Week 16

We're still managing to get plenty of work done in CP, despite the fact that it's getting closer to Christmas and we've got rehearsals to do for tomorrow's concert.

In English, we've learnt about adjectives this week. We'll be using them in our writing from now on to help it become more interesting. We've also continued with spelling tests and dictations. Parents will get a chance to follow their children's progress more closely when the handwriting notebooks go home for Christmas, along with the purple class notebooks.

There will be homework set for over the Christmas holidays, but do take the time to go through their notebooks with your children to see what they have been learning lately.

In Maths, we've been breaking down number from 1-10 in addition and subtraction and getting faster and faster at doing sums!

See you tomorrow for the Christmas show!

Week 15

Another awesome week in CP.

In grammar, we learnt about nouns: that a noun is a person, place or thing and the difference between common and proper nouns. This week, we'll learn about adjectives.

That'll tie in nicely with our work in Questioning the World about matter. This week we're learning about three types of matter - solids, liquids and gases. Next week, we'll be moving on to properties of matter, so that works well.

In phonics, we'll continue to explore the magic e idea.

In art, we've finished up the Mondrians and primary colours and are moving on to Paul Klee - we're getting inspired by his Head of Man painting!

Always a good idea to leave an apron at school!

In Maths, we're continuing with calculations, while those who finish class activities quickly are starting to work on word problems too. This week and next week, we'll also take a look at 2D shapes. 

Leo working out some word problems.

We're also rehearsing out bilingual Christmas songs at the moment

CP1

CP2

Studyladder certificates were given out in CP2 today along with the certificates for those who know all their Jolly Phonics sounds!

See you next week!

Semaine 14

Nous continuons à découvrir des métiers : cette semaine, le métier de boulanger.  Nous avons donc mis la main à la pâte en faisant du pain.  Les photos seront mises par les enfants sur leur compte Seesaw la semaine prochaine.

Les CP1 font du pain.

Les CP2 font du pain.

Voici la recette en vidéo, ce qui permet de revoir tout le vocabulaire appris en classe à cette occasion.  Et peut-être aurez-vous envie d'essayer à la maison...

Week 14

This past week has seen the learning in class move forward in leaps and bounds. The first ever dictated sentences exercises were more successful than they have ever been in my four years in CP and I am astounded by the brilliance of the students in these two CP classes. Just like spelling, the dictation exercises will now be differentiated, with children moving forward at their own space. We will be alternating between spelling and dictation exercises on English days, so don't be surprised if the spelling pace slows down a little - it is because the dictations are taking up some of the spelling time.

We've been using our phonics knowledge of short vowels lately to learn about different alternative spellings : ck, double consonants and now magic e. Please see the lesson book for the full explanation. There are a host of videos online about magic e/ silent e/ super e...on Studyladder the activities are called bossy e - it all comes down to the same thing. An e at the end of a word can make a short vowel into a long one/ make it say it's name. There are lists of words in the lesson book to help practise the concept.

We also learnt some grammar this week: about nouns. Again there is a lesson in the yellow notebooks to review. We know that a noun is a person, place or thing and that when a noun is the name of a person, place or thing we need to give it a Capital letter. I've just added studyladder tasks on the subject.

In Questioning the World, we've moved on to Matter. I introduced the subject in CP2 today, it'll be tomorrow with CP1. The main idea for the moment is to remember that everything in the world is made of matter. We'll be working on it further over the next two weeks.

In Maths, the timed maths exercises are going well - again with each child progressing at their own pace. From next week, we'll be applying those number skills to problem solving.

Keep up the reviewing at home - 15 minutes a night makes a big difference. If your kids have time for studyladder, do also keep it up, it's another way of reviewing what we are doing in class.

Semaine 13

Les CP2 à la caserne des pompiers.

(Cliquez pour voir les photos.)

Beaucoup d'enfants n'ont pas de tablier de peinture.  

Pensez à en apporter un !

Week 13

Hello,

This past week in phonics, we focused once again on the short vowel sounds and on how we often double the consonant after a short vowel. In English, we continue to work on writing our own sentences and today, for the first time we did 3 dictated sentences in CP2 (tomorrow for CP1).

In Maths, we've moved on to the notion of subtraction (or taking away). To start with we're looking at taking away 1 from numbers up to 100, then we'll mix + and - up, before looking at +10 and -10, and then on to all types of addition, subtraction and some multiplication and division. We'll be differentiating further with word problems too.

