Just a quick note for tomorrow’s concert - please have your child wear any combination of black and white - and if they want to wear a festive accessory that would be fine as well :)

This afternoon was ‘have fun decorating the class’ time! So many creative projects. 

Also, this week there is no dictée. I understand what a crazy week it will be for everyone! 

Technological difficulties!!!

Here are the songs to practice: Bonne et Joyeuse Année and J'ai demandée à la lune

On Monday, we started a countdown to winter break. Every day we will have something small but special. Yesterday we made snowflakes to decorate the room. If you’re looking for an easy way to make snowflakes, coffee filters are the way to go.

We have also been working on Subtraction with regrouping, but I’ve taught them a different strategy then is traditionally talked. Below you will find step-by-step instructions of how it works. That way you guys know what they’ve been learning. I know some students said they tried to teach their parents but that it was very tricky. If you have any questions please let me know. 

Some food for thought as you embark on your weekly dictée practice

I realize I have not been the best at posting on the class blog these past few weeks. We have been working on lots of writing strategies. Today we read a book about a snowman that sticks around all year to inspire a writing project. Many students have trouble getting their ideas on paper, so I’m working On strategies with them to make it easier. Today we did a whole class brainstorm of activities we could do with our snowman in each season.  This way, students can share their ideas with others when they go to write their text.

We will be doing some writing and art this week around this idea. 

Our dictée this week is all words that will be useful in this writing. The verb is the futur tense of ‘to do’. There were some technical difficulties with sending documents to the photocopier today, so students are not coming home with a sheet with weekly work. They can just practice the words since it is a short week. I’m posting a picture of all the 13 words they have. It is a conjugation in the future tense of ‘to go’ as well as the four seasons and the word snowman. 

Just a reminder that this week is a short week as we have a professional day on Friday. 

Hopefuly you saw the new dictée come home this week. Last week and this week are conjugations of two very important verbs - avoir and être. The dictée celebration (test) will be sentences using these words.

I also told te students I'd post a link to the Kids United YouTube channel. They are a great musical group that we have been listening to. They sing in French about kid power with very inspirational messages.  You can find their songs here.

Goal setting sheets went home with students (who were there for conferences) in their agendas today. Most supports went home as well. When I showed students math and fine motor worksheets, many wanted to take them home even if it wasn't their goal they set. Everyone went home with some math games and colouring sheets :)

I also came across this article recently about how to support kids when getting away from screen time is tough. Of course no soloution will fit everyone, but it is something to consider. I know that children love their screen time, but I encourage you to help them limit their video game and TV time. I know it may seem 'mean' but it's for their benefit! There is a lot of research about brain development and screen time. If you're interested, you can find more in the articles below. I found reading them made me more aware of my own screen habits.

What screen time can really do

Warnings about the dangers of screen time

Kids are getting too much screen time and it's affecting their development

I hope everyone enjoys their long weekend. While it’s nice to have extra time, it is so important to teach children what we are remembering and how important it is to be messengers of peace. 

I came across these pictures which might be an interesting point of conversation http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/multimedia/a-real-face-of-war-colourized-photos-offer-new-way-to-look-at-ww-i-1.4386190

We have had many fun things happening this week. Please take the time to read through to make sure you know all about what happening! 

Last week, we had the Pangaea nurses come and do a presentation about the importance of hand washing. Today, they did a presentation on screen time, and the importance of limiting it to no more than 2 hours a day. The students did some activities and are coming home with hand outs. A few students were talking about hiding their hand outs so that parents don’t see them and don’t know what they learned about 😂. I told them I would make sure to post on the blog about this so parents will know if the notice somehow ‘gets lost’ on the way home. Screen time is so important to talk about, and I will post an article outlining some of the reasons at a later date. 

Tomorrow, we will be doing dictée since there is no school on Friday. Please send the duotang to school as we will also be getting home reading sheets! 

Tomorrow, the grade 3s will be singing a song for our rememberance day assembly. I have asked them to wear black and white to mark this solemn assembly. We will be starting at 11 if you would like to join us. 

This week we talked a lot about peace and war - acknowledging the past reality of war, and being thankful that we live in peace in our country. Young people really are the messengers of peace in our world. I was so impressed by the students’ insights into what peace means to them. We did an open ended project that you can see in the Hall way. I’ve also attached a few pictures. 

The English translations of this week’s dictée words are:

chaque - each

mon chien - my dog 

une chaise - a chair

dimanche - Sunday 

je chante - I sing

je marche - I walk

le chocolat - chocolate

j’ai chaud - I’m warm

un chapeau - a hat

les vaches - the cows

While the list in English might seem random, we are focusing on the different sounds of ‘ch’

Une colombe

For rememberance day, the grade 3s will be singing a beautiful song for the assembly. I have asked students to practice at home to familiarize themselves with the song. You can find the link Here. Happy singing! 

Pumpkins

So much fun doing math with pumpkins! We did some mindful drawings, measuring, and counting. I didn’t get a chance to do the real measurements in class with the students. It would be great if you could do this with your children at home this weekend. We did estimations, using a finger as a mark for a cm. 

A translation of the measurements:

The height of the pumpkin.

The height of the stem. 

The distance around the pumpkin. 

The distance from the stem to the ‘belly button’ (bottom). 

The thickness of the skin. 

The thickness of the flesh. 

The number of lines. 

