Week 14 Update

Bonjour!

A big thank you to everyone who volunteered in the past two weeks to make our field trips possible.  It was a nice change to be learning outside the classroom.  Both trips were a big success and it was most interesting to hear the students' views about our walk in the forest, as well as riding the city bus.  We walked quite a bit on both days, and all students remained positive throughout the day.  After our trip to the Royal BC Museum, working in groups, students shared with the class what they had learned during the trip.  I was impressed with how many details they had noticed in the Museum.

Here's a quick look at what is going on this week at school:

Monday - Busy day:  Library book exchange, P.E. with our little buddies in the morning.

In the afternoon we have our monthly assembly.  We will be receiving a trophy from the fire department for our very quiet & orderly fire drill back in October.  It was the quietest I had ever experienced.

At this assembly we will also be honouring our music/choir teacher, Gail Evans, for being named an "Outstanding Professional Educator" by the BC Music Educators Association.  We are very lucky to have such a dedicated and knowledgeable teacher at our school.

Tuesday - Choir practice in the afternoon

Wednesday - 11:52 Dismissal.  Parent/Teacher interviews from 1pm to 5pm.  Interview notices were sent home in the report card envelopes.

In the morning, my son Eric, a member of the UVic Rocketry Club, will be speaking to the class about space exploration.

Thursday - 11:52 Dismissal.  Parent/Teacher interviews from 1pm to 5pm.  Interview notices were sent home in the report card envelopes.

Friday - Choir practice in the morning

Here's a link to this week's dictée:

Week 12 Update

Bonjour!

What's going on this week:

Tuesday: choir practice

Thurday: Field trip, please see email sent for more details about Thursday's field trip and next week's field trip.  Make sure your child is wearing boots and a rain jacket.  Send along a snack which can be tucked into a pocket.

Also Thursday - dictée & gym

Agendas:
I really appreciate it when you are able to sign your child's agenda.  Thank you to those of you who can do this consistently.  Just sign in the actual school day somewhere.  So a typical week would have 5 teacher signatures, and 5 parent signatures, one for each school day.

Here's the dictée:



Bonne semaine!

Week 11 Update

Bonjour!

A fairly quiet week it seems this week.  Here's what's planned:

Monday - Library book exchange, Grade 1 buddies
Tuesday - Choir
Thursday - Dictée, Gym.  New dictée words to go home in the agenda this day also.
Friday - Pro-D, no school for students.  I will be at another school, looking forward to learn about Brain-Gym and student peer-helping activities.

- This week, we will be doing an activity where students reflect on their attributes (good qualities), skills, interests, and accomplishments (something they are proud of).

- Math - We will work more with Place Value, and learning number names in French.  If you want to help at home, practice counting by 10s in French, forwards & backwards.  Something to work on together on the drive home perhaps?

- Science - Matter:  solids, liquids, & gases

Here is this week's audio dictée:

Week 10 Update

Bonjour!

Upcoming this week:

• We will be on grounds clean-up this week, rain or shine!  Please make sure your child is dressed for cold & rainy days.
• Please send your child's labeled choir uniform to school, in a labeled bag.  (white top, black bottom)
• There will be no dictée this week.  Next dictée - week of Nov. 14th, the theme is words with an "é" sound.  You can find these in your child's agenda, in the week of Nov. 14th.  

Monday - Library book exchange.

Tuesday & Wednesday - Afternoon choir rehearsals in the gym.

Thursday - Morning Choir performance, only open to parents of children performing as part of the honour guard.  The choirs will perform the same songs (and more!) in the Christmas concerts.

Friday - Remembrance Day, school not in session.

As noted above, please make sure your child's choir uniform is labeled.  Students change in & out of their uniform in the washrooms and I'm sure you can imagine what a sea of white and black becomes of items dispersed on the floor.  Labeling your child's clothes will help us organize them quickly.

