Going Once, Going Twice...

Gone! We had our first auction today with our "French Money", which was a fairly resounding success. Everyone who wanted to get something did, and others bankrolled their money for the next auction 2 weeks from now. It was a great lesson in problem solving, basic math and French as we worked our way through prizes. Some overpaid, others waited it out and got a great deal, and everyone had a good laugh.

After the auction, we had a very constructive discussion about the value (real and figurative) of speaking a second language. We talked about the immediate returns we were seeing in class, such as the money they were making, the time we are saving, the activities we are able to do, and the priveleges I am giving. We also spoke about the larger ramifications, including wider employment opportunities, travel and making friends.

Today we also gave out new jobs for next week, named a new "Etudiant de la Semaine" and created a drawing that summed up what students had learned and enjoyed during the week. Safe to say, there were a lot of hurricanes involved. I also showed the class the games I posted on this blog yesterday, and left them going for students who finished early. This was a big hit, especially the manatee featured in the "Create a Habitat" game.

We also discussed homework at length, trying to figure out what issues we were having and how best to correct them. I sent home a letter outlining what we discussed, and would welcome your feedback. The general idea was that students are responsible for knowing what they have to do, and to ask for clarification if they do not.

I also provided abundant details on what to do if you aren't sure about something at home, and talked about the idea of setting priorities. For example, if the exercise is to answer a question about a passage we read in class, it is more important to get your ideas down than to spend half an hour looking up words on Google Translator. As you can see below, the results are not always ideal.

On that note, I would prefer that students guess at a word or look it up in an online or paper dictionary than use a translator. The results are often wrong or out of context when using the latter method, and it tends to undermine the intent of immersive language learning. I would suggest using a translator if you are trying to understand something your child has brought home, but only to get a general idea. In the end of things, your child is the expert.

We discussed class pets today, much as we have every day so far. I floated the idea of getting a class fish (sorry for the terrible pun), which was met with a great response. However, we spent the next 10 minutes discussing it in Science class, in the context of habitat requirements, personal responsibility and other less exciting elements of pet ownership. Before long we had a list of more than a dozen issues we would have to reconcile, something we will begin to talk about next week using what we have learned about Scientific Discourse.

Today's link is just for fun! In all the talk about class pets I remembered a very funny Minute Maid commercial.



Hope everyone has a great weekend, and don't hesitate to be in touch if you or your child have any questions about homework, fish, juggling, hurricanes, base 10 blocks, jump ropes, fake money or any other issues.

Why did this week have 2 Mondays?

After an eventful couple of days off, we went straight back to work today. The first order of business was to let the class vent about Igor, the infamous "Tropical Depression". More than a few classmates seemed to be going through their own tropical depressions, but an equal number were bouncing off the ceiling with excitement about what they had seen, heard and done during the storm.

It was a great chance to explore ideas we are currently looking at in a variety of subjects, namely Habitats (Science), Community (Social Studies), Numbers (rainfall, wind, etc. in Math) and Emotions (Health). A couple of students even spontaneously wrote a paragraph or two about what they thought of the whole ordeal. These paragraphs are now adorning the area behind my desk, and will be sent home by the end of next week after I get a chance to photocopy them.

Later in Science, we used a tree seedling that a student had brought in to talk in more details about the components of a Habitat. we made a big drawing on the board, then each student made their own. Again, I was blown away by the terminology, relationships, information and vocabulary they were able to contribute. I don't remember understanding photosynthesis that well as an 8-year-old. We will continue this exercise later, in more detail.

In math we are clipping right along. We got through another worksheet (not my preference, but a good way to evaluate), and they had a chance to use the Base 10 blocks and play a dice game. I'm happy to say this lesson went quite smoothly, to the point that I had some of them explaining ideas and concepts to the class and to their friends.

We have started a DuoTang for Science and Health as well, each of which now contains a variety of sheets that will act as reflective activities. The students will have ample time to learn, discuss and complete these sheets, so if they have to finish a sheet at home it means they perhaps weren't working their hardest when they needed to do so.

