'Tis the Season!

It's hard to believe that Christmas is almost here! This will be a busy week at school...with the concert, Christmas activities, and parents coming in to read their favorite Christmas stories. Since we will be slighlty off-schedule and out of routine this week, there will be no spelling quiz on Friday. We will, however, still be practicing our words this week (from list 10) since there are 8 spelling words instead of the usual six. In math, we are still working with money..if you have any spare change at home, you can ask your child to count it for practice!

For the Christmas concert, we made our halos today. If anyone has a pair of wings at home, your child is more than welcome to wear them for the concert. Also, please have your child wear white on Thursday (if possible), and/or black, red, green...any Christmas colour will work!

Last week's spelling quizzes and January food orders were sent home in the agenda today. New books were also sent home for the week. Some students are still switching books, or have many books in their school bags to choose from. Your child should only have two new books at home. If a book is too easy/difficult, please write a quick note in the reading log and I will give your child a more appropriate book. Reading logs seem to be a whole other issue. If the books sent home were fine for the week, I do not need to see the reading log until Friday. Please remind your child to show me his/her reading log if changes need to be made to reading books throughout the week! Thanks for your help and patience as we work things out!

I think that's all for now!

Lisa

Monday, December 7th

Hi!
Reading logs have been sent home today. Please have your child write the titles of his/her weekly books, the date read, and a smiley face if the book is at an appropriate level (and draw a frown if the book is too difficult, and a new one will be sent home). Please sign the reading log and return it to school on Friday with the reading books. Picture re-takes have also been sent home today. We are still working on the sound "o, au, eau". There will be a spelling quiz this Friday. In Math, we have started to work with money. We will continue to practice counting by 5, 10, and 25 (with our coins). If you expressed interest in reading a Christmas book to the class, please write me a quick note by the end of the week with a convenient day and preferred time (a.m. or p.m.) and I will get back to you to confirm. Thank-you very much! Enjoy the snow!

Lisa

P.S. With winter quickly approaching, it may be a good idea to keep an extra pair of socks/mits in your child's school bag, and a plastic bag for the wet ones! This would solve a lot of our problems, and keep the typical "after-recess complaints" to a minimum.

I have to apologize... I hadn't realized that my last two posts did not "post", so you haven't heard from me in a few days! I hope that all of the report cards made it home last week, and that everyone will be able to make it to parent-teacher interviews at the end of the week. Since this is a short week, there will be no spelling quiz, but please continue to work in the yellow workbook. We are currently working on the sound "o, au, eau". If your child is sick, please continue to study our spelling lists since he/she will be expected to write the quiz upon returning to school! Spelling quizzes from last week have been sent home today. This seemed to be one of the most difficult list of words to date, so please review the words and the sound "in, im, ain, ein" this week as well. There were also two bonus sentences at the end of last week's spelling quiz. I am especially looking for upper case letters and periods. I am also checking to make sure that your child can use the spelling words from our list, and transfer their knowledge into sentences. This week in math, we are continuing to work on addition/subtraction of double digits, addition of doubles (2+2=4, 5+5=10). We are also counting by two, beginning at a number other than 0 (17, 19, 21, 23). Any additional practice at home will help! Thanks!

For our Christmas concert, we will be singing the chorus of Alabama's "Angels Among Us" in French. A copy of the lyrics were sent home last week. We will be dressing as angels, so please keep in mind that we will be wearing as much white as possible (black, red, or green will also work). If anyone has any extra scrap pieces of gold garland at home, we would love to use it for our halos! Thanks for your help! This year's concert will be a play (performed by the Grade 6 classes) and every other grade will be singing songs throughout the play. We are very excited by this new format and Mr. MacKay is doing a spectacular job with our students!!! The Christmas concert will be performed on December 17th..time to be posted at a later date!

Please remember to send in pink sheets/money for this month's food order!

A HUGE thank-you to the balloon artist who made a balloon animal for both Grade Two French Immersion classes! You were a hit! Your time and effort was much appreciated!

If anyone is interested in making a Christmas craft with the class, I am open to ideas! Please write me a note with your idea, and if I need to gather any materials, and what day/time will work for you. I am also looking for parents to come in throughout the month to read their favourite Christmas book in English to the class! Please let me know in advance, and we will accommodate your schedule!