Swim Club:

The Willows after school Swim Club is in the process of accepting applications.  Permissions have been sent home with interested students.  If you would like more information, please email me and I will send a form home in your child's agenda.

Remembrance Day Posters:

On Friday we had a class discussion about what Remembrance Day means to our class community.  Students shared many stories of relatives having served abroad, or stories of war in other parts of the world.  This serves as an introductory discussion to Remembrance Day and other themes such as sacrifice, caring, and working together as a team.  Students have started to work on a Remembrance Day poster reflecting our discussions.  Interested students may wish to take part in the Royal Canadian Legion's Primary Poster Contest.  Local Legions award prizes, and local winners have a chance to win a trip to Ottawa.  If your child is interested in participating, I will send a registration form home for you to complete.

For inspiration, we also watched a short video here to see other students' Remembrance Day posters.

Other concepts we are currently studying:

Math:

We just finished a unit on Patterns, using numbers, letters, and shapes.  Some of this included skip counting, mostly by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, and 20, either adding or subtracting.

Next week we will be starting what I feel is the most important elementary age unit, that of placement value.  Kids who understand placement value know that in a number such as 498, the 4 represents 400 and is a larger than the 9 which represents 90.  We will be using blocks and many out of textbooks activities to reinforce these concepts.

Social Studies:

We are finishing a unit on Mapping concepts, and the students are creating their own map of the Musgrave field making sure they include a title, a legend, and cardinal directions.  Last week, we snuck outside when it stopped raining for 10 minutes in the early week, and used compasses to find out where North, South, East, and West fell on the playground.  

P.E.

Students have been playing Handball, focusing on fair (and safe) play, and short passes.  

Bonne semaine à tous!

Week 8 Update

Bonjour!

Please see email for field trip information.


Of note this week (as well as the field trip):

Monday Oct. 24th - Library book exchange, Scholastic due, Cross-Country Meet after lunch

Tuesday Oct. 25th - Last week's Dictée cahier sent home

Wednesday Oct. 26th - Pyjama day

Thursday Oct. 27th - Photo retakes, Dictée


This week's audio dictée:

Week 7

Bonjour!

On Friday you should have received a letter re:  an upcoming field trip.  See email for more information.  Please let me know (by email or paper) if you are able to join us.

This week's happenings:

Monday - Library book exchange, assembly, Little buddies

Tuesday - Choir

Wednesday - Music

Thursday - Dictée, BC Shakedown practice, gym

Friday - BC-wide Professional Day for teachers.  No school in session.

Français - This week's words are French weather pattern words.  We have also been working on writing sentences in class, more specifically, remembering to capitalize the first letter in a sentence, and to include a period at the end.  Some students are also working writing their P and p.  (The latter one dips below the line).

We also started reading a short French story together about bats.  We will use this story as a launching point to learn more about Character, Setting, Problem, and Solution in a story.  We will also pick out factual information and take notes about bats.

Math -  We have been working on step counting, adding and subtracting since September, and are now working on continuing a pattern using shapes, numbers, and letters.  To help your child develop quicker computation skills, I encourage families to play board games with 2 dice, or card games with an element of counting involved such as War or Crib.

P.E. - We have been practicing how to throw a ball with one hand and passing, in preparation with learning how to play European Handball.

Art - For the past few weeks, students have practiced how to draw faces.  This week they created an auto-portrait, which will become the cover page for their scrapbook this year.

This week's audio dictée:

Week 6 - Field Trips, Agendas, Dictée, Fire Drill

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Field Trips
Please see email for upcoming field trip dates.  Watch for a paper newsletter with more specific information to come home this week.

Agendas

I use agendas in my class as an important communication tool between school & home.  Please make sure to sign it every night.  I tell students that it is their responsibility to ask you to read and sign it, but in reality these young people usually need a hand in remembering.  Since we look at our agendas at least once a day, it is also a good place for parents to write reminders (exchange books, bring home water bottle, ...)

