Joyeuses Paques!

Thank you to all parents who came to three-way conferences this past week. I really enjoy touching base with everyone and chatting about how well everyone is doing. Your support at home is greatly appreciated. I hope everyone has a safe and fun Easter break, and I will see everyone back at school on Monday, April 8th! Joyeuses Paques!

Words

Today we were learning about different types of words, les noms/nouns, les verbes/verbs, les adjectifs/adjectives et les adverbes/adverbs. Here is our work, which includes the definition and an example of each:

We used what we knew of these words to do a silly Easter mad lib. Here is a link to a website that has loads of mad libs for students to do: http://www.eduplace.com/tales/
I have told students that if they do one at home and want to print it and bring it to school that they are more than welcome to do so. We will start a book of the stories that come in.

Lunch Hour Activities

Skipping Club is now finished. We enjoyed watching all students who participated this year show off their skills on Friday morning during a special assembly.
Math club is now finished. Due to the Book Fair this week and the nicer weather we are sure to get after Easter, students are encouraged to be spending their lunch hours outside.
Thanks to all students who participated in both clubs and I hope you join again next year!

le 25-27 mars

My apologies for all the posts at once this weekend, it has been quite busy getting progress reports written and prepared to be sent home. I hope you enjoy reading about what we have been working on here at school. Now for a few reminders for this upcoming three day week:

-Library on Monday. Please bring back your books if you wish to exchange them for new ones.
-Book Fair - we will be browsing on Tuesday and buying on Wednesday. The Book Fair is also open during three-way conferences both Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.
-Me to We pennies - the last day for pennies to be brought in is Wednesday, so if you have some pennies that you wish to contribute and have not yet done so, please bring them in this week.
-PJ and movie party on Wednesday. Because students have put Mme and M. Patate back together by speaking in French, we will have a little celebration Wednesday afternoon. Students are welcome to wear their PJs and bring a stuffy to watch a French movie and have a popcorn snack with.
-Home Reading Books due Wednesday
-Dictee on Wednesday. This week we will be looking at Easter words, the dictee words are as follows:
 

du chocolat

un panier

cacher

chercher

un œuf

un lapin

Finally, please note that Wednesday, March 27th is the last day of school before the Easter Break. We resume on Monday, April 8th.

Telling time

For the past week in math, we have been learning to tell the time. We made handy little clocks that can help us to remember that the minutes count by 5 as we go around the clock.

We have learned some of the vocabulary that goes along with telling time.

Quelle heure est-il? Il est...  (What time is it? It is...)
et demi (and a half - half past)
et quart (and a quarter - quarter past)
moins quart (less a quarter - quarter to)

We have also practiced writing the time in French, which is slightly different than in English. In French, we write: hour h minutes, for example 12 h 30, and we say -Il est douze heures et demi.

We will continue to practice this skill at school, but students are encouraged to practice at home as well.

Bonnes nouvelles!

Good news! Mme et M. Patate have been put back together by the hard work of the grade 2s.

We have been speaking French in class with both Mme and our peers, and have earned a little party to celebrate. The grade 2s have decided that they wish to have a PJ and movie party with popcorn. So, on Wednesday afternoon from after recess til the end of the day we will be having a popcorn snack and watching a video (en francais, of course)! Students are welcome to wear their PJs and bring a stuffy to watch the movie with, if they wish.

Les papillons

To go along with our newest MIMI poster we have been learning all about les papillons. This past week we learned the parts of a butterfly.

On Friday, we were talking about the concept of symmetry, and how butterflies, as well as humans, are examples of symmetry. We designed our very own symmetrical butterflies. Here they are:

 

Earth Hour

Earth Hour is being celebrating tonight (Saturday, March 23rd) from 8:30-9:30pm. During this time, try to turn off all electronics and lights, and save some energy. At school on Friday between 2:30 and 3:30 we turned off all the lights and had our own mini Earth Hour.

Progress Reports

As report cards are going home this afternoon, I thought I would write a few things to consider as you review them over the weekend.

When looking at the reporting areas for Français:

Oral Negotiates meaning – understanding French discussion and instruction

Expresses oneself – speaking in French

Written Negotiates meaning – reading in French (including decoding, fluency and comprehension)

Expresses oneself – writing in French

An important point to note about term two report cards is that expectations are increasing as the year progresses. Though a student may have received a B in term one, and a second B in term two, it does not mean that there has been no progress. It simply means that the student is beginning to meet the expectations for this point in the year.

I look forward to discussing students’ progress further during Three-Way Conferences next week. If you have not yet scheduled a time to meet with me, I would encourage you to contact the main office.

Thank you, as always, for your support at home. 

