Week 2 - Friday with CM1!

The speed of the school semester seems to be getting faster! Week 2 has flown by! This week CM1 have continued to get more comfortable with the online resources we're using for the homework. I think they're getting the hang of using their emails more often, and they seem to be able to find their way around Mathletics, No Red Ink and Spellodrome. I give them time to complete their online homework during our weekly ICT class, so the load shouldn't be too heavy.

We've continued with the class reading book, Clockwork, and they've been working on the reading comprehension questions in small groups. In Maths, they've been polishing their understanding of writing 7 digit numbers as words, and they've started to create some word problems of their own. In Geography, they were introduced to what we will be doing on a grand scale, and over the next few months we will be narrowing the focus to a more local level. In Science class, they explored the Scientific Method and they did a little Galileo-inspired experiment. They will be choosing their own experiment next time.

On Friday, they were introduced to Genius Hour. In this class they are given the opportunity to learn about ANYTHING they want. The only structure is what they need to produce: a poster, a model, an explanation and a presentation. They may need to do some of the work for this at home, so please support them with their projects.

Here are some photos of CM1 at work during Maths class. They were all working on different stations, and rotated around the classroom every 15 minutes. This will form the structure for most maths classes this year, and it should give me the opportunity to really give more specific help and challenges to the students.

Anyway, it was nice to see everyone at the parents meeting on Monday. I look forward to a happy, productive, inspiring and hard-working year! Enjoy the weekend!

Internet Safety

Both classes have had a very interesting assembly on Internet Safety this morning.

Dear parents, please take the time to discuss about it at home with your child!

Guernica

Guernica a été peinte du 1er mai au 4 juin 1937 par Pablo Picasso sur commande des Républicains pour l'Exposition universelle de Paris.
Cette oeuvre exprime la révolte du peintre espagnol suite au bombardement par l’aviation nazie, le 26 avril 1937, de la ville espagnole qui a donné son nom au tableau.

Le tableau qui présente des personnages déformés en monstres, a été peint en noir et blanc en référence à la presse écrite de l’époque, laquelle est encore en noir et blanc en 1937.

La toile exprime toute l’horreur et la colère ressenties par Picasso à la suite du bombardement de Guernica dont il veut dénoncer la violence et la barbarie.

Il est aujourd’hui le symbole de l’horreur de la guerre et de la violence des hommes.

First Week Back!

This is the end of the first week back at school after the summer holiday. Both CM1 and CM2 have settled back into the swing of school life very quickly. In fact, many of them told me how excited they were to be back at school! That's great! School should be a fun place where children are eager to learn!

I will be updating the blog on a rotating bi-weekly basis for each class. For example, when CM1 are with me on a Friday, then that is the day I will make a blog post dedicated to them. This week CM2 are with me today, so the focus will be on them.

CM2 started off the school year with some holiday recounts and an reintroduction to the different types of lines used in geometry: horizontal, vertical, diagonal, perpendicular, parallel, and intersecting. From this basis, they will be learning more about angles and geometry.

They also started their new classroom reader: Ratburger! This is a fun and exciting book filled with some interesting themes that we can explore together. I've asked CM2 to make sure that they stick to the reading schedule, and that they only read the chapters I tell them. They are welcome to read ANY book in the library as fast (or as slow!) as they want, but for the purposes of our class discussions, we need to stay on the same page for this book.

Here are some pictures of them exploring the chapters with the aid of some reading comprehension questions. They also seem to like our new class furniture!

Finally, please remember that Monday, August 22 is the date of our first class meeting. I hope to see you all there!

La dame à la licorne

La dame à la licorne est un ensemble de 6 tapisseries.
Ces tapisseries ont probablement été tissées entre 1480 et 1500 (fin du XVème siècle). Elles sont tissées en fils de laine et de soie et mesurent 3,50 mètres de hauteur environ.

Cette série de tapisseries illustre les 5 sens corporels. La sixième - « à mon seul désir » - se distingue des autres : des animaux fabuleux, lion et licorne, y portent des armoiries qui ont permis d'identifier le commanditaire, Jean Le Viste, un puissant personnage proche du roi Charles VII.
Le lion incarne le pouvoir, la sagesse et la justice.
La licorne est un animal magique, symbole de puissance (la corne) et de pureté (sa blancheur).

D'autres animaux familiers - un lapin, des oiseaux, un singe - habitent les fonds des tapisseries et créent un univers de rêve.