Monday, January 26, 2015

Public Speaking Competition At Admrial Today

Representing our class in the Public Speaking Competition are Hailey Abbot, Lia Dozzi, and Kendall Dueck.  Selecting representatives was a very difficult task.  We had many excellent speakers in our class. We had several students who chose to give an oral/visual presentation (with a slide show), so unfortunately they were not able to participate in the "speech" competition, but they were still able to demonstrate their wonderful presentation skills to the class.  If you would like to attend the event, the Junior competition begins shortly after 9:00 am, followed by the Intermediate competition (after first break).

Good luck girls!  I will be rooting for all three of you!

Sunday, January 18, 2015

This Cold Week in January

In French, we began the week learning how to conjugate "ER" verbs in present tense.


I just noticed a spelling error, "enlèvez" should be "enlevez" - OOPS!  I will make the necessary correction to our anchor chart and take the opportunity to teach the rule about the "accent grave" to my students.
 
 
 
Étude de la semaine:
 
These will be our study words for dictée (on Wednesday).  We are learning when to use the verb "faire" vs the verb "jouer" when referring to activities such as playing games, playing musical instruments, and playing or doing sports.  If the sport involves a ball or a puck, use the verb "jouer".  If you are playing a musical instrument or playing a game, use the verb "jouer". 
 

We are also learning how to decide when to use the preposition "de" (du, de la, de l', des) or  "à" (au, à la, à l', aux) with definite article. 
 
When you put the prepositions de or à next to a definite article (le, la, l’, les), the preposition changes based on the number and gender of the noun being described.
 

 de + le = du

à + le = au

de + la = de la

à + la = à la

de + l’ = de l’

à + l’ = à l’

de + les = des

à + les = aux
 
 

 
 

 
This week we also reviewed and practiced "les phrases negatives". 
 
Phrases declaratives: J'aime la pizza.  Je veux jouer aux cartes.
Phrases negatives:  Je n'aime pas la pizza.  Je ne veux pas jouer aux cartes.
 
When writing negative sentences, the verb is sandwiched between the NE and PAS, or N' and PAS.
We use "n'....pas" when the verb begins with a vowel.
 
I am slowly making my way through French projects (Je me présente), that were due last Friday.  It is a pleasure to read through the scrapbooks or view the slide shows that students have prepared about themselves.
 
In English, students have been working on speech,s or power point presentations, in preparation for our public speaking evaluations (and competition) beginning Monday.  I look forward to their presentations!  They have selected some very interesting topics!
 
In math (Lemire blended group), we have completed our unit in Measurement (perimeter, area, volume, capacity, distance, elapsed time, metric conversions, conversions from 12-hour to 24-hour clock, selecting the most appropriate unit of measure, temperature) and we are ready to begin a new unit in Geometry!
 
We ended the week with art.  Some students were finishing up an outstanding art project (one-point perspective, city street), while others began a new winter watercolour.  Here are our happy artists at work. (Sam, Lia and Aaron M!  I missed you three in our photos! Sorry.)
 






 
Looking forward to the week ahead!