Post for this week and next!

Hi everyone,
Hope your week has ended well. The count down is on until the Christmas holidays begin. Its starting to feel a little more like Christmas seeing that things are slowing down at school. The candy cane sales was a huge success. Thank you for all of you who helped out the night of the concert. It can be hectic. We sold out fast and even sold out of the back up papers. In the end we had to write candy oh grams on extra paper we found. We finally have organized everything and will hopefully deliever them today at the end of the day. There are a lot of candy canes to pass out. I will be encouraging the students who have a ton to share the wealth and attach them to the Christmas cards we are making for the clients at the drop in centre. I still have to count all the moola, once I have that done I will let you all know the total and how many turkeys we will purchase. I will be sending them to the Drop in next week. We will still collect change up until Monday December 14th.

Today is the last day to try Fruits and veggies. It was a success again this year. I love this project! I love seeing the students reaction to trying new things. I will go over the booklets and then send them home for you to look at. I hope they help you with some healthy snack ideas!
We have written Santa and hope that he will write us back before school ends. We also got our Christmas elf in the mail last week. Her name is Lulu. She comes every year to class to watch over us. She is Santa's number one doll maker elf. The students love her and she has been a great help to keep them focused, especially at this time of year.

In Math, we are now starting to get into addition and subtraction up to 20. They will learn about addition first and then subtraction so do not panic if they have no idea what you are talking about when you mention subtraction! Please though practice and take the time to explain these concepts to your child in English. This will help them when I start to explain them in French.

In Science, the students continue to learn about the 5 senses. We are now learning about our hearing and sight. The students have learned about a boy who is blind but has developed his own way of getting around by clicking (echolocation). He is able to roller blade, bike, play video games and so on. They will also be learning about Helen Keller, who was also blind and deaf.

In Social Studies, we have taken a break from learning about our country and have started to talk about our rights and responsibilities. We have already chatted about our responsibilities at home and at school. This is a great way to chat about expected behavior, how society works and also to point out how lucky we are! They had many questions about the rights of children in other parts of the world.

Next week is our last week before Christmas. It is a busy week and a fast week that always ends before I am ready. Last year for fun we did the 5 days before the holidays countdown. Everyday we had something fun planned. We will do this again this year. Here is the things we will be doing.
Monday- Dress as a present. Students come dressed with bows, paper...
Tuesday- Dress as a Christmas tree. All in green, with decorations or Christmas colors
Wednesday- Dress as a Christmas Elf.
Thursday- PJ day. Students may bring a stuffy. Watching Gr 3 play also this day.
Friday-  Dress in Christmas best for the liturgy. 1/2 day at school, noon dismissal.

On Monday Christian action is at 9h30. Milk orders are also due on Monday. Wednesday there is special lunch and reading club for those who attend. Thursday the grade 3's will put on their play "Unfrozen" There will be a Nativity walk where students go class to class and learn about special Christmas Traditions. We will also have our Christmas celebration in the afternoon, seeing that Friday will be crazy and to fast! If you wish to send in a holiday treat feel free to do so. Keep in mind we have one student who is gluten free, so if possible an option for her would be greatly appreciated.
Friday our last day together for 2015! It is a half day of school, noon dismissal. We have our Advent liturgy at 10h30 for those who would like to join.

Thank you all for a great first half of the year. I look forward to what 2016 has to offer all of us. If I do not get a chance to see you before Friday. I wish you the Merriest of Christmas filled with love and laughter. I hope you make tons of great memories. See you all in the new year! :)

December is upon us!

Well it is December and if you are a kid or me... its probably your favorite time of year. I love everything about Christmas. The music, decorations, the food and heading back home to PEI to spend time with my dad. So the countdown is on in class for Santa and the days until I head home.

This month in class the students will be learning Christmas vocabulary, Christmas traditions of others and how to sing some Christmas favorites in French. We will also review French vocabulary and sounds from the beginning of the year to date and work on using the French sentence structures. With the holiday season we will be making some crafts. Could you all please send in a mason jar. A pickling jar works best. If you could please send those in by Friday December 4th it would be greatly appreciated.

