Testing levers

Here are some pictures of my class testing out our levers! 

I gave them a cotton ball and a ruler, and they could choose different classroom objects for the fulcrum. 

In small groups, they tried to see who could make their cotton ball go the highest, and the farthest. They had a blast doing this! 

        

             

              

                          

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Fill in the blanks - Working with words game

Here is another game my students play during Daily 5. They started the year with this one - where they match the pictures to the words. They can do it so quickly now that I pulled out this one - they have to write the words themselves! I have some of them do it in small groups, that way they can help each other out :) 

                                    

                                        

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More Daily 5 fun!

Here are some of the Daily 5 activities that my students do regularly. 

My intention for this game was that they read the card and draw (for reading comprehension) - but some of my students also like to write it out. This is ok with me, as long as they also read what they are writing. 

Sentence making! I got these cardboard puzzle pieces and wrote on them with permanent marker. You could also write on them with whiteboard markers, but I prefer having the writing stay on the pieces. 

These magnets are the same idea (below). I made them really small so that they could use the sides of their desks to make the sentences, but you could make them bigger. 

What do your kids love to do during Daily 5?? 

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Bonjour l'hiver - poem sort

My class LOVED "Bonjour l'hiver" more than I even expected them to. I sent home the youtube link to their parents and they were able to practice at home as well.  

After a few weeks of singing it in class, we had a challenge! I typed up the lyrics and then cut them into strips. In groups, my students raced to put the poem in order and SING it together when they were done. 

The first group to finish the song got to sing it for the whole class! 

 

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Snowman sequence - getting my students talking!

Last week we worked on story telling. I put my students into groups of 4, and had them put 4 pictures into a sequence. They had to use the pictures to come up with a story. They could add details into the existing pictures, and draw new squares to add to the sequence as well. 

Each student was responsible for presenting one frame of the story to the class. It was good to see how the groups worked together (learning skills time!) and if they could work together to come up with a story that made sense. 

Some of the groups chose to also write their sentences down, while others just presenting using the pictures as prompts. 

This was really helpful as a formative assessment, as many of my students presented "je vois..." sentences. They got stuck on describing what was in each frame instead of telling a story. Time to really practice other sentence starters!!! 

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Listening comprehension - desks!

We have been using our desks to practice listening in French. I have them listen to me talk and then draw what they hear. This week we practiced our winter vocab! 

After a few sentences in French, they then wrote a sentence describing what they had drawn:

After I had done it with them a few times, I chose a few students to try saying a few sentences while the rest of the class drew what they heard. We also tried this in their table groups - they took turns being the one speaking. 

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Getting my reluctant writers started!

Writing in French can be very scary for my students. If they aren't confident with their writing in English, then it's an extra scary new challenge. 

This week I let me students write on their desks. Their DESKS. They didn't believe me when I told them to take a dry erase marker and sit at their desks. When I told them to start writing, they looked at me as though it was a trick! Through the giggles and squeals, I noticed that ALL of them started writing within a few minutes. In French! I didn't have any of the resistance that I get when I give them paper and tell them to start. 

For some of them, I wrote prompts on their desks for them to reply to. For others, I wrote sentence starters and they finished them (with words and pictures). It was so easy to differentiate! As they finished, I walked around and we looked at editing. I made notes down the sides of their desks and they edited their work (capitals, periods, word wall words). 

I now have kids begging to write on their desks when they finish their work :) 

**Some of our desks had some grime on them, so the dry erase markers didn't perfectly erase. When we were completely done, we used some water and a paper towel and it came right off :) 

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