Dear parents,
Thanks for being prepared with all the snow gear - I certainly was caught off guard! We really enjoyed playing in the fresh snow and stayed nice and cozy in all our layers. The snowflakes last week were incredible - like a movie!
We have talked in class about some new routines we have to get used to for the winter... here is some of what we are trying to remember:
- boots go on the trays under the heaters to try to keep the classroom floor dry
- indoor shoes must be worn (unfortunately, if we don't have indoor shoes, we need to keep our boots on, so I recommend leaving shoes at school now)
- if we take off hats or layers outside, pile them together with our bags to try to avoid misplacing items - please label everything!
- bring extras of socks and gloves, especially on gym days!
- building with snow is great, but no throwing snow during school time
We are working on being speedy with getting dressed and undressed - sometimes keeping our snowpants on when we are heading back out soon. Whatever tips you can teach your student to help them (we have some tricky zippers, stiff boots and clothes that need to be tucked just right) will be amazing. We are doing pretty well, but it's still a solid 15 minute procedure before and after each recess!
Last week we did a goal setting activity. Each student wrote down one thing they are already doing well, and one thing they plan to work on. Many students suggested a next step from their report card, so thanks for discussing this with them. We had many more word books this week! Our goals are up on the wall and I will review them often to keep them top of mind. Please ask your student what goal they wrote down.
Last week, I also followed up on one skill that many students were expressing a strong desire to learn - telling time. While we all follow the plan of each day using our visual schedule, it doesn't communicate how long the parts of the day are. We got out the mini-clocks and practiced telling time to the hour. We caught on to this quickly. Then, we talked about the daily routines at school, like reading, recess, lunch, storytime and home and what times they happen at. Now, we have our classroom clock labeled with these events so that we can tell when we are getting close to the next part of our day. It seems to be helping - students are now telling me what time it almost is and what we should be doing!
Our new unit in math is data management. We are beginning with sorting, including learning to use a Venn diagram. In a Venn diagram, the tricky thing to remember is that there are only 2 sorting rules - not 3. For example, we can have red shapes in one circle, triangles in the other, and red triangles in the middle. We did some sorting centres with 6 different materials and we tried to sort them using Venn diagrams. We had lots of great ideas for sorting rules. Next time, we will try on our own.
In language, we are just finishing up a good copy of a poem we are sounding out on our own, and then we will take a break to learn how to write some holiday-themed letters and cards.
Speaking of the holidays, we celebrated the beginning of Hanukkah by making some beautiful "stained-glass" menorahs. You can see them in the windows of our classroom as you walk through the gate by the bleachers! We watched a video all about Hanukkah and learned why there are 8 candles (+1) on the menorah and how families celebrate Hanukkah. We also have our own version of an advent calendar starting now - it's our "calendrier de gentillesse" (kindness calendar). Each day, we will draw the card from behind the date and read what kind gesture we can perform that day. For December 1st, we focused on cheering someone up who looked sad or tired.
In social studies, we are talking all about jobs people have in the community, especially people we go to for help, such as police officers, doctors, plumbers and firefighters. In the next couple weeks we will be thinking about what we'd like to be when we grow up, and considering what our responsibilities would be in that job - what would be fun about it, and what would be challenging.
Mots de la Semaine
This week we are reviewing the sound, ‘é’. E-accent aigu is like an entirely separate, extra vowel in the French language. It is used all the time and there are several ways that the sound can be made. You can think of the sound ‘ay’ in English, as in “May”. We will look closely at other ways to make this sound later, but for now I would like everyone to memorize the words “j’ai” (= I have, or sometimes, I am) and “et” (= and) as well. They sound like é even though they don’t look like it, and we use these words all the time.
éléphant, bébé, école, *j’ai*, *et*
Bonus words: année, idée
See you outside! - Tamara