Les lumières de Noël

This week we made Christmas lights with our names. We counted our letters and compared them to the lengths of our friends' names.

Père Noël

Here is a holiday craft we made of le Père Noël.

La boîte à lettres

Our students love writing letters. We have a stationary centre in our class where they can write to each other and their families. We are encouraging the students to start their letters with "À" (To) and to finish with "De" (From). We discussed what we need to put on our envelopes (names, addresses and stamps). We even decorated our own boîte à lettres!

Chanson de bonhomme de neige

Here's a photo of a song we've been singing (regardless of the lack of snow). Our students picked it up quickly and really enjoy it!

Maison de pain d'épices

Today we built our very own maison de pain d'épices! Our next step is to label the different parts of it (toit, fenêtre, porte, mur).

Les oiseaux

We are learning about les oiseaux. We are talking about their nids (nests: pronounced like "knee"), les oeufs (eggs) and some of the things they eat. We have a pair of binoculars so students can watch for birds from our window and compare them to the birds from our books. As a project we are making pine cone bird feeders. We will be sending them home soon and hope that your child will hang it outside near a window where they can watch the birds eat.

Les formes

We are learning about les formes (shapes). Here are some songs we are singing about les formes.

(To this old man)

Le triangle, le triangle,

Le triangle a trois côtés,

Viens compter 1-2-3,

Le triangle a trois côtés

Le rectangle, le rectangle, (*can substitute "carré")

Le rectangle a quatre côtés,

Viens compter 1-2-3-4

Le rectangle a quatre côtés

Les balances

Some students recently told us about their visits to the doctor's office. One student brought in a photo of him being weighed. Since then we have brought in une balance (scale) to put in our own doctor's office. The children weighed themselves and we are now trying out a different balance in our science centre as well. We are teaching our students to compare the weight of objects and use words like "léger" (light) and "lourd" (heavy).

Discussions du village des pionniers

Today we discussed some of the things we might see at the pioneer village on Friday. The students were full of ideas about the wash board and iron and were surprised when Mme Hewitt and I revealed their purposes! Please remember to send field trip permission forms and $9.00 as soon as possible!

Dur et doux

Our bone experiment has sparked an interest in objects that are dur (hard) versus doux (soft). Today we went on a scavenger hunt around the classroom for objects that are dur. If your child is playing with a toy at home ask them if it's dur or doux. They will recognize those words and may answer en français!

Les os!

Last week we had a visitor come teach us about milk. We learned how it is made and about milk products. We discussed how milk is good for us and that le calcium makes our bones strong. As an experiment, we put chicken bones in a jar of vinegar. The vinegar removes the calcium from the bones and makes them weak. Today one of the bones broke! Ask your child about strong bones and some of the foods they think will help make them strong!

Jour de souvenir

Voici un photo de nos coquelicots. We are displaying our Remembrance Day poppies outside the gym for students and parents to see.

Jour de souvenir

Tomorrow we will be singing with Mme Boyle's class during the Jour de souvenir assembly. Our students really enjoy singing this song. You might hear your child practicing at home!

Braves soldats, braves soldats,
A la guerre, à la guerre,
Vous avez eu froid, vous avez eu chaud,
Pour la paix, pour la paix.
Braves soldats, braves soldats,
Aujourd'hui, aujourd'hui,
Nous voulons vous dire, nous voulons vous dire,
Un merci, un merci

(to the tune of Frère Jacques)

Stacking cups

Some of our students have taken an interest in stacking cups. On November 13th our class will participate in setting a world record for the most children stacking cups around the world at an event hosted by Mrs. Zottl's grade 4/5 class. This is a great way to develop their motor skills. We have been playing with all sizes of cups and today tried out Mrs. Zottl's oversized cups!

Lettres pour les soldats

Today we sent letters to troops abroad. Here are some of the supplies we used to make our cards unique.

Parade d'halloween

Friday is our Halloween parade! Our students are invited to bring costumes or wear orange and black. We will be walking through the school all dressed up during our second block. Please send costumes with students on Thursday. We will only be wearing them for the parade.

Encore des suites!

Notre peinture murale!

