December 2009 and January 2010 Newsletter

December Newsletter (PDF version)

Junior Kindergarten – Mrs. Michèle Gignac-Lamoureux
As every year, December brought a wonderful Christmas concert. The students of the Junior Kindergarten sang very well. I want to thank once again the parents who helped me dress up the girls. You were marvellous!

In January, after a wonderful two-week holiday, the students were very happy to see each other again. Two nice little girls have joined our class, Pardis Azadeh and Cassidy Hon. They got accustomed to our routine very easily.

We went to the National Gallery of Canada and it was most interesting. For some of the girls, this was their first visit. In class, we try to talk in French progressively more every day. For some, this is still difficult, but they will find it easier as the year progresses.

In February, we will have a wonderful celebration of Saint-Valentine’s day, as well as the ski day. This activity will be a wonderful opportunity to see you all again.

Senior Kindergarten – Mrs. Nicole Duguay
In Senior Kindergarten, time passes by quickly and we have a lot of fun. In January, we went to the National Gallery of Canada. We saw beautiful paintings and it was a very interesting and rewarding outing for the students. Many thanks to the parents who accompanied us. We are preparing for the P.G.L. dictation. For the students of Senior Kindergarten, it is a first. The girls are very proud and happy to be involved in this project. It is a great challenge for them and it is also a way to sensitize them to sharing and solidarity. In January, the students started keeping a journal. Each week, they write a short sentence and illustrate it. They apply themselves and do beautiful work. In February, we will prepare to celebrate Saint-Valentine’s day. It will be a wonderful occasion to express our friendship and our love to the people we care about.

Grade 1 – Mrs. Véronic Beauchamp
The first month of year 2010 is already over! It was very pleasant to see the girls and their wonderful smiles when they returned from their holidays. From the first week, the girls of grade one went back to their routine without too many difficulties. We have started to learn cursive writing. The girls are so motivated and interested! It is most pleasurable to teach them to write. They work autonomously more and more every day and they have acquired an increasingly varied vocabulary since the beginning of the year. Unfortunately, the girls have much difficulty conversing in French among themselves during transitions. We are working hard to improve!

On January 15th, the class had an opportunity to visit the National Gallery of Canada. We have marvellous girls who respect the rules very well and who participate actively during special activities. Bravo girls and thank you to the three parents who accompanied us.

Grade 1 – Mrs. Donna Jones
We were so busy in December that the time just flew by and, before we knew it, the Christmas holidays had arrived. The Grade One girls did a wonderful job preparing for the Christmas concert. We learned so many ways to say “Merry Christmas” and had a lot of fun singing our Christmas songs in French and English. We really worked as a team and helped each other remember our lines.

After all of the excitement of December, it was nice to get back to our regular routines.

During January, we have been reading lots of stories about winter and snow. We will be doing a book study on the book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. I am hoping that all of our stories about winter will get the students excited for the biggest celebration of the winter, the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Grade 2 – Mrs. Véronic Beauchamp
The first month of year 2010 is already over! It was very pleasant to see the girls and their wonderful smiles when they returned from their holidays. Right from the first week, the girls of grade two went back to their routine without too many difficulties. We started by reviewing our grammar. The integration of new rules of grammar into their oral and written French seems progressively easier. They are actually working on composing a slogan and they are succeeding rather well at applying the various grammatical rules to it. I am very proud of their work.

We are starting a research project in social sciences “My Home, My Neighbourhood”. The girls will need their parent’s help for this work. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions.

On January 22nd, we had the opportunity to visit the National Gallery of Canada. Thank you to the parents who accompanied us.

Grade 2 – Mrs. Donna Jones
December was another busy and exciting month in Grade Two. The students went on their first field trip of the school year. We went to the Canada Museum of Science and Technology and learned all about solids and liquids. The girls designed some amazing boats. We returned to the museum on February 2, to learn about simple machines.

We presented our animal research projects on December 11 and were very fortunate to have many parents and fellow students drop in to see our completed projects. It was a wonderful opportunity for the students to share their knowledge and enthusiasm about the animal they researched.

The girls wrote letters to Santa in early December and he replied to every letter. Santa knows the girls of Joan of Arc Academy very well and naturally, they were all on his nice list.

We are very excited about the 2010 Winter Olympics. We are going to write letters to a favourite Canadian athlete and follow their progress once the games begin. The students learned that it has been 22 years since Canada hosted the Olympics. They were shocked to discover how old they will be if it is another 22 years until we have the opportunity to host the Olympics again (29 and 30!).

