Check out this link for simple math games from grade 1-4 with clear instructions and printables ready to go. Manitoba is a wealth of resources for those of us teaching French Immersion further West!
Les maths en sac The game below can be used for bingo, cut up for memory, go fish, war.
Merci to Madame MacDonald who introduced me to this great resource!
"La neige parfaite" par Barbara Reid (en français)
See the original links at Kids Artists Blog and Mrs. Jump's Blog. Quality language learning is active, engaging, authentic (wait a sec isn't that all learning?), let them eat snow (ok well touch it at least, now, before writing, to engage, enrich, inspire!).
A student brought a snowball in from outside. We passed it around the circle giggling and gasping at the cold while chanting/singing a silly song.
How many times around can we go before it melts?
As students gasped, "cold", "frozen", those words went up on whatever was handy; "froid", "gelée", "un frisson".
Students described the snow. What kind of snow is best for snowballs? Tobogganing? Does snow have a sound? A smell? A taste? What do you like to do in the snow ?
We read "La neige parfaite" by Barbara Reid and "Snowballs" by Lois Ehlert. What would you consider "perfect" snow? (no snow!) Someone brought a snow globe the next day.
We drew snow globes and wrote about them. Many students still appreciate a sentence structure to scaffold their writing. Some of the possible vocabulary was anticipated and included with the sentence structure for easy reference.
Just for fun this is an inappropriate-for-children but hilarious Knick-Knack Pixar video about one snowman's life in a snow globe.
Does every student have to complete every page? Can students add their own pages? Could they use the same format during Les cinq au quotidien (Daily Five) in their journals tomorrow? Dans mon aquarium . . . dans mon jardin de fée . . . dans mon terrier . . . dans l'espace
sonorisation de l'album de Eric Carle avec des élèves francophones
l'histoire en anglais
A writing piece to create during an integrated food unit including health and science outcomes (the 5 senses). Piggy back books based on a familiar, original story format supports new story writers, in this case the story is "La chenille qui fait des trous" by Eric Carle.
Follow the sequence of the story and begin writing on Monday, a page for each day of the week. Take it slow, this may be a major writing piece for many grade 1s. Students decide what the caterpillar will eat using their visual dictionaries, word strips or the reliable method of "Madame comment est-ce qu'on dit 'cauliflower' en français?" The sentence structures in the booklet require varying degrees of writing depending on student skill.
An extra long hole punch helps to prepare the booklet but isn't necessary- a parent volunteer to print and staple is. Beaded caterpillars made retelling extra engaging, be sure to make two - one to keep and one to give away to those kindergarten learning buddies we read our stories to!
Can students who are able move beyond the structured pattern sentences of the story to enrich their writing? Can those who struggle with fine motor use the pages that offer a sentence stem to trace and generate only one or two words where they are able? Could videos of students reading their stories be shared with parents at Student Showcase Night? Could students use their caterpillars and plastic food borrowed from kindergarten to present a puppet show of their story (does that sound like differentiation?). Does the critter in the story have to be a caterpillar?!
Jazzy Journals originated (for me) with Kinder by Kim. I use the provincial resource and follow their suggested scope an sequence. I've only taught grade 1 in Alberta for one year so I find it easier to start from somewhere so that I know that I am getting to all (most!) of those outcomes. Student math journals are bound together in a book at the end of the year. A student-made document they can read.
This one was tricky. We used the cut out mittens first to show the double, put your four pairs (for example) in front of you, how many left handed mittens do you have? How many right? Write the double math sentence on your white board. This was the culminating doubles lesson.
We made posters to illustrate the five senses and gradually added to them as we learned about each new sense. The posters were up for Student-Led Conferences and students were asked to present and explain them to parents.
I made a teacher poster and the students created their own. A bonus is that I had a parent trace the silhouettes before hand. What's missing from these examples are the 3D examples next to each sense.
To each finger we glued a different texture (a cotton ball, sandpaper, foil, a button and fake fur). To the mouth we added a piece of gum, a bell hung by the ear, and we dabbed essential oil on the nose. Sight? I can't remember what we did there . . .
This project once again begin with labeling ("bits and pieces" or "les petits morceaux").
Our next project is about Nicki et les animaux d'hiver by Jan Brett. We get to revisit the "texture" vocabulary introduced in our sense of touch portion of this unit.
During this unit, as students were coming into class I played a youtube song and video about the five senses. It's English but is catchy and introduces many of the concepts we plan to cover. It was an upbeat way to begin the day with some learning attached!
