Monthly calendar

Announcements

APRIL 9

Hi everyone! I am moving our online content to a new virtual classroom. I'll leave this site up, but it will no longer be updated with new material. Please watch the following tutorials to find your way to our new site:

Tutorial #1: How to Access Student's Gmail Account - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ov1fD9BgJ6PkWpf-h_zPNgrEXi5ppu7i

Tutorial #2: How to Navigate to Our Virtual Classroom - https://drive.google.com/open?id=14tBEtO9vil0WbPj68CEHypSMkIMHr7oY

See you there!

APRIL 4

Bonjour! I have been testing out different online platforms. Today I sent out a message via School Day to see if it reaches everyone. Be sure to look out for it!

MARCH 27

Hello all! Being able to connect with you over the past few days has been the highlight of my week. Each teacher from Suddaby has been assigned a number of families to call -- in part to gather information so that our board can develop a solid plan for students, but also to say hello. Thank you for making time. I know how busy we all are.

Many of you have asked me if I would be posting new content to this website. For now, I've been told to hold off until we have a better understanding of our students’ access to technology. Our board will be using the information teachers have gathered to develop a plan that is sustainable and that makes sense. It's easy to feel overwhelmed when facing strange and difficult times like these, but I want to stress that your Suddaby team is here for you. Once a plan is developed by the board, we will be working hard to provide your families with what they need to continue with their education. Surely, it will be a learning curve for everyone, but we'll get through it together.

To keep up with the latest information, our principal will be posting regular updates on our school website: https://sud.wrdsb.ca/. Feel free to subscribe to ensure you won't miss a beat. More to come soon!

MARCH 12

French: Binders will be coming home this week with our newest reader, "Le son in". I've added videos of "Le son in" and last week's reader "Le son oi" to our Practice page. I've received a few requests from parents to reprint French readers that have been lost on their way home. Suddaby's staff has been making an effort to reduce the amount of paper we use. I'm hoping that by declining to reprint past books, I'll be contributing to our school-wide objective to reduce paper-use, and encourage our students to pay careful attention to their French binders. That being said, in the email I've sent to "subscribers" this week, you'll find attached PDF copies of all of our readers. I'll continue to attach PDF copies of our new readers as we continue.

Math: Last week, we concluded our unit in Measurement and moved into 3-D Figures. We're on track to finishing our 3-D Figure unit before March Break and completing our learning goals:

  • Identify and describe 3-D figures, including their faces and where they are seen in the environment.
  • Sort and classify 3-D figures using a variety of attributes.
  • Compose 3-D figures and describe the results.

After March Break, we'll dive into Time and Temperature.

Lost and Found Items: Spring is around the corner and our Lost and Found bin is in major need of some spring cleaning! I've taken pictures of the items that have been sitting in our classroom's Lost and Found bins for a while and posted them to our In Action page. If you see items that belong to your family, please let your child know and remind them to bring them home.

Note from our school principal: Here is a note from Ms. Givlin regarding pizza orders -- With the current sanctions due to job action, beginning April 1 we are no longer able to provide pizza days at Suddaby. The March orders will continue as usual but there will not be an opportunity for families to order for April. We look forward to resuming pizza days after the contracts are settled. Thanks for your understanding. Ms. Givlin

Note from The Waterloo Region District School Board: Based on advice from Dr. David Williams, Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health and the experts at the COVID-19 Command Table, the Minister of Education has issued a Ministerial Order to close all publicly funded schools in Ontario for two weeks following March break, in response to the emergence in Ontario of COVID-19. This order was approved by the Lieutenant Governor in Council. This means that Ontario’s publicly funded schools have been ordered to remain closed from March 14 through to April 5, 2020. At this time, we can confirm the following:

  • This closure includes Board Operated Extended Day Programs in our schools operating during March Break
  • Families registered in WRDSB operated programs will not be charged fees during this time period

We are working to confirm the status of our child care centres during the closure period. We are asking students to take their personal belongings from their lockers and desks home with them before March Break. We continue to be reassured by Region of Waterloo Public Health that the risk to residents of Waterloo Region remains low. We will continue to provide updates as information becomes available. For information and updates, please refer to these resources:

FEBRUARY 24

The decision to engage in job action is one that creates difficulties in posting regular website updates. But fighting cuts to education is important. That being said, I would like to thank you for your understanding in the long delays between updates.

French binders came home this past weekend with the new reader, "Le son on". This is our fourth reader so far, so the plastic pocket labeled "Ma bibliothèque" should now include the following books:

  • J'aime
  • Grand et petit
  • Les actions
  • Le son on

If your child has misplaced one of these books and is looking for more practice, they can use the videos I've posted to our Practice page. All books have been posted there in video format.

In Math, we spent the last few weeks completing our Data Management and Probability unit. We were busy making concrete graphs and pictographs, then using them to read and interpret data.

