Who is the Erlkönig?

Hello parents,

I meant to update you on our Halloween activities on the day itself (apparently it's Christmas now), but I haven't had time to sit down at my computer until now. I hope the kids haven't forgotten the story they were going to retell to you!

One of the things I really enjoy doing, when I can make it fit into our class schedule, is telling classical musical stories. I chose a scary one for Halloween (although I don't think I really scared anybody). The song is called Erlkönig (or, The Elf King, in English). It's a German song with music written by Schubert in 1815. The Erlkönig is an evil creature, or spirit, who haunts sick children. In this song, a father is riding on horseback to get his very sick son to the doctor, but the Erlkönig is haunting the child and the son is frightened by visions of the evil spirit. The Erlkönig tries to lure the child away with promises of games, songs and golden clothes, but eventually threatens violence if the child will not come. By the end of the song, when they finally arrive at the doctor's, the boy has died in his father's arms.
Although the lyrics are in German, you don't need to speak German to get an idea of the story. When I told it to the children, I asked them to listen for several things in the music. In the piano, you hear a repeated triplet rhythm representing the galloping horse. This rhythm persists until the very end of the piece, when it slows and then stops as father and son arrive at their destination. Meanwhile, the male singer actually plays 4 roles, and you can hear how he changes his voice to play each character. The narrator introduces and concludes the story in a mid-range. As the sick boy the singer sounds panicked and the notes are in his high range. As the father, the singer is quite serious and sings in a very low range. As the Erlkönig  the singer uses an almost sickeningly sweet voice and sings quietly. Interestingly, when the Erlkönig is singing, the music is in a major (happy-sounding) key because he is trying to trick the child, kind of like the witch we read about in another book (P'tit Jean et la Sorcière).
Anyway, I asked the children to share this story with you if they could. You might need to prompt them by asking them to tell you what it's about, or how the voices are different. Here's the music, if you'd like to hear it for yourself, or if they'd like to tell it to you with the music as I did. Hope you enjoyed your little music history lesson for the year!

Moving on, Friday you received the next Scholastic orders. Remember, they're always optional. If you'd like to place a secret Christmas order, feel free to send it in a sealed envelope and write me a note or email. I can make sure the order goes home with you at our upcoming interviews, and not with your child.
You also received our Field Trip information and permission form. The trip is scheduled for Thursday, November 14th in the afternoon. The cost is $10.05 per child, this covers the cost of the program as well as transportation for students and our supervisors. We will need 4 parents to come with us. If you'd like to volunteer, please check the box on the form. Unfortunately I cannot take more than 4, so I'll let get back to everyone that volunteers with a "yes please" or "not this time". There will be other opportunities to volunteer so please don't be disappointed if we can't use you this time.
The permission form (second page) and any Scholastic orders are due this Thursday, Nov. 7.

Friday is an optional pyjama day. Students that want to participate are asked to donate $1 to support snack program.

In classroom news, we have begun a unit on patterning. On our very first day of talking about patterns, I was blown away by students who already knew how to identify patterns using letters (e.g., AB AB AB). We have already experimented with human patterns, listening (clapping) patterns and colour patterns. We will move on to patterns with more than one attribute (e.g., colour and size or colour, size and shape). You don't need any special materials to practice creating or identifying patterns at home. You can use Lego (different colours, or sizes), cutlery ("big spoon, little spoon", or "fork, spoon, knife") or just your hands to create clapping and snapping patterns. Have fun!

Alright. I'll be back with our new words of the week before long. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

October writing rubric

Dear at-home teachers,

Today you're receiving the October writing rubric. You can look in the archives of this blog to find the post on reading a rubric if you'd like a little review of this initiative.

Please note the updates to the rubric, most notably in the sounding out section. Now that we have studied all the basic vowels, I used a sentence that featured a lot of them and I hoped the writers would listen for them. I also hoped the writers would spell the word "un" correctly, since it was a word of the week and we did practice it at school. I'm happy to say that the kids were up to the challenge and did a great job overall.