In Art, we've been working on our Mondrian paintings - you should see the finished results soon and in questioning the world, we're still focussing on what makes us and our families special.

Hope you've been enjoying the photos on seesaw and following the learning over there. Congratulations to this week's certificate winners from studyladder - keep working on those set tasks - they reflect what we do in class, so the more difficult tasks are the ones that appear first- that we have done recently. You have to scroll down to find the easier ones!

Week 12

Hello, it was a pleasure to meet so many of you last night - still a few to go tomorrow. I hope you have all had the chance to look at the report cards that Fabienne and I wrote for the first term - they are accessible on Tesmile.

This past week in English, we reviewed the short vowel sounds - a, e, i, o, u with the class. They are useful when it comes to a lot of spelling rules. For example, most words which finish with a /ck/ sound, end with just a 'k' - park, fork, look, work etc. However, if there is a short vowel before the /ck/ sound then we need to write both letters - sack, neck, sick, sock, duck.

We've also been continuing our work on sentence building - checking if sentences are correct and writing out own. 

In Maths, we're counting in ones and tens and doing timed calculation exercises - 30 questions in less than five minutes. These calculations will become harder as we work through each level. 

The spelling tests continue to do be done each week, with some children on spelling test 2 and others on spelling test 19! Each child can move on to the next test once they have finished the previous one successfully - no mistakes allowed ;-)

In Civics, we're working on creating a peaceful environment in school by discovering the ways in which we are all special.

Please keep up the reviewing at home! See you next week.

Semaine 11

L'histoire de la semaine :
"Quand je serai grand, je serai pompier."

Concert sur les droits des enfants 

Les photos seront mises sur Seesaw dans le courant de la semaine.

Tous les vendredis, les enfants commencent la journée par un atelier "contes" avec les élèves de CE1.  L'objectif principal est la langue orale, les enfants sont en petits groupes pour parler.

ATTENTION AU POIDS DES CARTABLES LES VENDREDIS!

(voir blog de la semaine passée)

 OUI 

carnet de correspondance, cahier de français, livres de bibliothèque.

 NON 

manuel de français, cahier d'anglais, cahiers de chinois.

Weeks 10 and 11

Time is flying by! We have reached the end of the first term and we have lots of readers in the class! Everyone is taking home reading books - some kids are still decoding, others are reading fluently - to each their own pace.

To better help the differentiation in the classroom, we are no longer doing class wide spelling tests with five words a day. The kids are now learning words at home at their own pace, practising them in class and then using the class ipads to access the spelling tests. They do ten minutes of spelling tests a day. Some kids can do 1 in 10 minutes, some can do 4. Like I tell them, it is not a race. The point is to do your best and to spell and write well.

Working on spelling tests.

In English, we have also been learning about sentences. We know that sentences start with a capital letter and finish with a full stop. All sentences have to tell us something too - the words need to make sense. We are starting to copy sentences, to do sentence dictations and to make our own - see Seesaw for progress,

In Maths, we've made it on to calculations. Again, it will be differentiated. As each child successfully completes one level of Maths they move on to the next. Those who struggle get the chance to try again.

In Questioning the World, we're looking at Civic and Citizenship. We've started talking about how each one of us is special, the next theme is about how our families are special.

In Sport in English, we've learnt a new playground game - Foxes and Hounds.

And here's a pic of CP2 on Halloween!

Semaine 10

Les deux chansons pour le concert sur les droits de l'enfant
(vendredi 11 novembre).

Concert cycle 2 (CP-CE1-CE2).  Les enfants de CP viennent avec un tee-shirt ou une chemise blanche (ou robe blanche).

Comment s'y retrouver dans les accents sur la lettre "e" ?  
Avec une casquette...

"é" comme Madame é des Alphas; casquette à l'endroit.

"è", casquette à l'envers

"ê" avec un chapeau sur la tête

"e" sans casquettte ni chapeau

Les enfants ont reçu cette semaine leur première ceinture de lecture.  Vous recevrez de plus amples informations sur ce sujet petit à petit.  Bravo aux élèves pour leur excellent travail.

Un dessin animé pour préparer la lecture de la semaine prochaine :

Attention au poids du cartable le vendredi :

Vendredi (de français), tu n'as pas besoin de :

Il faut garder de la place pour les livres de bibliothèque...

 Sinon, voici ce que tu diras : "Mon cartable est trop lourd!".

Et pour finir : un enfant a oublié de remettre ses chaussettes après le sport, mercredi.  A qui sont-elles?  Mystère...