Joyeux Noël!

Here are some Christmas songs on Youtube that your child may want to sing during the holidays.

Notre arbre de Noël by Matt Maxwell

Le gentil Père Noël by Matt Maxwell

Quand le Père Noël vient me visiter by Suzanne Pinel

Vive le vent (the French version of Jingle Bells)

I hope you and your family have a safe and happy holiday! 

Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année à tous!
(Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!)

Santa's workshop

On Wednesday, December 19th, Santa's Workshop (a ‘mini’ store) will be set up in the library for the day. On this day, students will be given a chance to come by and purchase new items for members of their family. The cost of these items range from 25¢ to $4.00. The school is looking for parent volunteers to take shifts helping students pick out gifts and wrap items. Without volunteers this will not be possible. If you are available and interested in volunteering on this day, please call the office to let them know. Please make sure to send money with your child if you would like him or her to participate in this activity. Also, I am experiencing a few technical difficulties with the interactive poster on Glogster, so please be patient while I work out glitches. Merci!

Our 2nd word study poster on Glogster!

Hello parents,

Here is the latest word study poster that we are working on in class.  We will be sending home the word cards to practice at home very soon - this time without pictures as an added challenge!  I have been working on a new online tool that I hope will be helpful for you to support your child's reading practice at home.  Below you will find an interactive online poster from Glogster.  We have not yet recorded the audio but soon you will be able to click on each word and hear it read aloud to you.  In the meantime I thought I would give you all a sneak peak at what's to come.


Also, just a reminder to return the purple Second Step duotang to school by Monday if you have not already done so.  We will start our next unit on Empathy next week.
Have a wonderful weekend!

Le bien-être (Health) information and general update

In health last term, the students learned about the difference between healthy snacks and treats and why it's important to eat healthy snacks on a regular basis and to save treats for special times.  It should be noted, however, that because the students eat their snacks during recess time outdoors so I am not always aware of whether or not the children are using what they learned in order to make good choices when it comes time to eat a snack.  You can help ensure that your child is making better choices by taking the time at home to reinforce and discuss the importance of healthy eating and by limiting the amount of "treats" that you send to school in your child's lunch. 

This term we have been focusing more on the 4 food groups and healthy eating during meal times, which fits in perfectly with our second word study poster of a family eating dinner (more on that later).  To date we have learned about 2 food groups:  Les fruits et les legumes (Fruits and Vegetables), and Les produits céréaliers (Grain Products) and will continue to learn about the next two groups (Les produits laitiers et les viandes et substituts) over the next few weeks.  If you would like more information about Health Canada's daily recommended amount and type of foods for children, visit the Canada Food Guide website.  Suggestions on types and amounts of recommended daily physical activity and ideas on how to encourage your child to be more active are also included on this page (scroll to the bottom of the page). I will also add these links to the right hand side of this blog for easy access. 

We are also nearly finished our first unit in Second Step (which is all about listening skills) and will begin a new unit on empathy soon.  

On a (slightly) related note, the school is currently accepting donations to the food bank (there are two bins located in the front lobby), so feel free to send in non-perishable food with your child next week.  We will be accepting donations at the school until Wednesday, November 28th. 

On a very unrelated note, I have added more videos to the blog, so feel free to browse the links on the right side of the page with your child.  I didn't have a chance to play them all for the children today... so they can have a sneak peek this weekend if they want!

Merci tout le monde for your continued support.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Bonne fin de semaine!

Term 1 Report Cards

Your child's first Progress Report is being sent home today, so I know it may be an exciting/nervous evening for parents and students alike. 

