January...

One of our first activities was exploring ramps - what do they do? How do they work? How can they be changed to impact their effect on our toy cars?

How many different kinds of ramp can you build?

What happens if it's low and long instead of short and steep?

It's 2012 and we're learning about small, medium, and large... students used PlayDoh to make the digits 2012 and then named them as well as their sizes in French. Hooray for learning!

I wonder how many paperclips it takes to measure the circumference of my head?

A couple of the girls wondered how many it would take to go all around the table.

We opened up the water centre to explore different measurement tools and how they can be used.

We learned a new poem and went straight to work putting all the lines in order so we could say it together!

Success!

Exploring and experimenting with marbles, chutes, ramps, wheels...  design, cause, and effect.

Here a student has recorded how many of his feet wide our classroom door measures. Great explorations were happening all over the classroom...

Writing a shopping list during free choice time.

Students explore purpose for writing - here a student is drafting a letter for a friend. 

Since the end of the holidays; my morning message is becoming increasingly interactive. The star of the day (la vedette du jour) will help to create the message. I'm frankly amazed at how well some of the students are able to sound out words in French. We are extending this activity in our journal writing where students are now encouraged to add their own words with minimal support from me. I'm very excited by their progress!

The snowflakes I mentioned in the previous post! So pretty!... and the classroom was such a mess!!! Good, creative mess of course!

Friendships blossoming around sand castles and pies.

Lunar New Year activities on Monday January 23. At the carpet I showed students a National Geographic Magazine special on China... we discussed urban and rural areas of the country; we looked at the Great Wall, costumes, people, and finally how the New Year is celebrated. To round it all off, students were invited to work on a variety of crafts to decorate the bulletin board outside our classroom. It's looking gorgeous!

Making a dragon mask.