February 27 - March 3, 2017

The French digraph we focused on this week was "on". The sight words with "on" were fairly simple, but our dictée was quite challenging because it was a text instead of a list of words. I recently attended a literacy conference and was inspired to try the new approach to dictée that I encountered there. The kids read the text and copied the text several times during the week.

They did a practice dictée on Thursday. The dictée on Friday was done with partners and with all classroom spelling resources available. So the sight words with "on" were visible on the wall, but the kids had to know where to look. They could discuss the spelling with their partner. Afterwards, the kids corrected mistakes in the text with a coloured pencil. This experience resembles closely what they do during writer's workshop and enforces the skills they need to spell words correctly when they are writing: noticing incorrect spelling, finding a reference for correct spelling, and correcting spelling mistakes during editing.

We watched a video of Zayd in Ireland. In it he gives a tour of his new home and shows some of his toys. I showed the kids a way to plan 4 things to say in a letter, either questions or news from here, and we wrote a sample letter together. Some of the kids took on writing a letter to Zayd as their next writing project.

We also did a review of all the comptines we've learned so far before writing one day, and some kids took on writing down and illustrating the comptines. We have special paper now for the good copies kids are producing, which will be put together into a class book.

The kids made invitations for the Art Opening on Tuesday evening, and so many parents came out to the event! The kids were really proud to show off their amazing work! Thanks to all for making the night such a success.

In math we continued to explore 3D shapes. We learned the French vocabulary for describing their properties (face, edge and vertex) and together completed a chart of those properties.

Then in partners the kids were given 2 3D shapes to compare using a Venn diagram. They had 5 criteria to compare: number of edges, number of vertices, number of faces, the shapes of the faces, and whether or not it could roll. The pairs presented their completed diagrams to the class, and together we filled in any gaps.

We embarked on our structures unit! We talked about the 3 possible goals of a built structure: to contain, to support or to span (i.e. a bridge). Then we learned the French vocabulary for the materials we'll be using when we build our structures: wood, paper, cardboard, metal, styrofoam, plastic, cloth, etc. 

We played a game where we passed each material around the circle, and before passing it each person said "This is made of ____." This got crazy and fun when multiple materials went around the circle in both directions!

We had a practice building session on Friday, in which the kids each came up with an original structure. They had to draw and name their structure (a fairy castle, a city, a nest...), and decide on the goal of their structure. Then they dismantled their structures and put away the materials. This was the planning phase, and next week they will make permanent structures to keep and bring home!