Words of the Week

Hey! We had 20 children yesterday! First time in 3 weeks that we've all been at school at the same time. It's been nice to hear about all the amazing holidays you've been having. Thanks for encouraging your travellers to write about it in French!

Our animal reports are coming along really nicely. All students have found all the information they need and are working on writing it up under the correct sub-title in their good copy. Here are some researchers hard at work today:

Don't forget to get all those Dance-a-thon envelopes in, and our dancing time is 9:05am Friday morning, so don't be late!

Words of the Week

Almost all of these words contain the ‘e’ sound. Notice the difference between “je” and “jeu”. They sound the same, but the latter means game. With an ‘x’ on the end it would be plural (J’aime jouer les jeux.).

The word “elle” (=she) does not contain the sound ‘e’ even though it has the letter twice. I’m sure you know how to say it (think: Isabelle). Since it’s a word we use all the time, I wanted to make sure we included it in our practice at some point.

je peux, je veux, j’ai peur, les cheveux, genou, mercredi, jeudi, jeu, cheval, *elle*
Bonus words: neuf, renard

Joyeuses Pâques!

Dear families,

I hope you are having a lovely long weekend. Thursday we had some Easter fun at school. We decorated eggs using the same "resist" technique that we have used in our paintings, we tackled a math problem about how many eggs I had to prepare, and we went on a Easter egg hunt. Don't worry if you were away - your friends decorated some eggs for you!

Eggs for our absent friends!

Easter Egg Hunt

Last Wednesday in Science, Mlle Bradfield introduced the idea that the Sun is the most important source of energy for our planet. She demonstrated this by giving each student a picture (of an object, animal, plant or natural material) and then forming a chain of connections between them using string. She stood in the centre of the circle as the Sun. Everyone helped explain the connections they could make as they passed the string (e.g., I have a cotton plant, this t-shirt could be made from cotton), and by the end, we had a big web of connections, all of which connected back to the sun. Ask your student to explain the picture they received and the chain of connections they made.

After this activity, students worked on drawing an energy chain that had to include the sun. They presented them to the class.

Next week I will be sending home a couple writing rubrics. One is for our "How to decorate a gingerbread man" writing project. This is old now (from January), but has been a beautiful decoration on our walls. The second will be the dictée rubric for March.

Don't forget that this Friday is the Dance-a-thon! Envelopes are due that morning at the latest. Thanks!

Summer planning time!

Hi room 211 families,

I hope you all had a wonderful March break! I heard about lots of fun trips and visits yesterday! Please help your child find all of the classroom books they borrowed and return them so that we can continue sharing them. Thanks!

It seems crazy to be thinking about summer already, but I know this is the time of year when you need to register for summer camps and activities. If you haven't already made your reservations, I would like to draw your attention to my "Summer Programs" link list to the left. These are a few French camps in and around the city that look interesting to me, or that have been passed on by parents and teachers. Any chance that your child has to speak French in the summer will be such a great boost for them heading into grade two. In grade 1 we learn so much so fast, and it's a shame to let it slip over the summer months. I hope these ideas are helpful. If you have been to one and have feedback, or know of another good French option, please let me know so that I can share with others.

In a shameless bit of self-promotion, I must also tell you about one additional day camp that is neither French, nor in the city, but if your child takes music lessons, it may be of interest to you. Durham Music Camp is for piano, violin, viola, cello, guitar and flute students of all ages. There is a special "mini-camp" for students aged 6 and under and if your student is not yet playing an instrument, but is interested, you can go as an observer, and participate in some of the non-instrument classes at a very very low cost. My mom, Laurie, who has visited our class several times and is a Suzuki violin teacher, is one of the directors and founders of this camp, and this year, I am offering a "Music and Stories" class which will feature some of the musical stories I've already told our class, and many more. This camp runs only for the first week of July. Please share with any friends or family who may be interested in this great music camp! All the information you need is available here.

As you all know, Mlle Bradfield has been teaching science in our class every Wednesday for a while now. In a couple weeks she will begin her block - that is a full month in our classroom during which she will gradually take over all of the teaching responsibilities. By the end of April, she will be teaching language, math and art, in addition to science. For me, my practicum blocks were the most important part of my teacher training. I look forward to supporting Mlle Bradfield during this time, and will continue to be with her and the students at all times.
In the two weeks we have before Mlle Bradfield begins teaching language, we are working on a fun report-writing/research project. Already, students have selected an animal and a book about that animal from our class library. Now, the researchers are looking for information in their books on where their animals lives, what it eats, what it looks like and other interesting facts. They are marking important pages and passages with sticky notes and a symbol to remind themselves of what they found. Next week we will work on writing out this information either using a report template, or a brochure template. Ask your researcher what animal they are writing a report on!

