like and then one other nice thing that we already know about them. During the presentations, we were focusing on looking at and listening to the person speaking, saying nice things and waiting our turn. Overall it went very well and there was lots of lovely French speaking.

I am planning on doing a little construction activity next Friday the 24th. We could use an adult to help each group. Let me know if you're interested/available. We would need you between 10:30-11:30am.

Thanks!

Words of the Week

Hi families,

We had a very nice day today - so many respectful listeners and quiet workers!

In French, we are working on our good copies of our ideas for how to help the world. The writers are taking the time to correct some spelling mistakes using posters, their dictionaries and the word wall. They are also doing a careful illustration to help further explain their invention.

Today, in math, we learned how to measure in centimetres using a measuring tape. Measuring with standard units is not a requirement in grade 1, but we seem to have a good grasp of how to measure using various other units, so we went ahead. Each student had their own "mètre ruban" and a list of things to measure in the classroom. They had to be careful to start at the end where it says "1" and to hold the end of the measuring tape right at the edge of what they were measuring. Challenge your student to do all your measuring at home, using your measuring tape!

Last week we spent a science period outside taking pictures of things that move. Today we labelled the pictures and sorted them according to what was making them move. For instance, the bus was using gas and our hair was moving because of the wind. My favourite part of this activity, however, was that every single student who read the title out loud said the word "bougent" correctly, without making the 'en' sound at the end. Our grade 2, 3 and even 4 teachers will be so impressed!

Speaking of taking pictures. During this outing, we accidentally dropped the camera and I don't think it can be fixed. Luckily, it was a very old camera of mine, which is why I didn't mind letting the kids use it. I don't care that it's broken, but it does leave us class camera-less. If your family has an old digital camera that you don't care about, didn't spend a lot of money on, don't intend to use ever again and would like to donate to our class, we would gratefully accept it. Please do not feel obliged and please do not offer a camera that you would like to have returned. 

Words of the Week

Review of ‘u’ this week. See if your writer can invent some sentences using some of these words. For example, J’ai vu une tortue turquoise!

une rue, numéro, j’ai vu, bureau, une tortue, 

une fusée, une tulipe, j’ai bu, j’ai lu, turquoise

Bonus words: musée, légume

Dance-a-thon!

The dance-a-thon was lots of fun. My favourite part was when all the classes made trains! Yesterday we finished adding up how much money our class raised. Together we collected over $1000 (your dancer can probably tell you exactly). This money goes right back to the kids in the form of special activities and programming provided by the Parent Council. For example, the Artist in the Classroom and Scientist in School programs (which Area 24 has already enjoyed) are paid for by Parent Council. Thanks for your support!

We did a few other exciting things today as well. In science, we set up an experiment to test our idea that plants get energy from the sun. We put one plant in the window where it will get lots of sun, and an identical plant in the shoe bin cupboard where it will be in darkness. We all made predictions about what we think will happen over the next 3 weeks. Ask your scientist what they wrote. We also went outside today and took some pictures of things that were moving. Ask your investigator if they can name 5 different things that we noticed.

In the afternoon, I set up the projector and showed the kids a few websites that have to do with what we're doing in math and science. I strongly encourage you to visit Le Coin des Enfants. It's a great site all about energy. It explains how electricity is made, how it gets to our homes and the difference between renewable (renouvelable) and non-renewable. Click on Jeux and there are lots of fun and interesting games. We started playing the one where you see how long you would have to pedal on a bicycle in order to create enough energy to power a TV for an hour etc. Ask your child what activity needed the most energy (4 hours of pedalling). I'll leave this site under "Science Links" for future reference.

On the computer, we also checked out Google Maps. We talked about how we usually want to get to where we're going quickly, so we take the shortest route, as opposed to the scenic route. We found the best route from Christie Pits to Dewson, and from Toronto to Ottawa. Ask your student how long it would take to drive to Ottawa on the highway and how long it could take if you take lots of twists and turns.

Monday morning we have a special visitor coming to Dewson. Please be on time for school!

Tamara

PS - Check last night's post for info on our upcoming concert.

