Last week was pretty chilly with a lot of indoor time, so I am so excited to be able to get back outside with the kids, puddles and all! You have received our February calendar, which contains some very important dates.
Report cards are coming home next week, and we will have another round of interviews. This time, it's up to you and I whether we would like to meet. While I do work hard on those reports, I think it's more meaningful to chat in person so please feel free to sign up even if I haven't requested a meeting. A form is coming home today and is due by the end of the week, if you would like an interview. This is the last formal interview time for the year, but of course you can contact me, and we can meet again anytime.
You have also received a pink note about our next library trip on the 14th. Please let me know if you can come! On the reverse is our class list of names. This is in case your child wanted to make cards to distribute on Valentine's Day. We will have time for this at the end of the day. Making valentines is completely optional, but if your child wishes to do it, please ensure they include everyone.
You may have noticed that we have another big trip coming up at the end of the month. Forms will come home soon!
Throughout report card/interview week, we usually have a French book fair in the library. For our students, I discourage sending money to school during the day, but please do drop in when you're dropping off, picking up, or coming for your interview!
Class Scholastic orders for this month are due this Thursday. Here are some recommendations:
#10F6 "Ma première petite bibliothèque" - This is a cute little box containing 8 books with about 1 word per page. Just the kind of thing our kids can read on their own using the pictures.
#11F6 "Loto des mots" - Vocabulary bingo! A fun way to learn new words!
#16F6 "Joyeuse Saint-Valentin, Grognonstein!" - This a funny book for Valentine's day, that we don't already have in our classroom.
Last week, we did a couple ice experiments. We put 6 different substances on ice cubes (sugar, salt, flour, cream of tartar, cinnamon and food colouring) and made predictions about which one would help the ice melt fastest. We watched over the morning as each ice cube started melting, the sugar and the salt the clear leaders. Unfortunately, the kids were in library when the salted ice cube finished melting, ahead of the sugar, so I took a picture to make sure they would believe me! We later circled the result on our experiment sheet. Before hand, we had been joking about how this experiment might teach us that we need to sprinkle cinnamon outside, not salt, but I guess in the end, we're already doing the right thing!
We also tried to answer the question of how the sun helps ice melt. We did a spur of the moment experiment when one of the kids presented me with a block of ice as we were going inside. We placed it in a container and used a heat lamp to replace the sun. We watched the time and the ice, and thankfully our lunch supervisor got in on it too. It took 2 hours and 7 minutes for that block of ice to completely melt with the help of the "sun". Next, we will have to find a similar sized block of ice and see how long it takes, unaided, for comparison.
Some of our snow and ice questions ended up being answered in a book we read, for instance, we were wondering why snowflakes are shaped like circles. Ask your expert what snowflakes would actually look like under a microscope (some of us have witnessed this with our own eyes upon inspecting snowflakes on our clothing!).
Last week, I had my assistants help me re-organize our books by looking at the cover to guess what the theme was. On Tuesday, we switched reading buddies, however many students were away so you may need to wait until next Tuesday to ask them who they are now reading with. Our students are now being challenged to select at least one of our yellow level books to read to their reading buddy. We are really getting the hang of using the pictures or looking for repetition in order to do lots of the reading ourselves.
Our guided task last week was to complete and write a sentence in our journal about what winter activity we enjoy the most. The writers gave me their ideas and then helped put the words in order before copying it on their own.
Tuesday was that amazing snow day when it wasn't too cold, so we spent extra time outside and had a ball playing in the snow!
Words of the Week
We are working on a math activity this week, so I thought I'd put some numbers here to review. When listening to your mathematician count in French, listen carefully through the teens where the pattern changes, to make sure we aren't skipping anybody!
un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix, onze, douze, treize, quatorze, quinze, seize, dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf, vingt
We are working on a math activity this week, so I thought I'd put some numbers here to review. When listening to your mathematician count in French, listen carefully through the teens where the pattern changes, to make sure we aren't skipping anybody!
un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix, onze, douze, treize, quatorze, quinze, seize, dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf, vingt
Last thing, a little more shameless self-promotion. My little group is performing this Friday evening at 7:30 pm in a concert called "Songs of Love & Passion". It is at Timothy Eaton Memorial Church (Spadina & St. Clair) and will also feature soloists from that church. Tickets are $20 for adults and children under 12 are free (students/seniors: $15). You can get tickets through me this week if you're interested.