Photo dump

Please excuse me for the sparse blog posts this week. It's that busy time of the year! We have done many fun things in class this week. Here are some photos of them.

Friday's gathering

Thanks for your patience with this post. It seems that the morning is best for more people, so please come to our class for 920 on Friday!

A thought after Friday's events

As I'm sure you heard, there were tragic events that took place on Friday in the United States. I know it was a tragic event that hits home for all of us who have children in school, or who work with children in school as I do. With any even like this, it is easy to be sucked in by all the news coverage. I know that for myself, I had to make a conscious effort to turn the TV off, as I found it all too emotional. I can only imagine how difficult this must be for students to see and hear. I'd like to remind you of the importance of limiting the media intake of this event with your children. I came across this article that is a good reminder of how to speak to the children about this event: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/hug-your-kids-say-you-love-them-and-dont-over-talk-the-connecticut-shootings/article6397128/

If you have any questions about how to talk about this event, or if you've noticed any anxiety in your child after hearing about it, please let me know. I'd be more than happy to help you or your child.

- Mme Jessica

Report Cards

I hope report cards made it home in one piece on Friday afternoon. I just wanted to quickly remind you that the check marks are not the focus of the report card. The written portion is just as important! One other reminder, that 'meeting expectations' is a great mark to be getting. It means that your child is meeting the expectations of the grade!

Some help

If you have time on Monday between recess and lunch (1030 to 1215ish) to help out with a project, could you please let me know by email? I'll ask the first few people who email me to help out. Thanks!

Winter celebration

Just to let you all know, our class will be enjoying the performances at the winter celebration on Monday, but we will not be performing this year. Instead, we would like to invite you to our class on the last day of school, December 21, between recess and lunch.

Also, there have been many people in our class (as of yesterday I can add myself to the list) who have been sick. 'Tis the season I guess. Just a friendly reminder to remind students to wash their hands, and to try your best to stay healthy!

It's beginning to look a lot like winter

I had some great help today during lunch and recess to put up all our snowflakes. It's looking very winter-y in our classroom.

In math, the last two days have been spent practicing multiplication from 1x6 to 9x10. Tomorrow we will have a celebration just on the 0-5 times tables.

The students have had a lot to write in their journal and we will soon be focusing our efforts on writing a winter story.

We also had a great discussion today about why we are putting together a hamper for another family. The family we are collecting for is a family of 3 - a mother, and a boy and girl who are both 12. Thank you for all the wonderful donations. Just a reminder, the last day for donations to be brought in is December 12th.

Dictée for the week of December 10th

We had a great week this week! It was busy with lots of academics, but ended with some nice art time.

We made this decoration for our door. I was particularly impressed with the face that the kids did it all themselves. I did the taller part (with a step stool of course), but the tape for the tree and drew a vague outline. They did the rest! What great teamwork!!

Constellation project

First off, I wanted to let you know about a lovely moment this afternoon. While we were decorating our classroom door for the holidays, I heard a few tiny voices singing Christmas carols. More and more students joined in and we had a nice group singing while we worked.

I have given the students a mini research project that is quite open. Students will need to pick any constellation they wish and find 3 interesting bits of information on it (more than 3 is fine too!). This project will be due next Tuesday, December 11th. We will be presenting our finding to small groups.

For the research, students can use the internet or books from the local library. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to find information in French, so it is fine if students find the information and translate to French USING THEIR OWN WORDS, not Google translate.

Here are a few websites that might be helpful!

http://library.thinkquest.org/3645/constellations.html

http://www.kidsastronomy.com/astroskymap/constellation_hunt.htm

http://kids.yahoo.com/directory/Science-and-Nature/Astronomy-and-Space/Constellations-and-Stars

Dictée for the week of dec 3

Here are the words for this week's dictée:

heureux
forêt
heure
drôle
entre
tableau
possible
question
nouvelle
nouveau

Also, here is a picture from today's surprisingly calm, yet chaotic looking snowflake making!