Captain Michael VandenBos P.S.

http://vandenbos.ddsbschools.ca/

(905) 665-2001 September 6, 2011 Dear Parents/Guardians,

"BONJOUR" and WELCOME to Grade 3 French Immersion!

My name is Mme Jacquie Sullivan and I am looking forward to working with your child during this new school year, 2011-2012. Grade 3 is a big year, filled with wonderful new adventures in learning for both your child and myself. In preparation for Grade 4, I will be providing the students with opportunities to grow this year through learning, exploration, and development of the confidence to be an independent learner. I hope you will be able to join us at CMV this Thursday, September 8 for a family BBQ (5:30pm) and to meet ME in Room 217 (6-8pm) a great opportunity to see where your child will be spending his/her school days this year! AGENDA: Every student in our class will receive a Homework AGENDA, which has been generously purchased by the VandenBos SCC. MERCI BEAUCOUP, SCC! Home-school communication is a key to student success, and the agenda/planner is an effective tool that not only instils responsibility and organization, but also helps to ensure on-going communication between home and school. Your child will complete his/her agenda every day, making note of homework, special events and other important information, as part of our daily routine. Parents are asked to READ the agenda nightly, and to look over your childs homework to verify that it has been completed to the best of his/her ability. I will check the agendas daily as well to read questions or comments that you may write to me. Merci!

Your signature in the agenda is required

every

day
Please also be sure to read the first 8-9 pages of the agenda with your child early this week. You will find important information regarding school routines, student expectations, etc.... Your signature is required where indicated (pg. 8) regarding Safe Use of Technology (computers) at school.

POCHETTE: I have provided each student in my class with a new pochette (zipper-pouch) in which to transport his/her agenda, library books, newsletters, forms, money, etc. to and from school. The daily use of this pouch will help to protect its contents and will assist your childs organization and readiness for school. It will also help to ensure that you and I receive all correspondence between home and school in an efficient manner and tidy manner (no more crumpled notes in the bottom of backpacks!). I hope that you will find it as helpful as I do!

[1]

LUNCH: The lunch hour is from 11:05 to 12:05. If your child eats his/her lunch at school regularly or occasionally, he/she MUST bring signed permission EACH TIME he/she leaves school property at lunchtime. When picking up your child for lunch, please meet with him/her in the school office. Your child is encouraged to bring to school a reusable lunch bag containing nutritious and litter-less snacks and lunches! Healthy foods will provide your child with the energy needed to go through the school day and will also help to build healthy eating habits. Pop, chips, and chocolate are highly discouraged as they tend to interfere with positive learning and listening skills. Such snacks will be reserved for the afternoon snack time.

PLEASE NOTE: We have students with life-threatening nut allergies in our school - we
are a nut-aware school. The Health and Safety of everyone is our #1 priority, and we thank you in advance for choosing not to bring nuts or nut products to school. CMV is an ECO-school! Recycling and compost will be available in our class, but all other waste materials will be returned home as part of our Boomerang waste-reduction plan. To support this program and minimize waste, reusable food containers are recommended. You do not have to buy special containers to send food in commercial yoghurt, margarine, sour cream and cream cheese containers, and ziplock bags can be washed and re-used for this purpose. Bringing a labeled water bottle, to be used in the classroom for quick drinks, is highly encouraged!

CLASS SCHEDULE: Please find attached a preliminary schedule for our class` course of study this year. Please note that the school schedule will once again run on a five-day cycle. Today, Tuesday, September 6th, is DAY 1, Friday will be DAY 4, the following Monday will be DAY 5, and Tuesday, September 13 th will be the next Day 1. Please post our class schedule in a convenient location at home to help ensure that your child comes to school prepared for each days activities. Thank you!

HEALTH & PHYSICAL EDUCATION: Mme Wendy Pokupec will teach your child Health and Phys. Ed. this year. Please be reminded that all students are required to keep a pair of indoor-only running shoes at school for use in the classroom and gym. Appropriate clothing is also necessary for full participation. Skirts/dresses and jeans limit physical movement and are discouraged on Phys. Ed. days (Day 2, 3, 4). HOWEVER, students will be permitted to change into active-wear at the beginning of Phys. Ed. class if a change of clothing is brought from home.

On Day 1, students will also be required to have outdoor running shoes for their Outdoor Phys. Ed. class. Sandals, crocs, etc. can be unsafe when running and, for their safety, students wearing these will
not be permitted to participate. A pair of outdoor running shoes should be brought from home as necessary, or may be kept at school.

DRAMA/DANCE: Mme Julie Patrick will teach your childs Drama and Dance classes this year, on Day 2. Clothing conducive to movement is advisable on this day for this purpose as well.

[2]

CLASS MATERIALS: The school and I will provide your child with the materials he/she will need to complete his/her work in class. For example: - 1 new pencil per month - an eraser - 1 pair of scissors - a ruler (mm/cm) - a glue stick/a small bottle of white glue - pencil crayons/crayons - markers - duotangs - notebooks - file folders - portfolios Some of these materials will be shared, while others will be kept right in each childs desk. Your childs name will be written in permanent marker on each item that is given to him/her for his/her personal use. In Grade 3, we teach and encourage the children to be Responsible Snowbird Citizens. One of the many ways your child will demonstrate his/her responsibility is by taking good care of his/her school belongings. Being accountable for class materials is very important, therefore, should your child misplace or lose any of the items listed above, I will ask that your child take the responsibility to replace the item as soon as possible so that he/she will have it, ready to use, when he/she needs it. I will also teach the students how to organise these materials and tools in group bins and in their desks in order to avoid unnecessary loss. *The children often prefer to have their own personal set of tools* (ie. pencil case containing pencil, eraser, scissors, pencil crayons, etc.). This is welcomed! In this case, please refer to the following list of items that your child will find helpful (many of which can be purchased at the Dollar Store): large pencil case that opens at the top (Space maker OR one that has a double zipper on the top), enough to hold all pencils, crayons, markers, scissors, glue stick, etc. pencil crayons - package of 24 Crayola or Laurentian, pre-sharpened large glue stick - we use them a lot, all year long pencil sharpener that catches shavings erasers ruler - 30cm scissors that can cut felt/fabric/cardboard 1 double-pocket portfolio - We will use this pocket portfolio daily for organising loose sheets of paper, your childs personal dictionary and his/her cursive writing booklet HB pencils - Lots of them! The children LOVE to sharpen their pencils. large

[3]

 high lighters red, orange or pink pens

**Please keep EXTRA pencils, highlighters and red pens at home so that your child has easy access to more as needed throughout the year.**
a FRENCH/ENGLISH DICTIONARY: It is IMPERATIVE that this dictionary NOT be a dictionary because they often do not include many commonly used words and are therefore not very useful. Please purchase one that has a REFERENCE of 75 000 to 85 000 (e.g.: Harraps) words. $1-$2.00

This dictionary will be useful to your child right through high school.

In order to easily return misplaced items to their rightful owner, Please Label ALL items with your childs name.

I invite you to get in touch with me at any time if you have questions during the school year. The agenda is a quick and easy way for us to correspond on a daily basis, but you can also contact me via the school office. I will do my best to return phone calls as promptly as possible, but find that the school day passes quickly and, unless it is an urgent issue, prefer to call after school when there is more time to fully answer questions and concerns. In the meantime, I would really appreciate it if you could complete and return to school this week the enclosed Emergency Contact Form. It will help to ensure that I have the most current information should I need to contact you. I look forward to meeting you soon!

Sincerely,

Mme Jacquie
[4]

[5]