The countdown is on for many students as we enter the final month of our school year. The beautiful weather reminds us that summer is almost here, however, we must resist the temptation to check out too early, as these next few weeks will be as busy as ever and lots of learning is left to take place 🙂

Permission forms for the COVID-19 vaccine were sent home last week. Please fill these out and send them back to the school by Wednesday, June 2. Vaccinations for students in Grades 7-9 will take place next week.

We had an amazing Wishmaker Walk on Friday. A huge thanks goes out to our Leadership team for all their hard work and to everyone who donated their time, energyc, and money to help us support this worthy cause. We were able to once again beat our fundraising goal again this year and raise over $7000! BRAVO!

Let us take a look into what will be happening during our time together this week….

French-This week we will dive deeper into our poetry genre study, as students explore how poets can use words to create both metaphorical and real images through concrete poems. Students will begin drafting their poems later on this week, before we bring them to life as artwork in the coming days. We will also spend some time reviewing some oral language concepts that cause us difficulty, as we will soon begin our final oral language assessments of the year in both speaking and listening.

Science-We are well into our study of simple machines. Students are currently working to put together a prototype and oral presentation where they will present one of the 6 types of simple machines we’ve been learning about these past few weeks. I cannot wait to see what they come up with! Plans also continue for our wind turbine projects.

Grade 9 Science-During the next few days we will wrap up our study of the respiratory system and its parts and functions and continue on to our next system-the circulatory system, as we take an in depth look at the components of blood and blood types.

Grade 7 Science- We are having lots of fun exploring the outcomes related to the “space” portion of our current unit through our interactive learning centres, which we will finish up this week.

Grade 5-9 Core French-Today students will show their understanding of the vocabulary we’ve been working on related to animals and their characteristics.

In Grades 7-9, students will continue to explore vocabulary related to directions and will engage in some role playing games to direct others to spaces around the school.

Have a marvelous Monday and a wonderful week ahead!

Mme MacNevin

The final week of May! Can you believe it? We have been so fortunate to have had the chance to be together in person all year and as we look towards the final month of school, so much learning and growth has taken place. Fingers crossed that the next month will bring more of the same 🙂

This Friday, May 28, is our annual Wishmaker Walk for Wishes here at Gulf Shore. Pledge sheets are due back on Wednesday, May 26 and online donations will close at that time. On the day of the walk our morning will be spent on the beautiful Gulf Shore Parkway of the PEI National Park. We will then return to the school for some pizza compliments of the Make-a-Wish Foundation and then in the afternoon our leadership team will play host to some team building activities. This is always a highlight event of our year, as we work towards raising $5000.00 to help grant the wishes of Island children.

Now here is a snapshot into what else will be taking place during this four day week…

French-This week we will finish up reading our novel “Le Complot.” Once finished students will write a reflection on the book and also have the chance to work in teams on a creative way to promote the book, similarly to the project they worked on for their book club novels earlier in the year. We will also kick off our poetry genre study, as students explore how poets can use words to create both metaphorical and real images through concrete poems.

Science-We are working through our final chapter on simple machines. Students are also busy planning out, researching and collecting materials for their wind turbine projects that we will begin putting together in the coming weeks.

Grade 9 Science-Our focus this week will be the respiratory system and its parts and functions, as we continue to work our way through our biology unit on human body systems.

Grade 7 Science- Over the next few weeks, as they explore the “space” portion of our unit, students will work together in small groups to complete a series of interactive learning stations exploring concepts including the phases of the moons, eclipses, and the revolution and rotation of the Earth.

Grade 5-9 Core French-This week we will continue our unit “Les animaux et nous.” We will dive deeper into the adjectives used to describe animals and begin discussing how animals help humans in many ways. We will also read a story about bugs and all the ways they help us, even though we might not always appreciate them ;).

In Grades 7-9, students will dive deeper into the vocabulary needed to give and receive directions to direct others to places and things in our community.

Have a fantastic week!

Mme MacNevin

Happy Monday! I hope that everyone had a wonderful weekend and you were all able to get out and enjoy the beautiful sunshine 🙂

This week, students in Grade 8 will participate in the virtual French for the Future forum. On Friday, May 21st, we will be treated to some presentations and workshops that will help us to understand how amazing it is to be bilingual. A permission form for this event was sent home late last week. Please send it back with your child as soon as possible.

On Wednesday, May 19th at 7:00pm in the Multipurpose Room, our Home and School will be having their AGM. All are welcome.

Our fundraising continues for our Wishmaker walk that will take place next Friday, May 28th. Please continue promoting the new virtual option to family and friends, as we work to reach our fundraising goal of $5000 to help support the wishes of Island children.

As we head into the 2nd last week of May, let’s take a look at the learning planned for the coming week….

French-Comic strips are due today. We will then take some time to share them with each other. What creativity has been shown throughout this project, and I look forward to celebrating my students’ success over the next few days. With our comic strips published, we will begin to explore our next genre in writer’s workshop: poetry. We will also continue reading and discussing our class novel “Le Complot”.

Science-Today we will begin the last chapter of our textbook on engineering and simple machines. Students will spend the next few weeks learning about simple machines, how they work, and creating some simple machines of their own 😉

Grade 9 Science-On Wednesday, students will write their assessment on the digestive system, its parts and functions, as well as how we obtain nutrients from food. There are many games, notes, videos, etc. in Google Classroom to help them as they review these concepts. Later on in the week, we will begin exploring our next human body system: the respiratory system.

