Check out this page every Sunday evening for an update on what's coming up in our classroom.

Week at a glance

October 6th-10th

Read-In Week!

October 6th-10th is "Read-In Week"! If you're interested in coming and promoting a love of reading/stories by reading a book of your choice to our class, please let me know! I would love to have a parent a day. Grandparents are also welcome :)

Classroom Reading Program!

To start, thank you all for taking the time to learn how to best use the blue duo-tang with your child at home. The purpose of this duo-tang is to give your child opportunities to practice their English reading skills. Each page features a decodable text that your child should be able to sound out independently, using the words and sounds we have been practicing in class.

Throughout the year, new pages will be added on Wednesdays as we learn new sounds, words, and concepts. A reminder that the blue duo-tang will typically come home on Wednesdays, but the work is not expected to be completed that same evening. Please keep the duo-tang at home over the weekend and return it to school on Monday.

In addition to the reading duo-tang, students will soon begin bringing home books from our classroom library. At first, they will bring home decodable books until they become more confident readers. Our supply of decodable books is limited, so each child will only be able to bring home one book at a time. Students may exchange their book as often as needed; however, we encourage them to reread each book several times over a few days to help build fluency. When reading with your child, please do not encourage guessing words or relying on pictures for clues. We want students to develop strong decoding skills, not just memorization.

Please ensure that your child’s reading duo-tang and classroom reading books are always kept in their pochette so that they come to school each morning and return home each evening. Aim to practice reading with your child for at least 10 minutes each day.

If you would like additional decodable books for your child to practice with, please visit the recommended websites on our classroom webpage. These resources are designed for beginning readers, offering a simple progression that allows children to sound out words independently with confidence.

Our learning plan for this week:

French:  We will begin to conclude our classroom vocabulary words this week. We will continue to use them in our daily messages, and in conversations throughout the year, however we will now be transferring our focus onto Halloween vocabulary. Please practice the French Flashcards which were sent home last Thursday on a regular basis. There are videos on my website here to help. 

We continue reviewing our french vowels. This week, students will learn our first french “combo” sounds: /ch/ & /oi/.

Our words of the week continue to be: un, une, c’est, le, la & our color words dans, c’est, est & regarde, and we continue reviewing: je vois, voici, j’aime, un, une, le & la as well as our color words.

*Continued work for home*: Now that your child has French Flashcards at home, please begin to practice the classroom vocabulary words. Practicing can be done in many ways, such as having your child find the vocabulary word in the house, or even playing games like memory. As your child becomes familiar with the flashcards, feel free to have them cut the word away from the picture and play matching games in that manner.

Mathematics: We have now concluded our patterning unit. 

We begin our next mathematics unit: representing and recognizing numbers up to 10 (and later 20). 

• In order to properly develop your child’s number sense, we will continue subitizing with the use of rekenreks and other tools. We will also continue with our number talks (what amount did you see? How did you see it?)

• We will also slowly begin to represent and describe numbers to 10, concretely, pictorially and symbolically.

• Our main goal this week is to be able to identify the number 1-10 (written with letters, and with numbers) quickly. 

The following song is an excellent option to practice the numbers in French at home! Added bonus: the kids LOVE it.

Les chiffres et les nombres de 1 a 20 - alain le lait (French numbers from 1 to 20)

Sciences: We continue noticing seasonal changes and learning about Indigenous connections and interpretations of seasons. This week, we focus on fall, and note the colors in this season and preferred activities. We will also be noticing the pattern in the cycle of seasons and months.

English: We continue to review our alphabet and learn about how to read books! So far, students are able to read CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words using the letters: s, t, p, m, a, f, i, n, c, o, d, u, g, b & e. We have also learned that when an m or n follows the letter a, it makes more of a nasalized sound.

This week, students will review the afore-mentionned letters and sounds, and we will learn about the TWO sounds of the letter s. Students will continue to practice stretching out words while reading, as this will help them later in the year during reading and writing. 

Please ensure you practice these skills at home using their blue duo-tangs.

The irregular words we have been working on are: a, I, the, and, is, as, to, do, and & of. We will be learning the word: see! Heart Word Magic is a great website to check out for some of these irregular words, such as the word: said.

Finally, the vowel song is an excellent tool to practice decoding and reading simple CVC words, and remember to use the Alphabet WebPage for additional ways you can help at home! 

Religion:  Check out the Religion Tab on our website to connect what we are learning at school with your home. A reminder to please check out the: “This Week at Home” portion of the site.  We will begin Week 5: “God Gave Us Our World”.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email me at elemoine@gsacrd.ab.ca

Mme Élodie Lemoine