Grade 3 – Mrs. Annie Duchesne
January has allowed us to get back to our conjugation, our text studies and our writings. Two weeks on vacation and we forget our French!

In Social Studies, we are Secret Agents who travel through Canada! We have just worked out the plan of the school’s second floor. In Arts, our main theme was winter! We worked on textures and mosaics! We visited the National Gallery of Canada where we discovered very interesting paintings!

Dear parents of the Grade 3 class, I want to mention that with the money you gave me for the class, I bought a photo printer which will be very useful for assembling our portfolios. I ordered a few books for our class library, as well as games for recesses spent indoors. At the request of the students, we have adopted a superb fish named Simon the dragon! Many thanks!

Grade 3 – Ms. Sabine Neubert
After two weeks of rest and fun with family and friends, we are all ready to be back at school and to push for a good report card in March.

The grade 3 girls will be starting out on their Cinderella around the World project. They are going to read Cinderella stories from many different countries and finally write their own.

In math, we are about to explore how to sort and manage data. In Science, we are learning about Stability. Our previous math unit about solids and shapes should give us useful background knowledge for this topic.

Please note: The grade 3 girls’ participation in the 2010 Science Fair in mid-February is optional. The school is selling display boards at a price of $5, which is considerably less than retail. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank all families for their generous Christmas gift for the grade 3 classroom. The money will be spent in the children’s interest and I will update you on this.

Grade 4 – Mrs. Elaine Bartlett
December was such a busy month that it flew by and the holidays were upon us before we knew it! Academically, the grade 4‘s were busy finishing up their tall stories and were practicing short multiplication. Festively, they were busy with all the Christmas activities; preparing their piece for the Christmas show, attending mass and enjoying all the special fun activities that were going on during the last week of school.

January was another demanding and active month. The girls have been reading and learning how to write fables; they have been working enthusiastically and will soon complete them. In math, they have been working on data management and, in science, they have completed the Rocks and Minerals unit and have eagerly started to investigate the characteristics of light. They visited the Science and Technology Museum on February 2 for a presentation on light.

Don’t forget that the Science Fair is fast approaching and will take place from February 16-19, 2010. Please monitor your daughters to make sure they will complete their projects on time. Don’t forget to purchase the Science Fair boards from the school; they are $5.00 each.

Grade 4 – Mrs. Anne Meurillon
After a well-deserved Christmas vacation, your girls returned to the Academy well rested and ready to start a new term! They worked hard in December to give a wonderful performance. What a pleasure it was to see them on the stage, confident and proud! It was a good finish to the first term!

Thus, we went back to grammar, vocabulary, writing, and reading in French. The heroin of our new novel, Une bien curieuse factrice, is Miss Charlotte. The majority of the girls know her well, since they studied the first book of this series last year. I am certain that they will enjoy this one as much as the first! It is a novel full of humour and tenderness. What a pleasure it is to read in French!

In writing, I asked the girls to write a letter addressed to me, in which they described their Christmas holidays. Soon, we will start studying advertisements. It is a type of text which students always appreciate, because it enables them to give free reign to their imagination.

In Social Studies, we started a very attractive strand: ancient civilizations. I realize that your girls already know much about this topic! In addition, we have started establishing a link between the social studies and art: we have started a small weaving project to learn a very ancient art. The girls love it! I look forward to giving you more news shortly!

Grade 5 – Mrs. Erin Elliott
December and January have been busy months in Grade 5. The girls enjoyed preparing, practicing and performing their piece for the annual Joan of Arc Academy Christmas concert. All the girls had a hand in creating the skit, from writing their speaking parts to organizing the set. In mathematics, we have completed our unit working with Decimals and are moving on to Data Management. The girls worked hard to complete their book reports on the novel Matilda and we are well into our new novel study, C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The girls are enjoying the novel and are currently writing and performing interviews with a chosen character. The girls will complete this unit by writing their own fantasy story. They really enjoyed seeing the grade eight girls perform Cyrano, and they ended the month with a trip to the Science Museum.

Grade 5 – Mrs. Anne Meurillon
December went by at the speed of light! The girls worked very hard to give a wonderful performance. Their Christmas holiday was well-deserved! Thus, we are already into the second term. We immediately went back into our subjects.

In French, we started to read our new novel Les impatiences de Ping. It is a little longer and more complex than the first novel. Therefore, we discuss it a lot in class to facilitate our understanding of the story. The girls also discovered a kind of poetry which they know from English Language Arts: the haiku. It is a type of prescribed text that prepares them for grade 6. After having discovered several French haikus, the girls wrote one of their own. Finally, a short text to compose (which makes the girls very happy), but which makes it possible to capitalize on the poetic aspect of the wonderful language that is French!

