Thursday 22 November 2018

Regions of Canada

Students will be studying a region of Canada by analysing one of its environmental problems. Students will learn about the issue then brainstorm possible solutions. Here are some of the problems we will be studying:
- acid rain
- fish farming
- oil extraction
- mineral extraction
- logging industry

Throughout this project we will continue to build our collaboration skills but we will also add critical thinking to the mix. Here is the rubric we co-created that describes some of the components of critical thinking. We used it to evaluate where we are approximately yesterday.


Thursday 1 November 2018

habitats learning fair

Students presented their final habitat projects today. Every group used Google Slides to document two habitats: our yard and Mer Bleu Bog. They then had to explain the images using what we had learned about habitats. They had to show examples of food chains, animal or plant adaptations, the importance of the habitat for humans and how humans impact it.

The students chose to present their projects in a learning fair format whereby half the students presented their projects and the other half listened then we switched. Together we discussed some of the main ideas in all the projects. Tomorrow, we will reflect on our learning journey. We will also reflect on how our collaborations skills have improved (have they ever!!!)  and what we can yet improve on.

Next week, we will be working on our listening skills as we listen to very short videos which will give us a good overview of Canada's regions (which is our social studies focus)

Wednesday 10 October 2018

Collaboration

Now that we've got a good grasp on self-regulation we are moving on to an equally important learning skill, collaboration. Collaboration is one of the global competencies or 21st-century skills that every learner needs. Our Ontario Catholic Graduate Expectations state that each student should be A Collaborative Contributor who:

(a) Works effectively as an interdependent team member.
(b) Thinks critically about the meaning and purpose of work.
(c) Develops one’s God-given potential and makes a meaningful contribution to society.
(d) Finds meaning, dignity, fulfillment and vocation in work which contributes to the common good. (e) Respects the rights, responsibilities and contributions of self and others.
(f) Exercises Christian leadership in the achievement of individual and group goals.
(g) Achieves excellence, originality, and integrity in one’s own work and supports these qualities in the work of others.
(h) Applies skills for employability, self-employment and entrepreneurship relative to Christian vocation.

For our part, we have just started discussing what it means to be an effective collaborator. We used this progression (similar to a rubric) from the deep learning framework to come up with our own ideas of how to collaborate, where we think we are (the blue highlight) and where we need to go. Some of our big ideas where:
  • having a clear common goal 
  • making a plan
  • making decisions as a group
  • having each member contribute equally
  • using each members strengths
  • conflict resolution when problems/disagreement arise
  • understanding (and eventually appreciating) points of view other than our own 

We will be writing our own student-friendly language rubric (en français!) at the bottom of the page. 

Wednesday 26 September 2018

Les habitats et les régions du Canada



Résultats de recherche d'images pour « canadian habitats »
We are finally starting our first science and social studies units. Normally, I teach one unit at a time but these two have a lot of overlap so it will allow is to go deeper with our inquiries by integrating the subject. On our padlets below you will find overall expectations for both units along with links to games, articles, videos and whatever I can find that would spark student interest in the subject matter (good for review and exploration at home).

This week we will:

  • start to build our vocabulary tied to these subjects
  • practice describing pictures
  • draw animals in the style of totem art
  • keep practicing looking for or listening for les mots-amis (words that are similar to English) and les mots familiers (words I know)
  • naming and finding provinces, territories and physical regions of Canada on a map 


Monday 10 September 2018

Terry Fox

Résultats de recherche d'images pour « Terry fox »

St. Gemma is once again going to participate in the Terry Fox run/walk. St. Gemma has raised an impressive total of $6,087.86 over 6 years. Last year the school raised $630.70. Our goal for this school year is going to be $800! This year we are offering online donation options. Please see the link below for the Terry Fox school fundraising page.

St. Gemma will also have 3 spirit days in the month of September to raise money for the Terry Fox Foundation. Students are invited to use cash online to make a donation. See Spirit Day link below. If we reach our goal of $800 Mr. Cinanni has happily agreed to get whip creamed with a cherry on top! There will also be fun classroom challenges.

Terry Fox School fundraising page:(click)

Our spirit days will be on the following dates:
  • Thursday September 13th : Crazy Hair Day
  • Thursday September 20th:  Spiffy Hat Day
  • Thursday September 27th: Wacky sock day (event day)

The Terry Fox event for this year is on Thursday September 27th.  The rain date will be on Friday September 28th. Our plan for the event day is to do the walk/run together as a whole school community. Parents are welcome to join us. The event will run from 2:30-3:30 pm.
Let’s keep Terry’s dream alive!

Who will you be running for?

Calme, alerte et prêt à apprendre

Now that we have gotten to know each other a bit we are going to work on getting to know ourselves. We will be talking about several deep questions such as;

How do I learn best?
What stresses me out and how do I deal with that stress?
How do I get my mind and body ready to learn best?



Essentially, we will be talking about self-regulation. According to Dr. Shanker (an expert in this field) Self-Regulation refers to how people manage energy expenditure, recovery, and restoration in order to enhance growth. Self-regulation skills have been shown to be one of the factors that best predict academic as well as overall success in life. Thus, this week we will really focus on defining self-regulation as a class but also trying to know ourselves and what strategies we need to work on to better be able to self-regulate and be calm, alert and ready to learn!

Want to know more check out The Mehrit center as well as Conscious Discipline.

