Bonjour vendredi!

And just like that, we're 1 week down. We had another great day today, and took more time to explore our classroom and this year's curriculum in further detail. We looked through the texts we will be using in Science, completed an Interview Your Friend activity (which is posted outside the classroom door) and the students brought me up to speed on what they had done in Grade 3 with a very exhaustive journal entry.

We did our first silent reading activity today, after which I had them come to me and do a brief retelling of story as I thumbed through the book to cue them. I was impressed by their reading levels, which really opens up a lot of opportunities in terms of resources they will be able to take advantage of.
I have asked the students to read over the weekend as usual, and also to bring in a family recipe on Monday (just the paper instructions, not the food!). In accordance with the increasing focus the Department of Education is putting on diverse forms of literacy, we will be using it to look at different parts of communication and speech. We will also look at them as being representative of oral and written cultural tradition, and I would like them to write it out themselves.

We will be starting truly Immersive French on Monday, of which all the students have been informed. I believe this is truly essential for complete language learning, and I have no doubt that they will get into the swing of things quite quickly. Also, for those who did not already have one, I gave each student a large Ziploc bag to transport their Agenda, books, duotangs, etc. back and forth to school in.

Have a great weekend, and see you all at Curriculum Night this coming Thursday (7pm, room 110)

We made it to lunchtime!

It was great to meet some parents and all the kids this morning, and we're having a great time so far. We've done a few familiarity exercises, gone over things like rules and protocol in class, and learned a new math game.

I have also sent home a number of sheets to sign/complete and return, ranging from volunteer applications to emergency contacts. Each student borrowed a book or two from our class library, which they can keep for up to a week. If you are ever wondering which book they have out, we have a log in class of who has taken what.

A lot of the students have told me that they read at home, which is great. It is a great idea (as I'm sure you all know) to read with them as much as possible and encourage them to read their French books as well.
Throughout the course of the week, we will be developing a manual that will outline the rules, expectations, routines and other protocol we are working through right now. My hope is that they will use it as a reference and take ownership of our class.

I went a bit easy on speaking exclusively French today, since there is always a lag after summer. However, we will be bringing in a positive-reinforcement token system of some sort in the next couple of days. 

Thanks,

Sam Paterson