La gazette de 1ère année
École Captain Michael VandenBos
Mlle Goss, Mme Jacquie, Mme Jarvis et Mme Laszlo
December 2010
What’s New:
Winter Craft Event:
On Thursday, December 16 th, the Grade One classes
will participate in a winter craft event. Students will visit
two classrooms in the afternoon to make holiday crafts,
and they will also perform some seasonal songs. Parents
are welcome to attend and assist if they wish, 12:15-
1:30pm (Sullivan & Goss), 12:30-2:15pm (Laszlo & Jarvis).
In Each Subject
Language:
In December, we will continue to review our reading
decoding strategies as we have a closer look at the French
sounds “e” and “u” by studying the La phonétique animée
characters “René Renard” and “Lucie Tortue” as well as
the Lire en criant ciseaux stories “Reno le renard” and “Au
clair de la lune”. We will also begin focused instruction
about the six reading comprehension strategies (a copy of
which is already included in your child’s Home Reading
duotang).
Home Reading Program:
The home reading program is off to a good start! We are
pleased with the interest the students are showing and
their effort to progress to more challenging texts.
We hope that your child is already attempting to
practise independent use of the decoding strategies
introduced at school (i.e., referring to the illustrations to
make predictions, recognizing words with similar beginning
sounds or that contain grouped sounds, etc.) by using the
reference sheet in their Home Reading duotang to prompt
his/her memory about the tools available to assist him/her.
For now, do not worry if you feel your child has
“memorized” a certain text as this is part of the process of
expanding their French “sight” vocabulary.
A reminder that if your child brings home a book from
the Étincelle series (with a penguin on the cover) audio
support is available at
http://www.duvaleducation.com/fr/ressources-
francais/litteratie-1/etincelle-5/. To download audio
support for the collection, click on the yellow button beside
“Téléchargez le CD audio de l’ensemble 1” or “Téléchargez
le CD audio de l’ensemble 2” halfway down the page, then
click on the title of your child’s book. Please be patient
with your child’s Home Reading book exchange process;
while the teachers try to read with students who return their
books each day, sometimes we are not able to get to
everyone. Students are encouraged to practise reading a
book to their parents nightly for at least two nights before
reading to the teacher.
Syllables:
Breaking words into syllables is a good skill for reading
success. When breaking words into syllables in French, a
good indication of the number of syllables is to refer to the
number of vowels. A word that ends with a vowel, (e.g.
valise) will sound like two syllables orally, but in fact has
three syllables or “parts” to the word. However, a consonant
with a vowel-blend (e.g. boi, beau...) is counted as a single
syllable. Double consonants are always separated.
e.g. une cage = une ca - ge (2)
e.g. une valise = une va - li - se (3)
e.g. un boisson = un bois - son (2)
Students are encouraged to practise breaking homework
vocabulary into syllables, and to track the words with their
index finger as they read.
Mathematics:
For the next month we will continue to explore the
relationship between 3-dimensional solids and 2-
dimensional shapes. Students are learning the names and
properties of solids, as well as the 2D shapes (faces) that
form them. Students will also explore the presence of solids
in the environment and will practise using solids to make 3D
structures, as well as using 2D shapes to represent 3D
objects. In addition to the vocabulary sheet that was sent
home recently, here are a few key French terms that you
may find useful:
Face – the flat surface of a 3D shape
Surface – the rounded face of a 3D shape (of a cone or sphere)
Arête – the edge of a 3D shape (where 2 faces meet)
Sommet – the corner where the edges of a 3D solid connect
Côté – the side of a 2D shape
Coin – the corner of a 2D shape
Once we have completed our unit on geometry, we will
begin to build a foundation for addition and subtraction prior
to the holidays.
Science & Health:
In December, we will discuss and build on students’
understanding of healthy eating habits. See
www.missionnutrition.ca for Healthy Eating tips for the
whole family!
As a final project for our Life Systems strand, we will also
build bird houses this month – just one of the ways we can
help other living things. A couple of parent volunteers would
be valuable in ensuring the success of this project – please
let your child’s teacher know as soon as possible if you
could be available one afternoon in early December to help
out with this!
Early Dismissal:
On December 17th, students will be dismissed at
1:50 p.m. School will resume on January 3rd, 2010.