As always, please look at the rubric positively. Everybody is doing something really well, so celebrate that before you look for the one thing you might like to work on. Remember, we're not looking for perfect spelling, we're just hoping that the kids can apply what they're learning to make good guesses. Mlle Mitchell loves trying hard and making mistakes!

Thanks for your support,
Tamara

New Words!

The new words of the week are:

je, tu, vous, c'est, et

And our new sound is "oi".

"Oi"makes the sound "wa", as in moi, toi, voici, oiseau, poisson and voiture.

Here is our most recent art project - we painted the underside of fallen leaves that we collected and made beautiful prints.

We have also completed the collage illustrations for "Citrouilleville". We will now spend some time admiring them and reading them aloud to each other!

Sometimes cool, unexpected things happen - like when I told a couple mathematicians who had completed their work that they could play some math flashcard games on the carpet, and before long, I had several small groups and partners all playing math games quietly without my help while the rest of us finished up. That's what I like to see!!

This week we are finishing up our measurement unit with a brief check-up, and moving on to patterning where we will build, and work on finding the pattern rule in, lots of different patterns.

Also of note:
1. Milk is being offered for sale every other Wednesday to raise money for the snack program. The first order form is due THIS Wednesday and the milk will be distributed at lunch NEXT Wednesday. (So you order a week in advance.) Purchasing milk is completely optional.
2. This week Dewson's Me to We club has organized the "We Scare Hunger" food drive. Each class is trying to fill 2 boxes with non-perishable food donations by the end of this week. Clear out those old beans! Good ideas for food drives include baby food, unopened peanut butter, rice and pasta.
3. Don't forget that our Halloween-themed day will be food and candy-free. Thanks for your understanding!

More Exciting Developments!

So, a few more fun things happened this week. Wednesday we started reading buddies! We've teamed up with Mlle Segreto's grade 5 class for weekly reading buddies. The grade 5 students will help us learn how to read successfully with a partner (helping us sit knee to knee and share a book), they will read to us now, help us practice our sounds, and listen to us read later. They may also become "computer buddies" later in the year. Here's what we look like:

Ask your child who their reading buddy is and what they read together today!

We've been working really well in our groups to complete our seasonal dioramas. Each group got to "shop" for their materials to build the 4 seasons on their board. I was very impressed with the creativity and teamwork I observed, and especially with how well the scientists cleaned up after these messy work periods!

Wednesday afternoon we went to a little party to celebrate the Toronto Star award. Thanks to the parents who came and helped with the cake. The kids were so excited, and it was really something I'll always remember.

It's almost Halloween!

Our class is all decorated and I'm excited for a great day next week. However, I do have a little message to share with you before you do any Halloween candy shopping...

As we do have several allergies in our class, I would prefer not to have food parties in Area 24 this year. This doesn't mean that we won't have lots of fun, it just means that we won't bring food to share with each other on special occasions (which is Dewson's everyday rule anyway). 

I know that on occasions like Halloween, Valentine's Day and birthdays, children sometimes like to bring a treat to pass out to their classmates, so I would like to warn you ahead of time that I will be very strict about this and will send anything that is brought in back home again to be given out under the supervision of parents. 

On Thursday, October 31st, we will have a Halloween-themed day. Students are welcome, but not required, to wear a costume to school. We will celebrate with stories, crafts, music and games, but again, not with food.

If your child would still like to bring a little something to give away, great non-food ideas are themed pencils, erasers, stickers and tiny toys or dress up items from the dollar store. We have 23 students in our class. Please don't feel obliged to send anything for the class - the children will receive a small treat from me. 

Thank you for your understanding!

Tamara

We've made it to the last vowel!

I hope you've been reviewing all of the versions of the sound 'o'! We'll continue to review all our sounds at school, but after this week we will start on to more complex sounds that combine 2 letters. Please keep reviewing the basics at home!

Our last vowel is 'u'. French 'u' is a little tighter-sounding than our English 'u'. You have to kind of pinch your lips up like a fish. Ask your student if they remember the word Salut from our message this morning. Maybe they can teach you!

