Welcome to Grade One!
French Immersion
Division 14
Teachers: Ingrid van Varseveld and Andi King
This is a very exciting time for both parents and students. We are all
ready to learn and have a lot of fun in Grade One this year. Based
on numerous years of teaching experience at the Grade One level, we have
learned that there are at least three very common things that the children may
do when they get home from school during the first few weeks:
1. They will talk NON-STOP about what they did
in class, right down to the little details of our classroom routine and
activities. Beginning in the parking lot
at school and continuing all the way home, through dinner and bedtime routine,
you will hear about EVERYTHING we did at school with enthusiasm. Your child may be exhausted, but you know for
sure that he/she was paying close attention all day long to have been able to
remember SO MUCH!
2. They will be completely SILENT and no amount
of questioning from you will get an inch of information from them about their
day. This doesn’t mean that they didn’t
have fun or that they didn’t learn anything!
In fact, they are so exhausted from having so much fun that they are too
tired to hold a conversation.
3. They may CRY the minute you pick them up at the classroom
door. They are completely exhausted from
a long day of school and although they had enormous fun, their energy and blood
sugar levels are very low. They may have
forgotten to eat their snack and only had small bites of their lunch because
they were too busy socializing during eating time. Don’t worry, this will pass as they get used
to being at school again after the summer and as they learn the classroom
routines.
The MOST IMPORTANT thing that you can do in any of
these situations is to be supportive, encouraging, and interested in what your
child is doing at school. Nurture their learning development, appeal to
their sense of wonder, and enjoy the Grade One experience together.
The next few pages contain important information about
classroom routines, safety concerns and special activities. Please
take the time to read this information carefully. There is also an important questionnaire
about your child to fill out that you will find attached, as well as a list of
items that the students will need this year.
I have asked for your home email
address on the questionnaire. This is
optional, of course, but it is very helpful for Mme King and I in regards to
communicating quickly with you as problems, questions or comments arise. Communicating via email will help us keep on
top of your child’s learning much more effectively. Please have the questionnaire filled out and
returned to us by the end of this first week of school. Your cooperation is always greatly
appreciated.
Email address for Mme van Varseveld:
robvanv@telus.net Mme King: aking@sd83.bc.ca
Feel free to contact us at any time.
Nut-Free,
Litter-Free Snacks and Lunches
We aim to be a “Nut-Free” school, and out of
respect for those students with allergies, we ask that you do not send any
snacks or sandwiches that contain peanuts or nuts. Thank you!
Our school goal is to encourage students to
reduce the amount of garbage generated every day. We have a “pack in, pack out” policy that
requires students to bring home ALL of their snack and lunch litter to be
recycled. This means that messy apple
sauce containers, banana peels and apple cores etc. will be coming home,
resulting in a messy lunch kit. We
apologize in advance, and hopefully you’ll find a lunch kit that is easy to
clean. To encourage you, I heard from a
janitor last year that Bastion school has far less garbage than any other
elementary school! We can be proud of
that!!
Special Items to Send to School
1. Comfortable indoor shoes – running shoes with Velcro are great in
September, but shoes with laces are a good choice after Spring Break if they’ve
outgrown their old ones.
2. Plastic pencil box – used to store “stuff” in their desk (can be
found at any dollar store here in Salmon Arm)
3. Sturdy back pack – large enough to fit a binder (their agenda),
large library books, their lunch and sometimes art projects as well! (The kids
MEC backpacks are too narrow and are very difficult for your child to handle.)
Agenda Routine
Students have
all been given binders that contain notices and forms for parents to read and
fill out, Scholastic book orders, and of course the very large and exciting
AGENDA! In this book, students will
write what they have for homework each day.
It is also the place for parent/teacher communication, where we often
jot down a few notes about something that happened during the day, or to remind
parents or students about an important event.
(Some parents may not have email.)
Please take time to review the agenda EVERY DAY. Sign your name in the appropriate space,
indicating that you have read the letters to the parents and completed the
homework with your child. The students must bring their binders with their
agendas back to school every morning.
Two Teachers = Twice
the Fun!