I think that is all for now....I will write back later!

See you at the end of the week!

Lisa

It was a magical day....

Thanks to all of the magicians in the class...we saw great performances over the past two days! You should've seen how proud they were of themselves! Priceless. If anyone was absent, or forgot their props, students may perform next week as well. Both French Immersion Grade Two classes are trying to organize a few circus-themed activities for next Friday afternoon. If you know how to make balloon animals, we are looking for someone to come in to make balloon creations for both classes (balloons will be provided). We would love your help! You would be surprised how many of you have already been volunteered by your thoughtful children (to be clowns for the afternoon, and to make balloon animals!), but I thought I would ask you directly! If anyone has a circus-related activity, craft, or even a circus book (French or English), we would love to have you as a centre for the afternoon. We will be having centres in both classes and the children will be divided into small groups, rotating between activities. If you are interested, please write me a quick note in your child's agenda along with your idea! Thanks and have a great weekend!

Lisa

Tuesday, November 17th

Good afternoon! I hope you are staying warm...it's getting quite cold outside, so please remember to send hats/mits to school! We are busy getting ready for our magic show on Friday afternoon. I was browsing the internet and here are a few of the sites that I found with easy magic tricks.

http://www.kidzone.ws/magic/index.htm

http://magic.about.com/od/libraryofsimpletricks/ig/Easy-Tricks-for-Kids/

http://resources.kaboose.com/kidslinks/hobbies/magic-tricks/Magic_Tricks.html

http://magic.about.com/od/libraryofsimpletricks/tp/easymagictricks.htm

I was planning on searching online with the class during our computer time tomorrow, but it has been taking a lot of time to browse, so if you could find a trick at home, that would help us out a lot! Thanks! Please send any props that your child needs to school on Thursday (we will be practicing our tricks for a few minutes in the afternoon).

The school's November newsletter has been sent home today. Scholastic book orders are due this Thursday! That's all for now,

Have a great rest of the week!

Lisa

Re-scheduled interviews

Parent-teacher interviews have officially been re-schedule for Thursday, Dec. 3rd (evening), and all day Friday, December 4th. Times will remain close to the same as last interview, but I will send another reminder home tomorrow. If you would like to meet me before, please write me a quick note as I am available most days after school (except Mondays- staff meetings). Thanks!

Magic Show!

We have started our new theme about dreams and magic. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be completing activities related to the circus, clowns, dreams, magic (optical illusions, magic tricks...etc..) Next Friday, November 20th, we will be having a small magic show in our class. Students are encouraged to show the class any magic trick or card trick that they know. This performance must be one that they have practiced for you at home. If anyone in the class would really like to perform a magic trick, but does not know how, we will search the library and online to find a suitable performance. Props are welcome (please send them to school by Thursday so we can practice). Also, if any parents have a special magical talent or amazing tricks that you would like to share with our class, we would LOVE to see what you've got!

A reminder that spelling quizzes are tomorrow! Have a great day!

Monday, November 9th

It's great to see most of the class back today...we are slowly returning back to "normal" and are settling again into our regular routine. This week, we are working on List 6 for our spelling quiz "c dur" and "c doux" (hard and soft c). We have also started writing letters to our new penpals in my sister's Grade One French Immersion class at Glen Stewart. We will be writing letters back and forth on a regular basis and sending each other little surprises from time to time. This has been an extremely successful project in the past, and we are excited to hear back from our friends in Charlottetown! Scholastic flyers were sent home last week (and a few this week). Five order forms were sent home since November and December orders are combined. If you would like to order any items as Christmas presents, please write me a quick note, and when your order arrives, I will send it home in an unmarked package (or you can pick it up at your convenience). Scholastic orders are due next Thursday, November 19th. A reminder that there are no classes on Wednesday....Remembrance Day. Tomorrow is Crazy Hat day in support of Loonie Tuesday. Thank-you! Stay healthy!