We started Religion in earnest today. I had been integrating the initial Curriculum Outcomes into Health and Language Arts thus far, with the intention of giving them some context before we jump right in. The book this year is called En Route, and focuses on the experiences of a boy named Daniel from St. Anthony. We had a great discussion to start with, where the students reflected on what Religion was, and what parts of it were important to them. I was happy about how much they were willing to share about their own beliefs and morals, as well as what they knew about others.
The focus of the Grade 4 Religion curriculum is on exploring the nature of belief in a personal context, as well as studying a number of world religions. My focus in instructing Religion, never a straightforward topic, is to spend time talking about what values people share and how we can be different as well. Individual religions will be studied in context, as will belief systems that do not center around a Judeo-Christian ideal. As with all other topics we are dealing with, I will be stressing the importance of inclusion, equality and compassion above all else. I will use relevant current events to draw attention to these, and frequently ask students to reflect on their personal history and have discussions with their parents, grand-parents and members of their community.

Beside a little bit of bickering, the $$$ incentive program seems to be doing well. The class is speaking at least 90% French during class time, and even starting to speak it during Recess and Lunch. They (as a class) have almost filled a container with Language-Reward tokens, which means a class surprise before long.

A few housekeeping notes:

• I have extended the deadline for the Scholastic book orders until Monday. Thanks to all those who have gotten them in so far on such short notice.
• I will also be sending home an outline of the first chapters in Math, Science, Language Arts, French and Health for evaluation purposes, if not tomorrow then on Monday.
• Buddy Reading starts in a week. We will be reading to the Kindergarten children in Ms. Barela's class.
• I have been told by students that they are required to bring in a bag to hold their recorders and recorder books.
• When students leave class with a family member at the end of the day, please make sure they have told me they are doing so! Last week, I was beginning to suspect we were falling victim to alien abductions.

Hope everyone weathered the storm well. I will post a couple of new links tomorrow. As always, please to not hesitate to contact me at sampaterson@esdnl.ca if you have any questions.

Monday #1!

We had a great day today, a real whirlwind of activity as we get into the meat of this year's curriculum. We had our first formal art exercise, discussing the basics of form and using dry-erase markers to dissect the line and shape elements of Paul-Emile Borduas' L'Etoile Noire. I was very impressed by their interest and engagement in the activity, and their willingness to deal with what is (admittedly) very abstract, context-driven art.

We expanded this discussion into our Health topic, which is self-esteem and self-image. This was a fascinating discussion as well, and one that we will be returning to often.
Thank you to those who helped the students copy their recipes; this is an activity we will do later in the week. By the looks of it, I might have to start dipping into their lunches (kidding, of course).

In today's Language Arts class, I read aloud from a great book called Love That Dog by Sharon Creech. It is written as a narrative poem, and focuses on a boy who doesn't want to write poetry and who also harbours some sadness about an old dog he had. Throughout the novel he begins to engage in writing and we find out more and more about why he is so reluctant. Again, the subsequent class discussion was very interesting and they were more than eager to Journal about their thoughts.

We have begun to implement the Monopoly Money reward system, to much excitement. Periodically, they will be able to buy things with their accumulated cash. Starting next week, they will begin to monitor each other and will be able to accumulate more money as they "catch" their friends speaking English during class.
I would also remind everyone about Curriculum Night, which takes place this Thursday at 7pm. I will provide a lot of information about what we are doing and will be doing, and it will be a great chance to see what the class has been up to.

On another note, we did a fun Science Experiment today after we brainstormed about Habitats, our first theme unit. The experiment involved a Hair Dryer, and I would encourage you to ask your child about what happened. We also began our Math unit on Numeracy, which focuses on place value, number relationships and other basic ongoing concerns.

Today's link relates to the Self-Esteem element of our Health unit. It gives a number of ideas about activities you can do at home to build Self-Esteem and enhance their self-image.

http://www.howtodothings.com/family-and-relationships/a2533-how-to-use-self-esteem-games-for-kids.html

Talk to you tomorrow!

We made it to lunchtime!

It was great to meet some parents and all the kids this morning, and we're having a great time so far. We've done a few familiarity exercises, gone over things like rules and protocol in class, and learned a new math game.

I have also sent home a number of sheets to sign/complete and return, ranging from volunteer applications to emergency contacts. Each student borrowed a book or two from our class library, which they can keep for up to a week. If you are ever wondering which book they have out, we have a log in class of who has taken what.

A lot of the students have told me that they read at home, which is great. It is a great idea (as I'm sure you all know) to read with them as much as possible and encourage them to read their French books as well.
Throughout the course of the week, we will be developing a manual that will outline the rules, expectations, routines and other protocol we are working through right now. My hope is that they will use it as a reference and take ownership of our class.

I went a bit easy on speaking exclusively French today, since there is always a lag after summer. However, we will be bringing in a positive-reinforcement token system of some sort in the next couple of days. 

Thanks,

Sam Paterson