Happy Family Day!

I hope you had a great long weekend. This morning I heard, and read, about some of the fun activities the you did this weekend. Very exciting!

Thank you all again for the wonderful support you give me and your child at home. These children are very lucky to have parents that want to be so involved in helping them succeed at school. Everything you're doing at home is making a difference, so thank you!
There are no interviews after the June report card, so if at any point you'd like to come in and check up on how things are going, please feel free to email me and we'll set it up.

This week we are finishing up the sound "in" (could also be "im") which I have added to the sound wall. This is another sound that doesn't really exist in English, and it's a hard one to explain. Actually, it's kind of like the 'ain' in "explain", except don't close on the 'nn' sound as you would in English.

The next sound we're working on is "ch". The kids have already seen this one a lot (chat, chien, chapeau, cheval, cochon...). It makes the same sound as the English "sh".

The words for this week are:

le gâteau, le bureau, rouge, chez, grand,
grande, la pomme, le jour, la balle

In math, we're continuing our work on measurement. We know that measurement is a comparison. Today we compared our heights and made a line from shortest to tallest. We have also compared lengths using the terms "plus court" (shorter) and "plus long" (longer). To check our predictions, we have measured lengths using paper clips, straws, pipe-cleaners, our feet, books, and string. We know that the smaller our unit, the more we will need. For example, to measure the length of our desk, we need lots of paper clips, but just a few pencils. Try this at home using whatever units you can dream up, and whatever surfaces you have to measure. For example, which piece of furniture is longer, the kitchen table, or your bed? How could we check this?

In Science, we are still talking about our structures and materials unit a bit. For example, we have talked about the materials we have in our lunch boxes. Why is a plastic cup better than a paper cup for yogurt? Where do we put these materials when we're done? How can we take care of our planet by recycling old clothes, old furniture etc.?
We have also discussed different types of fasteners (the kids had tons of ideas... glue, tape, zippers, buttons, sticky tack, paper clips...) and what they are used for. If you think of it, you can just point out different ways of making a similar product, for instance, we have chairs that are firm, soft, that roll... all made for different purposes. It's fun to point this out and give it a little think now and then.

Have a nice week and check back for more pictures soon!
Tamara