Tuesday, November 3rd

An important newsletter was sent home today with this week's information. Since many of you did not receive today's information sheet, it reads:
____________________________________________________________________

Please be advised that due to concerns about vaccinating our students as quickly as possible, parent-teacher interviews will be postponed until a later date. This includes both Wednesday evening and Thursday. In addition, it has been decided to postpone our Professional Developments Day that was schedule for this Friday. This means that there will be regular school hours on both Thursday, November 5th and Friday, November 6th at Greenfield School. If you would like to have your child vaccinated and have not yet returned the permission form, please do so as soon as possible. You can contact the school office if you need a replacement form. We appreciate your support as we all deal with the H1N1 virus.

There will be pizza on Friday, but remember that it was not on the regular food order for the month, so you will need to send the money in by Thursday. There will be no milk for Thursday and Friday.

Homework requests are coming in fast and furious- please be advised that the school will try to accomodate as best it can with homework that can be done at home (reading a novel...etc.) but most of our work depends on attendance in class and would not be possible for students to do in isolation at home. However, please be assured that your child will not be penalized for missing time (whether ill or kept at home) and staff are well aware of the situation and will respons appropriately when students return to school. This is a very trying time for all students and staff as we work through high absenteeism (students and staff) and everyone should do his/her best to support one another.

The book fair is set up in the library at Greenfield. Students have had an opportunity to view books today (Tuesday) and are able to purchase items on Wednesday and Thursday during the day. The fair will remain open until 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday (Nov. 4th and 5th) to allow parents to visit as well.

____________________________________________________________________

Due to our class' high absenteeism, there will be no spelling quiz this week. If your child is at home and is able to read with you (in French or in English), please do so. You can also always work on math (addition/subtraction up to 18), and (un de plus, deux de plus, un de moins, deux de moins.....any # plus one, plus two, any # minus 1, minus 2.). If you have any concerns at all, please e-mail me at lsmacleod@edu.pe.ca. We are taking things one day at a time, and this week will be very flexible. We will be doing a lot of review, so please do not worry about your child missing any new material! Take care of yourselves and your families...we will deal with everything else as it comes our way.

Thursday, October 29th

Thank-you for all of the help with our pizza party, we couldn't have done it without you! We were very busy in class, but managed to make, eat, and enjoy our garlic fingers and pizza. A special thank-you for the extra treats... we have full bellies, and enough energy/sugar rush to make it through the day! Just a reminder that your interviews times have been sent home in the front pocket of your child's agenda today. Also, a few yellow consent forms for the H1N1 immunization have been sent back home today...please fill out the bottom section about allergies/known reactions to previous vaccines. A few students also asked this morning if they were allowed to bring a teddy bear, or another object of comfort to school with them for the vaccination...absolutely! Whatever works. It's going to be a hectic week, and I'll see you in a few days! Take care, and Happy Halloween!

• Lisa

Wednesday, October 28th

Just a quick reminder that we are making pizza and garlic fingers for lunch tomorrow. Your child will still need a snack for the morning break.

There is a VERY important yellow information sheet and permission slip (regarding the H1N1 vaccination) in your child's bag tonight. If you wish to have your child immunized at school, please send permission slips back to school asap (no later than Monday!). We are encouraging parents not to come to school during the vaccination process, since this may cause the children to worry more than usual. We will do the best we can to comfort children who may be nervous about getting the flu shot...and we will try to prepare them as much as possible for Tuesday. Also, if I have not received your information sheet regarding early dismissals, an extra form was sent home with your child today.

Interview times will be sent home with your child tomorrow (in the front pocket of the agenda). If this time is not convenient for you, please write me a quick note and we will arrange to meet at a different time. Interviews are only 15 minutes in length! If you feel that you need extra time, please let me know in advance, and we will arrange to meet on a different day. Thank-you for your understanding and cooperation!

Also, I would like to thank-you for all of your support over the past two months! It has been greatly appreciated. We have a great class, and we are looking forward to the next couple of month....busy as they may be!

Have a great evening,

Lisa

Monday, October 26th

Happy Monday,

Many items have been sent home today, including Friday's spelling quizzes, a Halloween Jigsaw puzzle that your child made, information regarding Credit Union bank accounts, and a few Early Dismissal sheets. If you have not received an Early Dismissal info sheet, please write me a quick note in the agenda, and I will send one home asap. These forms are extremely important in case of an early school closure due to power outages or snow storms! Please return completed form to school as early as possible. As for the spelling quizzes, the seventh word is a bonus. This Friday, there will be a bonus sentence....1 point for capital letter, 1 point for period at the end of the sentence, and 1 point for correct spelling.

