We did so much learning our first week back!
Throughout the rest of the month, we will continue to use the book, The Mitten, to learn about the characteristics of animals, fiction and nonfiction books, to develop our literacy skills (reading & writing), as well as our visual arts skills. For the most of this week, they have been working on drawing a animal that went into the mitten. We talked about how artists do a rough copy first, critique their work, and ask others for their opinion on what they did well and how they can improve it. They have done such an amazing job of this. I will post photos next week of their progress. With these illustrations, we will be creating a simplified large class book entitled, La Mitaine.
This week we learnt a little bit about the badger (le blaireau). We learnt that the badger lives in a clan and likes to dig tunnels underground. The badger is a black and white nocturnal mammal, about the size of small dog, and lives between 11-13 years of age. It an omnivore and eats insects, worms, small rodents, plants. You may want to do a little research together on the following animals: mole, fox, bear, mouse, hedgehog, owl, rabbit, chipmunk, moose, squirrel, or any other winter forest animals you may wish to look up. It's always fun to have a student expert in the class!
Many of the other books that we are reading are related to winter forest animals. This is a great way to solidify new French vocabulary, which allows the children to better understand and enjoy the new French books being read to them.
As you are aware the children work in two groups to allow for better learning environments and better connections with classmates and teachers. They have now named each group, Les prédateurs and Les sages hiboux. During transition periods, they can now go to their group bucket and grab some work to do. They have been very keen on practicing their number skills. Bravos, les amis !
In visual arts, we have been working on painting various styles of snowmen. As you can see with the photos, they are doing quite a fantastic job!
Have a wonderful weekend!