Bienvenue à la deuxième année !

1. Bienvenueà la deuxièmeannée!

2. Welcome to Curriculum Night! The goal of tonight’s session will be to help you understand how your child spends his or her day while at school, as well as to give you a general scope of what the prescribed Grade 2 EFI curriculum will cover.

3. School Routines: 8:10am – Students gain access to the main entrance and buses start to arrive. 8:25am – The first bell, or “tidy-up” bell rings. Students are expected to arrive by this time. 8:30am – The second bell rings and instructional time begins. 10:00 to 10:15am – We break for recess. 11:45 to 12:40pm – We break for lunch. 2:40pm – Students are dismissed and escorted out of the building.

4. Classroom Scheduling: • There are planned lessons, goals, and objectives to be met everyday, however our schedule is flexible. • Mornings typically consists of French Language Arts and Math. • While afternoons incorporate Science, Social Studies, Health, Religion, and Art. • We like to incorporate a lot of hands-on learning experiences in Grade 2 to keep the students actively engaged in the learning process and peak their interest.

5. Other Schedules: La musique: jour 3, 5, et 7. L’éducation physique: jour 1, 4, et 6. Note: - Please ensure your child has athletic sneakers with non marking soles for the gynmasium. La bibliothèque: jour 2 La lecture avec nosamis: jour 1

6. Agendas: • We use agendas to record daily messages and send home important messages and notices. • Please check and initial the date inside the agenda each evening as it will serve as the main tool of communication between home and school. I will do the same each morning. • Please keep the agenda, the baggie book, and the black homework duo-tang together in the “sac en plastique” for safe keeping.

7. Homework: • Our homework policy dictates that primary school children be assigned no more than 20 mins. of homework per night. • I urge you to respect that timeline. If your child is having difficulty with that time frame, please let me know right away so I can make adjustments for your child.

8. Homework: • Homework will look very much the same each week. • Inside the black homework duo-tang you will find the reading log and our weekly comptine (nursery rhyme). Audio clips of each week’s nursery rhyme will be available on our class website. • As part of our reading program, a leveled baggie book will be sent home for practice each day. • Please ensure that your child records all reading in the log each evening as it will serve as a tool for your child to track his or her reading success. • It is necessary to return the black homework duo-tang and the leveled baggie book each day as we will be using them during class time.

9. Homework: • In addition to the reading, there may be suggested Math games and activities sent home for completion. • Periodically, there may be a small at-home project assigned to support a current unit of study. • A weekly memo, outlining the expectations for the week, will be sent home at the beginning of each week.

10. L’étoile de la semaine • The L’étoile de la semaine! (Star of the Week) program is designed to showcase each child’s uniqueness and special “ness”, over the course of one week. • A portion of each day will be dedicated to the presentations of the selected student. • The primary focus will be on the <<Je me présente>> poster. • We will begin the program later in the Fall, and more detail will be provided soon.

11. Other Information: Transportation: • I can not stress the importance of providing a note when your child’s transportation arrangements arrangements at the end of the day differ from usual. • Although I try to check my email throughout the day, it is more effective to write a note in the agenda, as periodically time does not permit me to do so.

12. Other Information: • Volunteering: If you plan on attending any field trips or volunteering at school events, you must have a new certificate of conduct for this academic school year. • Allergy Information: Please refer to the school website for details regarding school allergies, as they can change throughout the year.

13. Other Information: Recycling Program: • Our recycling program continues this year on Tuesday mornings. • When ordering from the cafeteria, we ask that students bring a reusable lunch order baggie (e.g., coin purse, small wallet) clearly labeled with his or her name, grade level, and teacher. • We encourage students to bring a garbage free recess and lunch to school, whenever possible.

14. Other Information: Toy Policy: Students are permitted to bring a toy of their choice to school for use during the allotted playtimes only (e.g., recess, lunch playtime, etc.). At all other times throughout the day, toys are to be safely stored inside school bags contained within the student lockers. With parental consent, students may bring in a technological device (e.g., iPod, iTouch, iPad, Nintendo DS, etc.), if they wish, on Fridays ONLY. Please do no send your child to school with any toy or device that you fear may get lost or broken.