In order to ensure that this first evaluation is as positive and productive as possible, here are some suggestions on how to approach reading and responding to your child's report card:
1) Set aside a quiet and private time to read through the documents on your own
2) Arrange a quiet and private time to sit down with your child to read the report card together
3) Discuss the evaluation calmly and positively, beginning with your child's areas of strength, including examples of how your child exhibits these behaviours and skills at home
4) Discuss the areas needing further attention in a practical manner, including brainstorming ways t hat these skills can be practiced and reinforced on a regular basis at home and at school
5) Make jot notes together about areas needing further clarification to take with you to the conference next week

The students will be doing a self-evaluation today in class which Mme Tessmann and I will share with you at the conference next week.  In our Second Step lessons, we are discussing how differently negative self-talk and positive self-talk affect our decisions and our lives.  We encourage you to help your child gain skills in self-evaluation and self-talk by using these progress reports as a stepping stone to increased self-awareness and understanding.

If you have not yet booked a conference time next week, please call the office as soon as possible.  Also, please remember that, due to sensitivities in the school community, our school is now a scent-free building, so please refrain from wearing parfumes or colognes when coming to the school. 

Word study update

We are almost ready to wrap up our first Word Study unit Dans la salle de classe but I thought I would share with you all the things we have been doing the last few weeks as well as some added materials available now and in the near future for you to support your child at home. 

First of all, I have added the sentences our students created to the flipsnack page so that you can print or view the words along with the sentences.  That webpage is located here.  These documents are available for download in .pdf format if you wish to have a paper copy to work from. 

The students had a lot of fun turning their sentence into a "phrase folle" (silly sentence) by changing one word with the help of our cali-partenaires (care partners) in Grade 4/5.  We even made a class book out of this activity, which is slowly making its way to the home of each child to share with you for one special night!

On Thursday, the class collaborated with Mme Tessmann to write an amazingly wonderful paragraph to wrap up our unit on the classroom. We will send that home for your child to read with you once the children have had a chance to illustrate their copy.   I will also make a point of adding it to that same webpage (linked above) so that you always have a quick and easy point of reference when you are able to find a few moments to work with your child.

Thank you parents, for all of your support at home!  We are looking forward to discussing your child's progress with you at 3-way conferences on November 28 or 29th (please contact the office to schedule a time that works for you).

Joyeux Halloween!

Bonjour tout le monde! 

We had a great day today at school for Halloween and boy did it go fast!  The students were very busy with various activities including music, gym, a costume parade, some In Motion dancing in the gym and a few short books on DVD.  We also worked really hard on creating our very own monster today, using dice to determine how many body parts they would have.  The kids really enjoyed being creative in making their monster unique.  They even came up with a name in French using basic syllables (ie.  Ma + mo = Mamo). 

Here are some photos of their work on display in the hall, along with my example which was modeled for the class before they got started.  I have also included some information on all the things we were learning during this activity.

Parents, make sure to check your email for a few photos of the children dressed up in their costumes.  We have also completed our class book (finally!) and I will see if I can send it to you by email so that you can take a look at it whenever you like chez vous.  Oh, and we are also working on a book with our Cali-partenaires in Grade 4/5 so stay tuned for that as well!

I hope you all have a successful, happy, and safe Halloween!

Food for thought: Why learn French?

Merci pour...

The kids had a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  In social studies we discussed the importance of being thankful for the things we have in our lives. Each student wrote about what they are thankful for. Please watch for your child's work to come home this week so he/she can share what they are thankful for.

FYI - proper pencil grip strategy

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

I just found this webpage with a strategy for teaching your child to hold a pencil properly.  In grade 1, we've already got that figured out for the most part.  BUT I thought I would share it with you in case you have little ones at home and would be interested in trying it.  This is a new strategy for me as well, so if you try it, let me know how it goes!  Click here to find out more. 

Les sciences naturelles

I teach the students Les Sciences Naturelles twice a week (usually on Wednesdays and Fridays).

For the last few weeks we have been looking at and talking about living and non-living things (les êtres vivants et non-vivants) and what all living things have in common (they move, they breathe, they reproduce, they grow and they need water and food to survive). We have formulated these traits into questions that we asked to determine: est-ce que c'est un être vivant? for various objects.  We also had some interesting conversations about some of the less obvious objects (ie. a picked apple, a seed, an egg).