Our class went to the library today, so classroom reading books will be sent home tomorrow. Please read library books tonight, and return them to school by Friday. Teachers are busy planning for the upcoming Parent-Teacher interviews, which are being held next week, November 4th and 5th (Wednesday evening, and all day Thursday). If you have a preferred day/time, please write me a quick note in your child's agenda (with your two preferred options) and I will do my very best to accomodate your needs. Your child's interview times will be sent home by the end of the week.

We now have three stars (which means that we will also be making garlic fingers on Thursday...as long as we can keep all three stars until then)!

Have a great week!

Tuesday, October 20th

I hope that everyone enjoyed the extra long weekend last week! This week, we are working hard to finish our printing. Any practice at home would help a lot, since there are still a few students who write letters correctly in their printing books, but when it comes time to write on another page, they seem to write too quickly (forgetting correct letter formation). We are trying to make new writing habits, so it takes a lot of time, practice, repetition, and patience! Thanks for your help. We are working on the sounds "on" and "om" (they sound the same), and our spelling words are from List 4. Scholastic orders are due this Friday. Re-takes/group pictures (if your child is in choir) will also be taken this Friday. In preparation for next week, the school is reminding parents that Halloween costumes are allowed on Friday (please send your child to school in his/her costume...make-up is to be applied at home...no fake weapons please!). We are also having a family pumpkin carving contest. Families are encouraged to carve/decorate a pumpkin together. Pumpkins may be dropped off at school any time on Thursday, October 29th, and must be brought home on Friday, October 30th. There will be participation prizes for all who enter! More information will be available soon on our school website. We are also celebrating our SpongeBob win with a pizza party on Thursday, October 29th. We are working on a star system in class. When I hear a child speaking in French, they are asked to write their name on the board. When all 23 students have their names on the board, I draw a star. When I hear anyone speaking in English, I erase a star. Our class currently has one star. We need a minimum of one star in order to proceed with the pizza party. If we have three stars, we will also make garlic fingers, and if we have a total of five or more stars, dessert will also be provided.
I think that's all for now....I'll be in touch! Have a great evening...enjoy the sun while it lasts!

Tuesday, October 13th

I hope that you all had a great long weekend! Last week's spelling quizzes are in your child's agenda today. Since this is only a two-day school week, there will be no spelling quizzes this week, and we will continue with List 4 next week. Books were sent home today (your child was able to choose any book from our reading baskets, so they may be too easy/challenging, but that is fine...try to decode new words and sound them out!) Please send these books (and any others) back to class tomorrow. We are still missing quite a few! We have library tomorrow, and all previously borrowed library books must be returned in order to sign new ones out for the weekend. Our Vessey fundraiser order forms were also due today. If you still have an order at home, we will accept them tomorrow as well. We are working hard to fine tune our printing, and will hopefully begin cursive writing in a few weeks! Today we discussed "masculin" and "feminin"... ask your child if they can pick any masculin/feminin words from their books tonight! Thanks! Have a great evening!

Thursday, October 8th

Bonjour!

A quick reminder that school photos were due today (they will also be accepted tomorrow at the very latest). Re-takes will be held on October 23rd. Please write a note in your child's agenda if they are taking re-takes. Our first show and tell is tomorrow! Valuable items are to stay at home...thanks. I will be sending a little homework package home with the class tomorrow. These pages are to stay at home, and are to be completed over the next couple of weeks, whenever you have the time to sit with your child (watching for neat/correct printing of letters/numbers). Please do not feel as if you have to finish these pages over the weekend, enjoy your family time! Along with the homework sheets, there will be a list of "mots frequents" (most frequently used words is French). This is a list of words that your child should be able to read with ease by the end of Grade 2 (and hopefully sooner!).