15. Other Information: • Scholastic Orders: Scholastic orders will be distributed on a monthly basis. If you would like to place an order, please be advised that we can only accept payments in the form of a cheque, made payable to Scholastic. • Birthday Invitations: When sending in birthday invitations, please send them to either all the girls, all the boys, or everyone. Otherwise, they will not be distributed. You can refer to the “class list” link on our class website for names.

16. Other Information: Bernard, le renard: We have a class mascot named, Bernard. He is a red fox who only speaks and understands French. Every night, a different child is chosen to bring him home. Please be sure to return him to school the next day. Feel free to ask you child to translate any messages you may have for Bernard. If you take any photos of him, you can send them to school to add to our photo album.

17. Grade 2 Early French Immersion Curriculum

18. Mathematics: The following units will be covered in Grade 2: • Les régularités (Patterning) • Les nombresjusqu’à 100 (Numbers to 100) • L’analyse de données (Data Analysis) • J’additionne et je soustraisjusqu’à 18 (Addition and Subtraction Facts to 18) • Je mesure (Measurement) • J’additionne et je soustraisjusqu’à 100 (Addition and Subtraction 100) • La géometrie (Geometry)

19. Mathematics: • At the beginning of each new unit, a letter will be sent home outlining the specific outcomes. • A very important part of the Math program is for the children to communicate mathematical reasoning and the see how mathematical ideas are connected to the real world, to other mathematical ideas, and to what they are learning in other subject areas. • Please make Math a part of everyday discussions.  Be aware of its presence and encourage your children to talk about it.  (e.g., recipes, price tags, household 3D shapes, etc.).

20. Les sciences: There are four major units with the new Science Program… • Movement • Air and Water • Matter • Animal Growth

21. Les sciences humaines: The Social Studies Program is relatively new and will focus on four major themes… • People • Technology • Economy • Environment

22. La santé: Our new Health Program consists of four units… • All About Me: Healthy Body/Body Awareness • All About Me: Healthy Mind and Feelings • All About Me: My Family, Friends, and Community • All About Me: My Environment

23. La religion: We use a new program that celebrates different cultures and religions around the world.

24. L’art: • Children are given the opportunity to work with a variety of art materials such as paint, fabrics, pastels, charcoal, watercolour, and more.  • We discuss such topics like shapes, lines, textures, etc. • We look at children’s books and discuss the illustrations and the techniques used.  • We are also lucky enough to participate each year in the ArtSmarts program.

25. Le français: The Language Arts curriculum is comprised of five interelated areas… 1.) Listening 2.) Speaking 3.) Reading 4.) Viewing 5.) Writing • Themes include; L’amitié (friendship), Les ours (bears), Les dinosaures (dinosaurs), seasonal themes and Author Study – Robert Munsch.

26. Reading Strategies: • Je lis le titre du texte. ( I read the title of the book) • Je regarde les illustrations. (I look at the illustrations) • Je me base sur le titre et sur les illustrations pour formuler des prédictions. (I make predictions on the title and illustrations) • Je regarde au texte et je cherche les motsque je connais. (I look for words that are familiar) • Je découpe les motsque je ne connais pas. (I break down the words I do not know, ie :  a ra chide) • Je fais attention aux mots qui sontdéguisés par ceslettres : ée, ées, s, ent, etc.  ( I pay attention to words that are disguised with endings such as : ée, ées, s, ent, etc.)

27. Reading Strategies: • Je listous les mots entre la lettre majuscule et le point afin de biencomprendre le sens du texte. (I read the whole sentence from capital to the period to try to make sense of the sentence) • Si je ne comprends pas le sens de la phrase, je la relis. (If I do not understand the sentence I re-read it) • Je me pose les questions tout au long de ma lecture. (I ask questions throughout my reading)  • Lorsquej’aifini ma lecture, je compare mesprédictions aux événements du texts lu. (After I am done reading I compare my predictions with what I have read)

28. Stay Connected with Us! We invite you to stay up to date with current events within the classroom and the entire school at large… • Grade Twos love to blog! Stay tuned, as we will begin blogging very soon. • Visit our class website! It is here that you will find announcements and links for the class blogs, audio clips for les comptines, memos, calendars, games, curriculum guides, etc. • Follow us on Twitter at @BCEJeannaBishop. We will regularly tweet out reminders for important dates, school closures, and photos of what we do in class.