Concert Dress

Dear parents,

Thanks for all the styrofoam trays. We have enough and started using them today. I don't have a lot of storage space, so I'm taking this item off the wish list, but if you have any of the extra large family size trays, I'll still take those anytime. In about a month we'll be doing a building project involving lots of boxes. You've been so great sending in all your tiny boxes throughout the year. We will definitely use them. We would also use cylindrical shapes (paper towel roles, tea bag canisters) and any other less common box shapes. When we're ready for the project, I'll also ask each student to bring in one large box (like a cereal box) to use as their base. I won't collect these in advance, but if you don't go through boxes super fast, you might want to hang on to one. Thanks!

The weeks seem to be going by so quickly now. I thought our concert was still so far away, but it's actually coming up very soon! I will send home a letter with all the details the week of the concert, but I'll tell you about the clothes now so that you don't have to scramble.

For the choir performance, students are expected to wear black on the bottom and white on the top. For our class performance, I am hoping each student can add a red, dark blue or beige accessory to their outfit (think Paris). This must be something that students can bring and leave in our classroom while they perform with choir, then put on quickly and independently before our class performs. We're not doing a costume change here, just adding one thing. Good ideas include a scarf, vest, cardigan, pin or a hat that does not block the face. Ties, bow ties and hair accessories are also great and can be worn the entire evening. Please make sure your singer knows how to add this accessory to their outfit quickly. I don't expect anyone to go shopping for something new. If you don't already own an accessory that could work, we have a few scarves in class that can be borrowed.

Tamara

Happy Pink Day!

Here we are in our fabulous pink! Ask your student about the assembly we went to today. It was all about inclusion. What can we do if we see someone being excluded? What does empathy mean? We'll talk more about the performance tomorrow. If you're interested in talking about empathy at home, there's a great song called The Empathy Song that I love. It's fun to sing, and it has a nice message. If it were in French I would certainly teach it to the class!

Please don't forget to send in your dance-a-thon envelopes tomorrow! So far I've only collected envelopes from half the class so there must be a lot more out there! On Friday, we are dancing from 9:05-9:40, so you will want to be right on time for school. Tell your dancers if they wear white, they will glow in the dark!

Words of the Week

All of these words contain the letter o but in “gomme”, “pomme”, “colle” and “je dors”, it’s a slightly softer sound. Although “zoo” is spelled the same as in English, the word in French is pronounced with a true ‘o’ sound, so imagine the second o just isn’t there!

If you’re wondering about accents on letters other than ‘e’, join the club. Your children have already asked me about what they do, and the simple answer is nothing!

“Gros” and “grosse” are the masculine and feminine version of the same word (meaning large or big). In French, everything has a gender - spoons are girls, books are boys! Even my French friend can’t explain to me a fool-proof way of knowing what’s what, there are exceptions to every rule! Anyway, once you know if you’re talking about something feminine or masculine, you can adjust your adjective. E.g., L’éléphant est gros. La baleine est grosse. The kids have already seen that gender can affect words, for instance, un policier v. une policière, and cher v. chère.

gâteau, trop, le zoo, gros, grosse, tôt, 

gomme, je dors, pomme, colle

Bonus words: ciseaux, océan

Joyeuses Pâques!

I hope everyone has a great long-weekend. We did a couple Easter activities in class, including egg-dyeing yesterday and an egg hunt today.

Today we completed the challenge of measuring the field using our foot as the unit. Ask your student if they remember how many steps it took to measure the field (we had to count in French up to 186!). Also, ask about what you have to be careful of when measuring, whether we are using our feet, toothpicks or rulers... there are a couple things.
We also re-measured ourselves and compared our heights with where we were back in September. Everyone has grown between 1 and 6 (!!!) centimetres in the last 7 months.


Since, in science, we are learning that some forms of energy aren't so great because they cause a lot of pollution, we have started imagining what we might invent to help take care of our planet. Each writer has come up with an idea and they are writing about what it is, what it does, what it looks like and how it helps the world. We hope to put all our ideas together into a class book when we're done our good copies! Ask your writer what their invention is.

Our eggs yesterday turned out pretty nicely, but I asked an artist friend of mine to make one just for fun and look what happened... pretty cool eh? Complete even down to the great lakes! I forgot to show the kids today, but I'll bring it again next week.