Parent Report, Wednesday, February 11

Parent Report

FSL Letters are coming home Thursday with the report cards.  Here is a summary of the information grade 3 and 6 parents will see:

Pathways to French at the Ottawa Catholic School Board

Dear Parents/Guardians of students in Gr. 3,

In Kindergarten, we introduce students to French Immersion in a play based setting. Students spend 50% of their day in English and 50% of their day in French. The aim is to allow students to feel comfortable with the French language in a natural setting.

In Grades 1, 2 and 3, our Board offers a rich Extended French program (1/4 of the day is in French and 3⁄4of the day is in English). This is to ensure that students have a strong foundation in English (as their first language) and that they are ready for literacy and numeracy throughout the grades. It also provides enough FSL instruction to continue in the Immersion pathway as of Grade 4.

Your child is currently enrolled in the Extended French Program of 75 minutes per day (or 1⁄4 of the day). It is that time of year that we ask parents to select the FSL pathway that they feel would best meet their child’s needs in Grade 4.

As you may be aware, our School Board provides two French Second Language pathways in Grades 4 to 6. These are Extended French (1/4 day, the same as your child’s current program) or Immersion French (1/2 day). Both the Extended Pathway and the Immersion Pathways are programs of excellence and high expectations. Each program allows for students to excel in French Language acquisition to serve them at school and beyond.

Grade 3 parents complete the French program selection sheet and return it to the school by March 6, 2015.  This sheet will be found in the report card envelope.

Please click here to view a powerpoint presentation on FSL Pathways at the Ottawa Catholic School Board

 

For Parents/Guardians of Grade 6 students currently enrolled in the French Second Language Extended Program:

As your child has followed the French Second Language Extended Program Pathway in the junior grades, the Core French Second Language Pathway is the suggested next step at the intermediate level in Grade 7.  This is a program of excellence and high expectations. The program continues to promote the development of functional fluency in French.

At the secondary level, students following the Core Program Pathway continue to build French language acquisition, studying French at the Applied or Academic levels. Many Canadian post-secondary institutions also provide their students with Second Language learning opportunities to prepare our youth for the job market.

In preparation for the next school year, we ask that you please consider the Pathways to French chart on the reverse side. Please complete the French program selection sheet for your child and return it to your school by March 6th,  2015.  

If you have any questions,  please contact the school and speak with your child’s teachers.

Thank you for your support and action on this necessary process to help us prepare for the appropriate French Second Language programming for your child.

Additional Items:

School Programs:  We have started our new table tennis program and we are now into the third week.  Students are enjoying the coaching and next week we will have four tables available for play.  Several students have asked if they can still join and they are welcome to do so.  This is a program that we plan to keep going for the remainder of the year.

Hip Hop instruction will be starting soon.  The program will cost $50.00 for ten weeks – subsidies are available. This program will be introduced on soon and sign-ups will take place during the assembly.  There will be more information soon.

Culture Shock – our students will be trained by members of this troupe

Squirmies:  We will be running a second session of Squirmies starting February 23.  Subsidies are available as always.

Other items of interest:

Ash Wednesday is next week (February 18th).  Father Felix from St. Anthony Church will be visiting the school to take part in our Ash Wednesday liturgy.  Parents are welcome to attend.

Christie Lake Girls Camp took place last weekend.  By all accounts it was a great success.  We had eight girls from grades 2-6 who took part in the camp and they had a great time with Christie Lake staff.  A boys camp is in the planning stages – more information to follow.

Walk Zones for next year.  OSTA has finalized the walk zones for next year for grades 1 – 6.  The maps are on display outside the office.  A fuller explanation of the new zones can be found in the February 9 – 13 Community Blog

Pizza and milk programs – these programs are going very well at st. Anthony.  Our first pizza day was a great success – all the students seemed to enjoy Domino’s.  Our next pizza day is this Friday and we will continue pizza days every second Friday for the remainder of the year.

More Chromebooks – the School Board has provided our school with 20 new Chromebooks.  We are now getting close to have one machine for every junior student.  We are encouraging the students to bring the machines home with them so that they have this wonderful resource to help them with their learning both at home and at school.  Students are now beginning work on their own e-portfolios.  Every student from grades 1-6 will write at least two entries this term on things they are learning in class.  They will be able to share this learning with their parents as more machines come home with the students.

e-portfolio - template

This is the template all students will be working from

Report Cards – the first term report cards are going home Thursday (February 12).  While there is no formal interview night set up for this term, parents are very welcome to contact their son or daughter’s teacher to set up an interview.  Teachers will also be contacting parents if they feel an interview is necessary.  Congratulations on all the hard work accomplished by our students this term!

St. Nicholas at St. Anthony – we are offering St. Anthony parents the opportunity to take high school credits through St. Nicholas Adult School here at St. Anthony.  A flyer explaining what parents need to do to get involved is coming home with the report cards.

2015-02-11_1753