Information

June 21, 2019 We are counting down the days. It has gone too fast this year! Report cards will be sent out home with students on Wednesday, June 26. On those rainy days of summer, here are some websites to check out:

June 12, 2019

We are busy with swimming lessons, construction, math work and reading! Homework and reading is finished for this year!

Veuillez envoyer tous ce qui appartient à l’école (clip de sons, livres, livres de bibliothèque, duo-tang vert avec petits livrets etc.)

Please send back all materials belonging to the school (clip of sounds,library books and booklets in the reading duo-tang etc. There are a few booklets that have gone missing over the year. Could you please make a thorough search for them or if found over the summer holidays, please send them back in the fall)

I have seen so much progress over the year among the students. Thank you to all the parents for supporting your child as they have brought their homework home each week!


June 4, 2019 Here is the June calendar link:

  • June
  • Fun Day is tomorrow! Appropriate footwear is important.
  • June 10: we are headed to Dunvegan! For this day students will need:

-a lunch and 2 healthy snacks. Please ensure that they are easy to eat: fruit, veggies, cheese and crackers are a few suggestions. Students will need a water bottle, a sweater or a jacket, a hat, comfortable pants and appropriate footwear (sandals and flip flops are not appropriate footwear as we will be walking and playing games and playing on the playground equipment). Also don't forget sunscreen and mosquito repellent (we will supervise the application of these products on children).

  • June 11-19:swimming lessons in the afternoon

May 1, 2019 Here is the link for our classroom calendar:

  • May
  • Please note that we have lots of field trips this month:
  • 15 & 16 mai: gymnastics field trip
  • 24 mai: million minutes to win it celebration
  • 27 mai: museum field trip
  • 29 mai: last 1V assembly and rec swim in the afternoon
  • 31 mai Fun Day
  • On Tuesday, I will be sending home permission forms for the swimming lessons in June, gymnastics and rec swim. Please send them back to the school as soon as you can. The permission slips for the Million minutes to win it celebration have already been signed and returned. The museum field trip and transportation there and back are considered "Low Risk" therefore we do not need forms signed by parents as you signed a general waiver when you registered your child.
  • We are tired and finding it very difficult to concentrate and do our best work(there are many ups and downs in our classroom at this time of year): when we are so desperately wanting summer to arrive...but there is still lots to do and cover during these next 8 weeks. No school on Monday! Enjoy the long weekend and hopefully the weather will cooperate so that everyone can get outside!

April 9, 2019

Tomorrow morning is our assembly. We will be hosting it in the gym. Please remind students to come in tomorrow morning so we can be down in the gym before the crowd gathers.

Homework duotangs are coming home today. In it I have put list #5. Our dictée this Friday will be from the words sent home previously: list #4.

We had our tour through the exhibit: The sculptures of Jesus today. We will be going to the library tomorrow morning to exchange our library and GB+ book as we did not have the time today.

March 25: Here is the link for our classroom calendar:

  • Avril 2019
  • Also, we will be doing a construction unit the last half of May and in June. We are needing construction materials for this project. If you could start saving: cereal boxes, toilet and paper towel tubes, granola and other snack boxes as well as kleenex boxes. Thank you for your help!
  • Please remember to send back the reading folders with your child for Monday morning, April 1.
  • Our review test of lists #1, 2, and 3 will be this Friday.

March 13, 2019

Warmer, unsettled weather is here and with that we see puddles in our school yard. It is still cool in the morning but students are very warm in the afternoon when playing outside. I am having them wear their snow pants so we avoid the wet pants dilemma after recess. It would be helpful to tuck a warm hoodie in their backpack so that they can wear the hoodie and their ski pants to avoid being soaked at recess. It is time to bring out splash pants because it is forecasted to be warmer next week!.

We are all struggling a bit with the time change...tired faces, tummy aches and sore fingers, toes, etc are very common these last couple of days!


FYI, I made a mistake on the dictée dates for dictée #3 (il à elle joue): it should read March 22 not March 15 (that is the date for our word list #2 : (c'est à une fête)

Sorry for the confusion.

Enjoy the warm weather. Get lots of rest my little friends.

March 1: Here is the calendar for this month:

February 18, 2019

Bonjour les parents, just a reminder to return your reading folders to school for Tuesday February 19.

Some of my friends have not brought back their library books for a few weeks, could you please take a look around home and send them back to school on Tuesday.

Also I will be sending home the list of Grade 1 Spelling words that we will be working on along with additional syllable sounds over the next few months. They will be in your child's homework duotang Please take a moment to look it over.


