Wow! What a great year! We have arrived at our final week of school for the 2013-2014 school year 🙂 It has been a year filled with lots of fun and lots of learning and I’d like to thank everyone for all their hard work and support throughout the past 10 months. I am so pleased to be a teacher here at Gulf Shore and to have the opportunity to see such  great learning happening both inside and outside of the classroom each and every day. Merci 🙂

Wednesday will be the final day of classes. Students will enjoy a celebration of learning in the morning, as we say au revoir to our Grade 9 class and present a project we worked on this year to our fellow students. In the afternoon, the older students have lots of fun activities planned for us, as we prepare to head off for summer vacation.

Students are reminded to clean out their desks and to bring home any items they wish to save this week. In order to lighten the load, I will be having the students take home a few items each evening 🙂

Academically, we will spend this week reflecting on our learning and thinking about our goals for next year. I will finish the novel “Moi, Noémie et les autres” by our favorite author Gilles Tibo, students will finish up their writing project; a game that they created and we will play them in class together.

Report cards will be distributed at the end of the day on Wednesday 🙂

Once again I’d like to say how much I’ve appreciated being part of such a great school community and I look forward to seeing everyone again in the fall. Have a safe and relaxing summer break! Je vous souhaite un bel été 🙂

Merci beaucoup!!!

Madame Walker

We have arrived at our last full week of school! Can you believe it? This year flew by! As you all can imagine this week and next will be full of lots of wrap up activities and events here at Gulf Shore 🙂

On Thursday, we will be heading to Sandspit for the day. Permission slips and money ($12.50) are due into me tomorrow. Students are reminded to dress for the weather on Thursday, to bring lots of sunscreen, as well as a lunch and snacks and/or some money to purchase concessions at the park. Students interested in riding the go-carts are also reminded that they need to bring an extra $6.00 for that event.

On Friday afternoon, we will be treated to the annual Gulf Shore Talent Show. There are lots of great acts lined up to perform, including several from our class. This is a great way to celebrate the abundance of talent here at our school and I’m sure everyone is looking forward to it 🙂

Here is a look at what is happening inside our classroom this week:

Grade 5

French- This week in French class, we will be finishing up the novel “Sophie lance et compte” and we listen to Mme read “Moi, Noémie et les autres” by Gilles Tibo. We read lots of books by Mr Tibo this year and this is a very special one, as the characters from many of the books we read come to life and visit Gilles as attempts to find inspiration for his new book 🙂

We will be finishing up our writing workshop reflecting on many of the things we’ve learned this year. Students will write a letter to their teacher for next year outlining their goals for their learning and some suggestions for activities they would like to do in her class. We will also be reviewing different types of texts we’ve worked on this year, including the procedural text type, as students will create a game and write instructions for their peers as to how to play it.

Math-We have finished up probability and will continue to spend the week working on transformations.

In this unit, your child will:

• • Describe and explore translations (slides), reflections (flips), and rotations (turns).
• • Perform and identify translations, reflections, and rotations.
• • Draw translations, reflections, and rotations.

Shapes can be moved in different ways to produce images. Your child will learn to describe motion in the following ways:

A translation moves a shape horizontally (left or right), vertically (up or

down), or along a slanted line, to produce a translation image.

A reflection produces an image after a reflection in a line of reflection.

A rotation turns a shape clockwise or counterclockwise, about a point of

rotation, by a fraction of a turn.

Here are some suggestions for activities you can do with your child.

Have your child find objects at home that slide (for example, a drawer opening or closing), reflect (for example, a reflection in a mirror or other shiny surface), and turn (for example, the hands on a clock).

In Science with Mme Isabelle, the students will finish up their study of Space and the Solar System.

Finally, we will continue on with our unit of Health on wellness choices 🙂

Grade 7 and 8 Science

This week we will start into our final sections of study in Science, exploring how pollution impacts ecosystems and how we can help to prevent it.

Have a fantastic week!

Madame April Walker

What a great time we had on Friday at le Salon du livre! I was very impressed with my students’ behaviour and it was so exciting getting to meet authors whose work we have read in class 🙂

Things are very busy here at Gulf Shore and will continue to be until the end of June. I would again remind everyone that even though the weather is nice and the days are getting longer, there is still a lot of learning left to happen 🙂

I will be sending home permission slips later on this week for our year-end field trip to Sandspit on June 19^th (rain date: June 20^th) Please return these forms and the money as soon as possible.

Here is a look at what is happening inside our classroom this week:

Grade 5

French- For our dictée this week we will continue to review concepts previously worked on this year in preparation for our dictée on Day 6.

In French class this week, we will continue to read the novel “Sophie lance et compte”, and will be doing some writing activities reflecting on the work we’ve done this year and our goals for next year.

This week in math, we will finish our unit on probability and will start our final unit on transformations. I am so pleased with the results of our last “flashback” quiz. My students have taken such ownership of their learning this year and the results were all around fantastic! I would encourage each and everyone to keep up the great work next year!

In Science with Mme Isabelle, the students continue to study Space and the Solar System.

Finally, we will be finishing up our year with a short unit of Health on wellness choices 🙂

Grade 7 and 8 Science

This week we will continue to explore food chains, learn about the impact of microorganisms on our environment and will have a review and a quiz on the sections of our unit on ecosystems we’ve covered to date.

Have a wonderful week!

Madame April Walker

I can hardly believe that we are already into the month of June! Where has the time gone? The next few weeks are very busy ones here at Gulf Shore, as we wrap things up for another year 🙂

On Friday, June 6^th the Grade 4 and 5 Immersion classes will be heading to Summerside to attend the “Salon du livre.” This event is being put on by the Dept of Education at le Centre Belle Alliance. There, students will have an opportunity to browse books in French and will be treated to some presentations from authors whose work we have read or will read in the 4-6 Immersion program. I will be sending home a detailed letter on this event with your son/daughter in the next few days.

Here is a look at what is happening inside our classroom this week:

Grade 5

French- For our dictée over the next few weeks we will be reviewing concepts we worked on this year including personal pronouns, homophones and verbs in the present and past tense. These concepts will be presented again in Grade 6, so this should be a nice way to end off our word work for the year. As always, students are asked to complete a small portion of their worksheet at home each evening in preparation for our dictée.

We have begun to read the novel “Sophie lance et compte.” I have read some other books in this series to the class and we have drawn a lot of comparison between the main character Sophie and Noémie, the main character in the series we read earlier in the year. In addition to our novel study, we are also finishing up our persuasive texts and will continue to work on our oral structures during “la causerie.”

This week in math we will continue our unit on statistics and probability and will have our final “flashback” quiz 🙂

Grade 7 and 8 Science

This week we will continue to study ecosystems, learning about how items decompose and food chains.

Have a marvelous week!

Madame April Walker