Also coming up soon is Dewson's annual dance-a-thon! Students brought home their collection envelopes before the break and went to an assembly today to learn about how it all works. You're probably familiar from Kindergarten, but if you have questions, don't hesitate to ask me. The envelopes are due on the day of the event: April 1st.

Words of the Week

Now that we’re experts in tons of French sounds, we’re reviewing all our sounds within slightly more complex words. Each week, challenge your expert to figure out which sound is found in all the words on the list. Suggest that they circle all the ‘a’s in green, ‘e’s in blue, ‘i’s in purple (for instance).

pas, mars, avec, mal, calme, la balle, 

le canard, avril, le rat

Bonus words: ajoute, théâtre

Rubrics rubrics rubrics

Hi parents,

Thanks for getting those waivers back so quickly. The film crew was here this morning and they enjoyed listening to L'Apprenti sorcier along with us. The kids were very attentive and impressed me and our guests with what they remember from our previous musical stories! I will let you know if I receive any information about how the footage from today will be used.

L'Apprenti sorcier, or The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a very famous symphonic poem by Paul Dukas. You probably remember it from Disney's Fantasia, which features Mickey Mouse as the apprentice. That movie does a great job of telling the story of the music through animation. Today I told the story in words. I'm positive the children can tell you all the details of the story, if you don't already know it. Briefly, we talked about three important musical motifs which are repeated frequently. The bassoons play the march theme for the brooms, the brass plays the motif for when a magic spell is cast (sounds like "Ta-da!") and the strings play the falling water motif. We also talked about what other stories come to mind when listening to this one - for me, I think right away of Tipingee and all the work her méchante tante makes her do, and Loupscaroux because the little girl disobeys her mother while her mother's away, just like the Apprentice. Finally, we tried to figure out the moral of this story. We thought of a couple lessons we can take away from the apprentice's story. First, always listen to your parents and teachers, and second, never use magic on a broom!
I hope you have fun talking about this story and listening to it again. Here are a few ways to do just that:
Original version
Narrated version
Scene from Fantasia

Now then, I mentioned earlier this week that we had practised assessing our own math work, according to our co-created rubric, and that I would try to send something home so that you can see how your mathematician is doing. So, that's what's happening today. Each student is bringing home a problem we worked on yesterday individually, and a very challenging problem they worked on with their math partner on Tuesday. They used their feedback from Tuesday's to guide their mathematical communication yesterday, then they had the opportunity to self-assess their solution. I also gave my opinion. If you look at both work samples as well as the feedback and rubrics, hopefully you'll get a good idea of where your child is right now in their mathematical problem solving (which, remember, isn't all about memorizing facts). We will continue this unit for a week or two after the break, so if you feel like working on some problem solving over the break, it will pay off at school!

I am also sending home the pledge envelope for Dewson's annual Dance-a-thon, which is not far off. You probably know how this works from Kindergarten - if not, ask me! It's a really fun, highly anticipated event by all the kids, and it's one of Dewson's biggest fundraisers. The money goes right back into programs for the kids at school. Thanks for your support!

Before leaving today, I asked all students to take whatever books they needed for March break. It's important to keep reading every day, if possible. There are some good reading links on this blog as well, if you need more stuff! As always, please return all books immediately upon returning to school - the green drawer, in particular, is looking rather empty these days.

Yesterday you should have received the social skills rubric for March. We worked on listening to and sharing ideas while working on our plays with our groups, and especially on being a good audience member. I was quite tough on this one because listening to each other super important, and is something we all have to keep working on all the time. Our plays are truly coming along amazingly. Students who are not yet speaking consistently in sentences in French, are thinking up more and more things for their characters to say, and performing with confidence! I'm so impressed!

One last tid bit, yesterday we had a supply teacher for gym. When I arrived to pick up the kids, she started walking towards me - my first thought was, uh oh, I need to follow-up on something. Then she told me that our class had been her best one of the whole day! Mr. Greene has also mentioned how great we are in choir. So proud!!

Hope you have a great March break! See you on the 21st!
Tamara

Actually there's a form!