Here is an example of some of the things we discussed last week.

Today the students chose something that could be found in the school yard, drew it and then answered the five questions to conclude whether it is a living thing or not.  Next class we will focus on what all living things need in order to survive.

MIMI word study words part 2

We sent home two new pages of word cards words today.  Here are the videos for those words:

We have been working really hard on all of these words! 

Here are some of the things we have noticed, while working on our words:

• some use the article un, some use the article une
• une fille and une affiche have double letters
• many words begin with the hard c 
• many words begin with the letter p
• some words end in er (to make the sound "ay")
• c and h together make a "sh" sound

Today we worked with our care partners in Grade 4/5 to read sort our words using an attribute (a common article, sound, letter, ending, etc).  This was our third time classifying our words and it went really well!  When reading these words at home, feel free to explore the words in the same way in order to help increase your child's understanding and self-confidence. 


We have also begun to talk about titles (what they are, and what they tell us) and we will be coming up with a title for our poster very soon.  The next step in the process will be to begin our sentence work.

Thanks very much for your support at home.  If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know.

French Alphabet Song

We found this French alphabet song we thought would be helpful for your child (and for parents as well) to help with learning the names of the alphabet letters in French. 

Terry Fox Fundraiser

We would like to say an ENORMOUS "THANK-YOU" to all those who participated in raising money for the Terry Fox Foundation.  Together, our class raised a grand total of $532.00!!!  That is just FANTASTIC!!  Way to go everyone : )

A quick clarification

Just a quick blog post to clarify:

We will be sending the other two pages of words this week, so there is no need to print from the online book (unless you wanted to).  I merely posted the online book to test out a new tool and also to give you an extra point of reference in case anyone wanted it.  We will also post 2 more videos of Mme Tessmann reading the words for your reference.  I hope it helps!

Also, we have added a new video to Our Favourite Songs page, which you can find by clicking on the link on the right under Pages, or by clicking here. 

Soon I will post an update on what we have been working on in science, so stay tuned for that!

As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

MIMI - An online book of all the words

I have created an online book version of all the words that we are learning for this cycle of our MIMI word study.  To view it, click here.  This website also allows you to download the *pdf version of this file for you to use at home if you wish. 

I have a feeling we will be using this site to make some online class books this year!

2nd page of words (video)

Here are the words on the second page that we sent home. 

les couleurs - un sac de crayons

MIMI

Français (French Language Arts)

Both Mme Tessmann and Mme Hegarty teach French Language Arts.  To teach French Language Arts we use the “PWIM”/”MIMI” model (Picture Word Inductive Model/Modèle Inductive des Mots Illustrés) which which is an in depth word study based on a photo that we`ve chosen.  We have been working through the 1^st cycle of PWIM/MIMI using the picture titled Dans la Salle de Classe (In the Classroom). 

 

 Each MIMI Word Study Cycle works through the following process:

·        labelling a variety of French vocabulary words in the picture,

·        exploring common letters, sounds, syllables, in the words,

·        reading and sorting the vocabulary words by doing a variety of word study activities,

·        sorting and classifying vocabulary words according to letter sounds, number of syllables, etc.

·        creating and reading simple sentences using the vocabulary words generated from the picture,

·        generating titles for the picture, and

·        writing stories (working with paragraphs) based on the photo.

Today your child is bringing home some of their MIMI word cards (2 pages).  Please have your child practice reading these words daily or regularly if daily is not possible.  When practicing reading these words with your child, we suggest doing the following:

1.      Have your child practice identifying and naming the picture of each object in French.

2.      When your child knows the names of each object, practice reading the words associated with the pictures.

Please feel free to cut the cards up as you wish and make a game out of it to make learning these words fun for your child.  For example, you can use them as flash cards, play a memory matching game or sorting words with common attributes (ie. letters, sounds, words like un/une, etc.)

