Mme.

Toms Mme Shingler Mme OConnor

KEY POINTS

Agendas are on sale for $9.00 Curriculum night is SEPTEMBER 6th from 5:307:30pm. Boomerang lunches: everything the students bring to lunch goes back home with the student PA Day: November th (interviews)

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W e l c o m e B a c k ! S e p t e m b e r 4 t h , 2 0 1 2

A new beginning...
Welcome parents and students to an exciting new school year, it's time for that fresh start again. I hope your summer went slowly enough for you to enjoy every day. Hello and welcome to the Junior Division as a grade 4 student. My name is Mme Shingler and I will be your childs teacher in the French Immersion grade 4 classroom for this year. I am looking forward to an exciting year with a brand new group of young students, parents and teachers with whom I can work with to support the children as they grow and learn. I look forward to meeting with each one of you in the coming weeks to discuss your childs educational and learning goals for this upcoming school year. The beginning of the year is always busy and full of letters, forms etc. Please do your best in filling them out and sending them back on time. This is greatly appreciated by myself and the administrative staff. I wish you all the best in a successful academic year! The grade 4 team

Inside this issue:

Suggested supplies Agendas Homework

Housekeep- 3 ing Links to Education

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School Safety/Allergies
For security reasons, it is very important that all parents/family members/ friends of family sign in at the office before heading to a classroom, even if it is to bring a lunch, pick up your child for hockey or bringing shoes etc The office will notify the classroom of your arrival and you will receive a visitor pass. When it comes time to go home, find a designated waiting area where your child can meet with you after dismissal. YOUR COOPERATION IN THIS MATTER IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!

Other infor- 4 mation

Allergy Alert:
We have an allergy to nuts, bananas and mangos in the classroom. Please keep this in mind when packing your

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Suggested Supplies/Materials
Here is a list of materials that is suggested for your child this school year. ** Agendapurchased from the school (will be used for homework tracking and note keeping) 1. 7 Dividers for our new binder in class (label one for math, language, sciences, etudes sociales, drame/danse, sant et arts visuels 2. Scissors 3. Markers,Pencil crayons 4. Highlighters (2) 5. Glue Stick, small ruler 6. Personal Calculator 7. Pencils, erasers, small sharpener 8. Pencil case (Tupperware works well for this) Homework folder: A fun plastic pocket to bring home their homework or school letters. Gym:- Running shoes for gym (also used as indoor shoes no black soles) Appropriate clothing worn on gym days for exercise Water bottles are encouraged

Tissue/Kleenex/Paper Towel It would be greatly appreciated if each student could donate a roll of paper towel and box of Kleenex. Hand sanitizer is recommended as well. Please label your childs materials so that we can identify one from the other. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.

Sincere thanks, the grade 4 team

The importance of an agenda

It is strongly suggested that students purchase an agenda in my class to help them to develop organizational skills that will be very beneficial for the future. This will help them to effectively organize their timelines for homework, projects, trips, assemblies etc. The cost of the agenda is $9.00. Please send $9.00 to buy a school agenda, which has all of the school information and school year calendar. If you do not wish to purchase a school agenda, you may purchase another type of agenda. Every day, your child will write down what homework will be sent home and its due date. In turn, you may also write me notes or messages pertaining to your child. Please make sure to go over the agenda with your child and sign the agenda nightly once work has been completed. To encourage your child to use their agenda, I will be having PRIZE FRIDAYS for the next couple of weeks where I hand out a small prize to those students who have written down their homework and have had their agendas signed by their parents/guardians. Thank you for your support.

Contact with the teacher If at any time throughout the year you need to speak with me or would like to book a teacher/ parent conference regarding a concern or a question, I encourage parents/guardians to let me know ahead of time in order to get your childs file ready. We can schedule conferences before or right after school. You can use your childs agenda for communication purposes as I will be signing them daily. You can also call at convenient hours such as before or after school (905) 668-2225

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Welcome Back!

