Our "coquelicots" pour le Jour de souvenir

Nous avons 20 dents.

This afternoon, we had GOÛTER ENSEMBLE featuring pear people.   The students really enjoyed putting them together and eating them.   Thank you to Stephanie for this creative and delicious snack.

Calendar: C'est novembre

Hello out there, it's Madame Moustique...

This week, as you may have discovered in your child's communication folder, these last few days of October we tackled letters
  J j,   L l and M m (thus the teacher-dressed-as-a-Mmmmm-osquito, I concluded after trying to figure out how to dress for Halloween that "moustique" would be a relevant word for us second-language learners here in Manitoba : )

A big           Thank-you! to 2 Halloween elves who helped us celebrate Halloween with the mummy wrap game and some really beautifully presented and tasty snacks.   Thank you also to parents who sent Halloween pencils for us to share...not required but a nice way for us to practice giving and receiving!


Please note calendars for "novembre" in your child's communication folder.   

Also if you have not sent back photo consent or non-consent form from the back of the student handbook, please do so ASAP and send back to school in your child's COMMUNCATION FOLDER.

Parent-Teacher Conferences will take place the evening of November 26th and morning of November 27th.   You will recieve information on how to sign up for your interview spot.   THERE IS NO SCHOOL FOR YOUR CHILD ON NOVEMBER 27th.   For Maternelle, this first report card reflects an assessment of your child's learning behaviours.   (Subsequent report cards will include specific academic criteria and assessment reflecting foundational pieces for second-language acquisition.

The main goal for Maternelle is that your child has an overall positive experience while listening and singing, running, counting, writing, doing actions, and crafting in French.

Merci beacoup!    Madame Moustique for Madame Esther

HALLOWEEN mini-fête THURSDAY Oct 29th

We will be hosting a Halloween mini-fête in MATERNELLE on after lunch on         October 29th.   This means will be doing a Halloween craft, educational games, and other vocabulary-building activities with a Halloween theme.  

costumes: 
*Please SEND your child's COSTUME in a SEPARATE BAG and NOT WEARING the costume as we will be putting them on after lunch. 
*Your child must be able to GET INTO and OUT OF their costume more or less BY THEMSELVES.
*If your child DOES NOT WANT TO WEAR a costume, that's okay.   We will have some craft supplies on hand for children who want to make a decoration to wear.

food: 
*If you have a fun idea for a Halloween or Autumn-themed snack, PLEASE COME IN and SHOW us how to make it.   Ours is a class of students who LOVE to do things with their HANDS and their BRAINS.   Please do not BRING US A PREPARED SNACK.   But COME IN WITH THE SUPPLIES AND MODEL HOW TO MAKE IT.   Then WE CAN MAKE IT OURSELVES.   It is a MORE VALUABLE LEARNING EXPERIENCE if we DO IT OURSELVES.        

source: pinterest

Paper Plates and Numeracy cont.

For anyone to REALLY learn something, the chance to play and the chance to make mistakes are essential.   For our paper plates and numeracy, it's important that especially in the home environment, your child can play with the numeracy plates as they wish.   This is because we do not always have enough time to play and really integrate new concepts at school.  (That sounds somewhat ironic but I do believe that equal amounts of learning happens at school and outside of school : )

Playing means that we are not always correcting them or saying, do it this way, or like this.   If they ask for help we can certainly make A SUGGESTION or asking them a leading question.   

So…when your child brings the set of plates home, you can ask them to show you what to do with them.   

At school, we will be: 

1. putting them in order

2. corresponding the number with the same number of objects 

3. using them to count objects (so if you want to know how many leaves you have, you can put one on each plate and see how many numbers are used)   

Offer some objects to your child to use at home with the plate.  

After a bit of play, encourage your child to COUNT IN FRENCH if they are not already.   At school we are practicing counting exclusively in FRENCH.  

Taking it a step further: 

- mixing objects (like photo or mixing objects on each plate)
- if your child needs more of a challenge, encourage them to set up the plates in reverse, from 8-1 and to count backwards also in FRENCH