Dear parents/guardians,
I want to begin by thanking those who came out to Meet the Teacher on September 26. It was wonderful meeting everyone and I hope that we will be able to continue developing a strong communication link. For parents/guardians who were unable to attend the event, please feel free to email me any concerns you may have, or simply to say a quick hello (yannick.o’neill@ocdsb.ca).
During the month of September, we plunged into space by looking at different astrological objects (planets, sun, satellite planets, asteroids, meteoroids and comets). We also began our work in social studies by looking at commerce and the importance of commerce. We looked at trade, internal and international commerce as well as the concept of supply and demand. Finally in French, we focused on writing an article, the writing process, skimming and scanning and the use of punctuation, quotation marks and capital letters.
For the month of October, in science, we will be looking at astronauts, with the possibility of a guest speaker, as well as the effects of the sun and the moon on Earth. In addition, students will be presenting their short presentation on their astrological object – between the 15 and 18 of October. In social studies, we will be looking at a brief history of commerce, the beginning of commerce in Canada, exportation and importation and Canada’s economic partners. Finally, in French, we will be looking at biographies, paraphrasing, and the use of adjectives, adverbs and verbs to enrich ones writing.
Technology: I am a big believer in using technology in order to help my learners improve their French. For this reason, I will encourage learners to write on the forum which I have created specifically for our classroom (it is private to the extent that no one can write or communicate with your child unless they are a member of the forum). There is a secondary site which is entirely private to outsiders unless invited by me to access it. I hope to use it to encourage our students to read at home in French and to share their books or ideas regarding the books they are reading verbally. The site is called voxopop.com. I have used this site in the pass with my ESL learners in Korea and more recently with my FSL learners from Woodroffe Avenue Public School without a problem and with wonderful feedback from the parents and learners. I received the most feedback around the idea that the parents were hearing their child read or speak in French. It is important to note that student participation on both of these sites is entirely voluntarily. No grades will be attached to what is done. What I will do is, on occasion; give feedback to those participating on the different sites in order to help them improve.
For parents who want to know more about what is happening in our classroom or more about me you can visit (ysoroch.canadian-forum.com). This is the forum I plan to use with my learners to help them with their French writing.
All the best,
Yannick O’Neill
Sat Oct 27, 2012 11:06 pm