Concours update

Over the past two weeks, students have received on average 2 hours per day to work on the planning, research, and rough draft of their concours. Those who were not yet finished their rough draft this afternoon, were asked to finish it for Monday.
Should students need to translate an unknown word, they have had practiced using the websites:
www.wordreference.com
www.linguee.fr

**Please, absolutely no google translate!! Students have worked very hard using their own skills and strategies to write French sentences. It would be great if they could finish their speeches by applying the same strategies.

Students were also given time during our finish up period to finish the two digit addition and subtraction worksheets (p. 10 and p. 21) that we have been working on this week. They have learned the "old school method" (the vertical method taught in the past) as well as two other strategies. I have asked that these two pages be finished for Monday as well.

Please let me know if you have any questions!
Mme. Buchanan

Students were off to a great start to their French speeches this week. They have been given an hour daily to organize their ideas and complete their research. They will be given time Friday afternoon to complete any unfinished work. This will include: page 4 and 5 of their blue math booklet, Winnipeg Harvest question sheet, Find the Evidence worksheet, and French Speech research. Any unfinished work will be asked to be completed for Monday.

On Monday we will begin planning and writing our rough draft for the speech, so it is very important that all research please be completed by Monday, so as not to fall behind. **Please note that there will be no dictée, spelling, nor TUSC during the month of January, so that students may focus on their speech.

*Possible discussion topics for the week: Concours d'art, Structures, adding tens and hundreds, "inferring" (or finding evidence in a text), Winnipeg Harvest.

Please let me know if you have any questions!
Mme. Buchanan

Concours d'art oratoire

It's that time of year again! This week, students will begin working on their French speeches or Concours d'art oratoire. The writing process will be broken down into several steps:
1) Planning
2) Research
3) Paragraph planning
4) Writing
5) Revising
6) Good copy
7) Speech

Each step will have a mini lesson where I will practice and model the step with students before they apply it to their own speech. Students will write their speeches in French so that I can authentically assess their French writing ability. We have practiced and reviewed several strategies for different French writing components and how to look up unknown words. I will be encouraging them to apply these same strategies to their speech writing.

Students are being given an hour everyday in class for working on different steps of the speech to minimize the amount of work that needs to be done at home. I have also provided students with a copy of the rubric that I will be using to help them assess their own writing and identify what they need to improve before handing in their final copy.

We are aiming to have our speeches done and ready to present the first week in February. I will be able to give you a more specific date and time once we near the end of our good copy writing.

**Students wishing to compete at school level will need to have a 2-4 minute memorized speech.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Mme. Buchanan

Finish Up Work
Students were asked to complete the good copy of their Candy Cane Island paragraphs. All students worked hard to finish their corrections, so all that remains is recopying.

*A friendly reminder that students have a social studies test on Monday.

Please let me know if you have any questions! Have a great weekend!
Mme. Buchanan

Happy Holidays!!!!

I would like to wish you and your family a very Happy Holidays!!!

Students have been asked to think about a concours d'art (French speech) topic over the Holidays. They can either make up a story (ex// a funny story that happened to them), write a persuasive piece (ex//why it is important to recycle) or and informative piece about an interesting topic. Should students need to do research for their topic, they are strongly encouraged to do so over the break (if they have time) as we only have 7 i-pads available for research in class.

I have also asked students to make a point of doing Xtra-Math practice on a daily basis when possible to do so. This will better prepare them for our 3 and 4 digit addition or subtraction unit when we return in January.

**Students were also given the option of bringing two or three French books home for home reading over the break!

I hope you have a wonderful two weeks with your family and I will see you in the New Year!
Mme. Buchanan

Winter Concert

Winter Concert 2015
~Le bel hiver~

Tuesday, December 15th @ 6:30pm
Immanuel Pentecostal Church, 955 Wilkes Ave
Silver Collection at the door

Doors open at 5:45 pm
Student supervision begins at 6:00 pm
There will be signs posted to help you locate your room

Dress Code: Fancy attire. 
There is no specific colour that the 
students need to wear this year. 

LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

With our last week fast approaching, here is a quick look at what next has in store for our school:

• Monday - Holiday Head apparel Day- "Hat Day"
• Tuesday - Concert Day
• Wednesday - Pyjama Day
• Thursday - The Grinch/Who Family Day - (sing along in the gym with Mme. Ager and all the Who's - time TBA)  **T.U.S.C.
• Friday - Ugly Sweater/Red/Green Day **Skating in the morning; class party in the afternoon.