This week in class students will be preparing for the Christmas concert by practicing their song. The concert is this Thursday at St. Michael's Church. The school choir will start to sing at 5:30. The concert is to start at 6:30. I am hoping to be there at 5:15 to set up the tables for selling the candy canes. I am still on the hunt for Allan brand candy canes. They are the ones I sell every year because they are nut, dairy, wheat and gluten free. If any of you have seen them around please let me know ASAP! If you have volunteered to sell candy canes it would be great if you could be there for 5:30-5:45-6:00. The students are going to wear their Sunday best. Boys are asked to wear black pants, white shirt. The girls are asked to wear a nice dress. The concert can be long as we have more classes this year and we are at the beginning of the show. If you wish to take your child home before the concert is over please let me know in advance. The teachers have planned a song and dance for your enjoyment.

For those of you new to the school and are not sure what exactly the candy oh grams are here is a quick explanation. Our class sell the candy canes to collect money to purchase turkeys. The candy o grams are a little note to spread some Christmas cheer that you can send your child, their friends or a staff member. They are a cost of .50cents each, so be sure to bring some change.

Mme Wilma is here on Wednesday to practice the songs and the dance moves that go along with it. The students also have special lunch Wednesday if they have ordered it. Reading club is cancelled Wednesday for those who attend.
On Thursday, the Advent liturgy  will be held in our classrooms starting at 1pm. The Christmas concert is also Thursday. If you have any questions about the concert please let me know.
Friday all Ginger bread house money is due, if you have not already passed it in. This is a class project put on by the grade 2 classes. The money collected will go to support the Breakfast program at our sister school in the N.E. If you wish to sign up and haven't received a form, please let me know and Ill get one to you right away.
Monday all Scholastic order forms are due. I will need to place these orders right away to ensure that you will get them before Christmas. If you have purchased some items as a gift I will set it aside for you and let you know when it has arrived. For Monday could you also please return with your child's reading package the Pink A book "Mes Histoire". We will be exchanging them for the B book with Christmas stories.

That's all for now. Enjoy the week everyone.
Laurie Anne

Long time, no post!

Sorry for not posting the last two weeks. I finally figured out what was going on with my blog! Sometimes technology and me are not the greatest friends! I hope you all had a great week and are ready for the last full week of November! Can you believe it, I sure cant.

The Christmas concert is right around the corner. We still have a ways to go with our song and putting all the actions together. Please practice the song at home with your child when you get a chance. Mme Wilma was in today and told us we need to pronounce the first line of Deck the Halls better. I guess we sounded all mumbled.

We continue to collect change for the turkeys, however its a bit slow. Thank-you to all of you who have been helping out. Keep up the great work and keep the small change coming in. I have contact the Drop In and they have happily excepted our donation again this year. I will keep you all posted. I will be needing volunteers to help sell candy canes at the Christmas Concert next week. I usually go in shifts and then during the concert I have usually weaseled Mike and a couple of my friends into selling them. If you are interested in helping out please let me know.

This is a short week, this week seeing that we have parent teacher conference Thursday night and all day Friday, so no school Friday. I look forward to chatting with you. If you have any questions about the report card please bring it along with you to discuss. At the conference you are encouraged to stop by the annual book fair. This will be set up in the gym. The students will be able to preview what the book fair has on Wednesday during their library time. They usually write a wish list that they take home with them. There will also be a class wish list there for you to donate books to your child's classroom. You can also go on the hunt for missing items that your child may have lost at school. This is usually set up in the hall but may be found in the gym. Keep your eyes open!

Sprit day is on Thursday, in honor Movember the students are encouraged to sport a mustache. We have no school on Monday, the teachers have PD day.

We are having a great time trying fruits and veggies in class. Every day the students as me what they are trying! Thanks again for helping make this happen. Also in French, the students are learning the proper names of body parts. The students are also working on their French rhyming skills.