We have made some videos of the words being sent home, which may help you and your child to practise at home.

du papier - des souliers

Our first word study poster

Here is our first MIMI poster of the year. Through MIMI (a french term which translates to PWIM: Picture Word Inductive Model), we will explore words, letters, and letter sounds using these words which were "shaken out" by the students. We will be sending home word cards from this poster for your child to practice in the near future.

Destination: Conservation Update

Mme Hamilton (Grade 3/4 FI teacher) and I are doing the "Destination:  Conservation" environmental club at École Victoria School this year and, for that reason, I just wanted to highlight some events happening in Saskatoon next weekend for World Rivers Day.

On Sunday, September 30th, you may be interested in accompanying your child(ren) to any of the following:

River Landing Hike:    Join Girl Guides Saskatoon for their public hike along River Landing. This hike will stop at River Landing as well as possibly make it to the Water Treatment Plant. Enjoy the beauty of the South Saskatchewan River in this interpretive hike and learn about Girl Guides too. The walk runs from 1pm until 3pm. Please arrive at Friendship Park at 12:30pm to pre-register.

Who/What’s in our River: Greg Fenty from the Saskatoon Zoo Society will be in the park giving you the scoop of what special organisms live in our river! There will also be an interactive biological artifacts display. Great for kids!

Friendship Park and River Clean up: Trash Dashers Saskatoon invites the public to come on down and help keep Friendship Park and our riverbank clean Sunday, September 30th at 3pm. Girl Guides Saskatoon will also be participating in this event.  

More details and other events can be found at the following Facebook event page:  http://www.facebook.com/events/102435269914373/ . Information courtesy of the Saskatchewan Environmental Society - http://www.environmentalsociety.ca/

The Destination: Conservation Environmental Club will be having our second meeting on Wednesday, September 26th at 12:05pm in Mme Hamilton's classroom.  Students of all ages are welcome!

Nos capsules de temps

Yesterday we finished our time capsule project which we have been working on since the very first day of school. Inside it contains:
- a self-portrait done on the very first day of school
- some drawings and writing about our interests
- a string that I used to measure your child's height
- a traced and coloured copy of your child's hand and foot
All of this was done with very minimal assistance and the children wrapped them up yesterday. I put a sign up that says "do not open until June 2013" because we will do all of this again at the end of grade 1 to celebrate the growth and learning we will have accomplished during grade 1. I know that it will be a wonderful experience to have a concrete example of how hard we have worked during the school year.

Meet the teacher night

It was very nice to so many parents tonight. I'm sorry if I didn't get a chance to speak to everyone - it was pretty busy in the classroom! Hopefully you got a chance to speak to at least one of us.

Tomorrow I will take a few moments to explain the Capsules de temps that you may (or may not) have noticed in the corner of the classroom. ;)

Thanks for coming tonight! It's going to be a great year!

Bonsoir tout le monde!

Qui suis-je?

The boys and girls in salle 6 have worked very hard on these self-portraits with Mme Tessmann. Can you find your son or daughter's artwork? We are looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at the Meet The Staff Night (at 6:30pm) to find out if you can guess right!

Mme Hegarty

Welcome parents / Bienvenue aux parents!

Bonjour les parents!

Hello parents!

This year we are trying out a new method of communication.  In addition to your children's agendas (which we will continue to check daily), we are hoping that this blog will serve to replace monthly newsletters and provide you with important classroom news on a more regular and current basis.   We encourage you to sign up to get any updates emailed to you directly by adding your email address to the box on the right (where it says "Follow this blog by email").

Please be patient as we get accustomed to this new technology;  it has been a slow process getting it ready in the midst of a busy first few weeks of school, but we will be adding updates and information soon.

In the meantime, here is a video that I have shown the Grade Ones that they enjoy very much.  I hope you enjoy singing this with your child as much as I do! Warning:  you may find yourself involuntarily humming this tune over the weekend. :)

Looking forward to seeing you at Meet the Staff night on Wednesday!

Mme Karyn Hegarty