November Newsletter
November 2, 2011
November is already here and that means report cards and parent conferences. I am really looking forward to meeting with all of you to discuss your child’s progress. I also hope that with the use of Engrade, there will be no surprises on the report cards. Students’ marks will be coming directly from the assessment posted on Engrade.
With regard to conferences, I will be sending home a tentative appointment time with your child in the next week or so. I hope the assigned time is convenient. If it is not, please contact me to reschedule.
Students are doing well on our spelling tests and I have started to include the articles (le, la, les, etc.). All nouns in French have gender and it is really important to recognize the difference between masculine and feminine words.
Please find below an outline of what your child will be learning this month:
MATH: The grade 3 students will be continuing with numbers up to 1000. Grade 4 students will be continuing with whole numbers. The unit exams for both grades will be around the last week of November. This unit is proving to be difficult for students so any help at home with counting, estimating and rounding would go a long way!
SOCIAL STUDIES: This month, students will be studying local governments and the workings of a community. To do so, we will be creating a mock community. This unit will require students to take on the role of a community member and will thus be integrated with Drama.
FRENCH: We are starting a new thematic unit about problem-solving. Students will be—among others— writing simple and complex phrases, comparing two things using adverbs, pronouncing the letter “S” and working on avoiding common errors.
ENGLISH: This month is the start of a new thematic unit on friendship and togetherness. Students will work on letter-writing, predicting and asking questions while reading, brainstorming and filling out charts, and contractions.
ARTS: We are starting Drama this month! This is a really fun unit and helps students express themselves in French without judgement. This unit will be closely tied to our mock community in Social Studies.
HEALTH: This month, students will be learning and discussing healthy choices and stress management. This unit will discuss avoiding drugs and alcohol and how the former affect our health and the health of others. Students will also learn how to manage stress to avoid illness.