First and foremost, I would like to thank everyone for your cooperation last week with both the unexpected evacuation and the Terry Fox Run. It is such a blessing to be part of the Gulf Shore Family! Merci beaucoup 🙂

We had a fantastic Terry Fox Day on Thursday! Remember to keep collecting pledges all this week! Money and pledge sheets are due back into the school by Friday, September 30th.

On Friday evening, our Home and School will be hosting a fall fair here at the school from 5:00-7:00 pm. This will be a fundraiser for both the Terry Fox Foundation and our Home and School. A similar fair took place a few years ago and it was incredible! I’m sure everyone is looking forward to the same experience this year! Each homeroom class has been asked to put together a basket on which tickets will be sold during the fair. Our class theme is “Baking essentials.” Students are asked to bring in a small item to contribute to our basket before Thursday. Again, your continued support of our school community is greatly appreciated 🙂

Let’s now take a look at the learning that will take place over this week in our classes…

French- This week we will finish up our grammar and vocabulary “Bootcamp.” Later on this week we hope to start into the first unit of our “Littératie en action” text entitled “Une question d’équité.” In this unit students will explore the question “How can we make things more equitable in the world?” They will read short biographies about people who have fought for equity. At the end of the unit, students will show what they have learned by creating a prize or a trophy to honor someone who has fought for justice and equity in the world. They will use reading, writing, oral and media skills and strategies to complete the task.

Social Studies-This week we will finish up our discussion of the fall of the Roman Empire and we will have a formal assessment on the material covered to date. We will also begin to explore what life was like at the beginning of the Middle Ages.

Science-As we travel through our unit on matter, this week we will finish up our discovery of molecules and their structure and we will continue to examine the Periodic Table of the Elements and discuss how matter is organized.

Grade 9 Science- In our biology unit this week, we will continue to discuss both mitosis and meiosis and how these processes produce new cells.

Grade 7 Science- Over the next few days we will continue to explore how changes in temperature impact the behavior of particles in different states of matter, as we explore how substances can change from one state of matter to another.

Have a wonderful week!

Mme MacNevin

It was great to see many familiar faces and some new ones too at our “Meet the Staff” night on Thursday. Please continue to follow our class blog for updates throughout the year and do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions 🙂

Last week we kicked off our annual Terry Fox fundraiser. Pledge sheets were sent home on Thursday with the youngest child in each family. Students have until September 30th to collect pledges in our community and our Terry Fox Walk/Run and Fun Day will take place on Thursday, September 22nd. In the morning, students will walk along the beautiful Gulf Shore Parkway in the PEI National Park. In the afternoon they will be treated to a BBQ generously put on by our Home and School and to many of interactive team building activities put on by our Student Leadership Team. To date Gulf Shore School has raised over $100, 000.00 for the Terry Fox Foundation. Let’s keep the total rising!

Teen and Club de lecture book order forms from Scholastic are now available from myself or Mme Isabelle and are due back on Tuesday, September 20th. These book orders are a great way to pick up some reading materials for home while supporting our teachers to purchases books for their classroom libraries.

Parents and guardians are invited to our first Home and School meeting of the 2016-2017 school year that will take place on Wednesday, September 21st at 7:00pm in the Science Lab.

Finally, teachers and support staff will be attending professional development workshops on Friday, September 23rd and thus, there will be no classes for students on that date.

Now here is a look into the learning that will take place over then coming days in our classes…

French- This week we will continue with our grammar and vocabulary “Bootcamp.” Students have now selected a novel for independent reading using our success criteria and have started their writer’s journal.

Social Studies-During our periods together over the next few days we will continue to discuss the fall of the Roman Empire. Lots of great discussion has been happening both in class and through our Google Classroom discussion boards about the reasons why the Empire collapsed. Keep up the great thinking, everyone!

Science-Now that we are more comfortable with our new online resources, we can dive into our first unit of study “L’univers matériel” on matter. This week we will continue to explore atoms and molecules and we will begin to examine the Periodic Table of the Elements and discuss how matter is organized.

Grade 9 Science- We are now well into our biology unit “L’univers vivant.” Last week we learned about DNA and its make up. This week we will explore the life cycle of a cell and discuss how cells reproduce both asexually and sexually through the processes of mitosis and meiosis.

Grade 7 Science- Late last week we kicked off our first unit of our Science program on matter. Students discussed the three states of matter and how atoms behave in each state. This week we will begin to look at how changes in temperature impact that behavior, as we explore how substances can change from one state of matter to another.

Have a fabulous 4-day week!

Mme MacNevin

I hope that everyone had a great first week of school and a fantastic weekend! It is so refreshing to be back into our regular routines:) We spent a lot of time last week getting acquainted with our new classes and I’m sure everyone is looking forward to a wonderful year ahead 🙂

Just a couple of quick housekeeping notes for my homeroom class…
1.There are still a few students who have yet to return forms and/or pay their $25.00 student fee. If you could kindly have those in as soon as possible, it would be greatly appreciated 🙂
2.Our annual “Meet the Staff Night” will take place on Thursday, September 15th beginning that 7:00pm in the Multipurpose Room. Everyone is reminded that there is no childcare provided for this evening.

Now here is peek into the learning that will take place over the coming days in our classes…

French- We spent some time last week reviewing concepts in grammar and vocabulary covered in Grade 7 and took the time to explore the foundational outcomes of the Grade 8 program together. This week we will continue our “Bootcamp” and diagnostic testing, as we prepare to set our learning goals for the coming months. We will also begin our first piece of writing for the year and review the importance of selecting a novel that will challenge us in our reading goals.

Social Studies-Last week we reviewed the characteristics of a society and discussed the characteristics of the Roman Empire. This week we will examine the causes and effects of the fall of the Roman Empire and we will start to learn about “les barbares” and their role during this time period.

Science-Once again this year we will be using Google Chromebooks during our Science classes. This year however, we will also be using an “etext.” Students will thus have access to their textbook and interactive learning and assessment tools online at home and at school 🙂 We have already begun our first unit entitled “L’univers matériel.” This week we will continue our review of the particle theory, states of matter, and properties of solutions and mixtures that we studied last year.

Grade 9 Science- As we start into our new “etext,” we will begin with our first unit of study called “L’univers vivant.” Last week we began our review of the cell and cell theory and we will continue this week; exploring the parts of the cell necessary for cell division and reproduction.

Grade 7 Science- All grade 7 immersion students have successfully logged on to their Google Cloud accounts for the first time and are very excited to begin using the Chromebooks to help facilitate their learning. We are spending the first cycle of classes getting acquainted with both the new technology and the Science Lab, as we explore new vocabulary, the scientific method and our “etext.”

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions and I look forward to seeing everyone on Thursday night 🙂

Have a marvelous week!!!

Mme MacNevin

The first week of September is here and I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of everyone on Tuesday! I feel so lucky to be the Grade 8 Immersion homeroom teacher this year and to continue to watch an amazing group of young people learn and grow.

Next week will be spent getting reacquainted with school routines and setting goals for our learning this year 🙂

As always, lots of forms will be sent home with students on Tuesday. Please ensure that these forms are sent back to the school as soon as possible along with the $25.00 student fee to cover the cost of student agendas and Home Economics/Industrial Arts programs.

I wish everyone a wonderful 2016- 2017 school year!

Mme MacNevin