Dictée

We are working with Thanksgiving terms in French as the students will be writing in the journals about this holiday.  Here is this week's audio dictée:

This week:
Fire Drill:  Willows has been practicing what to do in the event of a fire.  We expect to have a surprise Fire Drill this week, at which time the Oak Bay Fire Department will be in attendance to time our exit.

Assembly:  On Thursday morning we are expecting to meet Gareth Rees (Willows grad and Canadian rugby legend) as well as  Natasha Watcham-Roy and Bianca Farella, members of the bronze medal winning Canadian Women's Rugby Team. 

Bonne semaine!

Week 4 Update

Thank you to all of you who were able to drop-in to the "Meet the Teacher" event on Thursday evening.  It was very nice to meet everyone.

This week at Willows:

• Thursday Sept. 28 - Dictée
• Friday Sept. 29 - Library book exchange, Terry Fox run after lunch (weather permitting)

Terry Fox - mid August 1980, somewhere in Quebec/Ontario.  Taken on my small Kodak camera when I was moving with my family to Victoria.

We will spend a bit of time early this week getting notebooks and duotangs organized for the year.  I expect to officially start a Home-reading program this week.  Watch for a plastic bag with a small red notebook and a French book.  Further info about the program will be inside the notebook.

This week's audio dictée - Continents and Oceans:

Finally, these past few weeks I have had a bit of time on my hands as my sprained ankle was healing.  I am a big fan of podcasts and various education (and knitting) blogs and came across the following, which you may also find following interesting:

• This first one is about encouraging children to develop self-efficacy.  It gets interesting around the 7:13 mark.  Here's the transcript.  YouTube video also on this page.
• On raising children to include others.  While a little girl-centric, these principles could apply to both girls and boys.
• Being a big fan of nature walks, this article was also interesting.

2016/2017 Bonjour et bienvenue!

Welcome to the first blog post of the 2016/2017 school year.  As you have likely heard, my ankle is still recovering from an unfortunate hiking accident on Labour Day.  This past Friday I was excited to drop in the class and my new crop of Grade 3 students.  I tried to learn everyone's name, although it may take me a few more attempts to remember them all perfectly.  It was also nice to meet Mme Lucie Livernoche, who will be replacing me until my return, hopefully in the next week or so.  We are very lucky to have Mme Lucie's French Immersion expertise in our classroom.  She is very dedicated to her students and is also a native French speaker herself.

Upcoming events this week:

Monday Sept. 19 - Professional Development for teachers.  School is not in session.

Wednesday Sept. 21 - Photo Day

Thursday Sept. 22 - Meet the teacher from 6:30 to 8pm.  I plan on attending this event and hope to see you there!

Dictées/Spelling

You have no doubt been acquainted with dictées in past years.  In recent years the value of dictée and spelling quizzes has come into question as research seems to indicate that they do not necessarily lead to more accurate spelling when writing.  I have chosen to keep these two exercises because I believe they contribute to the learning in our classroom, beyond just knowing how to spell.  In a French Immersion classroom we are learning and using new words, often on a daily basis.  Most weeks our dictée words will reflect words which we are currently using as part of our Social Studies and Science units.  Studying them in a dictée helps students remember what they mean and enhances our class discussions with proper terms.  The dictée give us a chance to practice these words at school, and hopefully at home too.

As a general rule, new dictée words will be written in the agenda on Fridays, with the dictée quiz taking place the following Thursday.  Students absent on the Thursday will take the quiz upon returning to class.  Please encourage your child to practice writing the words out a few times during the week.

We will start spelling quizzes after the first report card, and at that point will alternate between a dictée one week, and a spelling quiz the following week.

This past Friday, Mme Livernoche and the students worked in groups to choose words often used in the classroom.  This Thursday, the students will be quizzed on these words.  The written words for the dictée were included in the email sent home.  Below is an audio version.  I will do my best to send this information home each week (fingers crossed!).  You can also find the printed words in your child's agenda.

Happy new school year!

