Dear families of grade 4 and 5 French Immersion students in room 109,
Welcome back to the beginning of a new school year at Lord Lansdowne! We are pleased to be members of a fantastic team of educators and to have the opportunity of being your child’s teachers. We appreciate your time in reading this rather long but important newsletter. Mme Gooden will teach the following subjects in the morning:
M. Quigg will teach the following subjects in the afternoon:
Building Character We know that children learn best when they feel safe and included. We will help your child develop his or her social and emotional skills by facilitating a community that holds kindness, diversity, and inclusion as core values. We will structure many lessons around the TDSB monthly character traits: September – Respect, October – Responsibility, November – Empathy, December - Kindness & Caring, January – Teamwork, February – Fairness, March – Honesty, April – Co-operation May – Integrity, June - Perseverance September In September we are building our class community by learning more about each other and ourselves. The first few weeks of school are a time for your child to adjust to new routines and expectations, review prior knowledge, and are a time for us to assess how best to meet each student’s individual needs. The following is a list of rules and we encourage you to go over them with your child:
Home Communication Please check your child’s backpack regularly for forms and newsletters. You can contact us though the school phone with notes delivered by your child. Please follow our blog for important updates and helpful information: www.info109.weebly.com We will sometimes communicate by email. We appreciate your consideration that we are rarely at our computers in the day and that email should be used primarily to set up a time for a meeting or a phone conversation. Thank you. Homework We will be following the recommendations of the TDSB’s Homework Policy. It states… “There is a strong connection between reading to or with elementary children every day in English or in one’s first language and student achievement.” We also encourage reading in French at home at a ratio of roughly 1:3 in French to 2:3 in English. We stress that all students read for a minimum of 20 minutes per day. Regular reading and journal/diary writing is incredibly valuable for progress in all strands of learning. Students will be receiving weekly homework. It will be assigned each Friday and due each Thursday. Homework is to be submitted inside the green folder. The Math vocabulary is in French. Please visit the Math page on our blog for a French-English glossary of Math vocabulary. If your child encounters vocabulary that he or she does not understand, we encouraging him or her to use a dictionary or an online translation tool. Homework is a valuable opportunity for your child to practice skills with your support. Please actively support your child with homework to make sure that he or she is applying his or her best effort. Homework that is rushed or unchecked will be marked as incomplete. Thank you for your support. We aim to find a balance between enough homework to achieve skill practicing goals and not too much that it interferes with other family activities. Water Bottles Each student needs to have a water bottle. We have a sink in our classroom but not a water fountain. Students can leave the classroom to use the washroom but not solely to drink water. Please arrange to have a school-designated water bottle labeled with your child’s name. Suggested School Supplies Students are encouraged to bring their own pencil case with pencils, erasers, pencil crayons and a pencil sharpener. The school will also provide some of these supplies, however, by mid-year we are often running out. It would be ideal if your child had his or her own pencil case with the above items in plentiful supply throughout the year. Photos We will sometimes take pictures of students engaging in learning activities throughout the year. We will share them with you at certain points in the year using a private online link. Please let us know if you do not want your child to appear in these albums. Lunches Learning takes a lot of energy! Please encourage your child to eat his or her entire lunch. (We are sure this is also frustrating for you when you see half eaten lunches come home.) We want each student to have a full tank for the entire day of learning. Nutritious, low-sugar lunches will help your child to maintain focus throughout the day. Please limit the amount of candy-type items that come to school because they get eaten first and the more nutritious food goes uneaten. There will be times in the afternoon when your child can continue to eat food from his or her lunch. Changes in Transportation If there are ever any changes to your child’s home time routine, for example, if you plan to pick up your child who normally rides the bus or you wish for someone other than the designated person to pick up your child, you must send a written note or notify the office. Peanuts/Nut Allergies and Other Special Dietary Needs At Lord Lansdowne and da Vinci School, we have many children who have life-threatening allergies to peanuts/nuts and other specific foods. To protect our students, we ask that you do not send any food treats for the whole class (i.e. cake to celebrate a birthday). If your child wishes to celebrate something special with the class, other non-food treats such as fancy pencils or erasers would be a welcome alternative. Thank you for your understanding. Snack Program The snack program will begin shortly. Each day your child will receive a nutritious, nut-free snack that follows the Toronto Public Health food guidelines. Gym Shoes Please make sure your child has a pair of running shoes that fit well for gym class and also as indoor shoes for when there is mud outside. Having indoor is essential to ensure a dust-allergy safe zone for our students with asthma. Volunteering Parent volunteers are most welcome in the classroom once routines are established. Please advise us if you have a particular interest, skill, or hobby that you would like to share. Some of the best learning moments in the class are when parents or community members share their skills and passions. Please don’t hesitate to arrange visit! Checklist
It is an honour to be your child’s teachers and we look forward to guiding your child’s learning throughout this school year. Warmest regards, David Quigg & Dawn Gooden
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Bienvenue !
Click below for our school blog
What day is it?
Comment taper les accents
Archives
June 2018
|