In Social Studies, we started our new strand: the functioning of the governmental system in Canada. We have really interesting discussions, because your girls always have exciting ideas to share in class. I realize that they already know much about their country!

In arts, we explored textures. Textures can be expressed with a simple piece of paper and a pencil. Textures are all around us. The girls created their own texture by using the material at their disposal, or even sometimes by recycling pencil sharpener waste or pieces of erasers! What imagination! We are never bored in arts!

Grade 6 – Mrs. Sabine Neubert
Over the holidays, the grade 6 girls were asked to read William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream so that we could start with our main topic in the second term on Day One after the Christmas Break. We are learning about his life and the time he lived in. We will compare the English language of his time with ours and we will finally prepare a stage production. More about this in our next newsletter.

Grade 6 – Mrs. Catherine Pham
I would like to offer my best wishes for the year 2010: health, joy and success for your families and the pride of seeing your girls blossom more every day.

The girls came back from Christmas vacation, filled with a new drive and the spontaneous resolution to speak in French more often! Excellent! Let us hope that this resolution holds beyond January!

We started the year by learning various poems of famous poets like Maurice Carême, Charles Baudelaire and Victor Hugo. Even if the meaning is sometimes difficult to grasp, the girls appreciate the musical quality of the verses and are reciting them with progressively more assurance. We will also write our own on the themes of animals and peace, among others. Also, we are involved with the PGL dictation! This dictation evidently has a very particular meaning this year, considering the needs for rebuilding schools in Haiti. Please support your children.

In Social Studies, I wanted to sensitize the girls to the situation of the children in wartorn countries and we had discussions on anti-personnel mines. Their interest, the maturity of their questions and their empathy moved me tremendously. We will soon start learning about the great explorations and we will build our own Viking boat.

Grade 6 Math – Ms. Kathleen Forestell
After a well deserved holiday, the girls are back at work and doing well. We have completed Unit 7: Transformational Geometry and Unit 8: Fractions, Percents, Ratios and Rates. After this, we have only three units remaining in the year. This will allow us time to start the grade 7 curriculum, as well as prepare for the Mathematica contests in April. Good work girls!

Grade 7 Mathematics and Science – Ms. Kathleen Forestell
The grade 7 girls have started the New Year with full force. We have been hard at work and able to complete another two units -- Unit 7: Geometry and Unit 8: Working with Percents. The girls completed their second unit problem, which involved creating a tessellation in M.C. Escher style. All of their designs were very creative and colorful. In Science, the girls have completed the second unit - Structures: Form and Function. To complete this unit, they were required to design a structure and implement three energy-saving ideas. Once the design was made, they were required to build a prototype to model their design. Currently, we are working on the third unit, Pure Substances and Mixtures, as well as preparing for the Science Fair in February. Good work, girls! It’s been a wonderful New Year!

Grade 7 Language Arts – Mrs. Kristin Greenacre
I would like to wish a happy New Year to all the students and their families. After a restful holiday, we are back at class and busy studying the work of Shakespeare, as we read and discuss Romeo and Juliet. To begin our study, we watched a film version of Romeo and Juliet and then, I read the script of our play to the class. Our class production of Romeo and Juliet has been cast, and we have been measured for our Elizabethan costumes. Mark your calendars: March 4th, 2010 at 1 p.m. will be Grade 7 and 8 Shakespeare Day. We look forward to seeing you all there!

Grade 8 Mathematics and Science – Ms. Kathleen Forestell
The grade 8 girls are working so well that they have completed another two units in math -- Unit 8: Square Roots and Pythagoras and Unit 9: Integers. We spent a day playing a game which involved estimating squares and square roots. The year is going by quickly, but this will allow ample time to review and to prepare for the end of year exam in June. Also, we will be able to take a look into the grade 9 curriculum and see what is in store for the students as they head off to high school next year. In Science, we completed the second unit; Systems in Action. The unit task was the completion of a series of four labs, in class, following proper scientific method. This task gave the girls hands-on experience and practical application of what was taught in class. Currently, we are working through the third unit: Fluids, as well as preparing for the Science Fair in February.

Great work girls! Keep it up!