Sorry for the last minute request, parents! The film people decided they would like to send home an additional waiver just to be safe. It's a pink piece of paper coming home today. Please read over, sign and return TOMORROW. Thanks so much! I'm excited to make this mini movie with the kids!

Also, we were a bit rushed getting ready this afternoon and I forgot to remind the kids that any Scholastic orders are due tomorrow, and any envelopes for Mme Gaudreault would be welcomed. Thanks!

The rush today was actually for a very good reason - we were attending a wonderful presentation combining Black History Month and International Women's Day. We learned the life story of Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad (which we now know was neither underground, nor a railway). Ask your historian why Ms. Tubman was a hero. Students also have a brochure from the parent organizers that explain hers, Viola Desmond's and other black womens' stories.

Today Mlle Bradfield was here and played a super fun science game with the class. Last week they had told her about different things they all already know about energy - for example, that the Sun gives energy to plants. Today she summarized those ideas and helped us define exactly what energy is (ask your scientist - hopefully they can tell you that energy makes things work and move). The game was to match an object that she showed, with it's source of energy by moving to the correct signs placed around the room. She took the time to listen to why students made their different choices and it was interesting to learn that sometimes energy can come from a combination of places. Ask your scientists where laptop computers get their energy, where a clock gets energy, and what on earth is mechanical energy?? That's a tough one, but Mlle Bradfield had a short and simple explanation!

In math today, we learned the rest of our math centre games. Now we know all 10 and can choose to play them during free time as long as we take care of them!

 Select what you would like to buy from the store and draw the coins you will need in order to pay for it!

 Test your partner to find the answer to your 3-D addition or subtraction sentence!

Roll two wizard dice and write an addition or subtraction sentence in your math journal using those numbers.

Words of the Week

We have arrived at our final sound rule for this year! Rather than focusing on a sound that some letters create, we are focusing on a sound that is not created. Two months ago, we learned about the sound ‘en’. However, when an action word ends with ‘-ent’, the nt is SILENT! This will occur all the time in the 3rd person plural of most verbs. Pronouncing the ‘-ent’ is one of the most common reading errors made by French immersion students, even in the junior grades. This is a hard rule to explain, and I haven’t gone into conjugating with our grade 1s. I’m explaining that we need to think about whether the word is an action (something we do) and if so, we ignore the ‘nt’. To my delight, we are starting to get it! Have your reader go through their list and put an X over all the silent letters.

Quick review:

Les    parents   travaillent.

(not an action word - normal ☝)                (☝ action - ignore)

les oiseaux chantent, les grenouilles sautent, 
les enfants parlent, les chiens courent,
 les chats dorment, les amis jouent, 
les parents travaillent, les feuilles tombent, 
les avions volent
Bonus words: ils peuvent, elles aiment

We wrote a poem!!

Dear families,

We've been working hard on adding to our bank of math strategies this week. We worked with our math partners to tackle a very difficult question involving a mystery number of chickens and pigs. We discovered the guess and check strategy and also that there are different ways to approach the same problem - in this case, some students started by counting legs, while others began by drawing animals. Both approaches led to success! Here are some mathematicians at work:

We also had some fun working together to re-write one of our favourite poems. "Patapi-Patapiège" is a winter poem and talks about getting buried in snow. We were going to just add to the ending, since the kids always do when they say it anyway, but since the weather has turned so warm and it looks like we're going to be buried in rain, we decided to rewrite the entire thing for our current weather. Everybody helped come up with the new rhymes, actions and write the words. Ask your poet to recite both the original and the new version for you! Here it is:


With March break coming up, I want to make sure everyone who needs extra books gets them, and that anyone who needs their indoor shoes brings them home. Please let your child know (or email me) if they should be getting extra books for the week off, or bringing home their running shoes. I will remind everyone on Friday.

Thanks!

We're Famous!

Hi parents,

I need to let you know about an exciting visit happening this Friday morning. A crew is coming to film the kids listening to one of my musical stories - it's going to be a famous one this time - L'apprenti Sorcier (The Sorcerer's Apprentice) by French composer, Paul Dukas.

The crew is coming on behalf of OISE, where I went to teachers' college. They are doing a series of videos to highlight the work of alumni. They are interested in our class because of the extra music I like to do. I'm not completely sure how this footage will be used, I presume it has something to do with attracting future teacher candidates.

I don't need anything from you in order to move ahead with this project - the media form you signed in September covers everything. However, if you have any questions or concerns about your child being involved in this project (and possibly on TV, who knows), please email me ASAP. Thanks!!

