J'aime...

First, a quick reminder that the pink ArtsFest permission forms are due Wednesday!

Words of the Week

Last week we learned of 4 more ways to make the French ‘es’ sound. This week we have another 2 ways. ‘ai’ and ‘ais’ make the very same sound. Included in this list are some I (Je) statements. Encourage your child to write 5 sentences beginning with each one. E.g., 1. J’aime le lait. 2. J’aime les chiens.

Grade 1: j’aime, lait, l’air, je vais, je fais, je sais, maison, mais

Bonus words: il fait, partenaire

Grade 2 students are adding one last way to make the very same sound: ei.

Grade 2: j’aime, lait, je vais, reine, neige

In particular, I'd like to highlight the word j'aime for both grade 1s and grade 2s. Over the next couple weeks, we are going to be learning to write some persuasive answers to questions. To do this, we will learn to begin by stating our preference and then giving some compelling reasons for our decision. The word j'aime will be very useful in answering questions involving personal preference so let's all try to memorize it in order to ease our sounding out in the next couple weeks.

This morning, students already wrote an answer to whether they prefer vegetables or dessert. Ask them how they answered and what their reasons were!!

Last week, the grade 1 scientists completed construction of the boat they had planned. Everyone worked very well together, followed their plan and created a floating boat! To add to our success, we used some amazing teamwork skills to come up with a fair way to decide who keeps the boat. It is really lovely to see the kids working and compromising so kindly with each other. We'll finish up a couple things and then switch back to Social Studies.

Don't forget!

First, I forgot to remind the class this afternoon of the following 3 things (that they should already know, but I usually remind them anyway):

1. It's backwards day tomorrow!

2. It's show and tell tomorrow for kids with names beginning with A & B.

3. Grade 2 homework is due tomorrow, as always.

We attended the Black History Month assembly this morning, and we are all SO proud of Delina for her role in the dance and skit about Viola Desmond's life. Bravo Delina!!

This afternoon, students met their new math partners and created their own Venn diagram, sorting shapes according to two rules that they chose. We have often solved the Venn diagrams that I have prepared, but this was the students' turn and it was a great way for them to show me what they understand about the characteristics of shapes. Ask your mathematician to share their sorting rules with you.

This afternoon, I also got around to telling students the story of the ballet Cinderella, featuring Prokofiev's music. Of course, most students knew the story very well, but they did a good job listening to the music and making connections to how Cinderella was probably feeling, what she was doing, or even how she was moving (e.g., "It sounds like she's taking heavy footsteps"). We heard chimes, signalling the fairy godmother working her magic, the waltz for Cinderella and the Prince, the clumsy dance music for the step-sisters, and the sad, mean music for the step-mother. The most recognizable part of the music is, of course, when the clock strikes twelve at the beginning of movement VIII (just a few seconds before the end of the suite).

If you'd like to listen to the Cinderella Suite again with your child, here's the link to what we heard today. Here's a little flashback to the National Ballet's performance. Hope you enjoy!

The next musical story I'm working on is the story of Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute. Unfortunately I'm a little late with this one too - the last performance by the Canadian Opera Company is tomorrow evening. It features an old choir friend of mine as Prince Tamino! (Can you believe I've sung with this guy??) Anyway, tickets are still available online if you're looking for something to do, and it's a perfect opera for kids! Here's a little trailer for the COC's production of The Magic Flute. Story coming soon to a Salle 211 near you!

What we're up to!

Hi Salle 211 families,

I hope you all had a lovely family day weekend! It was great meeting with many parents last week, sharing our special work and reviewing the goals we have all set. Many students have already earned multiple stars on their goal sheets! Those were our last formal interviews for the year, but as always, please feel free to contact me at any time if you'd like to chat or get ideas for how to keep things working through the summer.

This week our school has a couple Black History month events, including a presentation this morning and an assembly Thursday morning. Please ask your child about these discussion-worthy events. We've also read the story of Viola Desmond together, so your child can tell you about her life and her experience with segregation back in the 1940s.

