December Assignments

Dear parents,
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We've been working on many projects. The Science Dioramas were due today and almost everybody has handed them in on time. Here are a few pictures of the ones that came in earlier this week:

Assignments coming due

I've had a few questions from parents about the assignments that are coming due. Here are all the details. Hopefully this clarifies things a bit!

French reading: Raconte-moi une histoire (Read me a story)

For this project, students had to choose a French illustrated album and practice reading it until they can read it with accuracy, fluidity, punctuation, intonation, and (if applicable) character and narrator voices. Some students have decided to read their book to the class, others will read it to a small group, some will read only to me, and some are recording an audiobook version of their chosen book. The schedule for presentations is posted in the class and here is a picture for your reference. Antonio presented his book yesterday and it was fantastic: Bravo pour ton courage Antonio!

English Storywriting (draft due Monday December 11)

Students are writing a short story in English. They should have a first draft of their story to work on next week. Next week, they will share their story with a peer and receive some constructive feedback. They will then work on editing their work: adding more descriptive words, separating their writing into paragraphs, correcting the punctuation, etc.
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A few students decided to write longer stories with many chapters. If that is the case, they don't have to have the entire story finished by Monday, but they should have a chapter to work on for editing. They should have described their characters and setting, and introduced the main problem. They should also have a basic outline of the main events of the story and the ending. 

Grade 4 only: Reading Link Challenge

The Grade 4 students are participating in a "battle of the books" organized by the local library. They have books to read and they will be put into teams to answer questions about the books. The first round of questions (February) will be on the characters, setting and plot of each book. Susan gave each student a book to read to begin. We will rotate the books as students are done reading them. This paper came home explaining how the books can be borrowed as ebooks with you VIRL library card and a couple of them are available as audio books as well. Students should take notes about the characters, setting and plot of the book they are currently reading. Once they are done reading a book and show me their notes, we will give them the next available book to read.

Grade 5 only: Book Report Posters (or movie trailer) Due December 15

The grade 5 students don't participate in the Challenge, so their project is to read a book in English and make a book report. They have received a graphic organizer to help them take notes on their book (there are two sides of the paper, but they only pick one side as they are just different templates to choose from.)
Once they have read the book and taken notes, they take the information and put in on a poster, with a few drawings illustrating the main elements of the book (for example, what the main characters or setting look like according to the book's descriptions). The poster should include the following elements:

• title and author
• the main characters (their name, a drawing, a few personality traits that describe them)
• the setting (where and when the story happens)
• the plot (the beginning, the problem, main events, resolution).
• their a personal opinion about the book (ex: I liked or didn't like this book because..., I recommend this book because, my favorite part of the book is when....).

If they are feeling creative, they can keep these main elements but pretend their poster is an advertisement to sell the book, or they can use technology (Imovie) to create a "book trailer" about their book. Posters are due on Friday December 15. I am giving some time in class everyday to work on that, and I am expecting them to do a little bit at home everyday. Below is my exemplar of to refer to, as well as a one that is a "work in progress" (still missing some of the elements but a really great start).

This is my exemplar: I used the notes that we took as a class on our book Hannah and the Spindle Whorl and created a book report (students' posters can be smaller, look different and have less writing: see poster at the right)

This poster shows drawings of the main characters and some descriptive words for each (well done!). Also, she showed the main events of the plot. Her next steps are to add the title and author, the setting, and a personal opinion)

I hope this clarifies things a bit! Please email me if you want to volunteer on Friday morning or for the concert!

Have a great December!
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Nathalie