Other words with 'u' include: tu, tutu, tortue, musique, chaussure (shoe)

Look out! Several letters change, or dull, the sound of 'u'. For example, you may remember that 'u' is good friends to 'e' and together e+u just makes 'e'. Also, we will see the sound "ou" later. The 'o' rounds out the sound a bit so it isn't as tight. When 'u' is followed by 'n', as in lundi, the 'u' sound is also  not as bright, but matches the sound in the word un (as in the number 1).

I haven't bothered the kids with all these rules, but it might be good for you to know.

In math this week we are working on measuring time. We have already learned about the different hands (les aiguilles) and that the shortest hand measures hours. Students have already learned to read time when it is right on the hour, and later we will work on the half hour. They learned to say: Il est [trois] heures. Keep your eye on the clock and try to catch your child when it's coming up to the hour to get them to read you the time in French!

In science this week we have begun a neat group activity of actually building the seasons using craft materials. Ask your child who's in their group and what season they are building! Next week we will all present our work in French and attempt our first self-evaluation of how we worked with our team.

In other news, choir is in full swing and has been really fun (at least for me) so far. Our non-choir students have been taking their activities and books to Mme Droney's class and have been doing great independent work. Bravo!

Tomorrow we will have another special visit from the Toronto Star. You received a little note yesterday - please let me know if you would prefer that your child NOT be featured in any photo or video.

Thursday is Pizza Day! Almost everyone has ordered pizza, so those kids do not need a lunch, but everyone will still need snacks and maybe a drink.

Finally, I hear that several of us will be attending a birthday Friday afternoon. As always, please let me know if your pick-up plans have changed for Friday. Thanks!

Have a great week,

Tamara

Les Mots de la Semaine

Dear parents,

Today your student brought home a note explaining the Words of the Week program. The words of the week will be words that grade 1 students should know right away - good jumping off points in stories with other more challenging words that we'll need to sound out. Practising the words of the week shouldn't take up much of your time - just a few minutes of practise each evening will make a big difference. Of course, if you would like to do more with the words, you can get as creative as you like. Hangman, for instance, is a great game for learning new words! 

Today we made flashcards for our 5 words. They should be in the communication pocket, and the kids know that they should ask you to help them practise by showing the cards. We may not always do this with future words, but I encourage you to make them at home as one of your first practise activities!

I will attempt to post our words every week in case your note gets misplaced. Here is the note from today:

In grade 1, children learn to read by using different strategies, but eventually very familiar words used pretty much on a daily basis will be instantly recognizable whether they are in context or out. You can support your child by asking them to review the words with you (on flashcards, a chalkboard, tracing them in flour etc.). We will begin with 5 words a week.

The 5 reading words for the week beginning October 21st are:

le, la, les, un, une

If you have any questions about the word of the week program, please don’t hesitate to email me!

Thanks so much for your support,

Tamara

New Sounds

Hello parents,

Last week and this week we've been working on the sound 'o'. In French, there are 3 ways to make the sound 'o'. First, what you might think, the letter O. We have learned that there are a few exceptions, for example when O is followed by U or I, the sound changes (they're not friends!). 

A few examples are: stylo (pen), bientôt (soon), octobre, orange and l'Halloween. 

The sound 'o' (think "oh") can also be made by combining e+a+u, in that order. Or, simply, a+u. This is a really important rule to memorize because it happens all the time, and it doesn't look the way it sounds.

Some words we see a lot are: aujourd'hui (today), beaucoup (a lot), cadeau (gift), gâteau (cake), jaune (yellow), manteau (coat), chapeau (hat) and oiseau (bird).

Here's a little poem we read and illustrated with lots of 'o' words in it. Ask your reader what it was about! Next we'll do one that features 'eau'.

In French, we've also been working on our extended endings to "Citrouilleville". The writers have been working on their collage illustrations while I meet with small groups to help with the writing part. I can't wait for you to see the finished product, but for now, ask your writer what's happening in their story!