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HOMEWORK
As your child begins a new school year, I would like to give you a chance to view what my expectations are for homework. Homework is sometimes fun practice of concepts learned in class, for example reading, science projects at home, art treasure hunts Other times, it is work that was not completed in class. Language: Reading: Your child should always have a French book on the go (this could be a variety of things such as a magazine, newspaper comic, picture book, recipe, novel, reading games). Students will be given the opportunity to select books from the library (one French/one English). I will also hand out scholastic order forms each month where students will have the opportunity to purchase French books as well as English books. The Whitby Library is also a good resource for French books. Major Reading/Writing Assignments/projects: as part of evaluation, independent assignments are done only at school to see if your child has learned the required concepts on their own following the teachers models and examples. Sometimes your child will bring home an assignment for practice or review. Math exercises: When your child practices new concepts at school, he or she sometimes has not completed all of the exercises of the day, therefore it will be brought home to finish as part of their math practice and is to be done for the following day.

The MathFROG website is another great site that allows students to play games based on the concepts learned in all of our math units. http://cemc2.math.uwaterloo.ca/ mathfrog/english/kidz/ index.shtml

How to keep math ideas fresh

The Nelson Math website is a good site to use in reinforcing concepts learned in class. This Multiplication and Division Facts: month we are focusing on Your child should be practicing mulChapter 3. tiplying and dividing at home http://www.nelson.com/ nelson/school/elementary/ mathK8/math4/studentcentre/ studsurf.html#ch3 This link provides you with the topics we will be covering throughout our unit on Data Management.
through games, flash cards, drills.

Tests/Projects: A review sheet will always be given before a test. Once we have gone over it in class it will be sent home for students to fill out using the information learned and exercises done in class. Tests will be sent home to be signed and then they are to returned to school.

ANY FINAL TEASK, TEST OR PROJECT HAS TO BE SIGNED AND RETURNED TO SCHOOL.

Housekeeping
Any used board games/ magazines, cards, French books?
We would appreciate any used French books, French magazines, games or cards especially for rainy days inside that you may have lying around the house. This would be a great donation to the class.

Label your childs belongings:

It is extremely helpful to have your childs belongings (lunch bag, shoes, coat, mittens, pencil case) labeled with their name. There is a lot to label at first but it will make things easier with misplaced items throughout the year.

Garbage:
Do your best to make sure that your child is bringing a litter less lunch. Encourage the green bin program and use plastic or metal containers whenever possible. Thanks for your help!

Links for education:

Language/Reading: A great site to use for reading is Tumblebooks. I encourage students to

use this site at least once a week for the read aloud option so that they are hearing the book being read to them. TUMBLEBOOKS: Enter your Whitby library card code to access the Tumblebooks (see link below) Select tumblebooks They will find a collection of animated, talking picture books. Use the drop down language menu to select French Choose any of the icons but for age appropriate read alouds choose Livres pour enfants Once they choose a story that they like they are to choose Visualisez en ligne Enjoy! http://www.whitbylibrary.on.ca/clientlogintumblebook

Other pertinent information

Mme. Shingler: Franais Math Social Studies Art Physical Education and Health Science Drama/Dance Mrs. Chance: English Mme. MacAdam: Music Trips: We will be planning upcoming trips this year. Please stay tuned for further information. Volunteers: We are always in need of volunteers whether it be for a field trip or in the classroom. If you are interested in volunteering for an event at the school this year, a field trip or in the classroom once a week/month etc. the school is now asking that all volunteers get a volunteer criminal reference check. You are to bring in the original copy (which the office will duplicate for you) in order to participate in any supervised activity with the students of Julie Payette Public School. Please let me know in your childs agenda or through a note if you are interested. School/Home Connections: I believe that a strong school and home connection will help us support each other as we go through the year. I hope you will feel comfortable contacting me at the school by dropping me a note in your childs agenda or calling me at the school. As a way of learning about your children, I invite you to write me a note with any pertinent information that you may think would help me to understand your child better. This will help their year be more successful. This information could include any special interests, learning strengths, areas of school that they find challenging or fun or anything else that you feel would be helpful information. Thank you for your support. School website: I am hoping to have everything up on the school website (under my name) by the end of the month. I encourage you to use the site to be aware of what we are doing in the classroom as well as special dates for tests, excursions or events at the school that may be occurring. I will keep you all posted with this information.