February 10, 2019

We are off to Carnaval on Tuesday February 12, 2019.

Thank you to our parents for returning the forms to the school so promptly. Our parent volunteer who is helping us with supervision is:

Mme Spiller

For our field trip on Tuesday February 12th please keep the agendas at home (to reduce the amount of stuff students need to carry) just send me any notes in their backpack and ensure that your student has in their backpack:

  • an extra pair of socks and mittens
  • lunch is provided at the centre but if your child has allergies (grilled cheese sandwiches and soup), or does not like the food offerings please pack them something for lunch
  • 2 healthy snacks (one for the morning and one for the afternoon)

As the majority of our activities will be outside, students will need to dress warmly and come to school with their outside clothing:

  • snow pants
  • warm jacket (perhaps a sweater as well to layer underneath)
  • mittens, toques and scarves
  • winter boots

Keep in mind that it is easier to take layers off if you are warm but it is more difficult if you have not enough on and are cold…we never know what kind of weather we will have until the day unfolds!

We will be boarding the bus just before 9:00 am and shall be returning at approximately 3:00pm.


February 13: We celebrate 100th day of school. We will be doing activities all week related to 100. We will be reading 100 words with our grade 2 reading buddies; we will be writing 100 words; we will also be working on what 100 looks like by doing lots of counting in the classroom to 100.

Students are going to be helping out by bringing in a collection of 100. It is to be something they have at home that can be put in a ziploc baggie. Some ideas for you are: small Lego pieces, macaroni, small marshmallows, beans, straws, popcorn kernels, rubber bands, plastic bread ties, buttons, toothpicks, playing cards, raisins, playing cards to name a few. We will not be eating our collections or taking them out of the baggies but looking at, comparing and talking about them.

Please take some time this weekend and Monday night to help your child count out their collections (using French mes amis!!) and put the items in one ziploc baggie. Students can bring their collections to school for Wednesday morning. They will bring them back home on the following Tuesday.

February 14: is our valentine card exchange. We will be exchanging valentines in the afternoon. Please ensure that the cards are clearly marked as we take this opportunity to read our classmates names and deliver the cards to their desks. We will also be watching a short video and I will be providing the popcorn to munch on.

Here is a list of our classmates' names: Antoni, Benjamin, Braddach, Caellum, Elijah, Elliot, Emily, Heidi. Isabella, Jack, Katherine, Masen, Phoenix, Wyatt


January 29, 2019 Here is a link for the February classroom calendar:

  • 1V calendrier février 2019
  • We are getting ready for Carnaval 2019. Forms will be sent home on Wednesday January 30. Please read over, sign and return the forms (along with your money) before February 8, 2019
  • Don't forget that there is no school for students on Thursday, January 31. See you on Friday February 1.

January 28, 2019 Homework has been sent home. Here is a link to help with this week's syllable sound:

Eu – to make this sound you must shape your lips to say an O and say an A as in cake instead. In a word it looks like: eu, eus, eut, eux, oeu

Here is a video to help practice the pronunciation of this sound:

Students have brought home a syllable and word sheet to practice syllable blending and recognize the sounds we have come across in our reading. We have reviewed the first box of the top of the page today in school. Students have not formally studied all the sounds listed on the sheet but I have added phonetic spellings where necessary. Please note that one of the phonetic spellings is incorrect: ai sounds like è.

January 21, 2019 It is Literacy Week at Good Shepherd School. There are many activities at school and we are bringing home an activity today to do with our families.

  • On January 23 it is Book Character Day: dress up as your favourite book character
  • January 25 Please come and join your child for lunch in their classroom from 11:45-12:15. This day will be a “Subway” day (parents will also be able to order Subway on this day). After lunch from 12:15-1:00, join us in the gym for our “Books & Board” game sale. Students and families will have the opportunity to buy gently used books, games, puzzles etc. for $25 cents each to bring home and enjoy! Proceeds will go toward the costs of future Family Literacy events!

We are having our dictée on Friday: GB+ 4 words and the 'pinched nose sound' sound on/om. This sound is spelled in the two different ways but sounds the same. The sound is made by saying the letter o while pinching your nose. Here is a video to help practice the pronunciation of this sound:

We are also working on our numbers to 80!



January 5, 2019 Bonne Année à tous! Here is the link for the upcoming month: janvier 2019

I have included the GB+3 words that we will be practicing this week. Our dictée for these words is January 18. We are slo working on the 'oi' sound. It is pronounced like 'wa' in English

Here are a couple of links as well. One is a text to speech site that will help with the pronunciation of french words another is a link to help with the numbers from 50 -70. This week we are only focusing on numbers to 65.


