Forest Animals of Canada

 Forest Animals of Canada

One of our forest centres

We have been talking about the forest and the animals found here on the island. We have been practicing the names of the animals and describing their attributes. We have read a booklet to friends describing the animals. We have been playing with a variety of centres to encourage French oral play and discussion about these animals.

The focus on the forest was an introduction to the habitat of our local salmon. We will be learning about salmon on our field trip to Goldstream. Before going to Goldstream all the grade 1/ 2 and 2 classes have been creating a salmon ecosystem. We visited the ecosystem, talked about the source of the water in the river and how it becomes brackish in the estuary. We made salmon out of plasticine and added them to the other salmon waiting to swim up river. It is getting very crowded!

We will continue to work on the ecosystem adding eggs, alevin etc. over the next several months. More immediately we will be talking about what makes a healthy ecosystem for salmon, what plants and animals contribute to healthy river systems. 

The salmon ecosystem

Literacy

We are focusing on speaking French in class. When the kids are overheard speaking French to a classmate, they get a ticket to put in our basket for a draw. Every few days I draw names and the children can use their tickets to "skip" an activity to do a preferred activity in class. The children are speaking a lot of French and having fun choosing the preferred activities when their names are drawn. 

We are playing a game called "Dos à Dos" where one child sits back to back with another student. One student gives instructions about where to place a game piece then they check the success of their instructions. We will be building on to this activity to tell a story. 

In writing we are focusing adding detail and a sequence of event to the writing. We are also working on when to use a capital letter and periods. When writing, I alternate between having the children choose a topic to write about and giving a set topic. 

Many children have tried Boukili at home. I am noticing that the children are reading the books online far faster than they read at school. In order to get the most out of this home reading time, the children should make efforts to read the books independently and then listen to the recordings of the books. Also when they don't get the answers correct at the end of the story, this is a good chance to reread or listen to the book. 

Dos à Dos

Math

As you have noticed, the children are bringing Fluency Facts home to practice. In class we are building understanding using manipulatives to model addition. We are also using objects in class to practice counting larger amounts. 

We are practicing grouping objects in groups of 5, 10 or as doubles to facilitate "seeing" how many are there. We are working towards using strategies rather than counting each individual object. This is something you can practice at home as well since many children are still counting every item rather than grouping or counting on from a set number. For example if I have 14 items, I can count by 1 or 2 but I can also make a group of 10 and then keep counting 11, 12, 13,14. The same can be applied to doubles. When I have 9 items I can make 2 piles of 4 which equal 8 and there is one item left to count. 

Showing addition 7+6

Things that you can do at home:

• Listen with your child as they read the books on Boukili. 
• Play board games and card games at home to build familiarity with addition to 20. Playing games with dice helps children to visualize doubles. Playing games like 21 (without the blackjack betting 😀) helps children add as well. 
• Talk about math in real life situations. I have 9 eggs left and I am using 6 for breakfast. How many eggs have I used from the carton? How many do I have left? 
• Read to your child and have them read "Les animaux du Canada" to you. 
• Plan what they will wear for our Journée des Animaux on December 1st.