This week in math, we are learning how to measure temperature. We have talked about the different parts of a thermometer (numbers, lines and liquid in the middle) and what they're used for. We practiced reading the temperature in our class and discussed important benchmarks (e.g., if it is snowing it must be below 0 degrees). Later this week we'll take some thermometers outside to watch the temperature drop right in front of our eyes! It might be fun to show the kids the long-range weather forecast in the newspaper, online or on the news. They'll be able to see how the temperature is slowly dropping now that we're into fall.

We have also moved on to our first science unit of the year which, appropriately, will be on daily and seasonal changes. We are starting with the seasons since that fits nicely in with math. We talked about signs of the seasons - what do we see, hear and feel when we're outside that tells us what season we're in? This unit will also include an investigation of changes within the day and our first field trip to the High Park Nature Centre! I'll send the information a little closer to the date.

Enjoy the rest of this short week!
Tamara

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bonjour tout le monde,

How do you like our turkey factory?

We did a little Thanksgiving writing and said what we are thankful for. The children had many ideas, here are a few close-ups:

As you visit with friends and family this weekend, I hope you have time to play the math game most children made and brought home yesterday. We were practising putting things in sequence using the words "avant", "apres", "premier", "deuxieme", "troisieme" etc. The kids worked really well to think up their own story, divide it into 6 parts, and illustrate it. Many had a chance to trade game cards with their classmates when they were done, and we tried each others' puzzles to see if we could guess the right order. It was a really fun game that we thought cousins and siblings (and even grandparents) might have fun playing this weekend!

And finally, in case you didn't get a chance to check out our art during curriculum night, here are our most recent Artistes du mois. This project involved drawing a picture using at least 3 kinds of lines. The next day we painted over the pastel and our pictures appeared and look great with their colourful background!

Bonne fin de semaine!

Quel jour est-il?

Hello! Time for a little math update.

We have now moved on to our first measurement unit. There are several topics to cover in the next few weeks, including time and temperature. We began with the calendar - days of the week and months of the year. I have taught the class 2 songs, one for the weekdays and one for the months, which I hope will help them remember the order. Please ask them to sing and teach them to you! (Then, you can quiz them on the order. E.g., What day comes before mercredi?)

Yesterday you received the day-of-the-week journal that we kept last week, and today the kids are bringing home their calendar. We worked long and hard to number each month, but it was a tiresome process and many students have not yet completed it. We decided it would be more fun to tackle the remaining months at home a little at a time. They know that each month, when they turn the page, they can finish numbering the month with your help. You might also want to seize the opportunity to point out any backwards numbers. I caught a lot while we were working, but I didn't want anyone to be discouraged, so there are plenty left to correct.
We added a few important dates to our calendars - when the next Scholastic is due, Halloween, our first field trip (info later), Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and our choir concert. I'm really hoping that the children will continue to use their calendar at home, and that perhaps they can note other important dates on their calendars as time goes on. Thanks for all your help with this endeavour!

This week, we are working on the sequence of events, something we touched on when we learned the words "premier", "deuxieme", "troisieme" etc. This is particularly handy right now as we are also writing an extended ending for a story we read ("Citrouilleville"), and our sequel will have a beginning, middle and end. Ask about their extended ending for "Citrouilleville". What's going to happen??

Talk to you soon,
Tamara

In case you missed it...

Dear at-home teachers,

Thank you so much for coming out to Dewson's curriculum night! I hope you had a great time on your classroom tour and enjoyed looking at your student's hard work. It was lovely meeting all of you and watching the tour guides be so excited to show you around.

Last evening I gave a short presentation on how to read a rubric. Your child's first writing rubric came home today. I explained to them the purpose and goal, so they should be able to explain it to you, but here is the break down in case you missed it. I think you'll see why it was easier to just tell you about it in person...

The task: Every month or so I will do a little check-up of how we are doing with our writing. I do this by reading a sentence out loud slowly and repeating it several times, while the children try to write it down using the sounds and writing conventions we have learned. This will certainly not be the only assessment of writing (bigger projects are much more fun), but it will act like a running record, and will hopefully show progress over time, and highlight areas where we need extra practise.