As we end February, we are moving into Measurement. Today, we had fun with measuring and estimating lengths with paper airplanes. I've added a picture of that on our In Action page.

Because my updates have become few and far between, I can't expect you to keep checking this website blindly. I've decided to send home a note in the planners as a means to "subscribe" to my website updates. I will send out an email to those who have "subscribed" as a notice for when the website is updated. If there ever comes a time when I will no longer be updating this website, as we prepare to move into the next phase(s) our of job action, I will send an email to let you know.

JANUARY 24

Our French binders have once again come home for the weekend. This week, you'll find a new reader called "Grand et petit". Because of the shortened week, we only had 4 days to practice this new book. Students are not expected to read this book perfectly. Some students found these new words challenging to read. As we move forward with our French program, our readers will become more ambitious. If you find that your kiddo is stuck on the pronunciation of certain words, you can use the video I've uploaded under our "Practice" page to help them. The video includes the same words and images as our reader, but is read in a different order to avoid students from simply memorizing the book.

JANUARY 17

It's been a busy start to 2020!

Our French take-home binders are coming home today! These will come home periodically with a French activity the kids can share with you. Our first take-home project is a French reader called "J'aime". You can find it in the file folder pocket of your student's binder. Our kiddos have been practicing reading it this week and are excited to show you their new skills. Please encourage your children to practice by recording their homework on the log-sheet found in the binder. We want to start building a library of short French readers that students can keep over the summer, so please keep any of our take-home French readers in the back pocket labeled "Ma Bibliothèque".

In math last week, we worked on our estimation skills. This week, we're diving into sorting and classifying. Thank you to all those who were able to provide a collection of small items. The kids seemed to have a blast sorting their items from home.

NOVEMBER 26

Thanks to all those who participated in our MO-vember bake sale today!

Here's the latest: Be sure to check out our Practice at Home page for info about our latest phonetic sound, "in". You'll find our song, as well as our phonetic poster and some vocabulary words. Today, we practiced recognizing this sound by looking for it in the pages of our classroom books. Go check out our Action page to see your kiddos ... in action!

Also on our Action page are a few pics of today's math challenge. Students have been practicing using their math skills in our patterning unit. More info on what that entails can be found on our Practice at Home page. Check it out!

NOVEMBER 20

Our latest Phonetic sound has been added to our Practice at Home page. The kids have been learning how to recognize the sound "an". It can be spelled in many different ways: "an", "en", "am", "em". A few smart cookies recognized it right way in the word Novembre, when we did our morning calendar routine.

NOVEMBER 18

Mrs. Gowing and I enjoyed being able to talk face-to-face with you last week! It was nice to see that many of you were able to come in. For those who preferred a phone conversation, we are looking forward to chatting with you this week!

Some of you asked if there was a way of subscribing to my website in order to automatically get a notification when it's updated. Loved the idea! After watching a few Google Sites tutorials and eventually speaking to Google's support team, I was unfortunately informed that a subscribe button isn't an option that Google currently provides for their school-based sites. For now, we will have to stick to manually checking-in until it becomes available. I will continue to try my best at providing updates as often as I can.

Here's this week's update! Be sure to check out our Practice page for our new phonetic song: Ève Escargot. You'll also find a copy of our classroom posters that help us recognize the different ways we can spell the sound "o" as well as the sounds "é" and "è".

On Tuesday, November 26, our school's Me to We club will be hosting a bake sale in support of Movember. Students will be able to buy a ballot ($1/each) which they can bring to the Me to We club members in exchange for a baked good of their choice.

NOVEMBER 12

Information about our upcoming field trip to The Registry Theatre has gone home in the agendas today. Please return the form at your earliest convenience. If you're interested in volunteering during this event, please contact me or Mrs. Gowing using your preferred method of communication.

If you requested an interview with us, you will also find a notice informing you of your time slot. If you did not receive a notice and requested an interview, please let me know as soon as you can. We still have a few time slots available for Thursday evening (7:15pm - 8:00pm) and Friday morning (11:00am - 12:00pm).

NOVEMBER 11

Progress Reports come home tonight! Be sure to look out for them in the front pocket of the agendas.

Over the past two weeks, our students have been working on their soustraction (subtraction) skills in math. Last week, we looked at subtraction in taking-away situations, where items are removed. This week, we're using subtraction to solve problems in comparison situations. Please check out our "Practice at Home" page for more details on these concepts, as well as ideas that you can use to reinforce them at home.

In French, we're moving forward with our phonics, by exploring the sounds "é" and "è". We're also learning high-frequency sentences to help us use French in every day speaking situations. Last week, we started looking at:

  • Common colours (rouge, jaune, orange, bleu, vert, violet, brun, rose)
  • The days of the week (lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche)
  • How to ask to go to the bathroom: "Est-ce que je peux aller aux toilettes?"
  • How to ask to go drink water: "Est-ce que je peux boire de l'eau?"