In Math, the students are starting to learn about simple addition up to 20. We have started to count up to 50 now in French and have been working on counting by 10's up to 100. Please take some time to help them with this in French.

In Science, this week I hope to introduce the students to Helen Keller. They will also learn about braille and will write their own names in braille.

That is all for this week, just a quick update. Have a great week and be safe I hear a storm is on its way.
Laurie Anne

Welcome to November!

Welcome back from a long week end everyone. I hope you had a great time out and about with your little trick or treater's! I am sure your children got lots of yummy treats. Please remember to limit the amount of treats that your put in your child's lunch.
This week we are going to take the chance to finish up projects and start our new theme of Fruits and Vegetables. I sent home last week a list with all your children's name on it with a fruit and vegetable for a specific day. Please let me know if you have not received that paper and Ill send along a new one. I hope that your child loves this project and takes advantage of the opportunity to try new things. There will be a booklet that goes home after the project which you can use to help you pack healthy lunches.
In French, we continue to work on phonemic awareness. So far the students have been identifying the beginning sounds of words as well as the ending sounds. This week we are going to look further into syllables as well as what makes up a sentence. Students will be required to identify the number of words in a sentence. They often mistake two or more syllable words for being more than one word. The students have started to work on combined sounds in French. It would be a huge advantage for them if they had the opportunity to practice these at home, look for them in their books or sight words. This will make them more aware and help them decode later on. So far we have covered the following sounds, OU (loup), OI ( oiseau) CH (chat), ON (cochon)
This week in Math students will be focusing on representing numbers with objects. They will then divide the number of objects into two parts. For example 10 blocks, divide them into two parts, 5 on one side and 5 on the other. This them shows them that 5 and 5 make 10 or 5+5=10. This is something very simple you can do at home to help your child start to understand the concept of addition. We continue to also count to 20-1 and have started to count by 10's.
We will be using our senses when tasting the fruits and vegetables, which ties into our new Science theme. Students will learn to identify which part of their taste buds they will be using. We also will be discussing how our senses helps keep us safe.
In social studies, we are looking at the world around us and how we are apart of much more than just a community. Students are starting to learn about the province they live in and the country they are apart of. I will send along some websites for you to play and explore at home that may help.

In English, we are review all letter sounds as well as vowel sounds. They students continue to work on Explode the code at their own pace. We will also be looking at beginning, middle and ending sounds and rhyming words.
In Health, students are learning proper brushing and flossing techniques. I told them a story of when I was young, my dad use to sing to me " Yellow Submarin" by the beatles if I didn't brush my teeth. He said that's what my teeth would look like haha. So when I brush my teeth I hummed the song. They got a kick out that and wanted to see the music video! So I apologize if the end up singing that!
 That's all for now I believe.
Have a great week!
LA

Happy Halloween!

