Bonjour!
Another full and busy week has passed, and Division 9 students have been hard at work.
We had our first dictée this Friday morning, based on the sound “é”. Students practiced with letter tiles, a game called “Tic-Tac-Mots” and BINGO throughout the week and listened for the ten words during our dictée quiz. Next week, we will select 10 new words together based on another common sound in French. For grammar work, we practiced identifying nouns, as we work towards building understanding of parts of speech.
We also practiced reading in small groups, to build our fluency and listening skills. I was able to read one-on-one with many students.
In Math, we learned about increasing patterns, and how to identify a pattern rule. Students created their own pattern rules, traded with partners, and re-assembled the patterns according to their partner’s rule. Next week, we will look at patterns in a hundreds chart and work on skip counting concepts.
We read Quand on était seuls , in which a child learns about their grandmother’s Cree culture and her experience at residential school. The child learns that their grandmother was not allowed to wear colourful clothing, grow her hair long, speak her language or see her family when she was forced to attend the school, but now, she is reconnected to her culture and family.
We then read You Hold Me Up and brainstormed the ways that we ourselves are supported by friends, family or classmates. Then, we drew illustrations to go with our ideas and put together our own version of the story, which will be shared in the Orange Shirt Day assembly next Wednesday.
We had two video assemblies for the Terry Fox Run – one with Terry’s older brother Fred, and another explaining the history of Terry Fox Day. Students ran with the whole school (separated by grade groups) on Friday afternoon. They were very dedicated runners!
It was wonderful to meet with all of you this week for parent intake meetings! I am so grateful to be working with your wonderful children, and looking forward to getting to know them better as we learn together this year. Please do not hesitate to reach out if ever you have concerns or questions.
Monday will be a Professional Development Day for staff. There is no school for students.
The Orange Shirt Day assembly will be next Wednesday, and students are encouraged to wear orange if they are able, in recognition of the students who attended residential schools. If students do not have orange clothing, I will have paper shirts available to pin on for the day. The importance of Orange Shirt Day is not the shirts we wear, but the learning we do and the actions we choose every day.
There will be no school on Thursday, in honour of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
I hope you have a restful weekend, and enjoy the beautiful sunshine!