The rubric: The rubric you received today reflects the expectations for this point in the year. In a couple months, the expectations will be different and greater, since we will have had more instruction and practise by that point. By the end of the year, the rubric will likely look quite different. Always remember that several marks go into a grade when it comes to report cards, and in this case, I am most interested in using the rubric to guide my lesson planning. Therefore, I have not given an overall mark, but have circled the areas that apply. It is common for students to be strong in some areas, and need work in others. Again, as you collect these rubrics, look for patterns, and decide if maybe there is something you’d like to help with at home.

In the left-hand column of the rubric are the areas that I am assessing: Sounding-out, Punctuation and Printing. Along the top row are the 4 levels that work may fall into. Achieving a Level 3 means that you are meeting expectations. You are showing that you have followed instructions and have understood what was taught. This is really good! Celebrate it! Level 3 is like getting the letter-grade ‘B’. Achieving a Level 4 means that you have gone beyond expectations. This is hard to do because it means that you have made a connection with your own prior knowledge and applied it to the task, or you have remembered something that was mentioned in passing, but was not explicitly taught. Level 4 is like getting the letter-grade ‘A’. Level 2 means that you are approaching expectations. Please don’t worry about a level 2 (which would be like the letter-grade ‘C’), it simply means that we need a bit more practise. The comments in the rubric will indicate where the practise is most needed. Level 1 means that we could really use that extra help from home. I’ll be in touch if it looks like a student may receive a 'D' on the report card.

In the centre of the rubric are comments that indicate why work would qualify as that level. I circle the comments that apply for each area. It is possible to nail sounding-out skills, but need to work on the neatness of printing, for example. This is what makes a rubric so handy - it really points out areas of strength and weakness. It also gives a good idea of next steps. Just look at where we are now, and move over to the right one column. Maybe that can be our goal for next time!

Today’s rubric reflects only what we have worked on thus far. At this point, I expect for printing to be legible and in the lines. I expect for students to use the correct letters when they hear the sounds ‘a’ and ‘e’ since we have spent time on those sounds, and hopefully use beginning consonants that make sense, even if they are not exactly the right ones (e.g., ‘ca’, ‘sa’ & ‘za’ would all be pretty good attempts at the word “sa” because they can all make that approximate sound). You’ll notice that I do not expect for students to use capitals and lower-case letters appropriately or spell any words correctly. This is level 4 stuff since I haven’t put much of an emphasis on it in class. I definitely do NOT want correct spelling to be a "thing" that prevents children from doing their best sounding out. We want everyone to feel like a successful writer, and they ARE!!

Clear as mud?

Now that you’re an expert in rubrics, enjoy the one you got today. You can keep it, it’s a copy. Please approach this rubric positively and be sure to look for the good things your child is doing before you look for where you can help! 

Yours,

Tamara

What reading looks like

Hello everyone!

The readers in Area 24 have been growing their reading muscles and we are almost at 13 minutes a day! Here is what reading looks like in our classroom:

We have also been working on our vowel sounds, which will really help us as we begin reading and sounding out. So far, we have practised words with 'a', 'e' and 'i'.

We have done activities such as search for words in the classroom or in books (write them on a sticky and then share them with the class), circle the sound in the morning message, read short poems that highlight that vowel sound, and add words containing that sound to our personal dictionaries.

In our classroom, we have sound posters that show each sound that we will study this year with a word that uses it and an illustration.

The vowel 'a' sounds just like it's name in the French alphabet - think Tamara!

Some words that contain 'a' are:

la, papa, maman, arbre, avion, ami, chat

The vowel sound 'e' is not like our English 'e'. It almost makes the sound 'uh' - think "the". 

Some words that have it are:

le, je, veux, peux, bleu, neuf, feu, renard

(e's best friend is u - it doesn't change the sound at all)

The vowel sound 'i' is like our English 'e', sounds just like "ee". 

Some words that have it are:

il, ici, Pia, petit, souris, ami, chien

It would be great if you could review these sounds at home regularly. We add a new one every week or so, and it's important not to forget old ones! Parents have told me that they make flashcards with some of the words posted here, or you can look for these sounds in books you read, you can even just look at this post with your reader and see if they can make out some of these words and tell you what they mean.

Happy reading!
Tamara