It was so bright and sunny day aujourd'hui, and I think that this improved many moods as there were only minimal tears this morning! :) Fantastique!!!
The day began with literacy centres as usual. Students were given the option of starting with one of the following tables: make-your-own hand turkeys, la lettre Aa stamping, felt board storywriting, beading, and letter writing practice with Epsom salts. We managed to clean up the classroom fairly well, and made our way to the tapis where Mme Murray waited to take us to le gymnase. We went over the Fire Drill procedures as a class, and I am again happy to report that the actual practice run went very smoothly, with all of the students being their most cooperative!
Following a health lesson on safety in the washroom, the students enjoyed their first nutritional break.
While the kids were still wearing their outdoor shoes, we went for a nature walk outside. I asked them all to collect a number of different feuilles (leaves) for us to use in our next math activity. At le tapis, I gave the children the task of "sorting" the leaves that they had collected. I didn't give them a specific sorting rule, but rather suggested that they select the leaves that they thought were similar in some way, and had them group them together. We then went around the circle and shared our ideas about how we could effectively categorize the leaves, before heading off to Math centres that consisted of different manipulatives to give them a chance to practice sorting in these ways. After a few minutes' visit at each centre, we met back au tapis where we read two brief math-related books - "Fall, Leaves, Fall!" and "A Creepy Countdown" (don't worry, we counted en français!). I then gave the students the task of organizing a bin of multicoloured, multi-textured faux fall leaves. When they showed me their ideas about how to sort these items, I allowed them to go and wash their hands for le déjeuner.
Following the second nutritional break (it was Pizza Day, yum! :)), the students had "Quiet Time" for 10 minutes, and were allowed to select a favourite book from les paniers rouges to read silently. They then engaged in free choice play activities for the remainder of the day, as I noticed that some children needed to practice their appropriate interactions with others and to reinforce their concept of "partager avec les autres!" We had a brief closing circle, where a number of students shared about their highs and lows of the day. Finally, we cleaned up, packed up our things and got into our appropriate bus and pick-up locations as it was time to go home.
I just wanted to let you all know how much I have enjoyed teaching the children of the Tuesday/Thursday group! :) They are such energetic and enthusiastic bunch. I know that they will be very successful with their new teacher, who is coming in to network with me and other members of the staff tomorrow. I will be outside in the Kindergarten playground area on Tuesday morning (along with the new teacher and our principal) to ease the transition for the students. I wish all of you the VERY BEST for the rest of the year, and I'm sure that I will stay in-touch with many of you through this Blog and through regular visits with the students! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions at all.
I am absolutely thrilled to have been granted a stepping stone in my career (a permanent teaching position within our school/board)! :) ! From this point forward, I will be responsible for teaching the Monday and Wednesday JK/SK Immersion class (in Room #5), as well as covering (Arts) planning time for the English Grade One class next door. As I have gone down in overall time from a 1.0 (full-time) position to a 0.7 (not-quite full-time, but contracted), I will also be attempting to supply teach on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons where possible. I see this as a great opportunity to obtain teaching experience at different grade levels, and I am excited to see where it all leads!
Mlle Craig
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