Last week in October is upon us! I cant believe it!
This week class the students will be doing several Halloween related activities. We are reading stories in both French and English about Halloween. The students will have the chance to carve a pumpkin and estimate the number of pumpkin seeds each pumpkin will have. We will talk about what kind of face we want to carve on our pumpkins which will tie into our health unit of feelings and emotions. The students will also be creating their own Haunted House book. They will have to use their dictionaries to help them with this project. They continue to work on their Family tree. Thanks for sending in the pictures to make this happen. Once finished they will present their tree to the class in French using the proper vocabulary.
In math, we are starting to introduce the concept 1 de plus (1 more than), 1 de moins (1 less than), 2 de plus (2 more than), and 2 de moins (2 less than). I emailed you all a spinner to use at home and a dice that you can put together to practice this concept. Feel free to print out a number line for you child to look at or have manipulatives for them to use.
Science, the students learned that their brain is the power house to their being! All the senses they experience go back to the brain. I included a di in the email last night. Feel free to practice the vocabulary for the 5 senses as well as pointing out when they are using their senses.
In Social Studies, the students are learning how to distinguish groups based on their clothing, language, symbols or culture. We will look at different music from around the world in the next couple of days as another way to distinguish cultures and languages.
I have sent home the fruits and veggies sheet, which lists each students name and date they are to bring in items for the class to try. This is a part of our healthy eating unit as well as French learning the proper names for fruits and vegetables in French. In years past the students end up loving this project and are sad when it is finished. If you are unable to participate please let me know in advance so I may make arrangements for that day. The rule in class is that EVERY student must try the items regardless if they THINK they do not like it. They can spit it out or simply put it on their tongue to give it a try. I have found that once they all see their peers trying new things out, they are more willing to give things a try. Thanks in advance for your support of this project. Note that if you cannot find the items your child has listed, just replace it with something different that is not already on the list.
Friday in class we will have a little Halloween celebration. You may send in a Healthy treat with your child if you wish to do so. If you wish to come in and do a Halloween craft, feel free to let me know and we can arrange a time. Last year I encouraged the parents to dress up to pick up and drop off their child to school to make the day more exciting, feel free to do so! A reminder for Halloween costumes. Your child is responsible for putting on their own costume. If they require make-up please be sure to have applied it before coming to school. Masks are not allowed, nor are weapons of any sort.
If your child is in choir they can purchase a choir t-shirt for 10$. Please send in the money or cheque to Holy name School, with your child's name clearly marked on it.
Library is tomorrow. FYI.
I believe that is it for this week. Have a great week and a super safe Halloween.
Laurie Anne

Back on the ball!

Happy Monday everyone,
It was great seeing some of you at the Gala on Saturday night. Its always a great time to get together outside of school. A huge thank you to all of you for your support with the Gala Basket, attending the Gala and purchasing items to make our school better for the students.

Fred Penner was great this morning....at least I thought so. I was tapping my hands and dancing around. At one point I was up dancing and my students gave me that look that said "Sit down now, you are embarrassing us." I cant help liking "Puff the Magic Dragon". Sitting there listening to the songs though I must say has reminded me how important they are. Most of the songs he sung where rhyming and he had the students repeat after him, guess the next lyric. It was great.

Just a reminder to you all about the reading packages. Do not forget to log the title of the books that your child is reading. This helps the parent volunteers to figure out what level of book they should have also of what titles they have had already. It also helps me know that you are reading at home and  if I need more leveled books rather then others. Thanks again for returning them on time!

Another note, if your child is taking extra work home to work on, please make sure they use a pencil. It is hard to correct mistakes that are in pen or marker. I am beyond proud of your children who have asked to take work home to get caught up. Bravo!

This week in class in French, the students will be starting to learn Halloween vocabulary and working on little projects centered around the big day. We have started our literacy centers in class and they are going great. This allows me to work with a small group of students on reading strategies while other students are in centers. So far all the groups that I have worked with are over the moon to start learning how to read in French. Some students have even started to volunteer to read to the whole class during our reading period. Its amazing to see how fast some of them are catching on. Please continue to practice at home, your hard work is paying off! We will also be starting our family trees this week, so please be sure to send in those family pictures. Please note we will be cutting them soo do not send in any that you don't want cut up. Please have them in ASAP. I would like to start Wednesday.

Science, the students are starting to learn about their 5 sense as well as the names for body parts in French. In order for your child to become aware of their 5 senses, you can beginning pointing out when they are using the senses in their daily activities. For example, when you are cooking supper, ask them what they think they are having based on what they smell? What do they taste....

In Math, we continue to learn how to represent numbers. We have been practicing associating words to numbers up to 20. I will send home those word bags in the next couple of weeks to practice at home. I will be testing your child in the next couple weeks on number recognition up to 20 out of sequence, oral pronunciation of numbers up to 20 as well as counting forwards and backwards from 1-20. Feel free to practice these skills at home.

In English, students continue to learn letter sounds in English. We have been focusing on finding the rhyming words in books. This week in class we will take a look at the beginning sounds of words as well as ending sounds. This is a perfect way to review sounds and the beginning of decoding words.
I will be randomly picking students this week to go over their English site words on their paint chips. Please be sure to review with your child.