This week, we're going to work hard to finish up our procedural writing by reviewing our practice rubrics and making the appropriate corrections to our completed instructions before handing them in. 

In math, we are almost ready to finish up our first geometry unit. Using a Venn diagram, students have discovered the characteristics of many shapes and learned how to draw rectangles and squares that have perfectly square corners, as they should be (coins carrés). We are now working on creating and identifying symmetrical shapes using a mira tool. Please ask your mathematician what this amazing tool does and how it differs from a regular mirror!

In grade 1 science, we are wrapping up our structures unit by using what we've learned in all our experiments to build a boat that will (hopefully) float. The scientists worked very impressively today with their partners to draw a detailed plan of how their boat will look, what it will be made of, and who will build what. Can't wait to see these plans come to life on Friday!

These are some old pictures of when we built houses for the 3 little pigs (straw, wood, bricks), and tested them with the fan. Probably due to our various connectors and good building techniques, they all survived the wind test!

I haven't taken a picture of our Le Coq by Picasso recreations since many of you got to see them last week, but if you haven't, please do stop by. They are so great that the grade 3 classes were inspired to do a variation on the same project!

Mots de la Semaine

That crazy E again! We’ve learned about the accent aigu (é), now we have all the others.

è = E-accent grave

ê = E-accent circonflexe

ë = E-tréma

Any of these accents help the e make exactly the same sound as the French ‘es’ sound. Think of “les” or, in English, “best”. “-et” makes the same sound when it’s at the end of a word.

When it comes to all these accents, it can be tricky to remember which one goes which way. I like to act them out. I see the accent aigu as a plane taking off, or a salute. The accent grave looks like a plane landing. The accent circonflexe is like a little hat! Encourage your child to show you which accent the word needs by acting it out with their body!

Grade 1: mère, père, tête, juillet, la chèvre, après, violet, forêt

Bonus words: chère, frère

Grade 2: la règle, Noël, poulet, violet, forêt

Finally, here's what our card exchange looked like on Valentine's Day. We delivered our mail to each others' decorated bags. It was super cute!

Reports & Interviews

Dear parents,

Thanks to everyone who returned their interview request form. Your confirmation was sent home today. It's small and pink. Students were instructed to give them directly to you!
If you can no longer make your interview time, please email me ASAP and we will reschedule. I assume that if you did not return the form, you do not feel the need for an interview at this time. If you change your mind, or would like a quick check up over the phone, please let me know and we'll work it out. It's never too late!

Please be prompt when you come for your interview. I will try to be very mindful of the time so that you can be on time for your other appointments and get on with your evening! Students know that they are invited to their interview, and they have each chosen a special piece of work that they would like to share with you.

Reports come home tomorrow. As always, I will be talking to students about some important report card etiquette. Here's what we will discuss:
1. Only open your report card envelope with a parent or guardian (not with a sibling, alone or on the bus).
2. Do not share your report card with friends. Everyone has different strengths and everyone is doing lots of things well. Comparing marks never makes anyone feel good.
3. Try not to put too much emphasis on letter grades. Yes, marks are important and are a quick guide to how a child is progressing, however, everyone progresses at a different rate. A 'C' is not a bad thing at all, and an 'A' never means you are done learning. Please give more of your attention to the comments I have written. I have taken great care to explain the exact areas where students can continue to work in order to be even more successful.
4. Finally, remember that it is hard to progress academically without excellent learning skills. Please discuss this part of the report card in depth with your child. Please select one area (learning skill or otherwise) to set as a goal for improvement over the coming months. We will do a goal setting activity this week so it will be helpful to have thought this over ahead of time. Thanks!!

Tomorrow is also Valentines Day. I reminded the kids to bring their cards, if they are making them, and of course, if they are, to make one for everyone. We will have a chance to distribute these at the end of what will be a very busy day!

Mots de la Semaine

This week we are back to the sound, ‘é’. In November, I mentioned that there were other ways to make this sound. They are ‘-er’ and ‘-ez’, but only when they fall at the end of a word, not within (even at the end there are plenty of exceptions). This week you may want to play a sneaky game of -er v. -re. It is not uncommon, at this stage, to confuse the order of letters that form a sound, but ‘er’ and ‘re’ are two completely different sounds. Challenge your writer to find the mistakes in the words you’ve written (end some words with ‘re’ instead of ‘er’)!