Welcome back to school everyone!  I hope everyone had a restful summer full of fresh air and adventures.

I enjoyed a few camping trips and many great wilderness hikes this past summer.  Unfortunately, it seems that my year of living dangerously continued.  Monday morning, while hiking East Sooke Park, my right foot got caught in some rocks and in what seemed like slow-motion, my foot stayed put while my body tumbled over the ankle.

I am very sad to be missing this first week.  The first day back not only serves as a warmup day for everyone, but also as a transition to the new year, reconnecting with old friends.

I always look forward to the first day of school because I get to see how much my students have grown over the summer and to hear about their adventures.  Before sending students to their new classrooms, I like to remind them that our classroom is a safe place, and that if they are ever feeling sad or in need of someone to talk to, they can drop by.  I also encourage them to drop by and say hi once in a while, and to remember to get involved in school activities like sports teams, choir, lunch monitoring (in grade 5).  I hope you will be able to pass this message along.  I hope to be back at Willows real soon!

The following are 2 recipes from last June:  one for silly-putty and the other for bread:

Silly Putty

Over the summer, Health Canada recommended to avoid using boric acid in arts & crafts.  David Suzuki also addresses it here.  Unfortunately the recipe used in class last June, which came from a visiting scientist from Science World, contained Borax.  The following is a YouTube link to a Borax-free recipe.

Bread

12 ml of active dry, or rapid rise yeast (1 package?)
500 ml of warm water
1025 ml of all-purpose flour
10 ml of salt

1.  In a large bowl, mix the yeast and water.
2.  Add the flour and salt.  Mix until the dough is lumpy, but without dry flour.
3.  Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let it rest in a warm spot until it has doubled in size (about 2 hrs).

4.  Cover hands with flour.  Pickup the dough and place it on a baking sheet, cast iron Dutch oven, shaping it to the desired shape.

5.  Let the dough rise again for up to 60 minutes.

6.  Preheat oven to 375 F.
7.  If making bread, slash the dough with a bread knife a few times.
8.  Bake for up to 60 minutes.  Your bread will be ready when it is golden on top and your kitchen smells like bread!

9.  Move the baked bread to a cooling surface.  If possible, avoid the temptation of slicing into it right away as it is still cooking.

10.  Slice and enjoy!

Here are 2 more bread recipes.

Enjoy, and wishing everyone a great school year!

Last Week - potluck tomorrow

Can you believe it?  Tomorrow is the last day of this school year, already!  We had our year-end assembly this morning, so it must be true.

It's been such a joy to work with this class this year.  They were all very interested in learning and making progress.  Case in point, they crammed a mini-project about a Canadian region in this last week.  Do take a look at these projects as they are pretty cute.  It's a pamphlet with information & images.  Some groups also wrote and performed an anthem for their region.  Again, pretty cute and dedicated.

This past week was not just work, we had time for some fun too.  On Friday we had a lovely nature walk through Uplands Park.  Overheard were many comments such as:  "Wow!  This is the most beautiful walk I have ever been on!"  We ate our snacks on some rocks in the park, and had an activity where each student had a piece of paper taped to his or her back, and had to write a compliment on other students' paper.  I used to do this activity with middle schoolers because it really seems to build confidence, and was glad to see it worked quite well with Grade 3s too.

For this week, I thought about doing a few more tactile activities which didn't fall into a curricular area this year.  On Monday we made bread (pioneers), and this afternoon we made silly putty (matter).  Tomorrow afternoon, if I get brave enough, we may try to make ice cream (just because).  I'll have to try to make it at home first to make sure it works!

Speaking of tomorrow afternoon, we would like to have a snack-potluck after lunch, and play board games or do some art.  If possible, please send along a small sharing snack (carrot sticks, celery, cherries, chips, cupcakes, cookies, ...).  Uneaten snacks will be returned home at the end of the day.  We also invite parents to come to our class around 2pm.  The students have put together a scrapbook of their artwork this year, and this would be a nice time for them to present their work to you, if you have the time.

