I am very happy to report that there were (on average) fewer tears this morning as the JK students were dropped off and arrived from their respective bus routes. Yay! :) They made their way into the coat room quite nicely, with a great number of the children remembering to hang up their coats and to place their lunch bags and les sacs en plastique into the proper bins. They changed into their indoor shoes and made their way to today's literacy centres, which included: card-making (particularly geared towards children who miss Mom and Dad, to give them a constructive way to express their feelings), puzzle races with an egg timer, felt board story creations, and the ever-popular letter beading table - thanks to the students who made me some truly unique necklaces to wear throughout the day! :)
As the gym was occupied with a Science presentation aimed at students in Grades 1 and above, Mme Murray took the children outside for phys-ed today. I peeked out of the classroom window as I wiped down the tables and checked all of les sacs en plastique, and it seemed like the kids were having a great time!
When they returned from their outdoor adventures it was almost time for the first nutritional break, so the students formed a quiet line and washed their hands at the sink before they ate their snacks. A little over 15 minutes later, the class re-visited the great outdoors for recess. I used these few minutes to set up the materials for our Math block.
We started Math today by completing a Venn Diagram designed to show the similarities and differences between "des bonbons" et "des pommes." Since it was only yesterday that the students taste-tested and graphed their opinions on a variety of apple slices, I figured that they could remember the basic characteristics of these fruits. But how was I to know that they had ever tasted candy? :) When the children were sitting properly in the circle and paying close attention, I passed out a small (sugar-free, but don't ruin their fun! Haha!) sucker to all of them. While they ate their sucker, I asked them to think of things that were different about these candies and the apples that they tried yesterday, and to identify things that these two foods had in common. Their answers were pretty impressive! Some of the similarities they identified were: shape (les deux sont rondes), colour (il y a des pommes et des bonbons qui sont rouges, jaunes et vertes) and sweetness. Specific to des bonbons were features such as "les batons" (sticks), l'emballage en plastique (plastic wrapper covering the sucker), and the fact that les bonbons ne sont pas toujours bons pour la santé (candies are not always a healthy food choice). Specific to 'les pommes' were: the presences of les feuilles (leaves), the fact that les pommes began as les fleurs, the sound of apples (when shaken, you can sometimes hear the rattling of the seeds inside), and the fact that les pommes can grow in nature, whereas candies cannot. It was interesting to see the students' ideas about each area on the Venn Diagram. I am sure that we will revisit this type of chart in the future!
Following our Math lesson, we baked some apple crisp together as a class. The students found it interesting to see each step in the process, and everyone was involved in some step in the creation of this delightful dessert! (It was saved in the Staff Room and place into the staff room oven a little later on. Thanks to a fantastic parent who showed up just before the end of the day, the students got to taste a little of their own handiwork! As we used egg and regular all-purpose flour, I did not give the apple crisp to any students who had gluten sensitivity listed on their medical sheets). When the baking was complete, the students had some free time to play in the room before washing hands and getting ready for the second nutritional break. It was an indoor recess as at this point, it was raining quite heavily outside.
After recess and 10 minutes of silent reading time, we completed our calendar activities for the day. This is something that we have not been doing every single day (as you may have noticed from the Blog) lately. I do feel that the students benefit from the calendar activities, but I also feel that sometimes their limited attention spans should be used in more constructive ways. I am thinking about eventually making the calendar into a centre, as I have seen a number of students visiting this area of the classroom and pointing at the numbers with the pointer / adjusting the weather at various "free play" times throughout the day. :) I still need to figure out the logistics of this idea.
I am really looking forward to the beginning of an entirely new month next week! :) October marks the start of more academic work. We will be focusing on l'alphabet (les lettres A, B et C) in relation to autumn-based themes. In math, we will begin the concept of sorting, and focus on learning the numbers 1-4. I hope to have the new newsletter and calendar finished and in your child's sac en plastique early in the week, but everything has to be approved by the office before it goes home. I'll do my best to have it to you along with a volunteer schedule so that you can come share in and contribute to our learning!
Mlle Craig
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