lundi le 3 octobre, 2016
Chers familles de division 6,
In Language Arts, students are reading independently and are being read to daily. Twice a week we also do guided reading groups of 5 to 6. During these guided reading groups are we learning a variety of reading strategies such as questioning, predicting, pronunciation, comprehension and re-telling.
Oral French is encouraged in-class at all times. Particularly during our calendar routine where students ask and answer questions, share how they are feeling, learn to read a calendar, tell time and describe the weather. Sometimes when students are heard speaking French, they are given a "dollar"as an incentive. This integrates well with Math because students will count their money at the end of each term.
Today, students learned how to identify nouns, adjectives and verbs. We will continue to find them in the books we read and the sentences we write. Students are currently working on completing a poster about themselves and a small book called "Mes vancances d'été", where we learn to apply new vocabulary of common sight words and our knowledge of sentence structure (capitals, periods, subject, verb, noun, adjective). Students are also learning to use reference materials such as a French dictionary, English/French dictionary, our word wall and eventually the online program "word reference.com".
In English this week, we will begin by learning to read short and long vowel sounds. Students have their first English spelling test on Thursday, and they will also review nouns and adjectives in English if time permits.
In Math this week, students are learning place value up to thousands using manipulatives. We are continuing to skip count forwards and backwards. Later this week we will apply our counting strategies during our review of single digit basic addition and subtraction operations.
In Science we have begun a space unit. Now that we know the planets in our solar system we will focus an individual parts such as the sun, moon, stars and other elements of space. Tuesday morning we have a special presentation by Lauri Roche from the Royal Astronomical Society of Victoria. She will do an interactive presentation in order to bring some of our new science curriculum topics to life such as atoms, thermal energy and the sun.
In Social Studies this week we will talk about some important virtues such as kindness, honesty and bravery. In Art this week students will learn about local First Nations artist Roy Henry Vickers and create a painting using his style. In Gym, students are learning to throw and catch a ball using different methods (overhand, underhand). Also, many of our students are in cross country, so we are also running laps around the school to build our stamina and cardio. In the classroom we talk about why it is important to exercise, eat well and drink water regularly.
Other special events this week includes meeting our Kindergarten buddies on Wednesday. Students will trace their buddies on the ground and teach body part vocabulary. Wednesday is also our weekly library visit, so please help students remember to return and/or renew all their books, merci!
It is recommended that students practice dictée (or spelling) for about 15 minutes per evening, and read in French for another 15-20 minutes (parents and guardians - please remember to initial the reading log). This helps develop a good study routine for grades 4 and 5, where homework will be assigned more often.
Thank you for all your support at home and have a great week!
Mme Garcin