Thanks for sending in those addressed envelopes this morning. Mme Gaudreault got quite a few back. There are still a number missing or incomplete - please try to get that done before the end of the week. Thanks!

Subject Update

Hi families,

First of all, we went skating for the last time today, and it's incredible how much the kids have improved in such a short time. Thanks to the many many parents and grand-parents that helped out on and off the ice - some every time! You made these outings very easy for me. We aim to thank you all in writing very soon!

When we started skating, I taught the kids a new song with a fitting theme, Jouez au hockey. The kids know it well now and ask me to put it on all the time. They have yet to see the YouTube video, featuring the singer/songwriter himself, Jacquot. Please share this with your skater! Jacquot also has lots of other amazing songs about math, French and school that you can probably find on YouTube just by putting in his name. Some I've played for the kids, others not yet.

I can't believe that March break is only a week away, but I'm pleased that in terms of our learning, we are just about where I'd hoped we'd be. I've noticed a lot of growth in the students since the beginning of January. Here's where we are right now:

In French, each student has completed at least one good copy of a poem and we have assembled them into a book. Each student has also reflected on their work and set a writing goal for their next poem or project. We will move on to other large writing projects as a class, but will continue to have the opportunity to write poems/stories that we know during writing centre time. Next time you visit the school, be sure to check out our book of poems! I love it so much!

Also during centre time, we have changed the task at the Word Work centre. Students are now responsible for finding as many words as possible to match the given sound, or starting letter, on their mini blackboard. You can play this game at home too, using past words of the week!

Last week we completed our February dictée - our most successful one yet, especially in terms of printing and punctuation. Such beautiful writing from many! I sent the rubric home today.

In math, we are well into our number sense unit, focusing on addition and subtraction. Many students are already super stars at adding two numbers together. What we are really focusing our efforts on is our communication. We are learning that it is important to show our thinking in a clear way so that we can learn and share different ways to solve problems, and work towards using the most efficient strategies. To this end, we have been collecting strategies as we develop them, and naming them after the inventor(s). We already have many very important and useful strategies, and everyone in the class benefits from and uses them in their own work, when applicable. It's so great to hear people saying "I'm using 'Le Jaxon'", or "He used 'La Caitlyn' and 'Le Vammy'". 

This week we also did an activity where the students helped me build a visual rubric for problem solving. As we know, a level two means you just need a little practice - the students associated this with putting in a good effort and continuing to search for a good strategy, with a little help. We know a level 3 means that you're listening to and following instructions well - students associated this with clearly showing one good strategy in your work. We also know that a level 4 means that you're at the expert level and can help others - we associated this with showing one or two very useful strategies in a clear and organized way. We looked at several work samples from the past week of problem solving and students easily matched them to their level on the rubric, giving a justification for why they belong in that level. Mlle Bradfield was impressed with the reflection shown during this activity!

We've posted this visual rubric on the math board so that students can always keep in mind what they are aiming for. I'll endeavour to send home a marked work sample soon so that you can see how your own mathematician is doing with their mathematical communication.

In Science, Mlle Bradfield has started into our next unit, Energy. I'm excited about all the cool experiments that we can do in this unit! So far, students have done a brainstorming activity to show us what they already know about the subject. They also created energy chains by trying to find one or two partners to match with their picture. For instance, the sun helps the grass to grow, cows eat the grass, cows produce milk which people drink to get energy. We made lots of different energy chains. Ask your scientist what their pictures was and what happened in their energy chain.

At the end of our Structures unit, Mlle Bradfield had students work together to brainstorm, draw and present a way of reducing waste in our classroom. For example, many students thought we could re-use materials that would otherwise be garbage during art projects and free time. Mlle Bradfield took a lot of time to thoughtfully complete a rubric for each scientist for their participation and teamwork during this activity. I sent it home today, along with their sketch of a way to reduce waste at school.

Now, I know I don't teach Social Studies this year, but Mme Gaudreault has asked me, and I am very pleased, to help out with a cool project she is doing with the class. It begins with an envelope. Today, each student brought home a blank envelope with instructions inside. Basically, I think students just need your help to put their own address on the envelope. The rest of the project will be done at school. This envelope is due back for our next Social Studies class first thing Monday morning. Thanks!

OK. I think that's good for now. Next week will be fun - I'm expecting some visitors including Mme Robinson, who wants to see what our class is up to, Mme Bradfield as always, and maybe another visit later in the week!

Have a great weekend,

Tamara