Welcome to Grade 4-1, 5-1 FI!
Welcome
to Irma Coulson! We are thrilled
to be working with a great group of students in Grade 4-1, 5-1 French Immersion.
This week will include taking care of administrative details; reading, writing
and math exercises; the establishment of classroom procedures and etiquette;
and a lot of “Get to know you” activities that will help build inclusive
classroom environment. We hope the
following outline will familiarize you with the way we will assist your
child(ren) to grow academically and socially this year.
Reading:
Reading is extremely important, at home and at
school. The more students read, the more they are exposed to new ideas, forms
of writing and vocabulary all of which will help them to be better readers and writers.
Students are expected to be reading every night 20 minutes in English and 20
minutes in French. Students will be recording their reading online (more details
to follow) daily and submitting it on a weekly basis by the Thursday of every
week. We will devote part of our Language periods each week working on a
variety of different reading strategies that will help us with accuracy,
comprehension, fluency, and expand on our vocabulary. It is important students
read a variety of books and read about topics that interest them.
Writing: Students will
participate in directed lessons that focus on different forms of writing, and
working through the writing process (prewriting, drafting, revising,
proofreading/editing, and publishing).
Math:
The math curriculum is fun, but also challenging. We will be working on a variety of math concepts through
warm-up activities, mental math strategies, problem solving, journal writing,
centres and group work. Students will be working not only on their comprehension
skills, but also their communication skills. Math is not just about memorization anymore, but rather
problem solving, explaining their thinking, reasoning, and the application of
strategies.
Physical
Education: During their scheduled gym periods the students
will participate in cooperative games, skill building, personal fitness, and a
variety of other activities. Students must be prepared with gym clothes and
proper running shoes on their gym days although keeping gym shoes at
school is a great idea for our Quality Daily Fitness time.
Agendas/Communication:
We will be using the school agendas as an organizational and communication tool
between school and home (e.g., record homework and reminders). Please check and
sign your child’s agenda every night so we know it has been read. We will use
the agendas to send home notes throughout the year and we encourage you to use
them to communicate with us as well. We will be updating our blog and website
to keep you informed as much as possible.
Homework:
While at school, the students are busy, and they are working very hard! Plus, a
lot of students are involved in a variety of activities outside of school,
which is important for their development. Most of the work in Grade 4, 5 will be
completed in-class, in particular assignments and some projects, as it is
important for us to see how they independently use and apply
concepts/ideas/techniques/etc., learned in class. There will be some homework assigned each week, such as
reading and other homework will be assigned in accordance to the programming
that is taking place in the classroom. It is very important that this work be
completed on time in order for students to participate fully in the lessons
that follow.
If you have any questions, or just want to chat,
please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Thank you for helping us get off to a great start!
We are so pleased to be working with your child(ren) this school year and we
look forward to meeting, or seeing, you soon!!
Sincerely,
Jennifer Flett and Francois Mayotte
Please take the time to visit our websites along
with the school website. The
attached website has the Junior
supply list as we are unsure of when we will receive our class
materials. http://icp.hdsb.ca/Content/Menu/FOV1-001624B0/S14A92CEA?FormID=96&listview
