Science help... again

Hi parents,

Today the social skills rubric for April is coming home. We pretended to not know each other and everyone had to interview their partner to find out their name and one thing they like doing. Then, we each presented our partner to the class (e.g., "Voici mon ami..."). We introduced them by name, said one thing that they like and then one other nice thing that we already know about them. During the presentations, we were focusing on looking at and listening to the person speaking, saying nice things and waiting our turn. Overall it went very well and there was lots of lovely French speaking.

I am planning on doing a little construction activity next Friday the 24th. We could use an adult to help each group. Let me know if you're interested/available. We would need you between 10:30-11:30am.

Thanks!

Words of the Week

Hi families,

We had a very nice day today - so many respectful listeners and quiet workers!

In French, we are working on our good copies of our ideas for how to help the world. The writers are taking the time to correct some spelling mistakes using posters, their dictionaries and the word wall. They are also doing a careful illustration to help further explain their invention.

Today, in math, we learned how to measure in centimetres using a measuring tape. Measuring with standard units is not a requirement in grade 1, but we seem to have a good grasp of how to measure using various other units, so we went ahead. Each student had their own "mètre ruban" and a list of things to measure in the classroom. They had to be careful to start at the end where it says "1" and to hold the end of the measuring tape right at the edge of what they were measuring. Challenge your student to do all your measuring at home, using your measuring tape!

Last week we spent a science period outside taking pictures of things that move. Today we labelled the pictures and sorted them according to what was making them move. For instance, the bus was using gas and our hair was moving because of the wind. My favourite part of this activity, however, was that every single student who read the title out loud said the word "bougent" correctly, without making the 'en' sound at the end. Our grade 2, 3 and even 4 teachers will be so impressed!

Speaking of taking pictures. During this outing, we accidentally dropped the camera and I don't think it can be fixed. Luckily, it was a very old camera of mine, which is why I didn't mind letting the kids use it. I don't care that it's broken, but it does leave us class camera-less. If your family has an old digital camera that you don't care about, didn't spend a lot of money on, don't intend to use ever again and would like to donate to our class, we would gratefully accept it. Please do not feel obliged and please do not offer a camera that you would like to have returned. 

Words of the Week

Review of ‘u’ this week. See if your writer can invent some sentences using some of these words. For example, J’ai vu une tortue turquoise!

une rue, numéro, j’ai vu, bureau, une tortue, 

une fusée, une tulipe, j’ai bu, j’ai lu, turquoise

Bonus words: musée, légume

Dance-a-thon!

The dance-a-thon was lots of fun. My favourite part was when all the classes made trains! Yesterday we finished adding up how much money our class raised. Together we collected over $1000 (your dancer can probably tell you exactly). This money goes right back to the kids in the form of special activities and programming provided by the Parent Council. For example, the Artist in the Classroom and Scientist in School programs (which Area 24 has already enjoyed) are paid for by Parent Council. Thanks for your support!

We did a few other exciting things today as well. In science, we set up an experiment to test our idea that plants get energy from the sun. We put one plant in the window where it will get lots of sun, and an identical plant in the shoe bin cupboard where it will be in darkness. We all made predictions about what we think will happen over the next 3 weeks. Ask your scientist what they wrote. We also went outside today and took some pictures of things that were moving. Ask your investigator if they can name 5 different things that we noticed.

In the afternoon, I set up the projector and showed the kids a few websites that have to do with what we're doing in math and science. I strongly encourage you to visit Le Coin des Enfants. It's a great site all about energy. It explains how electricity is made, how it gets to our homes and the difference between renewable (renouvelable) and non-renewable. Click on Jeux and there are lots of fun and interesting games. We started playing the one where you see how long you would have to pedal on a bicycle in order to create enough energy to power a TV for an hour etc. Ask your child what activity needed the most energy (4 hours of pedalling). I'll leave this site under "Science Links" for future reference.

On the computer, we also checked out Google Maps. We talked about how we usually want to get to where we're going quickly, so we take the shortest route, as opposed to the scenic route. We found the best route from Christie Pits to Dewson, and from Toronto to Ottawa. Ask your student how long it would take to drive to Ottawa on the highway and how long it could take if you take lots of twists and turns.

Monday morning we have a special visitor coming to Dewson. Please be on time for school!

Tamara

PS - Check last night's post for info on our upcoming concert.