Each page describes one of the five senses and which organ is used. Students draw or collage things for each page. Student who are able are asked to label their drawings. For my science units I follow the Edmonton Public Science Resource. It has fabulous hands on experiments and is already in both French and English. I supplement it with my own more integrated projects when I can.
This month's math journal reviews tens and ones in a 2 digit number. These journals can be a centre with the materials and a sample laid out. Here the hole-punched bits that are used to decorate the gingerbread man are represented in a 10 frame and a math sentence. Student math journals are bound together in a book at the end of the year. A student-made document they can read.
I introduce the senses all at once at the end of November and beginning of December. We complete our study of the sense of taste in November with our food unit. Once we return to school in January we study the last 4 senses. This booklet is part of the introduction and also serves as a catalyst for Christmas and Holiday vocabulary. The booklet page I photographed should read "Je touche la barbe de père noël", it's kinda funny that the one I choose didn't quite get it right. There is more than one printing option, one requiring more writing, one less. Each page engages a different sense, we sprinkled cinnamon on the gingerbread man, glued a bell to the bells and a small candy cane the the "taste" page.
Summer is here and my teaching energy turns to my smallest classroom, my boys. As we travel this summer I dream of ways to encourage both to read and write. My 8 year old has started a blog and I am delighted to find a setting that allows viewers by invitation only! We will fearlessly post photos and details of our adventures. I hope they will continue to post in September en français. Maybe temps libre will be spent writing, posting, sharing, and reflecting when school begins again?
It's that time of year - reviewing our Teacher Professional Growth Plans. I had fun with the creation of mine this year and enjoyed going back to revisit it this weekend. It's hard to believe those 3 goals were just dreams when I wrote them out. They seemed ambitious. I got there though and I feel proud. Seventeen days to go and so much to accomplish in that short amount of time. Here's to a great year of learning, both for myself and my students. We've come a long way. Well done 1W!
I try to experiment with 1 new technology tool every week and implement or play with one a month. This week's venture is Photo Peach thanks to Aviva and her Blog (http://avivadunsiger.blogspot.com/).
That was so much fun here are the Valentine's inchies we made. These quilt inspired grids of love originated with that artist woman.
Les coeurs pour le jour de Saint Valentin on PhotoPeach Once you click play you can also click on individual art pieces to freeze them and zoom in close. Be sure to turn up the volume!
We began a unit today based on Jan Brett's story "Nicki et les animaux de l'hiver" (The Mitten). After polling each child about which animals they had actually seen in real life (someone had held a hedgehog) we found that the most unknown animal was the badger. Tomorrow I plan to ask, which animal do you think might be the most vicious (I am trying to engage my boy audience here)? Once they make their choice we will watch this bit of a National Geographic video.
I have had difficulty ordering Jan Brett's version of this story in French. I recently discovered that there are other versions available. Our journal sentence structure this month is "Qui, Quoi, Où". We identified these elements in The Mitten and the story La Moufle. We discussed the owner, the item, the animal and the catastrophe.
We discussed what item belongs in what kind of setting. The mitten and the animals in the story belong in a winter setting. A cowboy hat would belong on a farm, a seashell on a beach. We will revisit our ideas when we write our own stories based on the mitten. It was helpful to hear from Jan Brett and how she writes and illustrates a book.
We made puppets of the animals in the mitten. We sequenced them according to the order they appear in the story and we categorized them based on their textures as we are learning about the sense of touch in our science unit.
My son told me today that when his class retells the story with their puppets, when they get to the part where the bear sneezes, they get to throw all of their puppets up in the air!
Next week, we plan to stitch up our own mittens. We practiced a whip stitch on the kindergarten lacing cards today. There was some nostalgia among my students whom I taught in kindergarten. Madame? Do you remember we did this at centres in maternelle madame?!
We built cities out of blocks and math manipulatives in small groups. The students loved their cities (some asked for a white sheet underneath to design roads). We had to take photos.
The next day it occurred to me to make a map of our 3D structures. Then we added a legend. We had already made a map of our classroom but the legend concept was tough for many.
This time everyone was able to identify and label three structures from their map in their legend!
We have been planning a major purchase of "I can read" books for our grade 1 French Immersion classes. We have been looking for a system to level the books we have and those we might acquire. It is so much easier to find that "just right" book when the volumes are logically organized. Thank you to a teacher in Kamloops who passed on this site. Books are leveled across publishers and series using a common system. The criteria for each level is clearly explained.