Please have some contact with the French language over the summer, especially reading, to keep up hard-earned skills.  In the "Links" section of this blog, there is a link to my colleague Josee Malo's website which has many sites with French texts, written or spoken.

If anyone is interested in the recipe for bread or silly putty please let me know and I will post them on this blog.

Thank you all for supporting your children's education.  I will miss each and every one of these little people.  Wishing everyone a happy summer!

Week 34 - Track Update

Bonjour!

I hope everyone had a relaxing long weekend and that we're all recharged and ready for the last bit of learning in this school year.

Our last swimming lessons will take place this Thursday.  Thank you to all chaperones these past weeks as we couldn't do it without you!  Chaperone names for this week are in the email.

For many students in our class, tomorrow is our Zone track meet.  Students will be running against other runners from Campus View, Margaret Jenkins, Frank Hobbs, Sir James Douglas, and Hillcrest Elementary Schools.  We will be boarding school busses from Willows to UVic around 9:30, and returning to Willows around 2:15.  These times are very approximate.  The meet will start with 800m races, then individual 100m races, and finish with the always exciting 4 x 100m races.  Non-runners will spend the day in Mme McMillan's classroom next door.

If your child is running tomorrow, please dress him/her in layers as students will be outside all day and must be prepared for Victoria's wacky weather.  The following will help your child to have a successful day:

- water bottle (labeled)
- sweater
- track/yoga pants
- runners & shorts
- lunch
- many snacks
- hat
- sunscreen

If you will be joining us at the UVic track tomorrow and taking your child with you, please sign your child out with his/her coach prior to leaving.

Week 33 - Div. 11 update

Bonjour!

Week 33 is well under way but here's a quick update anyway.  Please remember that September 20th is a Professional Day for teachers so school is not in session that day.  Personally, I will continue to work through the interesting "Google for education" learning modules for teachers.

Track
If your child is in Track, our next practice will be tomorrow (Wednesday) after school at Oak Bay High School.  This practice replaces Thursday practice.  The last practice will then be on Tuesday after school.  The actual track meet takes place next Wednesday the 25th at the UVic track.  The meet generally runs between 10:30am and 1:30pm.

Here's what we're working on this week:

Français - We are practicing the verb "faire" in the present tense.  Reading Chapter 4 & 5 of "Togo".  Last week the students wrote short journal entries about how to be a good friend.  On Monday they wrote a good copy of their work, which are now circulating around the class in a duotang.  Students really enjoy reading each others' ideas.

Anglais - Spelling #14, as time permits in this shortened week.

Math - We are completing our unit on money.  The last concept we are covering is how to count up, for example, how to count up from 27 to 100 (i.e. how to give change from $1 back from 27cents), otherwise known as "giving change".  This can be difficult for some students.  We will have a quiz Wednesday or Thursday, then move onto measurement.

Science - We are still trying to grow beans from seeds.  The problem is that the classroom window ledge is so hot that the poor little seedlings just seem to fry over the course of the weekend.  About a handful have made it through the classroom droughts & floods of 2016.  These will make their way home tomorrow.  As for the others, it's back to the drawing board.  We will start sprouting more seedlings in better soil, and hope for the best.

We also just finished our Plant unit.  The students' invented plant pictures are displayed on our classroom bulletin board.  Feel free to drop in to check them out if you get the chance.

Social Studies - We have started to explore Canada's different regions and which provinces are in each region.  (ex:  Prairies = Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba)

Swimming
Only 2 sessions left, this Thursday and next.  See email for chaperone names.

Bonne semaine!

Week 32 - Div. 11 Update

Wishing a Happy Mother's Day to all Moms out there!

Welcome to week 32 out of 38.  It's so cliché to say this but it's especially true this year - I can't believe we only have 6 weeks of school left!  There's still lots of learning left to do so we will be plugging away again this week.

