Term 3 update

It is now the last week of school and I just wanted to say that I am so very proud of all of the students' hard work and accomplishments this year.  They have all come a long way since September in their printing, reading, writing, listening, speaking, counting, etc. etc. skills!  The list goes on and on, doesn't it? 

I also wanted to say thank you to all the parents for your support in helping your child build a sense of responsibility and independence over the year.  These skills will continue to be essential to your child's success in grade 2 and beyond!

Here is a recap of the many things we learned at the end of grade 1:

- We completed Second Step (the last unit was problem-solving skills).
- We learned a great deal about birds, especially while they were visiting the chicks next door in Mme Hada's class.
- We explored ways to change paragraphs by writing and rearranging sentences, changing one or two words, and we learned about interesting titles.  We created and then presented paragraphs about birds, based on our learning of the subject-matter, and our understanding of paragraphs. 
- We continued to evaluate writing, through the use of our writing continuum, and our co-created list of writing attributes.  The students also had an opportunity to evaluate their own writing from September and then April and set goals for the remainder of June.  Students then created one last writing piece in June to include in that project.
- We learned about environmental stewardship through songs, books, and discussions, and created a "Polution/Solution" poster on this subject.
- We completed our phonétique book, and learned to use our knowledge of letter sounds and word families to decode new words when reading and writing.

Some tips I have for practicing in French over the summer would be:

- playing familiar DVDs in French for your child to watch
- visiting the public Library often to take out French books for your child to practice reading
- using your child's journals, dictionaries, phonetique books that were sent home for your child to use as tools for practicing writing
- reviewing (and bookmarking) the videos on the blog
- reviewing the sight words sent home
- enrolling your child in a French summer camp

BUT I also want to highlight that reading and writing skills transfer between English and French so any reading/writing that your child does in English will help him or her in French too.
Reading with your child every day over the summer, even if it's in English, is the best thing you can do to help him/her build and maintain his/her literacy skills. 

Parents, it has been a pleasure teaching your children this year.  Have a safe and happy summer!