Wednesday 29 August 2018

La rentrée

I love the smell of freshly sharpened pencils in the morning! Whether you love or hate back to school it's here!

So happy to get to meet all my new grade 4 immersion students this week. Of course, we are working on routines and getting to know each other so we can get the year off to a smooth start.

Here is our September newsletter but it should also have gone home with your student.
Don't forget out meet the teacher night on

Tuesday 12 June 2018

Wrapping up "les civilisations anciennes"

Résultats de recherche d'images pour « castles »We've spent a lot of time making catapults and building castles so we've moved on to inventions! As a final task, students are responsible for explaining an important invention from the medieval ages or ancient Egypt.



They should be able to explain:
how it was invented
what was it's purpose
what materials was it made of
who used it
what was its link to daily life
how was it influenced by the environment
what is it's legacy (what is its link to present-day life or inventions)

We have been working on presenting our learning in creative ways so I'm looking forward to something other than Google slides!

Résultats de recherche d'images pour « pyramides »Some groups have chosen to talk about:
- medieval weaponry and knights
- castles and siege weaponry
- pyramid construction
- egyptian agricultural practices/tools





Wednesday 23 May 2018

Volunteers needed

On June 7th we will be doing some hands-on learning with Scientist in the School. We are always in need of parent volunteers to help run some of the centres during these workshops. If you would be willing to volunteer that morning (9:15-11:45) Please send me an email or write a note in your child's agenda.


Monday 30 April 2018

civlisations anciennes et créativité

Students have received their final evaluation of their work during out Inuit study unit. They can find it in their Social Studies folder under the title "critères de succès - civilisations anciennes". This week I will be conferencing with the students to go over their strengths and next steps as we continue on in our ancient civilisations unit.

The class decided last Thursday that they wanted to look at the medieval period as well as ancient Egypt. Students will choose one or the other to study. Throughout our unit we will be working on creativity! We noticed that we were being very creative with how we were documenting and presenting our learning last time (nothing but Google slides as far as the eye can see) So this time we will try new tools and think of innovative ways to document our learning journey. Students will also have the opportunity to collaborate with new people as we will often be joining forces with the grade 4s in Mme Geadah's class.

Image associée

Friday 13 April 2018

les Inuits


Résultats de recherche d'images pour « inukshuk »

We have begun to study the first civilization in our ancient civilizations Social Studies units...les inuits!

We began by talking about how societies interact with the environment in order to meet our most basic needs but also our societal needs as a collective. We will use this chart (which is also in the students Social Studies Google drive folder) to guide our learning throughout the whole unit. This is great vocabulary to review at home. Instead of a padlet during this unit we have been using Hapara Workspace. Workspace is software that helps teachers use Google apps more efficiently with a classroom. The students access the workspace by clicking on the icon in the student portal. It has our learning goals as well as links to valuable resources (which could also be explored at home).


Students have learned a great deal about the Inuit already. Some have looked at their art, some are looking at their hunting tools and practices others are looking at how they build their igloos. All in all, we are very interested and engaged! Students proudly showed me today that they had borrowed books from the library on the Inuit. One student told me he had a relative who is a throat singer who has sung with Susan Aglukark in the past. One student told me he was going to call one of his relatives who is indigenous to ask him some questions. I love that the students are reaching out and making learning partnerships outside of the classroom.  

Thursday 8 March 2018

Les civilisations anciennes

With March break upon us we are wrapping up our science unit, light and sound. We finished our unit with a fun drama activity where we acted out scenes from "le bus magique". A few groups even filmed their scenes in front of our green screen in order to really be in the Friz's classroom. Cool!

After the break we will be diving into our second (and last) Social Studies unit, "les civilisations anciennes." We will start by looking at the Inuit who arrived in Canada well before the Common Era (CE). Next, we will look at a second civilisation in order to compare. The students will decide democratically which time and place to study. We have a vast choice among the Maya, the Aztek, ancient Greece, ancient Rome, antique China, mediaeval times etc. Time permitting we might even study a third.

Here is the link to our padlet with curriculum expectations and a few links. More link will be added once we have a better idea of what era and place we are studying further.


Résultats de recherche d'images pour « ancient civilisation »

Wednesday 28 February 2018

Raz +

Great news! I'm testing out Reading A to Z (which many of you will be familiar with in English) en français! Students will access books the same way they would in English with my class code soliver18. Student passwords are the same as their Google school accounts.They have a selection of books around their level. The only difference with English is that they don't have the option of being read the book (which I can only hope is coming soon). As such, I will be collecting the books I  have been sending home and not sending home new ones. Students can now read to their heart's delight online! Yey!

https://www.kidsa-z.com/main/Login
soliver18

Friday 12 January 2018

Lumière et son

We are moving on to our new science unit, light and sound. We are going to start with sound and throw in a lot of our music curriculum as well. Next week, will have centers to explore the characteristics of sound as well as the different instruments of the orchestra. We will gather our learning in a rather new way, a blog! We will have a communal blog where we keep track or our questions and new learnings.

Here is our padlet with overall expectations and some links to explore.

Résultats de recherche d'images pour « sound »

New Years resolutions

Our classroom New Years Resolution is going to be to speak more French! Many of us are very capable of speaking French (or Frenglish at the very least) but aren't in the habit of doing it yet. Many of us are in the habit of speaking to Mme Oliver in French but not everyone in the class does. We are also going to work on speaking French to each other because we talk to each other much more than we talk to Mme. 

Je parle français!!!