Hi parents,
I feel like I've been writing to you very frequently lately about all kinds of other things, but not what we are actually doing during class time. Here's a little update:
In Language, we are more than half way done learning the French vowel sounds/combinations that we will tackle this year. As you know, the words of the week always contain the sound we are working on, hopefully giving you a way to review it again at home.
We have received 5 letters back from the friends and family we wrote to in December! I think I'm more excited than the kids who are receiving letters. Please thank your friends for taking the time to write back. It is so meaningful!
We are now beginning to work on following and writing a procedure, for example, rules to a game or a recipe. Today we co-wrote instructions for how to use the shoe bin in grade 1. Tomorrow, we will work with a partner to explain another routine that we've learned in grade 1.
In Math, we have started a unit on graphing - as I told the kids, it's my very favourite math unit (which is saying something, because I love teaching math period) - graphs are so cool!
We began by using the weather cards, that we used to track the weather back in November, and turning them into a bar graph (diagramme à bandes). I taught students how to make their own level 4 diagramme à bandes (using a ruler - always - and using colour or decoration to help our eyes differentiate between the bandes quickly) and students tried their hand at copying the information we had collected into their own diagram. It went very well, and, in looking at our work, we shared a few other suggestions for keeping our graphs neat and organized (e.g., using the tick marks at the bottom to know where the sides should be, and putting little dots to remind ourselves of where to start and stop lines).
The second diagramme à bandes that we created was about the birthday months of everyone in Salle 211. Each student wrote their name on a paper and then glued it on our diagramme above the correct month. It was easy to tell which month has the most birthdays, and which months don't have any of our birthdays. Students, again, made their own diagrammes using this data and all the tips from the first assignment, and were very successful. Everyone's work was SO neat - I think every single person was using their ruler, fixing little mistakes and doing a careful job! Graphing is just so fun!!
At home, try to find some examples of graphs being used to give you information and challenge your mathematician to interpret the graphs with you. For example, your hydro or gas bill probably has a bar graph or pie chart showing how your usage compares to last month or last year. This is a cool thing to share and explain. I will show some of these at school too.
In Science, we are finally beginning a new unit on Structures and Materials. We began by discussing man-made v. natural structures. Ask your scientist for some examples of both. During this unit, we will do lots of experiments to test the properties of different materials. Today we did a blind test to differentiate between rough and smooth (rugueux et lisse). Ask your scientist to tell you which materials were rugueux and which were lisse. If you'd like to help out, it's always great to have extra hands for these group activities, and we usually do them between 10:30-11:30am. Let me know if you'd like to help out!
In Visual Art, we had our second clay workshop with Mme Ally. She brought back our clay sculptures, which have been fired in her kiln and turned white, and she taught us how to properly glaze them. It was a really interesting process - some of the colours will look completely different after they are fired once again. Can't wait to see the finished product!
In other news, I'm excited to say that I've applied for ours and two of the grade 2 classes to perform at an Arts Fest day at another school on February 25th. Since we don't have much time, we are going to learn one of the songs I taught my class last year and hopefully the grade 2s that were in my class can help us learn it quickly! I'll let the kids tell you more about the song - it tells a nice story. Here is a link so that you can listen to it at home (I've shortened it a bit, but they can at least sing along for the first verse and the choruses).
Don't forget that skating forms are due this THURSDAY. The earlier the better - I need to organize parents and look into getting equipment for those that need it. If anyone has a helmet that might fit my average-sized adult head, I would love to borrow it if you don't mind.
Last thing - I've again reminded students that we are still missing quite a few of the classroom books and levelled books that went home over the holiday. Please have another look at home and make sure that everything has been returned. Students are looking for their next books and the selection in the yellow drawer is quite slim.
Have a great week!
Tamara