Book Fair

The Scholastic Book Fair will be set up in the library on Tuesday, March 26th and Wednesday, March 27th. We will be going as a class to browse on Tuesday afternoon, and to buy on Wednesday morning. The book fair will also be open in the evenings while three-way conferences are going on. Thanks for supporting our school!

Science Fair

What a great success for the first science fair in a long time at Ecole Victoria School! Thank you to all the families who helped students to prepare projects to display for the day. Our class went and checked out the projects, and I think most students were inspired to enter a project next year. What a great opportunity to do some learning in an area of interest!

Story Starters

On Friday during writing time we decided that we would like to write some silly stories for a change. We used the Story Starter from Scholastic (and translated to French, of course). Students very much liked the silly topic, and I said I would share the link for the Story Starter so they could write silly stories at home as well. Happy writing!

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/story-starters/

le 18-22 mars

Just a few reminders for this upcoming week:
-We are still collecting pennies for the Me to We campaign. If you have any lying around at home, please send them in.
-Science Fair is on Wednesday, March 20th from 1-3:25pm and 5:30-7pm.
-Multicultural Potluck is on Thursday from 6-8pm. Please bring your own cutlery and dish.
-Skipping assembly is at 9:05am on Friday, March 22nd.
-Progress Reports go home on Friday, March 22nd. Three-Way Conferences are on Tuesday, March 26th and Wednesday, March 27th. Please call the office to book a time, or contact me if those times are inconvenient for you.
-Home Reading Books are due back on Friday, March 22nd.
-Dictee on Friday. This weeks words are all words from our newest MIMI poster. I have chosen words that will help us to review the sounds we have already learned and practiced:

un seau

du carton

du métal

les papillons

les soucis

les roches

Bonus : les jacinthes des bois

 

Les formes et les solides geometriques

Today we learned that shapes and 3D objects are related. We learned that the faces of 3D objects are shapes. We made 3D objects from nets on paper to see the connection. I showed the students a website that has printable templates to make characters that are 3D objects. www.cubeecraft.com

Les solides geometriques/Les objets en 3D

We have been learning about shapes (les formes), and have now begun learning about 3D objects (les solides geometriques). On Friday we had some fun building different solides geometriques with marshmallows and spaghetti. We learned that the corners, where the marshmallows are, are called les sommets, edges, where the spaghettis are, are called les aretes, and the flat parts are called les faces.

Me to We Pennies

Each class was given a bag in which to collect pennies. This is part of the Free the Children/Me to We initiative (same as Water Rafiki Friend Chains). The class that collects the most pennies wins an ice cream party. We discussed that the reason we are collecting pennies is to help others, not to win a party (but it would be a cool bonus). So please send any pennies that you may have lying around and help us to help others.

le 11-15 mars

Just a few updates for this upcoming week:
-Library on Monday, bring back your books if you wish to exchange them for new ones.
-Concours d'arts oratoire - Three students (chosen out of a hat), will be presenting their poems for the French classes on Tuesday afternoon in the auditorium.
-We will be having a perimeter lockdown drill on Thursday, March 14th at around 2:15pm
-Home Reading Books due back on Friday.
-Dictee on Friday. This week we will be learning a little bit about le Jour de la St-Patrick. The words are as follows:

le trèfle

vert

l’arc-en-ciel

le 17 mars

la chance

le farfadet

un pot d’or

Progress Reports and Three-way conferences

Progress reports will be sent home on Friday, March 22nd. Three-way conferences will be held on Tuesday, March 26th from 4-8pm and on Wednesday, March 27th from 4-7pm. Please call the office to schedule a time. As always, if these times are inconvenient for you, please don't hesitate to let me know and we can work to find a time that will. I would love to see each of my students and their parents so they can share their progress with you.
Looking forward to seeing you all!

le 4-8 mars

Into March already! Time flies when you are in Grade 2...

Lots of reminders for this week and for this month:
-Library on Monday
-Science Fair forms are due back on Wednesday. They are available at the office if students have not yet filled one in and wish to submit a project. The Science Fair will be on March 20th
-Pretzel forms are due back on Wednesday. This will take the place of a hot lunch for Thursday, March 7th
-School Spirit Day is Water Day on Thursday. Students are asked to wear their Water Rafiki Friend Chains and the colours blue and white
-Scholastic orders are due back on Friday, March 8th. Cheques can be made payable to Scholastic Canada Ltd.
-Home Reading Books are due on Friday, March 8th
-Dictee on Friday, March 8th. This week we are looking at the letters ill, as in the word une fille. The words are as follows:
une fille
un papillon
les coquilles
les nouilles
une grenouille  (I made a typo on the copies that are stapled in the agendas - my apologies)
brille
un tourbillon