Wednesday, 19 October 2016

A busy Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

We started our day in Math with our first Calcul Mental evaluation. 
Our first strategy was a multiplication strategy where we "Cut and Pasted" the extra zeros.
Ex: 3000 x 5, becomes 3 x 5 when we cut the zeros.
We then multiply 3 x 5 = 15, and then paste the zeros, to get 15 000!

After getting our brain warmed up with mental math, we moved on to our PPCM evaluation.
Most of us still need more time to work, so we'll use part of tomorrow's Math class 
to review and complete our work.


We were busy in Science today, too!
We each got a spoonful of dried beans and used them to create a classification key (clé dichotomique). We needed to focus on writing specific questions in order to organize our beans into subgroups. We will finish reviewing our work and answering questions about our keys tomorrow.




Tuesday, 18 October 2016

3 quick things...


Happy Tuesday everyone!
Just checking in with 3 quick announcements.

1) October Scholastic/Club de lecture book order sheets were handed out today in class! Hooray!
Please send any orders back by Monday, October 24.
Parent Pay Online is available, if you would rather pay by credit card than cheque.

2) Students will be completing a short PPCM evaluation in Math tomorrow. We have been working with multiples for the past couple of weeks and reviewed for this task together in class today.

3) Agendas, agendas. Students are reminded that their agenda should be coming to class with them each and every day! We do our best to write something in our agenda every day at the end of our morning together. We write upcoming assignment due dates (if there are any), as well as other things. Sometimes it is one thing we learned or discussed... other times it is a sentence using a new verb we learned how to conjugate. Please ask us to show you our agendas and encourage us to bring them to class! Thanks! :)


Monday, 17 October 2016

Monday, Monday!


Happy Monday everyone!
Here's what we were up to today in Room 208.

We started our day with a visit from Mme Marcoux. 
She walked us through a survey with questions about ourselves and our new school.

After that, in Math, we solved PPCM word problems and watched the last PPCM Samba presentation!

Finally, in Français, we started with LaLaLa, worked on our "Féminin" and "On corrige" booklets
and reviewed how to conjugate the verb, "AVOIR." 
Being able to correctly conjugate often-used verbs AND properly apply them in our daily writing is much like recalling basic facts in Math. The key is to review and practice often so that the skill is present when 
communicating with others (either through dialogue or written text).
We will be doing A LOT of writing in Français this year, so brushing up on "the basics" is a great place to start!

Looking forward to a great week! :)


Friday, 14 October 2016

The week that was...


Hello everyone!
Our (short) week of learning together passed so quickly!
Here's a look at what kept us busy in Room 208!

TUESDAY
In Math, we continue to work on multiples and finding the "PPCM" - plus petit common multiple
(LCM - lowest common multiple).
After some pencil/paper work, we put our PPCM knowledge into action! We worked with our table groups to create a PPCM Samba! Each group member chose a multiple and had to choose an action to perform each time a multiple of their number was said. There were some pretty creative moves happening!
We'll be presenting our PPCM Sambas to the class later this week.


In Français, we continued with our LaLaLa before looking more in-depth at the Terry Fox article we began reading as a class a couple of weeks ago. Today we identified Terry's 4 goals and the specific action plan he followed to achieve his goals.

In Science, we looked at a different format of dichotomous key (clé dichotomique). This version requires us to write a specific Yes/No question on our paper to sort our objects into subgroups.

WEDNESDAY
Mme Careen was away today at a Math/Science training course and we were lucky to have Ms. Arsenault (our Art and Home Ec. teacher) in our room as our guest teacher! Even though Mme Careen was away, we still worked hard in all three subjects!

In Math we practiced mutliples, in Science we created another clé dichotomique using the new format and in Français we started setting our own goals and action plans for the year. We also started reading an article about food allergies (les allergies alimentaires).

THURSDAY
In Math we completed a 'Shape and Space' diagnostic assessment (for Mme Careen's Math/Science training course) and we got to use connecting blocs to do it! We forgot how much fun it was to build the tallest tower we possibly could! (We played with the blocs first, and then got down to work)!

In Français, Mme Galka (one of our school division's Literacy Specialists) was in our class to do a lesson about reading strategies. We all admitted that sometimes we are "fake readers" - we go through the motions of reading but aren't really understanding the author's message. We talked about what strategies we can use to be "active readers" and how it is important for us to use and practice these strategies every day, each time we read, so that we can all become stronger, more confident readers.


In Science, we reviewed our dichotomous keys with a partner. Using the same objects we used to create our key, our partner had to sort the items following our yes/no questions to see if they ended up with the same groups we did. This was a great way for us to check to see if we created specific, easy to understand questions when identifying common characteristics in our groups/subgroups.

FRIDAY
We started our day finishing off our "allergies alimentaires" article and playing a multiples Math game and multiplication war. Then, it was PPCM Samba presentation time! We had fun counting to 100 while watching the different groups perform their multiples movements. At the end of each presentation we guessed each student's multiple and determined the group's PPCM.



Our last group with present first thing Monday morning - check back then for their group pic!

Wishing you all a great weekend! :)

P.S. Check out the new "OUR CLASSROOM BELIEFS" page, found under the "6F3 Info" heading on the right sidebar menu. Also, don't forget to keep checking the "ROOM 208 NEWS" page!

Friday, 7 October 2016

Happy Thanksgiving!


Today, in French, we worked on our writing in order to complete a fun, fall craft-ivity!


We each wrote 8 sentences highlighting what we are thankful for.
After reviewing and editing our sentences, first with a classmate and then with Mme Careen or Mme Galka, 
we got to work creating our own "citrouille de reconnaissance."


After two periods of hard work, we celebrated our pumpkins (and each other!) with our October class picture. 
We have already grown so much since our first day of school!


Wishing you all a safe (and delicious!) Thanksgiving weekend!
Je suis reconnaissante pour vous, mes chers élèves! :)

Tuesday, 4 October 2016


Just a quick check-in with a picture of us hard at work in Science.
We worked in groups to classify a set of objects (pictures of objects), asking a specific question in order to divide the groups into two subsequent subgroups each time. This is how we create a dichotomous key (une clé dichotomique).


Tomorrow, will compare our dichotomous keys to see how each group classified the set of objects.
How many different groups and subgroups will there be?

Monday, 3 October 2016

Happy October!

It's hard to believe September is already behind us. Time is passing quickly. 
You may even say, it is passing faster than a speeding bullet?
(See what I did there...?)  ;)


This morning in Math we reviewed our multiples rules and used our
knowledge of multiples to colour some pretty *super* math pictures!


We are continuing our reading in Français, and today half the class read independently while the other half read with a partner. We will repeat the same process tomorrow, but the groups will be reversed.

In Science, we continued working on our "modes de transport" dichotomous key and had quite the discussion about how to divide certain groups into subgroups. Many of us offered great suggestions, but getting the entire class on board was no easy task! We will put these questioning/negotiating skills to good use when we start creating and following our classification keys later this week.

Looking forward to a great week! :)