La beauté de la langue française!!!

Alors les amis, why celebrate la Francophonie? I can think of thousands of reasons why but it comes down to one thing: we love the french language because it is smooth, rich, and flowing: we love speaking french because, with its nasal vowels and melodious intonation, it sounds very musical to a non-native ear. We want to learn French because it is also called the language of love, cooking, fashion, theater, visual arts, dance, and architecture.

During la francofête at our school, we had the pleasure to admire all the students from JK-grade 8 sing, dance, act, and recite poems in french!!!! All the teachers worked hard to make that happen. The students were proud of themselves, and their energy and passion were evident throughout the afternoon. During the week of the francophonie, they read books, heard stories, watched movies, played games, learned the ten magic words, and tasted french treats. Alors mes amis as the legendary teacher Dorothy Grace Boyajian once said, “Let us keep the flame of knowledge alive so we can light the candle of our children.”

A très bientôt!  

The latest from 1A

A Virtual Author Visit

JK to Gr. 2 students got a virtual visit from Lark the Shark author Natalie Newman from her home in the U.K. The story and presentation helped our students learn about sharks and their role in the ocean ecosystem. Natalie shared how she wrote the book with her son and her son after learning about pollution in the ocean in his Grade 2 classroom. The students were curious about the publishing process, and Natalie talked about how they wrote the book. I think some students will be writing their books one day.

 

 

                                      Math Olympics

 

In honour of Pi Day on March 14th, students celebrated a love of Math by participating in the first-ever 1A Math Olympics. The children picked their teams a chose a name. The Marvelous Mathers, Math Detectors, and the Air Force A Math AA teams problem-solved, collaborated, and had fun with Math.
Congratulations to the Marvelous Mathers for winning the 1A Olympics!

 

Take a look at our opening ceremony

 

 

La semaine de la Francophonie

La semaine de la francophonie was lots of fun. The students loved all the French activities on Wednesday afternoon. The first stop was visiting the Makerspace cafe for croissants and hot chocolate. Obstacle courses, word searches, and bingo helped the children review all the French they are learning this year.

1A enjoyed a workshop with Quinn, our school social worker. Quinn taught about empathetic and active listening. The children practiced using listening skills by playing a few games. The students will continue to work on these skills throughout the rest of the year.

Salut Grade 1 Parents!

The last two weeks we have been talking about winter clothes and we have been doing different fun activities so that the children can remember the new vocabulary. It goes without saying that we regularly review previous words such as the colours, the numbers, the days etc.  Next  week we are learning the geometrical shapes. As far as reading is concerned, I follow their reading daily insisting on the correct pronunciation and the meaning of the words. In addition, I read with each one of them almost every day in order to boost their confidence. Since they are familiar with the books in Je lis, I started giving them simple  comprehension activities related to the stories so they get the chance to see, write and read the words again. Regarding the sounds, we have started exploring the complex ones like U, and OU and we will continue doing so because once they can recognise them, their reading will improve considerably. I strongly encourage you to go over the sheets they bring home when you have some free time, or even when you are out, and you see a sign in french ask them to identify any sound they know.  The great thing about Canada is that everything is written in both languages so even a simple walk to the supermarket can be a learning experience. Don’t forget that repetition is the mother of learning.

General Studies in 1A

Treasure Hunt

Excitement filled the halls on Tuesday as the class participated in a well-earned treasure hunt. Each clue had the children reading and walking around the school. The children loved discovering and walking through the maze. The treasure was found and divvied up amongst the class. I think I loved it as much as the children.

Groundhog Day

The students made their Spring predictions for Groundhog Day on Thursday. We then watched how Wiarton Willie and Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early Spring and a late Spring, respectively. The class predictions showed most of the class thinking it will be a late Spring.

Math

The children have been busy working on addition and subtraction facts this week.  On Thursday, we practised math facts by playing fun math games. Quinn, our school social worker, even joined in on the fun.

Team Building Activity

How does a class finish off the week on a bitterly cold day with no outdoor recess? You get together with 1B to do a team-building activity. Ms. Karissa challenged the children to pass a hula hoop around the circle while holding hands with each other. The students did it as one big group and then made two smaller circles to move the hula hoop. Two Grade six students came to help the classes with this activity. It was so much fun!