This morning was a bit challenging as a number of the JK students were really missing Mommy and Daddy. It breaks my heart to see them cry, but I realize that for some this is simply what they need to do until they adapt to the new routines and get used to school life. :( I always try to engage the students in centres as they enter the classroom, and this is part of the reason that I feel it is important to learn about the childrens' likes and dislikes. I want them to love every minute of school, but at times it is difficult to come up with something that every individual student enjoys and finds intellectually stimulating. Please feel free to alert me to your child's needs and preferences in this regard. Today's literacy centres included: playdoh, letter beading, l'ordinateur, upper and lowercase letter matching puzzles, and the famous letter fishing activity. From my personal observations, it seems as if these are some of the most popular centres that the class has tried thus far. I don't want to overdo them though! If you have a minute, please ask your child which table s/he especially likes to visit upon arrival to school. This will help me in planning future activity centres. :)
Following Gym class and a story about healthy eating with Mme. Murray, the students ate their first snack and then went outside for recess. During this time, I placed materials for the apple taste test graphing activity at each table, and made sure that everything was ready to go. We talked a bit about graphs and briefly revisited the facts contained in the book "La pomme," which we read on Tuesday. The students then tasted three different types of apples (Red Delicious, Granny Smith and Golden Delicious), chose their favourite variety, and placed it in an appropriate location on the graph. "Rouge" greatly surpassed les autres couleurs in apple preference. We counted each category and discussed the outcome of our class graph when all students had finished. Then, we engaged in free play, cleaned up and played a game at the carpet - we sang the song that we have been learning about "les pommes" this week while passing around a real apple. When the song finished, whoever happened to be holding the apple got to share something with the class. We were all rather delighted to see a little karate demonstration from one of the students that the apple 'landed' on. :) (Don't worry - no actual karate action occurred - he just showed us a few moves that he has been learning!).
After the second nutritional break and recess, the students enjoyed 10 minutes of quiet time with un livre de leur choix au tapis. They were a little reluctant to quiet down this afternoon, and so they received only a few pompom additions to the class container. I read part of the story "C'est l'automne," but I decided to stop reading about halfway through and save the rest for tomorrow, as many of the students were an odd combination of tired and restless at this point in the day! We sang "Les couleurs des pommes" encore, and then our class monstre, Pierre, handed out les sacs en plastique to all of the students and we began the time-consuming task of organizing the coatroom in order to be ready to go home. :) The students then played until it was time to clean up (about 5 minutes prior to the final bell). During this time, I was impressed to see the creative "Inukshuks" (sp?) that some of the students decided to build and then decorate with plastic bears. Bravo! :)
Looking forward to seeing this great group again tomorrow! We are going to attempt to bake some apple crisp, because it is Friday!
A+
Mlle Craig
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