Grade 1: déjeuner, février, chez, aller, manger, vous avez, visiter

Bonus words: vous allez, jouer

Grade 2: déjeuner, février, chez, manger, 

vous avez

Improv Theatre

Here are the much anticipated pictures of our fully improvised scenes from today - narrated by Liam the gnome.
The first scene was about landfills and the second was about climate change. Both focused on how humans are affecting animals and nature, and on what we can all do to help, for example planting trees and recycling as much waste as possible. Actors brought their fantastic masks home today and could definitely use the techniques they used to turn more recycled materials into awesome costumes!

Here's some more grade 1 science... Today students worked together to build their own strong walls using what they've learned in previous experiments. They chose their materials and assembly pattern and justified why their wall would be strong giving three reasons (e.g., "we chose the cubes because they attach", or, "our wall is thick"). In the tennis ball test, none of the walls broke or fell over! Ask your builder what three factors contributed to their wall being strong!

Valentine's Day!

Valentine's day is one week away!!
As you know, we do not do food parties, but we will do some Valentine's day activities, including having an opportunity to exchange cards. There is no pressure on children to make valentines, however, if your child is planning on making cards for their classmates, please use the list below to ensure that nobody is left out!

Archer

Aster

Beckett

Benji

Brooklyn

Declan

Delina

Egan

Emmeline (Emmy)

Estelle

Florkencia

Gabriel

Louisa

Marko

Oliver

Ryan

Sam

Santiago

Sean

Teagan

(Joah - maybe we can send them...)

Trash Theatre Presentation

Hi Parents,

We complete our workshops with Trash Theatre tomorrow (Wednesday). The kids will be putting on an improvised performance using the masks they made and the ideas they've brainstormed about landfills and global warming. You are invited to join us for the performance if you are able. It will take place Wednesday morning at around 11:15 in room 115 (first floor). Hope to see you there!
Here are some pictures from today. Can you guess what animals we are?? (Oh - it was suggested that students might want to choose their outfit for tomorrow to go with their mask or whatever animal they are supposed to be!!)

Today you are also receiving your interview request form for the upcoming report cards. At this time, it is up to you and I to decide whether or not we would like an interview. From my perspective, interviews are a great way to make sure we're all on the same page and have the same goals in mind. Plus, the kids will have a chance this week to reflect on some of their past projects and select something special that they would like to show you. Therefore, please consider yourselves all invited and please bring your students with you when you come. If you would like an interview next week, please return the form to me by THIS Friday at the latest!

You received the February Scholastic catalogues last week, and still have over a week to think about it. Here are my recommendations this month:
No. 28F6 - Mouche-toi, grand méchant loup! - This looks like a variation on The Three Little Pigs, a story familiar to just about all children. Knowing the story, and much of the French vocabulary, will help beginning readers be able to decode a new book.
No. 1F6 - Le costume de Malaika - I'm not familiar with this book, but it is recommended for Black History Month, which we are currently celebrating.

Speaking of celebrations, in addition to Black History Month (which we will talk more about soon), the TDSB is also currently celebrating Chinese New Year! We are celebrating the year of the Rooster, by creating some magnificent art based on Picasso's painting called "A Rooster". We talked a bit about the surrealist style that Picasso was using during this time, and about how he might have sketched the rooster using basic shapes (since we are also working with shapes now in geometry). I admit I was a bit nervous of how our sketches would turn out since this project was recommended for junior students, but actually I was blown away not only by our students' sketches, but also by their fearlessness when it came to trying! These projects are going to be amazing!

