Home reading, elections, and dictée

Bear with me as there is a lot of information in this post. 

I have attached the notice about LAQ (lecture au quotidien, translated to reading every day). I have tried to simplify it so it isn't a burden. I believe strongly in reading for pleasure, and making sure reading at home is as easy (on both parents and students) as possible!! Let me know if you have any questions about LAQ. 

This week's dictée is only two sentences since we have only 3 days of school this week! This morning we did a if lesson on 'anglicismes' which are sentences in English, that students translate directly into french, but that don't quite work in French. We will be making a 'cemetery' for these expressions soon so keep an eye open for it!

Next, elections! As you hopefully know, BC has municipal elections this Saturday, November 15. I was lucky enough to be able to register in a Student Vote program. We will be having our own elections on Friday November 15th. I have copies of the official Vancouver ballots for mayor and city councillor (I will make some so we can vote for parks board and (most importantly) school board trustees. We will hold elections in our class on Friday morning. I would love the help of two or three parents, so if you have 30 min on Friday morning please let me know via a note in the agenda or a comment on here. Parent volunteers will be 'election officials' giving out ballots and scrutinizing the voting. We are doing all our elections in English so no worries if you don't speak French. 

What I am asking for homework, is for you talk to your child about the different candidates and political parties in Vancouver. I have told them it is ok to ask trusted adults for whom and why they are voting, but that they are not obligated to divulge this information. 

Sometimes, election topics can be quite 'over the heads' of children. My suggestion, and what I will be doing in class tomorrow, is reading the profiles together, and explaining it a second time in a way that would be easy for young brains to understand. For example, if a candidate is talking about the issue of affordable housing, you might want to explain that affordable housing is making sure that the cost of a house or apartment in the city is something that most people would be able to afford, not only rich people. You can also talk about how rent prices are included in affordable housing, and making sure there are enough homes with low enough rent for people who are considered low income. 

You can find candidate profiles here: http://vancouver.ca/your-government/candidate-profiles.aspx

Thank you for taking the time to do this! With so many young people not voting, it is important that we educate our young ones now about how to. Inform yourself, and why it is so important to vote!!