This month we are beginning with the sentence structure "Qui? Quoi? Où?" We begin with an oral activity or game. Three stacks of cards are presented, students turn over one of each cards and say what they see, "Papa danse à la plage." The following week we will use this structure in our journal writing.
Move and live the action words before saying and writing them. Play charades. In later charade games students use the verb in a sentence rather than simply identifying it.
This wiki began as a way for a teaching partner and I to share resources. Now it has become a public space where anyone can access ideas for French Immersion or FSL classes (or parents). Initially, you will have to request access to the Wiki (which is completely free), please do so and we will be sure to update access regularly. The 'request access' feature isn't ideal but because we have already uploaded so much to that space we have stuck with it.
We hope that the Wiki will become a space where other teachers might contribute, or start their own online collaborative collection of resources for French Immersion. Collaboration is the only way to be sure this great job called teaching is still manageable enough to allow us to invest time in our own families and passions. Thanks for visiting and bienvenue!
More resources to this unit can me found on my post here.
Cut up your favourite poster and turn it into a daily Five 'work with words' centre (or print this one off). Distribute images to students, in turn we proclaim, 'J'aime les ______' or 'Je n'aime pas les _______.' Images are velcro-ed onto the poster.
While students eat their lunch and snack during this unit we tally who has items from each of the four food groups. Students easily learn their snack vocabulary and the four food groups in a short time.
Sonorisation de l'album de littérature jeunesse de Claude Boujon
Allow me introduce you to Amélie and Jacques. These two characters came home with my son on Friday. They were accompanied by a notebook.
The first page introduced them and said that they only spoke French. The note went on to say that they would love to hear my son speak to them in French while they spent their séjour (about a week) in our home.
My son was to print his name in the book and add any pictures or words about his adventures avec les amis. Upon their return, this coming Thursday, my son would give the class the run down of what they did together and pass Jacques et Amélie off to the next lucky recipient.
I love it! Encouraging students to speak French at home. Bravo Madame! Now I need to go out and get something to send home with my students . . .
This idea originated on the Kinder by Kim website (they are under jazzy journals). I have made my own journals for both kindergarten and grade 1 (en français of course) based on her fabulous idea. Here is the math journal cover I used.
In kindergarten the journals were most often used to show the best friends of 10. What I liked most about these "journals" was that they gave me the opportunity to do a seasonal craft with my students that includes a legitimate curricular outcome.
In both kindergarten and grade 1 we use ten frames to teach counting, number sense, and addition. You will notice that my math journals use the ten frames as well. We make the journal page as the culmunation of a math unit or skill for example, what makes ten, representing numbers to 20, 40 and so on.
When possible I have begun to look for literature links to each journal activity and will include these as I find them.
SEPTEMBER - Grade 1 In September in grade one our theme is apples (how original, I know) and I sing the song "Five Green Apples" (I know, it's a subtraction song, I changed it for my purposes!) as we model a tree, apples and addition on the smart board. I made up lyrics in French and one brave day will record an MP3 of it and post it here!
At Halloween I came across this delightful book. The language is at just the right level for my students.
OCTOBER - Grade 1 The middle page spread of the story is very similar to our own journal page.
NOVEMBER - Grade 1 In November during our food unit in grade 1 we made math pizzas. The song "Je suis un pizza" by Charlotte Diamond is an absolute favourite by our students in kindergarten. By grade one they are delighted that they already know the song. For this journal the cheese is added last and not included in the "math story" along the bottom of the page.
DECEMBER - Grade 1 Jan Brett's book Malicieux Pain d'Épice (Gingerbread Baby) is always a good choice in December.
Each month students draw and complete the sentence of what will be a page in a class book. The books are a cumulative record of a student's growth in writing (a sample every month) and become the favourite choices during "Read to Self" and "Read to Someone" during Les cinq au quotidien (Daily Five). The books may be based on a pattern book we have read and are always related to a monthly theme. At the end of the year the books are taken apart and compiled for each student and stapled together. Students take home a 10 page book they have created and can read.
Document holders are a handy way to compile the pages and keep them in good shape for the entire year. These each have 10 clear pouches so that 2 sheets can go into each pouch back to back. One student page becomes the cover.
Students then use these simple sentences in their journal. They have a place to begin and can expand on the sentences and vocabulary they have used before.
(Note: As an update not all of the grade 1 books were posted here. They are now available on this post. Scroll past the social studies overview info to see each month and the downloads.)
