Saturday, November 26, 2011

November 28, 2011

November 28, 2011

Dear Parents,
Thank you to all the parents who stopped by during parent teacher interviews. It is wonderful to see so many supportive parents. If you didn’t get a chance, and have any concerns please feel free to contact me at the school and we can arrange a meeting. I am very pleased with how everyone is doing and I am enjoying all of my classes. It is a pleasure to teach all of the students. Around the school we had a very successful anti-bullying awareness week and a family event with Maria Hawkins. To promote awareness of Children’s Rights our Grade 7/8 leaders have organized a Vow of Silence to take place on Wednesday. More information can be accessed on the school blog. We are starting to get the holiday spirit beginning with the well attended Gift and Craft show on Saturday. It was great to see so many our our families out. Thanks again to our wonderful Parent Council for organizing this event and making it possible. On December 9 we will have a Spirit day, where students can dress as their favourite holiday character. On December 15 General Lake will be holding their Holiday concert at 2:00pm. The following week will be filled with various activities including singalongs, a slideshow and our combined November/December character assembly on Dec 21.

In the classes:

Kindergarten: Students are continuing to develop their sound symbol correspondence with the Jolly Phonics program using the letters s,a,t,I,,p,n,c/k,e,h. We have now completed work with the Hungry Caterpillar and I am sending home a book for the students to share at home. You can encourage reading of this book by drawing attention to the words by pointing. You can also try echo reading whereby, you read a line then your child repeats after you. More details about Echo reading are posted on the blog. We have also been working on the Days of the week and we sing a little rhyming song that goes like this to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star:
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday too.Wednesday, Thursday just for you.Friday, Saturday that's the end .Now let's say those days again!Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday!
Days of the week (to the tune of "The Addams Family") Days of the week, (snap snap)Days of the week, (snap snap)Days of the week,Days of the week,Days of the week. (snap snap)
There's Sunday and there's Monday,There's Tuesday and there's Wednesday,There's Thursday and there's Friday,And then there's Saturday.


Grade 2: Students have been working on building a paragraph using a topic sentence, three supporting details and a closing sentence. Students have also been doing work applying capitalization and punctuation to their work. You will notice when I am marking their work I am using an apple.or heart to show what they did well, then a tree symbol to show what they can work on the improve (room to grow). This week we will be doing work around Children’s Rights. We will be watching a video produced by Unicef called ‘’Children First’ that talks about the Rights all children as established by the United Nations. We have begun our home reading program. Students should receive 2 books at their approximate reading level to practice for the 2 weeks. I have also sent home sight words for certain students who need to practice.
Grade 7/8: Students have been continuing their reading of Craig Keilberger’s Free the Children. I have been drawing their attention to the various literary elements used in the book including similes and metaphors. We will continue this work examining the symbolism, imagery, paradox, irony and foreshadowing that is used throughout the various chapters. The students are also excited to be leading the Vow of Silence, and they will soon have the results tallied and organized of the Climate survey they distributed on November 17.
Have a great week Ms. Legault

Sunday, November 13, 2011

ANTI-BULLYING WEEK

November 14, 2011

Dear Parents,
An exciting event-filled week here at General Lake culminating in a special family performance with Maria Hawkins on Thursday Night at 6:00. Throughout the week the students will be involved in a number of activities designed to bring awareness to the problem of bullying. Among the activities students will make trace a hand to be displayed in the front foyer; participate in a student led presentation about bullying on Wed; and wear pink and be part of a group picture in the shape of a peace sign outside on Thursday.
Thanks to students for completing a card of the person they wished to honour. All cards are displayed prominently on the front bulletin board. At our Remembrance Day Service students breathed a quiet thank-you as they proceeded back to their classes.
Also a reminder that our Book Fair is taking place in the library from November 14 -18.
Finally any parents wishing to speak with me on Friday should return the bottom form to ensure a time. I will be available for most of the day in the office. I will post my schedule outside the office.

JK/SK Students have been completing their retell of the Very Hungry Caterpillar and sharing with the class. Students are encouraged to use the words first, next, then and finally in their oral retells. Students also participated in a reading of 'Have You filled a Bucket Today?' by Carol Mc Cloud. The story talks about filling everyone's imaginary buckets by doing good deeds and positive actions everyday. More activities will follow particularly in December when the Habit of Mind is caring.
Grade 2 Students have participated in an echo reading of a hilarious story called Pigs APlenty, Pigs Galore. Students should have this text in their green folders and I encourage you to practise reading the text at home using the echo reading technique. Echo reading is basically where a skilled reader models small chunks of text and then the student echoes the model by reading the same line. It is designed to improve fluency and expression while eliminating the pressure and frustration of reading an entire passage. I will post more information shortly on this blog about this technique. Students also participated in a Read aloud of "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" by Carol McCloud. The story talks of filling everyone's imaginary bucket by the things we say and do towards others. More activities to follow during December when our Habit of Mind is Caring.
Grade 7/8 Students are working on a short presentation designed to educate a younger class about bullying. Students identified the success criteria for their presentation, then they used the information from last weeks presentation from the Rec Plex, as well as the parent information brochure to develop their own presentation suitable for their audience. On Wednesday groups will present to their respective classes.

Here is the Interview Request Form for Friday November 18 in Ms Legault's office.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interview Request Form: (Ms. Legault will confirm your time either via note or by phone)
Student Name: ________________________
Grade/Teacher: _______________________
Parent Name: _________________________
Phone Number: ________________________
I would like to attend an interview with Ms. Legault at the following time on Friday, November 18, 2011.
Time: ___________

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

November 1, 2011

November 1, 2011

Dear Parents/Guardians,
A number of things are happening school-wide. First we will be having our Remembrance Day assembly Friday, November 11 at 10:30. Parents are always welcome to attend our service. In preparation, students are encouraged to fill out an information card about someone in their family they would like to honour on this day because of their Military Service. More information should go home with your child or is available on the school blog at http://www.generallakenews.blogspot.com/.

The following week November 14-18 is our Anti-bullying week. Please mark off your calendars for the evening of November 17, as General Lake will host a Free Performance by our favourite Blues Lady Maria Hawkins. Maria visited our school last year and the students were so enthralled with the performance that we invited her back for our family event. Students should wear PINK on this day in support of anti-bullying.

Also during that week we have a Bookfair throughout the week, as well as Parent/Teacher Interviews on Thursday, November 17 from 4-6pm and Friday, November 18 during the P.A. Day.

Jk/SK: Students compared the book of Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown and the Halloween parody Goodnight Goon by Michael Rex. This week students will be exploring The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Students continued to work on the Jolly Phonics activities as well as the review of sight words. Students practiced a Remembrance Day song entitled This Little Sign of Peace (to the tune of This Little Light of Mine).

Grade 2: Students completed their Pigs and photos were taken of the little stuffies. Students participated in reading the Story of the Three Little Pigs. You can practice reading these at home. In a couple of weeks students will complete written instructions about how to make a Pig, but we took a break from the Pig activities for Halloween. Students used a Venn Diagram to compare the book Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and the Halloween parody Goodnight Goon by Michael Rex.

Grade 7/8: Students have continued their reading and discussions of Craig Keilburger's Free the Children. Interesting discussions have taken place around where our clothing has been manufactured and what the possible implications for the people if we choose to boycott the manufacturer. As part of the Anti-bullying week activities students in this class will explore the different types of bullying. They will be involved in educating other students about bullying and surveying the school to see its prevalence.