This week in school we have a guest speaker chatting to us all the way from my home in PEI. John Connolly who is a good friend of mine and my husbands will be speaking to the children about his play that he has wrote, produced about Terry Fox. He tried to present the day of the Terry Fox run but we had technical difficulties. He is fabulous and is supper talented. I will attach a link to his website so you can read more on him if it interests you as well as one of his song. This is the song he sang as I walked down the isle.

http://johnconnolly.ca/

Thought Id give you a pick to go along with the song lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdH_fP4ZHic  - Here you are- John Connolly

I will leave you with that! Have a great week everyone!

Busy week!

Hi Folks,
We have a busy one, this week! So I will get all the important stuff out of the way first.
Alien In-line skating continues this week. Our class has skating twice this week. Monday October 5th, at 11h15 until noon. We have two volunteers already signed up for this time.Wednesday October 7th first thing at 8h45-9h30, we have all volunteers for that day as well. Thanks for all your help. Also I forgot to remind the students to keep their helmets at school. Please send them back in and if its ok we will keep them there until Thursday of this week.
Friendship builders club starts this week. Sessions will be held on Monday and Tuesday at lunch. Young Rembrants is Monday at 3pm. For those of you who missed this session, you may want to look into the next one. Its a great way to build confidence, help fine motor skills and to have students take a risk when putting pencil paper.
Wednesday, Holy Name Cares food bags are due. These will be collected and as a staff we are going to prepare the hampers for families in need.
Thursday, we have our Thanksgiving Liturgy at 2pm. You are all invited to join us.
We have no school on Friday due to a PD day and Monday because it is Thanksgiving. Reading packages for next week will be exchanged on Tuesday October 13.
Thank you to all who have contributed to the Gala Basket. I believe we had all our items and then some. I have sent home permission forms for you all to sign for Fred Penner on Friday. Please be sure to send them back this week. I found some on the floor soo if you haven't gotten one, please let me know. Scholastic Book orders are due on Wednesday October 7th. There is a new payment option online. Please note that if you are paying online you do so under my name.

Now to what's going on in class this week...
We have finished up patterning in Math and will be moving onto numbers 1-20. They will be practicing counting 1- 20 and from 20-1 in French. Students will also be asked to identify numbers in 10 frames up to 20 and their written form.
In Science, we will be finishing up our colors unit this week and will be moving onto learning about our 5 senses. The students will have a quiz on mixing colors this coming week. Feel free to review what two colors make what at home.
Social Studies this week, we continue to talk about being a part of a group. We will take a look at the families we belong too and the origins of our last names. Please send in with your child the origins of your last name by Tuesday. There was also a note sent home requesting any pictures, medals or video's that shows your child's involvement in a group. (I also found some sheets on the floor, so please let me know if you need one with the information)
In French, we have started our new theme and have begun learning about members of the family in French. I will be sending home a note later this week requesting, family photos and names to help with our family tree project. Please note that these pictures will be cut, so do not send any that you do not wish to have cut. We are only including mom, dad, siblings and grand-parents on the tree. We will also be reading "Le bricolage" which you can practice reading in the pink books in your childs reading package. Students have also been learning how to use a dictionary to help them in their writing. They had fun using the table of contents.
In Health, the students will be finishing up learning about proper hand washing. They have learned when they should wash their hands and also a little song they can sing as they do. Students will then move onto learning about proper teeth brushing.

I believe this is it for this week. Have a great long week end. Wishing you a very happy thanksgiving. I hope your table is filled with those you love and new memories.
Cheers,
Laurie Anne

PS. I have include a great game to play at home with letter sounds and numbers. I hope you give it a try:)

http://www.takatamuser.com/6-7-ans/takaabc-jeu-abecedaire.html (alphabet and first letter sounds)


http://www.takatamuser.com/maternelle/je-compte-de-1-a-5.html (Math- numbers 1-5)