Venez voir notre peinture murale! We completed our sous la mer mural and it looks great! Today we counted all the sea animals and made a graph. We compared the types of animals and discussed which types had more (plus), less (moins) or the same (la même).

We have been singing "Les petits poissons" which can be found at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik8PgFoSB-E

Boston Pizza Partners in Reading Program

If you and your child are participating in the Boston Pizza Reading Program you can find the sheets for the following months on the school website. They will be posted before November so you can print off a copy and start the new month! Please don't forget to return the completed sheets to us. Merci!

Les suites

We are currently learning about patterns. We have been making our own in the classroom and searching for them throughout the school. Encourage your child to look for and point out patterns when they see them around the house or in the community.

Dans la classe:

Dans l'école:

Socktober

One of Cathcart's grade 7/8 classes is organizing Socktober. They are collecting new socks or gently used clothing (preferably winter gear) for children in need around Sarnia/Lambton. We appreciate any and all donations! Merci!

Notre visite chez les pompiers!

 We had an excellent trip to the Fire Hall. The children were really excited to learn about fire safety and see some of the rescue equipment, fire trucks and even the fire hose first hand! 

Ask your child about fire safety and create an emergency exit plan for your home. 

Nos propres livres!

Our own books! In relation to our topic "sous la mer" some students have created their own little books about animals and objects that exist under the sea. If you find your child's book in their sac à courrier, please encourage them to read it to you or tell you what they have drawn on each page.

Sous la mer

We are currently learning about underwater animals and marine life. Here is a drawing one of our students did of our class' dents de requin. If you or you child have anything related to this topic that they might like to contribute to our Science centre please feel free to send it lundi.

Nos noms!

Here is one of our recent literacy projects. We used cereal, coffee beans, rice and beans to decorate the letters of our names.

Le cinéma

Our students have taken an interest in the cinéma. On Friday we turned our class into a cinéma dramatic play centre where students sold les billets, le pop-corn and watched some in-class footage. It was really fun and many students jumped at the opportunity to take on some responsibilities in the planning, building and set up.

Terry Fox Run

Terry Fox Run was a success. We have some excellent runners in our class. Merci pour les donations!

Bus Safety

Today we learned about bus safety. We attended a presentation in the gym then practiced what we learned on a bus parked out front!

Picture day!

Reminder: Tomorrow is picture day!

Encore plus de couleur!

Colour projects are up and look great on the wall!

Les bandes à compter

Here are some of our bandes à compter. We made these with some help from our grade 5/6 Learning buddies. We sent les bandes home in their sacs à courrier. Ask your child to count it out for you!(JKs 1 à 10, SKs 1 à 20)

Les couleurs

Nous apprenons les couleurs en français! Quels jolis arc-en-ciels!

Je peux compter!!!

The students chose these materials from our arts and crafts centre and counted them as we glued each piece to the cardboard.

Ask your child to count small groups of things when they're outside of school. We also like to sing a counting song at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsc3qLMaCu8

Les fleurs

Our beautiful paintings of les fleurs!!

Book Fair

Bonjour Parents & Guardians,

Mardi le 23 septembre, our class will have the opportunity to visit the Scholastic Book Fair in Cathcart's front foyer. Our time slot is from 9:10 - 9:40. You are welcome to accompany your child or send money with them in their mailbag.

Merci,

Mme Kirkland et Mme DaSilva

Meet & Greet

Just a reminder that tomorrow (Sept. 18) is our Meet & Greet from 4:30 - 6:30.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Plus d'information

If you are interested in learning more about our Full-Day Kindergarten program, there is information available on the Ministry of Education website at:

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/kindergarten/index.html

This website also provides information on play-based learning and ways to help prepare your child for school.

Bienvenue

Bonjour Parents and Guardians,

I am excited to welcome our new students and some familiar faces from last year to our French Immersion Full-Day Kindergarten classroom!

I have spent a lot of time supplying and volunteering with last year's French Immersion Kindergarten students. This year, I am happy to be working along side Mrs. Dasilva who will be our Early Childhood Educator.

I will be updating this blog progressively throughout the school year so please visit it anytime!

I look forward to meeting you and getting to know the students,

Mlle Kirkland