Mme. Macdonald

Salut tout le monde,

Here is an update of what the students in our class have been working on recently.
FRENCH
Almost all students presented a speech from the point of view of a famous person. They read texts about the person, took notes and wrote the final version on cue cards as if they themselves were the famous people. The students were asked to memorize their texts and deliver them with eye contact and confidence. They did an excellent job. Some students found the task of memorizing their speech to be a challenge. They will have another opportunity to practice this skill in the spring with an English speech.
They are thoroughly enjoying their work on their original French picture books. The students are writing furiously and illustrating beautifully. They are publishing their texts on the computer and demonstrating excellent coooperative skills and creativity. Their use of class time and task focus is outstanding.
Every morning, the students are asked to read in French, practising reading strategies and reading outloud to me in order to improve their fluency and oral pronunciation.
We are beginning an intensive study of French verbs and will now begin our weekly dictations on Fridays.

MATH
The students are working through the unit on multiples. The unit test will be November 21. We will be reviewing concepts together prior to the test.

ENGLISH

Almost all of the students have completed their novel for Literature Circles. The students read attentively and once again practised making connections, discovering the meanings of new words, asking questions, illustrating and summarizing. The students enjoyed reading a novel with others. Ask your son or daughter about the book he/she read.
We will be setting reading goals for the rest of the term (from now until Christmas). I know I will see and hear lots of students reading in class and I hope to hear about lots of reading happening at home in the evenings and on the weekends. When students read at their reading level for twenty minutes per day, they will have read 1.8 million words in a year. Now that’s a reading goal!
We have also had some fun playing with words to create tongue twisters! And learning about alliteration at the same time.

SCIENCE

We will be planning a unit on the human body cooperatively beginning next week.