This week, we're reinforcing our knowledge of colours and the days of the week, as well as tackling new high-frequency sentences. Students will be playing a game called Chaise Chaude (Hot Seat), during which a volunteer sits in our "hot seat" and answers yes/no French questions. Today, we learned how use "Est-ce que tu aimes...?" to ask a student if they like something. Students came up with questions like...

  • Est-ce que tu aimes la neige? (Do you like the snow?)
  • Est-ce que tu aimes les chats? (Do you like cats?)
  • Est-ce que tu aimes le français? (Do you like French?)

I've just posted a few songs we've been using to practice these concepts on our "Practice at Home" page. Be sure to check it out!

OCTOBER 28

This week we're learning that "au" and "eau" sound just like "o". We'll be looking at words like:

OCTOBER 24

In the past two weeks, we have been hard at work on sounding out words with "o", "u" and "ou", during our French lessons.

Our "o" vocabulary words last week were:

Our "u" vocabulary words this week are:

Before diving into more vocab, we focused on differentiating between the sound "u" and "ou", which can sometimes be challenging to an untrained ear. The "u" sound is known for being particularly challenging for non-French speakers. We practiced the positioning of our tongue to help us make the distinction. If you'd like to practice this with your kids at home, I've added a video under the "Practice at Home" page that explains the tongue positioning and can help you achieve the French sound "u".

Be sure to also visit our "In Action" page. Lots of fun math activities have been taking place over the week, as we've started our new unit on the meaning of addition and subtraction.

OCTOBER 12

Students have been working hard this week. Not only did we tackle reading the sound "i" but we achieved big things in math.

We practiced reading "i" vocabulary words, including:

In math, we became masters of:

  • Counting backwards from 10 in French (and are working towards becoming proficient in counting backwards from 20)
  • Counting by 2s and 5s
  • Counting to 100 all on our own, without music or help from the teacher!

Since the first day of school, we've been introduced to ordinal numbers by looking at how many school days we've had. [E.g. "Aujourd'hui est le premier jour d'école" (Today is the first day of school)] Next week, we will finalize our counting unit by recognizing the connection between cardinal numbers (whole numbers; numbers that tell quantity) and ordinal numbers (numbers that tell position in a series, e.g., first, second, third). Students can get a head start this weekend by listening to this:

OCTOBER 04

This past week we mastered the sound "e" in our reading unit. A big focus was finding words we use every day that have the sound "e". We practiced reading these words:

e.g. Je vais au tableau (I go to the board) e.g. Il regarde la neige tomber (He is watching the snow fall) e.g. Regarde! Un fantôme! (Look! A ghost!) e.g. Le petit chien. (The little dog) e.g. Le petit chien. (The little dog)

When one of our students pointed out that the word regarde uses both the "a" and "e" sounds, we focused-in on that word as a student inquiry topic. We had fun using our word wall and the word "regarde" to brainstorm short French sentences. Both classes had fun with this activity. Here are a few of the sentences students came up with all on their own:

"Regarde le chat."

"Regarde, madame!"

"Regarde! Un avion!"

"Ah! Regarde! Une abeille!"

"Je regarde madame."

A proud moment for us! See what other "regarde" sentences you can come up with!

SEPTEMBER 25

This week's agenda vocabulary words are:

  • au [pronounced "oh"] (to, at)
e.g. Je vais au tableau (I'm going to the board)
  • aller [pronounced "ah-lay"] (to go)
e.g. Je dois aller au tableau (I need to go to the board)
  • après [pronounced "ah-preh"] (after)
e.g. Je dois aller au tableau après ceci (I need to go to the board after this)

SEPTEMBER 16

Two new goodies in the agendas today!

  1. Room 4, your Nutrition for Learning letters have gone home. Look out for them in the front pocket of the agendas.
  2. Over the past week, both rooms have been focusing their reading skills on the phonetic sound "a". Students wrote new vocabulary words that use the "a" sound in their agendas. We learned the difference between these three common possessive adjectives:
  • ma (my)
  • ta (your)
  • sa (his/her)

SEPTEMBER 12

Students have been working hard as they write this week's vocabulary words in their agendas. Their penmanship is a work-in-progress and can be hard to read at home sometimes. Here's our list of vocabulary words, for your own reference:

  • une abeille (a bee)
  • un ami / une amie (a friend)
  • un avion (an airplane)
  • avec (with)
  • bonjour (hello/good morning)
  • un chat (a cat)
  • une cage (a cage)
  • un papa (a dad)
  • j'ai (I have)

SEPTEMBER 09

Today we started keeping track of our new French vocabulary words in our planners/agendas. Be sure to ask your kiddos what each of them mean. Look out for more words as the week continues!

SEPTEMBER 03

What a wonderful first day! Please give a big high five to your kids tonight for all their hard work. See you tomorrow gang!