Thursday, January 7, 2016

Grade 3 - important reading about the topography of Ontario.

Important reading! - la topographie de l'Ontario
Students are expected to identify three major land regions in Ontario and how their natural environment influences land uses, jobs and industries that develop in the communities in each region.

Le bouclier canadien
Cette région couvre environ les deux tiers de l’Ontario. La terre est composée de roches, de sable et du sol superficiel, alors ce n’est pas de la bonne terre pour l’agriculture. La région contient plusieurs lacs, rivières, étangs et ruisseaux, ce qui est bon pour les animaux et les plantes. Les personnes aiment visiter cette région à cause de sa beauté naturelle. Le bouclier canadien est riche en ressources naturelles, comme le fer, le zinc, le nickel, l’or et l’argent. Les sources d’eau donnent de l’électricité à la province. Les forêts donnent du bois et l’abri pour plusieurs animaux. Les villes principales dans cette région sont : Sudbury et Thunder Bay, qui se sont développées grâce à l’exploitation minière, l’industrie de la pêche, la foresterie et l’exploitation hydroélectrique.
Les basses terres des grands lacs et du St. Laurent
C’est une des régions les plus populeuses en Ontario. Un grand pourcentage d’Ontarien vit et travaille dans cette région. La terre est généralement plate avec des collines. Le sol est riche et fertile, ce qui est parfait pour l’industrie d’agriculture. Les fermiers exploitent l’agriculture et les animaux dans cette région. Le climat est doux, alors beaucoup de personne préfèrent vivre dans cette région. Toronto et Ottawa sont les deux villes principales dans cette région. Ils sont près de l’eau et des États-Unis, ce qui donne beaucoup d’occasions pour le commerce, les voyages et l’exportation. Beaucoup de personnes travaillent dans ces grandes villes dans diverses industries comme le commerce, la politique, le tourisme, etc.
Les basses terres de la Baie d’Hudson
C’est la région la plus au nord de l’Ontario. Comme son nom le suggère, elle est située au long de la Baie d’Hudson. La région a beaucoup de marais avec des endroits mouillés et bas près de l’eau. Beaucoup d’oiseaux migrent à cette région et il y a beaucoup d’animaux qui vivent dans cette région. Il y a des caribous, des baleines et des ours. Le sol n’est pas approprié pour l’agriculture. Il n’y a pas beaucoup de centre populeux dans cette région. Le climat subarctique le rend moins désirable pour vivre et les coûts de transport le rend une région moins favorable pour les industries. La fourrure et l’exploitation hydraulique sont deux industries dans cette région. La majorité de l’hydroélectricité provient de cette région.
Vue d’ensemble
Chaque région fournit sa propre contribution à la province. L’emplacement de la terre, la qualité du sol, le climat et la proximité à l’eau jouent un rôle dans la détermination du type de communauté, des industries et des plantes et animaux qui vont prospérer dans la région. Les attributs divers de l’Ontario lui permettent d’offrir une variété d’emplois, de communautés et d’habitats pour les personnes et les animaux. Des commerces urbains, aux communautés d’agriculture rurale, aux centres touristiques et les centres de préservation, l’Ontario a beaucoup à offrir!


Grade 2 - The country project and extra activities for support

Students have started a project on a country. Please discuss with your child(ren) which country they have chosen and ask why they chose it, what they know about it already, and what they want to know more about it. Students will be doing a research online on a Chromebook to learn more about it over the next couple of weeks. Students are expected to be able to:
- Locate the country on the world map. (in which hemisphere? in which continent?)
- Demonstrate understanding of differences between continents and countries.
- Ask questions about its population, food, climate and animals (and more) and answer to those questions through research.
- Use a website to find information about it (www.cyber-flag.net) - capital, currency, language, etc. to complete a report.
- Use a Venn diagram to compare their country with another.


Some extra practice activities to help students achieve the curriculum expectations:
1. Open the following page and look at the weather in different parts of the world. Why are they different? http://www.meteomedia.com/ Choose a country and make a prediction about the weather and look it up on this website to check if their prediction was correct.

2. Play geography games to locate different countries. Use a world map to help. Especially the games under "pays du monde"
http://www.jeux-geographiques.com/jeux-en-ligne-Tous-nos-jeux-MONDE-_pageid168.html

3. Watch videos about lives of different children around the world. Discuss why we have different houses, food, traditions, clothes, etc. and how they are related to their natural environment.
http://laoujedors.com/

Grade 1 - some prompt questions to support your child(ren) at home.

We have so far discussed
1. My roles and responsibilities at different places. (example student talk click here)
2. How roles and responsibilities change over time and after certain special events. (example student talk click here)
3. Important people in my life and their responsibilities. (example student talk click here)

We are now talking about special/important places in our lives. Some places and responsibilities that we came up with are : click here.

Some prompt questions
1. What are your responsibilities at home? Do your friends/siblings have the same responsibilities?
2. What new responsibilities do you have now that you are 7?
3. Who are some of the important people in your life and why are they important?
4. What are some special/important places in your life and why are they important/special?
5. What are some new responsibilities now that you go to school?
6. What is your role at home? What is your role at school? What is your role now that your baby sister was born?
7. What new responsibilities do you have now that you have a pet?
8. What is your responsibility in your classroom? What are some of your classmates' responsibilities?

Some activities students can do at home.
1. Draw a family tree and explain the responsibility of each person in the house.
2. Draw a timeline of the significant events in their lives and explain how those events changed their roles and responsibilities.
3. Draw pictures of important people in their lives and explain their responsibilities and roles.
4. Draw a special place in their lives and explain why it is special, what responsibilities they have in this place.
5. Writing practice with the examples from this blog.

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Grade 1 - January

Dear parents and guardians,

In Social Studies, Grade 1 students have so far discussed:
- their roles and responsibilities in different places.
- important people in their lives and how their roles and responsibilities are different.
- important events in their lives and how these events change their roles and responsibilities.

In January, Grade 1 students will start a project in which they will create a poster to show at least three important places in their lives and how their roles and responsibilities change in these places.

Please send with your child(ren) three pictures taken in their three important places, if available, by the 11th of January at the latest. Some examples include pictures taken in their relatives' house, school and their place of worship (no trip or vacation pictures taken in places where they do not have particular responsibilities). Students will discuss this topic the first week back and they should be able to tell you which places they have chosen to include in their poster by the end of this week. The size of each photograph must be 4x6 or smaller. All the photos used in this project will only be used for the purpose of this activity and will be sent back home after the project has been evaluated. The number and quality of the photos used in this project will not be assessed for equity reasons. If photos are not available, students will be allowed to draw instead with no penalty. Using real photos is intended to help students engage and see the relevance of their learning to their life better.

For some of the vocabulary we will be using for this project, please click here. Click on the speaker icon to play the pronunciation. Long click to play it slowly.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me via agenda or telephone (ext. 113). Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

M. Jung