I'm looking forward to a beautiful, sunny week full of outdoor recesses! I'm also looking forward to next Wednesday, May 17th when I hope to see you all at our Grade 1/2 Arts Evening. Please plan to be here between 6:30-7:30 pm. We especially need the kids to be here so that they can perform for you and all our other guests!
In addition, I'm working on an idea for June 16th - please save the morning if you are able and avoid making appointments for the kids!
This week students are continuing their work on the animal reports that they started last week with Mr. G. So far, we have done some research on what our animal eats, where it lives and other special things about it. We used sticky notes to mark important pages in our books, and we learned how to use a table of contents to speed up our research. Most students are now finishing up their rough drafts, where they are copying the information they found in their books. Grade 1s are being encouraged to write just a sentence or two, and copying from the book is ok. Grade 2s are expected to write a little more for each section, and we've talked about writing it the way we would say it (in other words, using our own words, rather than copying). This is a great skill to begin working on, and many of our young writers already recognize the importance of giving credit when you borrow someone else's hard work.
In math, we are very excited to be designing our own games this week! Last week we played a whole bunch (6!!) of games that helped us predict and measure probability, and helped us use the mathematical language we learned - those grade 2 words of the week. (Ask your player if it's worth it for me to keep buying tea from Tim Hortons during Roll up the Rim and why...)
Today, with Mr. G, we brainstormed ideas for our own games and started planning what we want to create. I know that many students are planning to build board games or card games and they already have a good idea of how the game will work. Please ask your creator what their game is about and what the rules are. This might give us an idea of what we need to write down as we continue our planning tomorrow! After a bit more planning time, students will build a real life version of their game using craft materials. We hope to celebrate Mr. G's last day with us next Monday by having an afternoon of playing each others' games!!
- Grade 1s have a tiny bit of at-home research to do this week for science. It's a simple survey about how you use or conserve energy in your home. We read over all questions today, but the researchers may need a bit of help. They can check as many answers as apply for each question. Please remind them that this must be returned by THURSDAY! This is Mr. G's last science class with us!!
- Grade 2s, and soon 1s, will be working on some frequently used verbs, rather than particular sounds, for words of the week. Hopefully a little at-home practice will help us begin correctly spelling many of the words that we use all the time, but watch out... it depends on the person, or people you are talking to or about!! We will talk about the different endings at school, but know that using the pronoun is important as it dictates which ending must be used, so please remind your speller to include the pronoun every time they write the verb. This change means that grade 2s have 6 sentences to do instead of 5, but you will see there is a LOT of repetition in the words themselves.
Words of the Week
Grade 1:In our review of the ‘é’
sound, we have more examples of masculine and feminine. Many adjectives,
including those that end in é,
become feminine with the addition of a plain e. If you’re talking about a girl, the e in brackets is for you. If you’re talking about a boy, leave if
off. Remember, it doesn’t matter what you
are, it’s who (or what) you’re talking about that counts.
épaules, vélo, égal, été, cinéma, fée,
je
décore, j’écris, fâché(e), fatigué(e)
Bonus sentence: Je suis allé(e)...
Grade 2: This week we are working on the verb pouvoir (to be able to). We say "je peux" (I can) ALLLLL the time, and it has already been a word of the week this year, but did you know it's spelled differently if you say "il peut" or "Tamara peut"?? The spelling of the verb depends on who you're talking to ("Est-ce que tu peux m'aider?") or about ("Elles peuvent courir très vite!").
I have listed the verb as 6 different people to write about: je (I), tu (you), il/elle/on (he, she, we or a proper name), nous (we), vous (you, plural), ils/elles (they).
You will notice some similarities, for instance, peux is spelled the same whether you are taking about me or you, and it's the same for any single person you are talking about in the third person. I've tried to reduce the workload by grouping those together. Please write a sentence for each "person", so 6 sentences.
je peux
tu peux
il/elle/on peut
nous pouvons
vous pouvez
ils/elles peuvent
An additional note about verbs to ALL parents: Verbs are complex animals to understand, and I won't get into a ton of detail this year. I find that generally, it's easier to think about what sounds right. Most kids will recognize that "nous peut" does not sound right, and they might even know what does just from hearing the language used at school. The information shared above is mostly for your knowledge, but feel free to share it with your student if they seem ready for it. I will get into it much more at school next week when I am the language teacher once again!!