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