In math, we are currently working on patterns, odd/even numbers, and counting by 2, 5, and 10. This month's language arts theme is "Colours and Aromas of Fall". We are watching the seasonal changes outside and have a lot of great crafts coming up! We are hoping to move on to cursive writing by the beginning of November. I was so impressed by the entire class' printing yesterday (in our writing journals). Everyone worked very hard, and they have improved so much! Bravo les amis!

I will be in touch,

Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday, October 5th

Hi! Scholastic Orders, spelling quizzes, and school pictures have been sent home today. If you would like to order from Scholastic, please send in your money/order forms by Friday, October 23rd. Cheques should be made payable to Scholastic Canada Ltd., and remember to write your child's name on every order form! Thanks. Please sign spelling quizzes and return them to school tomorrow. The re-takes for school pictures will be held on October 23rd. Library books were sent home today... new books from class will be sent home tomorrow. A lot of people in our class have been complaining (especially today) or headaches/belly aches. As soon as one person in the class feels sick, suddenly the entire class wants to go home. I only allow phone calls home (in general) if your child complains in the morning and does not improve after drinking water at the fountain, after eating a snack/lunch, or after going outside for some fresh air at recess. If your child is not feeling ill in the morning, please write me a quick note in the agenda, so that I know that they are truly not feeling well. Thanks! I will be in touch later in the week!

Sunday, October 4th

We had a great day on Friday at the Arlington Apple Orchard! We learned about different types of apples, and apple trees, and went back to school to bake with the Cortlands. I hope the mini apple pies made it home in one piece! On Friday, the Vesseys' fundraiser forms were sent home. We are selling seeds and bulbs this year. There was a blue information sheet attached to the catalogue, and I found a few of them on the floor after school. If you did not receive the info sheet from the school, please write me a quick note in the agenda, and I will send one home. September's Scholastic orders were also sent home on Friday, and the October flyers will be sent home tomorrow. Remember that it is the week of Litterless Lunches.... send reusable containers to school if possible! We will be having our first "Montre et racconte" (show and tell) this Friday. Please keep valuable items/living organisms at home! If you have any classroom/library books at home, please send them to school with your child tomorrow. Later in the month, we will be celebrating our win from Kool Breeze with a pizza party. We will be making our own pizzas! If you would like to help, I am looking for a few parents to come in for approximately an hour (so that I can split to class into smaller groups). We will be having our pizza party on Thursday, October 29th (making of the pizzas will begin at approx. 11:00 a.m.). Thanks! I think that is all for now...I will be writing a post early this week with the themes/concepts that we will be working on this month in class. Have a great day!

Monday, Sept. 28th

Happy Monday!

Permission slips for our trip Arlington Apple Orchard have been sent home today. Please return permission slips to school no later than Thursday, Oct. 1st. We will be leaving on Friday at 9:30 a.m., and returning at noon. Please send a snack with your child...we will have a mid-morning break while the other class goes on their hayride. Rubber boots/old shoes are recommended since it usually gets fairly muddy in the fields. Spelling quizzes have been sent home today. Please sign them, and return the booklet to school tomorrow. October's monthly food orders have also been sent home. Next week (October 5-9) is "Litterless Lunch" week. We will be tracking the amount of garbage that our class throws in the waste this week, and compare it to next week's trash. For literless lunches, we are asking parents and students to use reusable containers, while bringing no (or as little as possible) items to be thrown in the waste bin. Good luck! Have a great week...I'll be in touch!

Happy weekend!

I hope you are having a relaxing weekend. Here are a few updates for this week. The Grade 2 French Immersion classes will be going on our first field trip on Friday. We will be going to the Arlington Apple Orchard for the morning, so we will be working with apples this week during our reading, writing, and art activities! Permission slips and more information will be sent home at the beginning of the week. Spelling quizzes will be sent home tomorrow in your child's agenda. Please review the words with your child, sign the bottom of the page, and send the booklet back to school. New reading books will be sent home with your child tomorrow...please let me know if they are too difficult! We are still working on our printing and number formation. A practice sheet will be sent home this week. We have received our certificate and money from Kool Breeze, and will be celebrating in the near future....the class is still trying to decide how to spend the winnings....some want to buy chocolate for the whole school, while others want to go to Crystal Palace and the West Edmonton Mall! Great ideas! I have a feeling that I am forgetting something, so I will update the Blog later in the week (check for BLOG in your child's agenda!). Have a great rest of the weekend!

