In the week before the break, we got started on a few things that I didn't tell you about, so I've got a good subject update for you. Also before the break, we joined 277,000 other students accross Canada in The Great Big Big Crunch. At precisely 2:30 on March 9th, we all crunched into a yummy apple provided by Foodshare to promote healthy nutrition for children. Foodshare is located right in our community and has lots of programs (I've taken a few of my former classes). Visit their website to learn more about their initiatives!
Français
Before the break, we were working on procedural writing. We answered several questions involving choosing between options or giving an opinion and then backed up our answer by giving several reasons. We know that in this kind of writing, we are trying to convince someone to agree with us. We have learned some important vocabulary for this kind of writing:
Je voudrais, Je pense, Oui/Non, J'aime ... parce que...
Our last question was, what kind of pet would you like to have? We finished getting our thoughts down before the break and we will spend a couple days this week making some improvements to our writing and creating a good copy of this assignment. Ask your student what pet they would like and why they think you should allow it (we were imagining what you would say, and how we would defend our choice when questioned!!).
In reading, we are all coming along SO well. In reading with students individually, I have noticed many great strategies, which we have been sharing with each other (e.g., read each part of the word on its own, covering the rest, then say the whole thing together and repeat it again faster). Remember to use that pointer finger and review past words of the week so that we grow our vocabulary of words that we can recognize in a snap, to make reading books a bit easier!
As you know, we begin every day with some poems from the 3 to 3 program. I also frequently tell oral stories from this program in lieu of a book at the end of the day. Recently I've told the stories "Le nom de l'arbre", "Le lit de grandmère" and "Le tambour magique", which your student can tell you about. Soon, we will begin working on a drama unit which will involve acting out the next story I will tell, called "La reine des abeilles" - ask about this story later this week. I'll let you know when you can ask your actor about their role!The last book I read the class before the break was the story of the movie Le Petit Prince (not to be confused with the actual novella by Saint-Exupéry, which I hope to read with the class later this year). Many students had clearly seen the film and knew what was happening. If you haven't yet seen it, it would be a great time!
Math
We are back to number sense, this time with an focus on addition and subtraction strategies. We have already invented many helpful strategies not only for completing an addition or subtraction, but also for how to write a complete answer to a word problem. We all understand very well that you cannot achieve a level 3 unless you show your thinking in some way (and that you can still achieve a level 3 even if you haven't gotten exactly the right answer, as long as you have evidence of using an appropriate strategy). Check out our math strategy board so far!
It is amazing to see students using each others' strategies and trying new things every day in order to continually improve their work and expand our problem solving vocabulary. Because grade 2s have to learn double digit addition and subtraction, we are spending some time on place value using Base 10 material (very helpful). Ask your student to explain how many unités you need to make a dizaine, and how many dizaines you need to make a centaine.
In addition, grade 2s are learning how they can turn a long repeated addition into a multiplication in order to be more efficient (like taking a short cut). We have begun to look at how we can rephrase something like 2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2 as 10 x 2 (10 groups of 2) - this came up in a question about how many mittens we have in our class! Some of our grade 1s are motivated to try multiplication as well, and it's been clear for a while that many students know some crazy multiplication facts thanks to their work at home and in after school problems. Let's focus in our class on really understanding what it means to multiply and communicating that in a complete answer - not just on memorizing facts, as impressive as that is!
Social Studies
Grade 1s are back to social studies for a bit. This time we're looking at our local community. We've already worked together to draw some quick maps of our local community, adding the important places that are near our school and our homes. We included restaurants, shops, the fire station, some TTC stops, the park, some garbage cans, houses, apartment buildings and an animal hospital (for Sadie!). I have an exciting project planned for this unit involving a community walk. We'll get started on that soon. Start talking to your child about the places you pass when out and about. What is this building used for? Who works there? Who does it help? What would happen if it didn't exist?
The Arts
In visual art, we started a printmaking project which will extend on our community unit. Each student has completed a sketch of a building, or several buildings, that we might have in Toronto. We added texture by considering the exterior material of the buildings (wood/bricks/rocks/windows). We are now carving our sketch into a piece of styrofoam (thanks for the donations, you can stop now!) and we will use special speedball ink to create a mural. Very cool!
In addition to beginning drama very soon, we are also setting some time aside each week to begin piano lessons. We have already learned how to play a 5 note scale, and proper posture for playing. Ask your musician about this! I should mention that for those students who take piano outside of school, these lessons will not be a challenge. We will look forward to hearing and being inspired by some solos at times, but for the most part, we want to keep this as a level playing field, so we'll all learn the same 5-note songs and support each other in that!
I'm not sure if you've heard, but there is an Arts Evening being planned for grades 1 and 2 and it's coming up soon! Mark April 5th on your calendars and plan to join us for a fun evening including some visual arts displays, dance and choir performances and a repeat performance of our Artsfest song! Invite all your family and friends, but most of all, ensure that your child can be with us to perform!
Finally, a reminder that any March Scholastic orders are due Thursday.
See you soon!
Tamara
Words of the Week
le canard, avril, le rat
Bonus words: ajoute, théâtre
Grade 1: 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
Grade 2: As the grade 1s take this opportunity to practice more words with the sounds we have learned so far, grade 2s will be challenged to add a few more complex sounds to their vocabulary. As always, please feel free to review the grade 1 words as well. They should be review, but the more words we have in our sight-word vocabulary, the better.
This week, we are adding to a sound we already know. We learned ille some time ago (fille, famille). Now, we are adding one letter in front of this sound, or in front of just il (it will sound the same).
With an e, it has the sound of an è + the regular ille sound, as in abeille, bouteille or soleil.
With an a, it has the sound of an a + the regular ille sound, as in paille or travail.