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