October Newsletter

September newsletter

La rentrée

The theme for September in Grade 4 French Immersion is Main dans la main - Hand in hand.  Students who visited the French Immersion Open House on August 31 had the opportunity to decorate hands with their names.  Their creations are posted on our Welcome bulletin board, which also features the inspiring phrase Tenons-nous par la main, unissons le monde - Holding hands, uniting the world.  Learning an additional language helps to build understanding and appreciation of linguistic and cultural diversity, and opens doors around the world.

Bonne rentrée tout le monde!  
Welcome back to school and welcome to the French Immersion program at Harry J. Clarke Public School.  4L and 4R are already hard at work learning numbers, greetings, useful questions and expressions, traditional comptines (children's poems) and classroom vocabulary.  We are pleased to have met many of our families at the French Immersion Open House on August 31 and the HJC Open House on September 15.  If you were not able to join us for either of these events, feel free to contact us at the school to arrange a meeting or drop by the school to visit our classrooms. Please remember that all visitors to HJC must register at the office where they will receive a visitor's pass to wear while in the building.  Our classrooms are open to you at all times, and we welcome your interest in your child's learning.

This blog is a new adventure for us.  Our goal is to provide families with information and strategies to make Grade 4 French Immersion a successful and exciting year of learning.  We hope that you will visit regularly to see posts regarding activities and themes in class, ideas for practice at home, upcoming events and important dates.

Important Information
The first edition of L'actualité quatrième année (the Grade 4 French Immersion Newsletter) was sent home on Tuesday, September 6.

Each student in 4L and 4R has a duotang or binder called La pratique.  La pratique contains information, activities and exercises that students may do at home to practise and refine their language skills.  As of Monday, September 19, La pratique contained the following pages:

• French numbers
• Bienvenue à la classe de français by Greg LeRock [click song title for a partial audio file of the song, and artist's name for his website]
• Poems and expressions for September, divided into weeks (semaines) [click Am stram gram for an audio file of our first poem]
• Les 7 jours de la semaine by Étienne [click song title for a slide show with lyrics, and artist's name for his website]
• Mon sac à dos by Greg LeRock

Both La pratique and the school agenda should be brought home and back to school every day.  The agenda will be updated at the beginning of each week with the suggested practice for the week.  Throughout the week reminders and messages are added, including weekly oral evaluations through September.  Please check the agenda daily, and if possible, sign or initial to indicate you have seen the agenda.  

We look forward to working with our new students and families throughout the year. Allons-y!  Let's get started!

Sharon Richardson and Chantal Lafond, 
Teachers - Grade 4 French Immersion
Harry J. Clarke Public School,
77 Rollins Drive, Belleville, ON
tel. 613.969.0140