Grade 7 Science-Students will spend both periods in the lab today finishing up their final projects for Chapter 5. These will be due on Friday. Later on this week, we will begin the “Space” portion of our unit called Earth and Space. Over the next few weeks, students will work together in small groups to complete a series of interactive learning stations exploring concepts including the phases of the moons, eclipses, and the revolution and rotation of the Earth.

Grade 5-9 Core French-We are having a blast working through our unit on animals. This week we will continue to describe animals as we learn vocabulary related to both their physical and behavioral characteristics.

In Grades 7-9, students will move into the next section of our unit “On se débrouille.” During the next few weeks, we will learn about giving and receiving directions in relation to places around our community, as well as the vocabulary related to these spaces and how to describe them en français.

Have a wonderful week and a fantastic long Victoria Day weekend!

Mme MacNevin

Another beautiful week awaits us here at Gulf Shore! We are so blessed to learn/work in such an amazing place 🙂 Here’s hoping that the nice weather continues, as many students have been enjoying their time outside at recess these past few weeks.

Today we will kick off our fundraiser for the Children’s Wish Foundation. We will have a virtual assembly this afternoon with representatives from this fabulous group, who will provide more information on what fundraising will look like over the next few weeks. Stay tuned to our school webpage for more details.

Our leadership team is also hosting a food drive for the Stella Maris food bank this week. Students are encouraged to bring in non-perishable food items for a chance to win a summer fun basket.

Now here is a look into what we will be working on this week….

French-Our comic strips are really beginning to take shape. Students will have time lal this week to finish these up and on Friday, we will share our final versions. I cannot wait to see their finished work 🙂

We will also make some time this week to continue reading our class novel “Le Complot” and take part in some exciting discussion surrounding the book’s characters and themes.

Finally, our word work this week will focus on the differences between “le passé composé” and “l’imparfait” verb tenses and when and how to use them.

Science-We have come to the end of the first chapter in our unit on technology. This week, students will review this content and prepare to write their assessment on Chapter 7 on Day 3 (Thursday, May 13).

Grade 9 Science-Today, we will complete our case study “Pour le meilleur ou pour le goût.” Assuming the role of product developers, students will work to create a recipe for a better ice cream dessert that will meet the dietary requirements of as many different groups of people as possible, as we explore nutrients in our food and their nutritional values. We will then move into the anatomy of the digestive systems, which will remain our focus for the rest of the week.

Grade 7 Science-Now that students understand the how tectonic plates move, they will consolidate their learning from the past few weeks through their final project for this section. Students will have the choice to present their understanding through the creation of a children’s book, a song, a video, or even a board game. Whichever their medium, their goal is to show their basic comprehension of the outcomes of chapter 5. Details and an assessment rubric can be found in Google Classroom.

Grade 5-9 Core French-We are having loads of fun exploring animals through our unit “Les animaux et nous.” This week, students will continue to learn new words to help them describe both an animal’s physical appearance and behaviors.

In Grades 7-9, students will continue to consolidate all their learning from the past few months into their final project for this section. Working in teams, they are creating a 3D object that they will hide somewhere in the classroom and give both a description of the object and directions to the class as to where it can be found. These objects will be presented towards the end of the week.

Have a marvelous Monday and an awesome week ahead!

Mme MacNevin

Two months remain of the 2020-2021 school year! We are coming into the home stretch of our learning journey together.

There will be no classes for students on Friday, May 7th, as teachers and staff attend their annual union meetings (virtually of course ;))

Here is a peek into what will be happening in our classrooms these next four days…

French-I continue to be impressed with the creativity my students are putting forth as they create their own comic strips. This week, our focus will be to finish the revising and editing process of our dialogue and begin the exciting part: creating the images to bring our stories to life. Students will have the option to draw their characters by hand or to pull from a variety of digital platforms to create their final projects. Our mini lessons this week will focus on strategies and verb tenses needed in order to fully engage our readers in these exciting texts, which I am anxiously looking forward to reading in the coming weeks.

Late last week, we also began reading the novel “Le Complot.” This book is definitely a classic, as it is one that I myself read during my intermediate years. There are always a lot of laughs amongst my students as they read about walkmans, roller rinks and the fashion of the 80’s and 90’s, but the themes and messages of this story such as environmentalism, friendship, and adolescence transcend generations and always provide for great class discussions.

Science-We are working through our unit on technology and engineering with the ultimate goal of creating our own wind turbines over the next few months. This week, we will continue to look at the components and characteristics of a system and how it works, and begin exploring how engineers go about planning out their designs step by step.

Grade 9 Science-Our look into the components and functions of the digestive system continues this week. The main focus over our next few classes will be on a case study called “Pour le meilleur ou pour le goût.” Assuming the role of product developers, students will work to create a recipe for a better ice cream dessert that will meet the dietary requirements of as many different groups of people as possible, as we explore nutrients in our food and their nutritional values.

Grade 7 Science-After taking a look into tectonic plates, this week we will explore in greater detail what takes place when plates shift. Students have been working on mapping out the sites of many major earthquakes, volcanoes and mountain ranges. We will compare these maps with the fault lines and discuss how they are formed.

Grade 5-9 Core French-We have begun our next unit entitled “Les animaux et nous.” Last week we reviewed colour vocabulary and used those words to describe the colours of domestic and farm animals. This week, we will take a look at adjectives needed to help us to describe an animal’s shape and size.

In Grades 7-9, students will continue to consolidate all their learning from the past few months into their final project for this section. Working in teams, they are creating a 3D object that they will hide somewhere in the classroom and give both a description of the object and directions to the class as to where it can be found.

Have a wonderful week!

Mme MacNevin