Bonjour everyone! Welcome back to a new school year and a new adventure for you and your child in grade one! We survived the first week and had the week end to rest up and start over again. I hope that your child is adjusting well to the new routine. I know some of them must have seemed a little tired when they got home, seeing that they are not use to a full day of school. You will notice them adjusting a little better in the coming months. It is important that they get their rest, because it can be tiring learning a new language.
I am excited to meet you all at the parent teacher meetings coming up this week. You probably have a lot of questions to ask about this year but also of who I am. I'll give you a little run down now. I am new to Calgary. I have been here on and off for the past 4 years. I am from Prince Edward Island which is the east coast of Canada. The island is small and everyone that passes you greets you with a friendly smile and a hello. (Calgary is still getting use to me doing this here!) Last year I took a leave of absence from my full time teaching position at Greenfield Elementary where I taught grade one French Immersion, to give the west a try. I was lucky to come across the catholic school board at an education fair. It was meant to be I think. The recruiter was shaking a tin of mints when I was about to leave. I heard the mints and thought hmmm I could use some free mints and went over. That action brought me to Holy Name where I had the chance of teaching a fabulous grade two class for the rest of the year and has brought me back to Calgary for another year. Grade one is my thing, I love it. Everyday is different, the kids make me laugh,smile,cry and everything in between. I am really big on literacy and teaching the students not only the curriculum but about the importance of respect, friendships, life and compassion. I see my classroom as a small community where everyone works together, we are a team and our actions being in this small community effect everyone in some way. My classroom has an open door policy, I love parents to come in and help out and do activities with the students. So feel free to volunteer anytime! I also believe that your child's success in French Immersion not only happens at school but at home as well,regardless if you can speak French or not. By simply listening to your child read each night in French or doing extra work with them, all plays an important role in their success. I am here to work with you as well. I am the product of attending a French Immersion school and had parents who didn't speak French. They did listen to me every night reading and watched me do my home work and by simply being there, just in case helped me succeed.
If you have any question ever please feel free to email or call me at school. I am always happy to help!
**Your child will take home their agenda every night. In there will be notes about whats going on at school or what was sent home. I use it mainly as a communication tool between school and home. Also it will have your child's sight words for the week. I ask that you review these with your child daily, practice sounding them out, writing them. You can always play fun games with them like memory, hang man or war. You will also always find on the blog their sight words, sounds of the week and French sentence structures or expressions for the week. Practice these as well. The sight words are especially important because they are the frequent French words that your child will see once they start to read. I know your nights can be busy and packed full of extra activities, but even practicing them on the drive to and from will help your child!
I hope to see most of you this week, if not have a great one and we will catch up soon.
Enjoy the week!
Laurie Anne :)
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