This week we are reviewing the sound, ‘é’. E-accent aigu is like an entirely separate, extra, vowel in the
French alphabet. You can think of the sound ‘ay’
in English, as in “May”. In addition to é words, I would like everyone to memorize the words “j’ai” (= I have, or sometimes, I am)
and “et” (= and). They
sound like é even though they don’t
look like it, and we use these words all the time.
éléphant, bébé, école, et, j'ai
Bonus words: année, idée
This week, students are meeting their Club de Lecture. Every student in Area 24 is in a reading group with other students who share similar learning needs. Working with these groups allows me to help them with particular skills that they are ready to learn and at the appropriate challenge level. Each group has a colour name. Yesterday I worked with Club 'Bleu'. Today I worked with Club 'Vert' and tomorrow the plan is to work with Club 'Rouge'. We also have 'Jaune' and 'Violet' who will have their first meeting soon. Ask your reader if they have met their Club de Lecture yet and what activity they did at their meeting.
We have begun our first science unit of the year on daily and seasonal changes. In the next several weeks we will investigate changes between day and night, the seasons and how the sun affects us. Our upcoming field trip will help us learn about how animals deal with the changing seasons. We began by working in our new table groups to make a poster of a season. Then, everyone presented one part of their poster in French.
Thank goodness I have observant students who tell me when I display our seasons in the wrong order!
In math this week we are working on patterns. We already played some games together creating patterns with our bodies or with sounds (clapping). Students were able to lead us in creating new patterns and have started to label their patterns using the letters A, B and C. We took this a little further into colour patterns and shape patterns. Soon we will increase the challenge with patterns that have 2 attributes (e.g., colour and shape) and next week we will try out some growing and shrinking patterns. Ask your mathematician to create a pattern out of whatever material you have. Lego, cards, even cutlery would work. Ask your expert if he/she can explain the pattern using letters, or ask for a specific kind of pattern (A, B, A, B...).
This week there is also an emphasis on anti-bullying. Today we worked in groups to create skits demonstrating what a good bystander does to help a friend that looks sad. You may want to take some time to discuss what bullying is and what it is not. Ask your expert what a good bystander does!
Continue reading for info about the field trip & volunteering ...