Last week before the break! Unfortunately, we are behind in a couple of our projects, so we'll have to keep working right through, but we'll still make time for some fun holiday activities.
As I think about getting on with our work, I wanted to mention that it wouldn't hurt to review time-telling skills a bit at home. We spent a full week on it, but we're not all there yet. Grade 1s are pretty solid with telling time on an analogue clock to the hour, but half hour was a bit shaky. Grade 2s also worked with me for 3 full periods on quarter hour (:15 and :45). It was starting to sink in by the end... I think. Telling the time is a great, and easy, thing to practice at home anyway since it is a part of our daily lives! Anytime you notice it is exactly on the hour, half hour or quarter hour, ask your student to tell you what time it is!This Friday, I will make very sure that our cubbies are completely empty and that all belongings are going home. If you need your student to bring home their indoor shoes for your vacation, please let me know so that I can make sure that happens. On Friday I will also suggest to all students that they take a few extra borrow-a-books so that you can keep up your reading routine during your time away from school (important!!). Please let your child know how many extra books you'd like them to bring and we'll do our best with what we've got.
Tomorrow (Tuesday), a small slip of paper will be coming home with the titles of any library books from this term that still need to be returned. Please help your student search every nook and cranny of your home to find these books. They should be returned Wednesday when we have library, or before the end of the week. Thanks for your help.
Also, if you have not yet sent in the address for the person your child is writing to, please do so ASAP. We got a good start on our letters today, so all students should know whose address they need.
I probably should have said this earlier, but please do not feel that you have to give me a gift. Standing in a nice line in the hall every time they enter is the childrens' everyday gift to me! If you would like to get me something, consider something for our classroom. I often spend my own money on art supplies, paper towels and French books, so these are great ideas that will benefit all of us. Also, as per the school's package, please do not send food on Friday. We will not be having a party, but we'll have some fun and the kids will all receive a gift from me. Thanks.
Words of the Week
The ‘en’ sound is
very similar to ‘on’, and there are
several ways to make it. 'Em', 'en', 'am' and 'an' all usually make this sound (although we've already discovered some exceptions). Again, ask your child to help you with this one, but to me, it sounds like what we say when we don’t understand something - “huh?”.
This week, grade 1s will focus on finding words with “en” and
“em”. Grade 2s have an example of each combination in action so that we can tackle another grade 2 sound after the break.
In the last few weeks we’ve learned a lot of vowel
combinations that are so common in French and help us so much with our sounding
out in reading and writing. We will be continuing with this in the new year.
When reading a book with your child, it is helpful to go for a treasure hunt
before you start reading. Ask your reader to circle all of the “en” and “em”s
he/she can find within words in the book. This way, when you get there, you
already know what that part of the word will sound like.
You can turn this into a good review of old sounds as well.
E.g., “Find me a letter that makes the sound ‘s’. Find me two letters that work together to make ‘o’. Now find me the sound ‘oi’.” This is what we do with our
morning message every day.
Anything you can do to make working with sounds fun is a
great idea!
Grade 1: en, vent, dent, décembre, content
Bonus words: cent, novembre
Grade 2: dent, décembre, janvier,
enfant, le camping
enfant, le camping