On Monday morning we will be having our monthly assembly.  It's a time to meet together in the gym as a large group and focus on a common goal for the month.  In the afternoon, we will have a visit from Hugh Greenwood, a retired geologist from UBC who volunteers to give presentations to students through the Science Centre program.  His presentation will focus on waves (sounds, ocean, earthquakes).  He will also be showing us a few experiments in class.

Thursday will mark week 6 of our 8 week swimming program at Oak Bay Recreation.  In the afternoon we will continue our 3rd rotation of the Club d'Amitié (Friendship Group) with the students in Mmes Henry and McMillan.

Don't forget Pizza/Sushi day on Friday.

In Math we completed our multiplication classwork last week.  Please continue to send the red multiplication flashcards to school as I will quiz the students ad hoc throughout the week.  Continue to practice them at home too.  Our new topic is money, the various denominations, adding it up, using the least amount of coins, and we will end with "giving change" or counting up from one number to another.

In French we started to read a new-to-me novel and I am finding that a bit of the vocabulary and expressions in "Togo" require explaining.  As such, we will be reading it together slowly.  It's an interesting story though.  You can read about it here:  Togo husky  .

We will be continuing to study verbs in the present tense this week.  Students have also been working hard on their cursive writing.  We are now up to the letter "o".

In Science we will be wrapping up our unit on Plants.  Bean update:  a few of our plants have taken off, while a few a still struggling to "take root".  Is it too hot in our classroom to grow beans?

Please keep reading in French at home, the end is near!  Year-end reading assessment will start the week after Victoria Day.

Bonne semaine à tous!

Swim tomorrow

A reminder that we will be swimming tomorrow.  See email for chaperones.

Please make sure your child has pjs at school ASAP for the musical.

Lastly, if you have not yet returned the permission slip for the May 5th field trip, kindly do so now as I am in the process of planning this event.

Plants & more

Bonjour!

Swimming
Please remember that we are swimming tomorrow morning.  See email for chaperone names.

Homework

• Your child should be reading in French for 10 minutes every night.  
• Practice times tables.  There will be a small quiz this Friday to see how everyone is coming along.

Plants
Our last Science topic this year will be Plants.  Being new-ish to Grade 3, this is my first time teaching this unit to young ones so my goal is to pass along my own love of plants, as I fumble my way through the curriculum.

This past Monday we were studying the names of plant parts and I thought it would be more interesting to work with real plants.  So I purchased living pansies from the grocery store.  My thought was to "dissect" the roots, stem, leaves, & petals, and tape these parts to a piece of paper.  I decided to reconsider after being faced with:  "But Madame, we will be killing the plants!"  True indeed.  So instead we cut a flower/stem/leaf from the plant, taped it to a piece of paper, and drew the roots.  Yes, we still killed part of the plant, but at least this way those who wanted got to bring the plant home.  Instructions were to give the roots more space prior to putting the plants in the ground.

Today we looked at the role of bees as pollinators, as well as learning the names of flower parts in French.  We will learn about the life cycle of plants, look at seeds, and grow some of our own.  Just for kicks, on Tuesday I germinated seeds from a 2 year-old 8-bean soup mix.  I placed a handful of beans/seeds into a baggie, added a bit of water and let them soak overnight.  The next day I drained the water, and now moisten the beans twice a day.  To my surprise, this morning some of the seeds had grown shoots.  This would be a good experiment to try at home too.

Friendship Thursdays
Mmes Henry, MacMillan and myself have decided to spend some time on Thursday afternoons to split our students into 3 mixed groups, with a goal to have students get to know new students and practice making new friends.  We will be starting this tomorrow afternoon by splitting into our groups and practicing how to ask questions.

Visiting Performances
We were delighted with 2 performances this past week.  On Friday, French Immersion students watched "Mathieu Mathématiques" performed by BC's only French theatre troupe:  "Théâtre de la Seizième".   And today grade 3-5 students watched a one-man mime and drama performance.  Both productions were very well received and touched on elements of imagination, making friends and bullying.

