What a wild and crazy weekend! I hope everyone stayed warm and safe and has their power restored soon. I’m sure I’ll be hearing plenty of stories over the next few days of how everyone weathered the storm. Hopefully this week will bring us back into our normal routines, as we begin our school year together.

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 get those in as soon as possible, it would be greatly appreciated 🙂

2. Our annual “Meet the Staff Night” will take place on Thursday, September 12th beginning that 7:00pm in the Multipurpose Room. Everyone is reminded that there is no childcare provided for this evening.

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

French- Today we will take some time to get acquainted with the foundational outcomes of the Grade 8 program.
This week we also will start our “Bootcamp” and diagnostic testing, as we prepare to set our learning goals for the coming months. We will also begin brainstorming ideas for our first piece of writing for the year and review the importance of selecting a novel that will challenge us as readers, as we begin our readers and writers workshops.

As we continue to promote our improvement as speakers, each French period we will engage in oral language activities that will work to develop and improve our French speaking skills; fixing common errors and becoming more at ease in our second language. One of the first activities we will work on is a presentation containing only pictures. Students will create a slideshow using Google Slides and present it to the class later on this week. Their presentation must contain no long text: only images and single words. They will present without cue cards; using their slides as their talking points to present on their family, friends, the weather, their likes and dislikes, school and their community.

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

Grade 9 Science- This week we will kick off our first unit of study called “L’univers vivant.” This unit starts with a review of the cell and cell theory. We will then start exploring the parts of the cell that are necessary for cell division and reproduction including DNA. Once every cycle we will also spend some time working through our “l’univers téchnologique.” These classes be a break from our regular subject matter, as we explore the world of engineering through instant challenges and new vocabulary.

Grade 7 Science- During our Science classes together this first cycle, we will spend time getting acquainted with the lay of the land in the Science Lab; exploring new vocabulary, the scientific method, as well as our “etext” and Google Classroom.

Grade 4-9 Core French-This week we will spend some time taking an inventory of what students already know in French as we get to know each other.

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

Have a marvelous week!!!

Mme MacNevin