Hopefully we'll have our roosters up when you come for your interview, but at the very least, you'll be able to see our completed "Starry Nights". Here's a taste:

OK, what else. Well, I mentioned that we are into geometry now! This is the final math strand before we get a second go at everything again. We are beginning by discovering the characteristics of many shapes. For instance, today we did a concept attainment activity where students had to guess the sorting rules for the 2 D shapes I showed them (four sides / all equal sides) and eventually discovered that a square (and a diamond) would follow both rules and could live in the middle of our Venn diagram. We then practiced drawing PERFECT squares using a ruler and the lines in our math journals to make sure we were right on, and we looked for other shapes that share the quality of having all equal sides. We will look in depth at other shapes and what we can do with them over the coming days.

In language, now that we have a set of instructions done with a partner under our belts, we are all working independently on writing instructions. Grade 1s are all explaining how to build a snowman. Grade 2s are explaining how to make a snack (e.g., a sandwich, cereal, popcorn). I've been impressed at the increasing independence that many writers are showing. Books, dictionaries, posters and word placemats are becoming a popular source of spelling help for students, rather than checking their sounding out with me all the time. Ask your writer to explain to you the steps they are writing out. This will help them solidify their writing plan.

In grade 1 science, we have continued our tests of different materials. Most recently, the scientists built walls using different materials and different block patterns. We tested them for strength and found that an interlocking pattern was much stronger than stacking blocks directly on top of one another. They also correctly predicted (based on a previous experiment), that materials that attach (like lego) would be stronger than materials that do not (like our wooden blocks). We are learning that good scientists are happy to learn from wrong predictions, and use them to make more informed predictions next time.

Looking ahead a bit, I'm excited to share that in March, our class (together with 3 others) will be performing at ArtsFest. This is a celebration of the performing arts put on at a nearby school. Our classes will be performing a song called "On écrit sur les murs". Students have sung this song a little bit in choir, and we are now working on it in our class. We already made up some little actions! More info and forms for this will come home soon. For now, please feel free to encourage your child to listen to it and practice at home. The song is available on YouTube here, as well as the karaoke version.

Words of the Week

The sound ‘in’ is very tricky. I remember sitting around the table with my exchange family trying to match exactly what they said so that I might have a nice French accent!

Your expert French speaker needs no assistance speaking this sound, they know it well. The best way I’ve found to describe it is to start saying the word “kangaroo” but pause on the “an” part. This is approximately the right sound. Note: The last 2 words in the gr.1 list have a pesky e in between the i and n. We already learned what sound e+n makes, but in this case, they make the ‘in’ sound. We still hear the regular i sound as well. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, Très bien!

Grade 1: lapin, la fin, train, vingt, bain,

 rien*, bien*

Bonus words: cinq, dinde

Grade 2s will notice that 'im' makes exactly the same sound as 'in'. The terms impossible and certain will come in very handy when we work on probability later this year!

Grade 2: vingt, impossible, certain, 

j'ai faim, peindre

And now, a message from our librarian:

French Book Fair is next week!

Dear Parents, You and your family are invited to join us in this celebration of literacy.

Every purchase you make, directly benefits our school. Help us add new books and
much-needed resources to our library.
Join us at our French Book Fair and help spark a lifelong love of reading! Your child will bring a flyer home. Do not discard this flyer because it has a free ballot to win 25 dollars worth of books. All you have to do is fill out the ballot and put it in the ballot box located in the library.
Good luck and keep on reading!
Mme Gaudreault

In French!
Chers Parents,
Vous êtes invités avec votre famille à vous joindre à nous pour cette célébration littéraire.
Pour chaque achat que vous effectuerez, Dewson recevra une remise. Aidez les enseignants à acquérir de nouveaux livres et de nouvelles ressources pédagogiques.
Participez au Festival du Livre et encouragez l’amour de la lecture chez les enfants, un plaisir qui durera toute leur vie! Votre enfant va apporter un dépliant du festival chez-vous. Ne le jetez surtout pas! Il y a un coupon pour un tirage d'une valeur de 25$ en livres. Remplissez le coupon et déposez-le à la biblipothèque dans la boite prévue à cet effet.
Bonne chance!

Mme Gaudreault 

French Book Fair:
Where: Dewson Library
When: February 13-16
From 7:30 to 4:30
Thursday: until 7:30