School Dance

The first School Dance is this Friday, Oct. 26. Students need to bring $1 to help cover the cost of the dance. Please send your child with $1 on Friday, October 26.

Je présente…

This week, students are presenting short stories in front of the class so that I can assess each student's oral proficiency in French. The goal is not at all to memorise a long story. Students should simply choose a topic to introduce to the class, and be prepared to answer questions about that topic or story. I have advised them to choose something that they find easy to talk about, rather than a topic requiring a lot of unfamiliar vocabulary.

Students and I discussed last week how I would be evaluating them. The rubric that I am using comes from the Canadian Association of Immersion Teachers (http://www.acpi.ca/index.cfm?M=3191&Repertoire_No=2137989657&Voir=menu). The same rubric is used in all Saskatooon Public Immersion schools to evaluate French oral proficiency.

Education Week Photostory

 

Please use the following link to enjoy our class photostory for Education Week 2012. The Photostory contains a sample of each student's writing in which the student recounts a story (in French) about feeling a strong emotion.

http://video.spsd.sk.ca/uploads/HamiltonJ2012101411347.wmv

October Class Newsletter

Last week I sent out our October class newsletter by email. If you did not receive the newsletter, or if you require a paper copy, please leave a note in your child's agenda. I hope that everyone had an excellent Thanksgiving!

Les dictionnaires

Mme Hegarty remarked today that some students were not using their French-English dictionaries when asked. When we investigated, we discovered the reason: some students do not have French-English dictionaries at school.
 
While an all French Dictionary is a very useful tool, it has a different purpose. If you were able to find a children's French Dictionary with images, that would work in place of a French-English Dictionary in some cases; however, many of the French Dictionaries that I saw are too advanced for our students to use with comfort when searching for specific words.
 
I know that Madame Hegarty plans to use French-English Dictionaries in Science class, so please ensure that your child has a French-English Dictionary at school. Students from Mme Ollerhead's classroom each received a Dictionary at the end of last year which would be perfect for this year!
Thank you for your cooperation.

Way to Be

A little pink slip may come home with your child in recognition of good behaviour. Any teacher can present a slip to a student at any time to recognise that the student is demonstrating respect, responsibility, good listening, etc. Please sign the slip and send it back to school so that your child enters in our weekly draw.  Every Friday, I will draw a slip and put that student's name in the Way to Be Friday morning announcements. That student will win a small prize.

Small Change to Due Dates

In response to a change in our schedules at school, I am adjusting our weekly due dates:

- Mondays - spelling or dictée work is due
- Wednesdays - spelling quiz or dictée takes place

I hope that this will also give students more time to complete the work without feeling rushed.

Please note: there will be no dictée work coming home until after the long weekend, due to the two shortened weeks. I know the students are thankful for that!