Congratulations!?!

I have heard (unofficially) that we have won first place in the People's Choice category for our Sponge Bob! I am expecting a phone call from Kool Breeze tonight! Bravo! Homework was sent home today. Please remember to send library books back to school tomorrow, since we are returning to the library on Wednesday. Our Terry Fox walk will be held this Friday...more information to follow!

Monday's Homework!

I hope that everyone had a great weekend! It was a beautiful day at the Kool Breeze farm...a lot of kids were very happy to have their pictures taken with our scarecrow! Now, it's back to work. On Monday, a yellow workbook will be sent home with your child. This book is to stay at home! We have a similar workbook at school (with the exact same words). We do daily reading/writing activities with our spelling words, and there will be a quiz every Friday (results will be sent home the following Monday in your child's agenda). In the yellow book, there is a list of six words per week, and three pages of activities to be completed for homework at your own pace. On top of the spelling homework, your child will have to read every night. Two books will be sent home with your child every week. Please return the books to school on Friday. We will begin with books that should be fairly easy for your child to read (books being read at home are meant to build confidence). If they are much too difficult, please send them back to school with a little note. Apart from reading these books, library books will be sent home once a cycle (the levels of these books vary, and are usually fairly challenging/difficult....encourage your child to look for words that they know how to read, or look at the illustrations and create your own stories). I strongly encourage you and your child to read together, in French or English, for at least 10-15 minutes per day. This is already part of many household routines, so keep it up! Occasionally, printing pages, or math homework may also be sent home for homework. Please watch your child complete printing assignments (and have them erase and re-write any letters that are not printed properly), and return these sheets to school the next day. We are currently working on letter/number formation, writing from top-to-bottom, and spacing.

What else? I'm sure that there was something else, but it's the end of a busy weekend, so I'm drawing a blank... I'll write back later if I remember...in the meantime, have a great evening!

Vote 223!

Well, we just dropped SpongeBob off at Kool Breeze and he looks great! Well done everyone! If you can make it to Kool Breeze tomorrow, there is a People's Choice Award up for grabs, so vote for our class....#223! I hope to see some of you tomorrow! Homework and spelling lists will be sent home on Monday... stay tuned for another, more detailed blog tomorrow evening.

Sponge Bob "Scare" Pants

Our class has decided that they would like to make a SpongeBob Square Pants vampire scarecrow for the Kool Breeze contest...wow, that's a mouthful. If you have any yellow, black, white, red, or blue material at home that can be cut, please send it to school with your child by Wednesday. Any help would be greatly appreciated! We only have this week to complete our scarecrow, and we will be working hard to get it finished by Friday! I am looking forward to meeting most of you tomorrow at our parent information night! Until then,

Lisa

School pictures on Monday, September 14th!

Well, I'm not sure how many parents will see this over the weekend....but our school pictures are on Monday. I forgot to send home the background options for you to choose. There is a purple-streaked, turquoise-streaked, orange/yellow-streaked, and traditional blue background. Our class will be taking their pictures with the traditional blue background unless I hear from you over the weekend. If you would prefer one of the other backgrounds, and you happen to read this blog over the weekend, please e-mail me with your choice at lsmacleod@edu.pe.ca. I am sorry about the oversight. Have a great weekend!

Lisa

Welcome to Grade 2 !!!

Happy September! I hope that you all had a safe and happy summer. My name is Lisa MacLeod, and I am very pleased to be your child's teacher this year! This will be my fourth year as part of the Greenfield staff, and my first year teaching Grade 2 French Immersion. Last year, I was on maternity leave (your child will probably be hearing a lot of stories about my baby girl Julia) and before that, I was teaching Grade 1 French Immersion. I am very excited to teach, learn, and laugh with our class this year. I will be using this blog to remind you of important dates, weekly word lists, class announcements, etc... If you need to contact me, please call the school at 888-8492, or feel free to e-mail me at anytime at lsmcleod@edu.pe.ca. I am looking forward to meeting all of you! Thank-you in advance for your support...we are going to have a great year together!