Dear salle 113 families,
Thanks SO much to the many students and parents who have sent me their poem recordings for "La Lune" and "Le Serpent". I have begun assembling the clips and I'm excited to share the finished product with you. A handful of students have not sent me any recordings yet, and I would feel badly if they were upset to not see themselves in the completed videos (which will be a nice momento of this virtual learning time in our lives). If your student would like to participate, please send me the clips by end of day SATURDAY (June 5th). Thanks!
We learned even more poems in the last few days, and we have also begun our final writing unit of the year - poetry - by writing out some of the poems we know so well. For this writing project, our challenge is quite different than in the past. Our students have become accustomed (with all their various teachers this year, I think) to coming up with ideas and then copying the words off the board. I continued in this manner for our story project, helping students get their ideas down on paper. Now, however, we already have the ideas and we know the French words! So, our challenge is to sound them out independently. I modelled this for students, making several (purposeful) mistakes with my letter choices - for example, the letter C and S can both make the 'sss' sound sometimes, so we just have to make our best guess. I want students to feel confident as writers and not feel that they can't do it or need to check every letter with me. Therefore, I'm giving only encouraging feedback during writing time, and teaching a few new sounds here and there. I have been BLOWN away with how much students have enjoyed this writing project and have really wanted to do MORE and read their work to the class. I'm so happy they love it! We might need more poem templates... I've asked students to submit at least ONE poem they wrote this week.
Last week, most students presented their stories to the class. We discussed how to be a good presenter, by speaking with a strong voice, using expression to reflect the feelings of the characters and showing the pictures. We also discussed how to be a good audience member, and we have given each other a LOT of positive feedback. I was very impressed with all of our presentations and everyone looked so proud to share their work! Bonne lecture mes amis! This week and next, I have another reading conference with each student during independent time. Please be sure to check the schedule posted in Classroom.
In math, we have been continuing to practice drawing and writing out addition and subtraction questions, and grade 2s have been encouraged to turn a repeated addition into a multiplication. We have also talked about dividing through fair sharing, and we will touch once more on a little intro to fractions. We are taking our number sense unit in a bit of a patterning/algebra direction now. Today we used a "math machine" which applies an operation, or set of operations, to a sequence of numbers, creating a brand new pattern. I'm excited for some algebra next week when we will have to fill in missing numbers, or find the secret code! I've asked that students turn in at least one assignment from this week - they can pick their favourite, or the one they feel shows their best work.
In social studies, students should now have completed their "Dans ma communauté" assignment, which was to reflect on the importance of one place in their immediate community. The writing page should be submitted. I provided a bonus assignment about a place in your neighbourhood which has closed due to Covid, and the impact that has had on the public and the people that worked there. Even if your student did not have time to complete this assignment, please point out businesses that have had to close as you walk in your neighbourhood, and help your student consider the ripple effect of this. Next week, we will have another independent project considering our Global community.
Thanks for your help during art yesterday making playdough! That was so fun! I loved seeing the kids in the kitchen helping with the preparations, and then building with their playdough. Your playdough should keep in an air-tight container for a few months. It's a great material for practicing letter formation, and you can challenge your student to spell syllables or words or build poem illustrations out of playdough letters!
Don't forget that this Friday is a PA Day for students! Enjoy another long weekend!
Tamara