This year, Mme van Varseveld and Mme King are job-sharing. This means you get to have fun with two
teachers! We are both very excited about
this arrangement as we have similar teaching styles. Mme van Varseveld will teach Monday to
Wednesday, and Mme King will teach Thursday and Friday. We will work very hard to provide a nurturing
and structured learning environment for all of our students.
Parent Volunteers
We are very fortunate at Bastion School to have a wealth of parent volunteers
ready to help support classroom learning.
However, it is a bit more difficult when the classroom is French
Immersion! If you speak any French at
all, if you are willing to learn some new vocabulary, or if you are able to
encourage students to speak to you in French during special activities, then we
can certainly use your help! We will
notify you via the agenda or via email when we could use parental help. Helping students sew their traveling stuffies,
listening to students read, helping with our Food Explorers unit, and just
assisting with the painting table during center time are highlights to look
forward to!
What’s for Homework?
Every evening beginning
next week, your child will have two homework items to practice. The first item
is called “La Dictée,” which is a list of 5 or 6 words that students
practice at home. For the first few
weeks, the words will be very easy and will focus on two letters that we have
studied in class. Your child will be
trying to master printing as well as trying to remember the French sounds.
The second item for homework is called “Lecture”, which is
reading a French book. It is not
expected that the student be able to actually read each page of the book at
this stage, but they could certainly point out the letters of the alphabet that
we have studied in class. They can begin
to attempt to read small words. Don’t be
intimidated if you don’t know how to read French. Your job is to help them interpret the
pictures, guess at what the story is about, and just talk about it or the
book’s subject in general. The
important thing to remember is that your child will love to read because YOU
are spending time with him/her and encouraging them to do their best. Daily reading time together is crucial!
Please continue to read aloud to your child in English. There are MANY transferable skills in
French and English, and your child will learn a lot simply by enjoying a good
story and spending quality time with you.
However, it may not be wise to teach your child the sounds of the
English alphabet, as they can be very different from the French alphabet. (For example, the French “i” is pronounced
“ee”, the French “g” is called a “jay” and the “j” is called a “jee”.) It may
be tricky to try and learn both alphabets at once. But
please do still read to your child in English!
Don’t worry about your child falling behind in his/her English
reading. Studies have shown that by the
time a French Immersion student reaches grade 4 (with only one year of formal
reading instruction in English), their reading skills in English are equivalent
to those of a student in the English program.
Star
of the Week
Each week, a student will be selected to be “L’Étoile de la Semaine”
(The Star of the Week). This student
will have special classroom responsibilities (line leader, teacher’s helper…)
and will be the subject of a fabulous book written by his/her classmates. Once the book is completed, it will be sent
home and put into circulation with the other Home Reading Books. At the end of the year, each student will be
able to keep his or her special book as a keepsake.
The Star Student will be selected on Monday and will be assigned to
present some interesting facts about themselves to the rest of the class on
Tuesday. Don’t worry about translating
the presentation; I will be glad to help your son/daughter with the
French. Over the course of the year, the
students will become very good at presenting in French with minimal help.
Your child will bring home a reminder when they are chosen to be “L’Étoile
de la Semaine”!
NEXT
WEEK, the fun REALLY begins!
Beginning on Monday, Sept.9, our first thematic study unit about COLOURS
will blast off. Students will learn the
names of the colours in French as well as the science of colours and their use
in art. To make this unit come alive,
the students are asked to WEAR a specific colour every day (see
schedule below) and BRING one object that matches the daily colour to school.
Monday, Sept. 9 – Rouge (red)
Tuesday, Sept. 10 – Orange
Wednesday, Sept. 11 – Jaune (yellow)
Thursday, Sept. 12 – Vert (green)
Friday, Sept. 13 – Bleu (blue)
Monday, Sept.16 – Pro D day – NO SCHOOL
Tuesday, Sept, 17 - Violet (purple)
Wednesday, Sept. 18 – Brun (brown)
Thursday, Sept. 19 – Noir (black)
Friday, Sept. 20 – Arc-en-ciel (rainbow) Wear your favourite colour!