Thank you to everyone who signed up for conferences next week. We will be doing goal setting conferences with the students. This is a chance for them to say how they want to improve and for us to make a plan on how to best support them. If the times provided don't work for you, I'm happy to meet in the morning or another day. Just write me a note to let me know.

Also, don't forget that since we don't have school on Friday, our dictée will be tomorrow.

Voting

Don’t forget to go vote today! Vancouver is voting for 1 city councilor and 9 school trustees. This vote will directly impact your child’s education, so make sure your voice is heard. 

Dictée translation

Mieux - better

Ici - here

Rien - nothing

Maintenant - now 

Est - is

Avant - before

Et - and

Dehors - outside 

Où - where

Demain - tomorrow 

If you haven’t been by the bulletin boards in the hall to check out our most recent work, be sure to stop by! 

We have done a lot of fun creative projects this week. 

We did some garden visioning drawing and labeling. I often think designers should look at children’s drawings for inspiration! 

We also spent the whole day doing a project for thanksgiving. I’m always impressed at the things students come up with.

This week's dictée

Some people asked to have English translations of the dictée words to help with sentences. I will try to remember to post them on Monday, but feel free to remind me if I forget!

1. bien - well or good
2. après - after
3. comment - how
4. dans - in
5. beaucoup - a lot
6. encore - again
7. ici - here
8. parce que - because
9. pourquoi - why
10. quand - when

Today, we did some writing about my new Puppy, Nalu. They wrote about her adventures to come. I love their creativity and imagination with this project!

The past few days, we have had workers leveling the ground and installing limestone next to our portable. It has been a fascinating (and loud) process. Today we learned what happens when you wet limestone and compact it. Fascinating! 

We also watched some interesting movies on matter. While this one isn’t completely related, it’s quite interesting! Bowling Ball and Feathers in a Vaccum

Dictée

Thank you for your patience as I get back to posting on the blog.

Today, we did our first dictée! Students are coming home with a green duo tang today. This is the dictée duo tang that comes to school every Friday and comes home every Monday. If you weren't at meet the teacher night, please read through the document sent home. It will explain all the procedures.

Each week, we will do a 'pré-célébration' every Monday where they will write the words the best they know. It is normal to have mistakes in this! Then, they will copy the words to have the right spelling.

On the next page, there will be some work to do. This week, the work is to put the words in sentences, and then write another sentence with the word. We spoke today about proper work habits, and making sure to spread out work during the week, instead of waiting until Thursday night to do it.

Duo tangs must come back to school on Friday so that we can do our célébration and put it in the duo tang.

Meet the teacher

Thank you to everyone who came to meet the teacher last night. It was great to see so many of you.  I always wish I had time to touch base with everyone but we will do that in October at conferences. If you weren't able to make it last night, don't worry. I will be sending home the handout I provided. If you have any questions I would be happy to answer them. 

Meet the Teacher

Dear div 1 families,

Meet the teacher night is coming up tomorrow, Wednesday September 20th. My plan is to go over routines and expectations in my class, the curriculum for grade 3, as well as give you a chance to check out the portable. I just need to change the time slightly from what was sent out as I have a board meeting to attend that evening. Mme Eve is meeting everyone in the gym at 5:30, so I will be holding my meet the teacher from 5:00-5:30. I apologize for any inconvenience this causes. Please don't stress out if you can't make it. I would be glad to send home the information with your child, and you are welcome to come see the portable any time! Thank you for your understanding

We have been busy this week getting back into the swing of writing, reading, and math. We have played math games, and written about imaginary mixes of animals. 

Today, students visited the library for the first time with Mme Eve. They are coming home with books that interest them! Please enjoy reading these with your children, and return them to school in 1 or 2 weeks. 

Class Rules

We had another busy day today (and much cooler with some air circulation in the portable)!  We started self portraits, talked about classroom jobs, and most importantly, went over the class rules. 

I hope that you can use this blog as a way to start conversations about school at home. I wish I had a dollar for everytime that a parent told me that when they ask what their child did at school, the answer is 'I dunno' or 'I don't remember'. My hope is that the pictures and tidbits that I post can help start a conversation about school at home. 

Back to the class rules, we have only two:

Be respectful (soyez respectueux), and do your best work (fait de ton mieux). We will talk more about this means during the year, but today we spoke about how each person's 'best work will look different', and each is just as wonderful as the next. 

Bienvenue!!

Welcome division 1 of 2017-2018! I will post pictures and tidbits of information here during the year. 

First thing to know...it was extremely hot in the portable today. Air circulation wasn't working, but it did kick in at 3:01 today. Hopefully we will have a nicely cooled classroom for tomorrow!! 

I know the first day can be exhausting, so make sure everyone gets a good night sleep! I know I'll be going to bed early tonight myself. 

Please don't be alarmed by colorful hands coming home today! It's just food colouring from making slime! 

You hopefully saw that lots of work came home today. Please keep it (or recycle it) as you wish. There is always unfinished work, but often that is extra work after the essentials were done. Agendas also came home and can come home today. Please keep sending backpacks to school the next two days since we have more to bring home. 

Today, we worked on one project: a book of pictures and captions from camp cheakamus. Students spent most of the day working on this (10am-2:30pm) but still have some work to finish. I know homework at the end of the year is not the easiest thing, but it is ESSENTIAL these are done and at school tomorrow since we will be presenting them to every other class in the school later this week. Thank you in advance for helping your students remember to bring this tomorrow. 

Today we harvested.........487 potatoes!!