Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Your children were very thoughtful this morning as they told me what they are thankful for. They have written it down, and drawn it, on a card that they are bringing home today. Please encourage them to read it to you! Our artists are also bringing home a pine cone (pomme de pin) turkey (dinde) that was very challenging to make. We hope you like them!
Today students are bringing home an invitation to a Fire Station Open House. I'd like to draw your attention to this because People in the Community is a social studies topic for grade 1, so this would link very nicely to the unit we are doing later this year.
In math this week, we have been practising counting questions with "de plus que" and "de moins que". Students are really getting the hang of this, and are remembering that "plus" means "more" and "moins" means "less". Keep asking your child to count sets of things (crackers, grapes, books) in French at home, or draw a set to match a number you give them. This really helps us associate numbers with words. (We have been working on a little booklet with an illustration of every number from 1 - 10 that we will show you soon.)
In addition, we worked in pairs today to practise asking our own "de plus que" and "de moins que" questions in French. Every student had a turn being the teacher with their partner. I was SO excited to hear students actually asking each other questions and answering in French! Wow! To help us with this activity, each group had a grid with 10 squares, and 10 playing chips to add or take away. (I'll post a picture of this soon.) You can play this game at home by drawing a grid on a piece of scrap paper and using pennies or the pieces from a game of checkers. Being able to manipulate objects (actually remove them or add them to the existing set) is incredibly helpful for beginning adding and subtracting.
Our current science unit is on Daily and Seasonal changes. This includes changes involving night and day, weather, the 4 seasons, changes in animals and humans etc. We have talked quite a bit about the seasons (I think I mentioned this a while ago as a good thing to talk about when you're outside) and especially fall, since we are noticing lots of fall things right now. Yesterday I was super impressed when the class named 10 or so changes that they notice in the fall. I think they named everything in the book that we were about to read!
I divided the class into 4 groups, and each group had the task of drawing a picture that included the signs of a different season. For their season, they considered what animals do, what people do, clothing, food that we harvest or eat at that time, special holidays in that season, weather, what it looks like outside and more. Today each group presented their picture and every student took a turn telling us about something that their group included. Of course, the presentations weren't entirely in French, but they were still very exciting and a great example of teamwork. Please ask your scientist about their very first grade 1 presentation!!
Before I go, I'd like to say a couple Bravos. First, to the students who are really trying to sing "O Canada" in French each morning by watching and listening to me. Second, to the whole class for a fantastic Dance & Drama class last Wednesday - Mme Janvier was very impressed with EVERYONE and wanted me to pass this on.
Wishing you a lovely Thanksgiving weekend with your family,
Tamara