Willows Performances
Speaking of performances, you should have received a green newsletter to order tickets to our upcoming musical later this month.  Please return ASAP.

Track
We will be starting our track season at Willows next week.  Mrs. Ireton and myself will be working with Grade 3s on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 3 to 4pm.  This is grade 3s' first experience with track so we try to keep it simple and fun:  running games, learning how to start & run through the finish line, as well as passing the baton.  If your child is interested, please ask him/her to pick-up a registration form at the office.  We could use parent help for simple tasks during practices, so please don't be shy about approaching us during practices.

Merci!

Update

Bonjour!

Welcome back from Spring Break and Easter.  I hope you are all well-rested and had a break filled with fun adventures.

Next week:
We will have a funny week due to interviews & a pro-d day.
Monday:  No school as teachers are going back to school to study the new curriculum.
Wednesday:  Early dismissal at 11:50, parent interviews in the afternoon
Thursday:  Early dismissal at 11:50, parent interviews in the afternoon
More details about interviews in the email.

Swimming:
Our swimming lessons will be starting this Thursday.  Thank you to those of you who are able to accompany us.  Please see the email for the chaperone schedule.  Remember that we will be walking to & from the pool so your child should be dressed appropriately.

Climbing:
On Thursday May 12th, we have been invited to attend a climbing activity in Central Saanich.  More information to come.  We will be requiring parent drivers for this outing.

Homework:
Spring is typically a time where children become more involved with after-school sports and activities, all of which contribute to make them the special little people they are.  I recognize it can be difficult to juggle school demands when the weather brightens up.  Before Spring Break I noticed that marks on Spelling and Dictées were starting to slide, so I have decided to stop our weekly quizzes for this year.

That being said, there are still 3 full months of school left and we have lots left to learn!  I know your time is valuable at home so would like students to focus on the most important stuff at home.  If my mind this is what it is:

• Reading:  Please continue to give your child the gift of reading by reading at least 10 minutes a day in French.  Continue with English reading at home also.  If you would like me to connect your child with either French or English books, from the classroom or library, please write me a note in your child's agenda.  Just so you know, at this age students are usually better readers in English than in French.  Ask your child to read a bit out loud and make it sound expressive.  Model what it should sound like, it's fun!

• Math:  Jump Math practice.  Also - the good old addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts.  Students who know how to add/subtract numbers to 20 (without a ruler or counting on their fingers) are able to apply these skills to all numbers above 20.  They are more confident and attentive in Math lessons.  Playing games involving counting (dice, cards) are a good way to practice these skills.

As for words, we will continue our word studies in class.  In French we will study thematic words to do with the plant world, and continue with the Spelling units in English.

Math:
We will be diving into multiplication next week.  Students will be making multiplication flashcards for numbers to 10 x 10.  We will be using them in class and I encourage students to also practice them at home, in the car, ...  Knowing multiplication facts is a skill they can keep forever.  I know from past experience that I will not be able to proofread all flashcards, so please take a quick look at them at home to make sure they are correct.

Last week before Spring Break

Bonjour!

Spelling
No Spelling Quiz this week.  We will concentrate on finishing our work and making corrections.  The Dictée cahiers will stay at school.

Swimming
A letter was sent home today re:  swimming lessons.  This is the formal permission promised earlier.  Please complete it ASAP & return to school.

Library
Mrs. Mueller, our librarian, kindly asks that students return all books to school this week.

Neighbourhood walk

On Thursday morning, Mrs. Ireton and I are planning on taking our classes on a short neighbourhood walk.  We will leave around 9am and return by recess time.  We will use this walk to fuel our journal writing later on in the day.  We are likely to walk rain or shine so please dress appropriately for the weather and remember that it seems to change quickly these days.  Please email me if you are able to accompany us. 

Report Cards
These will be sent home on Friday.  Unfortunately, they will not be ready to be released prior to Friday.  If your child will be absent on Friday, he/she can receive it when we return to school on Tuesday March 29th.

