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!