Pronouncing our GB+3 words this week:

GB+ 3

les (lay) the

aussi (ōssee) to

regardez (regărday) look

haut (ō) high

j’aime (jĕm) I like

viens (vee-enh) come

Here is a link to a website that will help you with the pronunciation of French words. It is not ideal, but if your child is in need of some help simply type in the french word and let the program pronounce it for you. http://www.oddcast.com/home/demos/tts/tts_example.php?sitepal

Text to speech: for parents to help students with pronunciation of French words

Numbers 50-70 link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIYvC7r05mU

Les chiffres et les nombres de 50 à 70 - alain le lait (French numbers)


December 3, 2018: The countdown begins...Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent so we begin our journey towards Christmas. Here are some things to know:

  • Tuesday December 4: 1B, 1I et 1V host the Advent Mass in the gym. Mass begins at 9:30 am.
  • There seems to be a bit of confusion regarding the two folders that students bring home. Please remember to send your reading folders to school on Monday (those are the green folders) and the blue homework folders to school on Friday.
  • Some of my students are finding numbers to 50 to be a bit of a challenge. We practice at school with small group and large group games but I am including 2 videos to share so your child can listen to the songs at home:

Numbers 1-20

Numbers 20-50


November 28, 2018: Some more news to share :

  • Today your child is bringing home their reading folder with a new book. Please have them practice reading their book and practice their sight words over the weekend; this book needs to be returned on Monday.
  • Friday November 29: don't forget to send back your homework duotangs with the clip of sounds. I will be adding to it on the weekend.
  • December 7, 2018 we have our first dictée. This will be in addition to the syllable dictée that they will have. There is a list of 5 sight words that was sent home in the homework duotang. Please keep the sheet at home and practice printing the words over the weekend.
  • December 4, 2018: we along with the other grade 1 english classes will be hosting the Advent Mass here at school. It starts at 9:30 am. With so many students only a limited number will be doing readings or prayers. If your child has been chosen to read a part in the mass they will be bringing home their lines today. Please practice at home with them over the weekend.
  • The students did a wonderful job on the assembly yesterday, I am so proud of them. They are very weary and I saw several tired faces yesterday afternoon. Take care of yourselves over the weekend and try and get plenty of rest. We are still dealing with germs here at school. Please remember to send a water bottle with your child as the fountains are still turned off.


November 23, 2018: Some updates:

Today students bring home their report cards...I am so proud of the progress that they have made since the beginning of the year!

We have many (students and staff) who are sick. Please ensure your child is getting adequate rest, getting outside to play and eating well. If they are not feeling well the best place for your little one is at home, cozy in their pajamas! We like to share many things but not germs.

Monday November 26 is a staff prep day...so no school for students.

Wednesday November 28 is our 2nd assembly. Please join us that morning to see us host it! We have already brought home our lines for that morning. Please practice with us at home too!

We are beginning the advent season on Sunday...and with that many children start the count to Christmas. December is always busy with Christmas concert practices and many different activities to do and special gifts to make for moms and dads...but we still have lots of work to do. We are almost finished learning all our simple syllable sounds. Some of us are even beginning to blend some sounds together. We are working on our sight words and reading our booklets that we bring home. Keep practicing your words. At this point in the year it is important to use what we know (alphabet and syllables) to sound out the words. We should not just be looking at the picture.

Keep up the great job mes amis!

October 22, 2018: The letter Uu in French.

This is a sound that we don’t have in English, and is thus a source of great Anglo horror. It is important to distinguish this sound as some words are completely different if the pronunciation is not correct. One example are the french words:

Dessus: which means above in English. There it is the tricky u sound!

Dessous: which means below in English. Another sound completely that is completely different and is like the oo as in the english word group.

This sound is a close front rounded vowel. So one way to approach u is to say ee, freeze your mouth in that position, move your tongue forward, and, keeping your lips pursed, say it again. You should get a very good french u sound.

This is a tricky vowel to pronounce especially when you are little. So here is a quick video to help you understand a bit better:

The french letter Uu.

This video is intended for adult learners and not meant for children but it can help you to reinforce with your child what we are learning in the classroom about how to position our mouth and tongue when we say this sound.

Learning this difference is very important as much confusion can be avoided if it is learned properly the first time. It is so difficult to unlearn or correct a sound that is not pronounced properly.


octobre 2: here is October's calendar

28 septembre: Your child is bringing home a book to keep called La girafe et l'oiseau courtesy of TD banking group and Le Centre du livre jeunesse canadien.

Adjusting to the grade one classroom. Click here to read how you can help your child.