Wishing everyone a relaxing Spring Break, recharging batteries for the last term!

Mots de dictée

Dictée - l'espace

http://www.nasa.gov/50th/favpic/index.html

1. le soleil
2. l'orbite
3. les planètes
4. une fusée
5. les étoiles
6. un trou noir
7. une éclipse
8. le système solaire
9. une astéroïde
10. la Grande Ourse  

Cette semaine - Feb. 29 to March 4th

... but first a bit about the week that just passed...

Whew!  This past week was an exciting one, even by Willows standards.

On Wednesday, our class met with Mrs. Ireton's Grade 3 English class.  As part of anti-bullying day, Mrs. Ireton and myself wanted students from different areas of the school to practice meeting someone new and asking questions.  In a large school such as Willows with 600+ students, some in the English-track and others in the French Immersion-track, not everyone knows each other.  Since many students will cooperate on sports teams or in musical productions, it's a good idea to promote inclusiveness and practice how to meet new friends.

In preparation, both of our classes prepared questions.  We tried to steer students away from lower-level questions such as:  "What is your favourite animal?", to more interesting one such as:  "Would you prefer to fly or be invisible, and why?".  After pairing the students, our two classes walked around the neighbourhood to Willows Beach, then back to school via Estevan Avenue.  As the weather was cooperating, we stayed outside in the playground for a few extra minutes.  A good time was had by all!

On Friday afternoon our school welcomed the "Hometown Hockey" team to our gym.  It was loud, hot, crowded, and very exciting!  The kids did a great job making banners to decorate the gym, and drawing jerseys for our bulletin board.  Three former NHL players spoke to students about working hard and following their dream.  After the speeches came a comedy-juggling act that entertained everyone.  The highlight was the juggler standing on top of a hockey net, wearing skates, and juggling 3 hockey sticks!  Facebook users can find a few pictures in the "Rogers Hometown Hockey" group.

This coming week will be luckily be a bit calmer and give us a chance to catch our breath.

The only scheduled event at this time is Friday afternoon after lunch.  We will be taking part in the Jump Rope for Heart activity in the gym.

Topics we're learning about right now:
Science - space (planets)
Math - We will be starting to practice subtracting with regrouping.    

Bonne semaine!

Bonjour!

Bonjour & welcome to what I hope will become a more regular way to communicate between my classroom and your home.

Here are some of my goals for this site:

- Post a more timely list of dictée & spelling lists, as well as events specific to our class.

- Post links to cool resources.

That's it for now.  I'm trying to keep it simple so I don't outsmart myself and create a site that is too cumbersome to update.  I will also try to keep the tone light to make it more fun to read.

About the platform & name:
For a few years I played around with a few different platforms which facilitate closed-groups where I could post student work & photos, permissions granted, but I kept getting stuck at various stages.  So I have decided to go with what I know and use Blogger.  No photos or student work at this time.

Finding a name was a also a stumbling block in getting this blog going.  I didn't really want my name in the title so tried to find a clever French/English title.  Attempts at securing a blog name such as:  "Mais oui!", "Bien sûr!", and "Le sac à dos" failed as these were unavailable.

So I settled for the so far unique "Jaune-orange".  Having spoken both French and English since a very young age, I have always been interested in words and expressions which exist in one language but not the other.  An example is the French ailment "faire une crise de foie" which literally translates in English as "having a liver attack".  In English we probably just complain of an upset stomach which is not quite as dramatic.

As a young French kid, my favourite colour was jaune-orange.  Very specific, not "orange" or "jaune", but jaune-orange, a pale yellowish-orange, not easily translated to English.  So while the name does not immediately illicit French Immersion teaching, there is a language connection there somewhere.

For the first few blog updates I will email parents with the link.  There will be a place on the Home Page to sign-up for blog updates, but please note that it can take 24hrs after an update to receive this link.

Merci!