Grade 8 Language Arts – Ms. Kristin Greenacre
I would like to wish a happy New Year to all the students and their families. After a restful holiday, we are back at class and busy studying the work of Shakespeare, as we read and discuss The Taming of the Shrew. To begin our study, we watched a film version of The Taming of the Shrew and then, I read the script of our play to the class. Our class production of The Taming of the Shrew has been cast, and we have been measured for our Elizabethan costumes. Mark your calendars: March 4th, 2010 at 1 p.m. will be Grade 7 and 8 Shakespeare Day. We look forward to seeing you all there!

Grades 7 and 8 – Mrs. Nadia Pasqua-Cooper
Happy New Year 2010! After a well-deserved vacation, we started the second term with enthusiasm. In grade 7, the girls began reading their new novel: Les contes rouges du chat perché. In a few weeks, they will present a shadow show based on the chapters of this book to the girls of Junior and Senior Kindergarten. They will also write an illustrated story which they will read to Mme Annie’s girls in grade 3. Following a period of intense work, our performance of Cyrano de Bergerac of January 21st was a big success. Bravo girls for your splendid work!

Physical Education – Mrs. Isabelle Murray
I wish you an excellent year 2010 filled with happiness, joy, success and health. Congratulations to our volleyball team which had a good showing at the tournament held at Turnbull school last November. I also wish good luck to our young basketball team which will be involved in the league against MCA, Turnbull and Hillel schools. Go Cyclones go! I also congratulate our grade 5 and 6 volley-ball team who won the final at the end of January. Finally, please remember to note in your agenda the annual ski day at Camp Fortune. It will be on Friday, February 26th, 2010 for all the girls, from Junior Kindergarten to grade 8.

Math and Science Clubs – Ms. Forestell
Our Math and Science Clubs have been taking place since the fall and have been a great success. Math Club takes place Tuesday evenings from 4 to 5p.m. Science Club takes place on Thursday evenings from 4 to 5 p.m. The clubs both take place in room 19B and are open to all Intermediate level girls. If you have an interest in solving puzzles, taking part in math or science spelling bees, or putting on a lab coat and goggles to perform some fun experiments, then come join our clubs!

Workshops
Once again, Mr. André Bléoo, professor at the faculty of Education of the University of Ottawa, came to share his knowledge of theatre. Our actresses took this opportunity to improve their acting skills for our version of Cyrano de Bergerac. It was a pleasure to hear them express themselves with ease and dynamism in French.

OTHER NEWS

Thank you for your gifts - Claude Sarazin
Thanks for all the marvellous gifts that you so generously gave me. I am very grateful. I hope that you all had restful holidays and that you enjoyed some quality family time. I wish you all a healthful and happy year 2010.

Vehicles on the Property - A winter safety reminder
The safety of our children is a serious matter. Please respect the 5km/h speed limit as soon as you enter the Academy’s property and exercise great caution when using our parking lot. We ask that you observe the parking regulations at all times and thank you for the extra care you take, for all the children’s sake.

Regulations:

• At the end of the school day, for safety reasons please wait for your children in the school yard, behind the fence or in the parents’ lounge, and not in the parking lot. No children are allowed to cross the fence to meet their parents in the parking lot.
• The yard supervisors are there to ensure that every child leaving is accompanied by an adult
• Be very attentive and careful when entering and leaving the lot and when parking. To reduce the chance of vehicles endangering the well-being of our girls, a pedestrian walkway has been marked from the school yard to the parking lot. If all use the walkway (forming a C shape, see diagram below), no one should be walking across the area of the parking lot indicated in dark gray, at any time.
  
  
• Designated Parking Areas:
  • Facing the Queensway, leaving the walkway clear
  • Along the East side fence facing towards West End Villa
  • Facing the garden fence, leaving the walkway clear
  • The drop-off zone is a drop-off zone and not a parking lot.
  • Never park in front of the green fence separating the schoolyard from the parking lot. Also, be careful to avoid hitting and damaging the fence. A damaged fence cannot protect the children as intended and it may even be rendered inoperable.
  • Never block another vehicle that is using designated parking.
  • Park with the front of the car into the parking space (to avoid backing up into the areas where children walk).
  • Remember that the speed limit is 5 km/h and that children may appear unexpectedly in the parking lot, even during classes.
  • We thank you for exercising constant vigilance when driving on our property.

Reminder regarding allergies to scents
A number of students and staff members have severe allergies to perfumes. To prevent allergic reactions, it is therefore very important that students, personnel and visitors refrain from wearing any perfume or scented product at school. Thank you in advance for you cooperation.

Fee free to contact us
This is your school and your opions counts. For any comments, questions or general inquiried, do not hesitate to call 613.728.6364 or to e-mail us at: administration@joanofarcacademy.com