More reading tricks...

When you read, you will notice that some English words are almost the same as in french. These words are called cognates. They help you understand the meaning of a text. Start with what you know rather than what you don't know.

Lorsque vous lisez, vous remarquez que certains mots ressemblent au français. On les appelle '' Cognates'' en anglais. Ils aident à faire des liens et à comprendre ce que vous lisez. Commencez toujours par regarder ce que vous savez plutôt que ce que vous ne savez pas. 

 P.S. Be careful. Sometimes certain words resemble french but don't have the same meaning.
         Attention! Parfois certains mots ressemblent au français, mais n'ont pas le même sens.

Example: Library- librairie
               ( bibliothèque) - ( magasin où l'on vend des livres.)

Peanuts

Here are '' tips '' from the pros... If you follow this advice, you are sure to succeed :)).

Ireland...The ''green'' island

Hello! As you know, the group of Mrs. Manon Murray is going to participate in a letter exchange with people of other English speaking countries around the world. The chronicles registered under the label '' Places around the world where we speak English...'' will present a few of these places. We start our visit with The green island of Ireland. Enjoy your trip and don't forget to look at the diaporama which presents pictures of this great country.
 Bonjour, comme vous le savez , le groupe de madame Manon Murray participera cette année à un projet de correspondance à l'étranger avec des pays où l'on parle l'anglais. Les courtes chroniques classées sous cette section ont pour but de présenter quelques régions anglophones autour du monde. Nous commençons notre visite par l'Irlande. Bon voyage et n'oubliez pas de regarder le diaporama. Vous y verrez des images de ce magnifique pays.

     Ireland is an Island ( île ) situated in western Europe. It is seperated from the neighbouring  (avoisinant) island of Great Britain by the Irish sea. Its largest cities ( villes ) are Dublin and Belfast. Its mountains surround large plains which are very green. This is why its nickname ( surnom) is ''The emerald isle''.

Population : 6,399,152 people

Spoken languages: Irish and English

National holiday: The irish national holiday is St- Patrick's day. It is celebrated by the Irish descendants in Québec every year.
Music: Many rock groups come from Ireland, but the most popular one is without a doubt, U2. It is a rock group from the great city of Dublin. They made many hits such as '' Sunday bloody sunday'' and '' I still haven't found what I'm looking for''.

There is also the rock group '' The cranberries'' which was very popular in the 90's.
Another style of music occupies a large part of the irish culture and that is Celtic music. It roots ( trouve ses origines) back to the middle ages (moyen âge) and its legends. This style colours the songs and music of artists such as Enya and Loreena Mc Kennit.

Sports: 

Gaelic Football

Gaelic football, hurling and handball are the best-known of the Irish traditional sports, collectively known as Gaelic games.

Food: Black pudding ( boudin noir), breakfast rolls ( breakfast) , Irish stew ( ragoût), boxty ( galettes de pommes de terre),  colcannon ( mashed potatoes and cabbage )and beacon and cabbage ( chou). They also make hand-made cheese  and sausages called Blaa.

Beverages: Whiskey , Baileys ( cream liqueur) , Guinness beer and red lemonade.


Places of interest: Ireland offers many beautiful places to visit. For example, the Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986.

Bunratty Castle is a large tower house in County Clare, Ireland.

The Rock of Cashel was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasion. It dates back to the 12th century ( 12e siècle ).

The Lakes of Killarney are a renowned scenic attraction located near Killarney, County Kerry, in Ireland. They consist of three lakes - Lough Leane, Muckross Lake (also called Middle Lake) and Upper Lake.

 Lakes of Killarney

Rock of Cashel

Giant's causeway

You can visit the great cities of Dublin and Belfast. Moreover, Ireland has many breathtaking landscapes     ( paysages) with large sea cliffs ( Parois escarpées sur le bord de la mer). Green plains, home to castles, legends and historical sites. If you have a chance to visit Ireland one day, you are sure to love it!



 

This week...September 24th, 2012

Message to parents: We keep on reviewing the classroom expressions. It's important to facilitate  English speaking in the classroom. Just review two or three expressions every night.

Grade 1: Finish working on action verbs. ( I cut, I listen, I write...)
                        We start with lesson 2. '' Little Rascal''
                        Game: '' Simon says...'' ( Ex: Simon says cut..., Simon says listen...).  Students must mime the  action verbs. Therefore, they demonstrate their understanding of classroom instructions.

Grade 2: Continue working on classroom expressions.
                         Song ''Potato pals'' and numbers 1 to 20.          
                          Story '' In the morning''.

Studying: Classroom expressions.
                  Finish sheets on action verbs if not finished in class.

Grade 3: We learn the numbers from 1 to 100 ( writing, pronounciation)
                        Number dictation
                        Months, days of the week, seasons ( activities of the week, season ...)
                        Learn to write the date. ( calendar)
                        Review of colours '' Tag'' book p. 8 and 9.  

Studying:  Sheet on days, months.
                Finish pages in '' Tag'' if not completed in class.


Grade 4: Telling time on the clock. 
                         Writing the date.
                         Seasons, months, famous holidays ( Christmas, Easter, Holloween...)
                         Weather ( cloudy. rainy, cold, hot...)
                         Robert Munch story: Up, up, up...

Studying: We keep on studying the classroom expressions.
                Months and days of the week. 




 Grade 5:  Find someone who ... ( oral expression game)
                          Personal pronouns and possessive case. ( Book '' Spirals'' p-8-9)
                          Continue to review the question words.
  



Studying: Classroom expressions
                   Review pronouns

Homework: Pronouns sheet


Grade 6: Work on the verb '' to be''.
                         Descriptions
                         Work in '' Spirals'' book.
                         Oral expression activity.

Studying: Review  the verb '' to be''.
                 Write 5 sentences describing an object.



 

Tongue twisters of the week...

Can you say these words without stuttering ( sans bégayer) ???

'' Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?''

''  I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop.
Where she sits she shines, and where she shines she sits.''

 

Week of September 17th...

Cycle1, year 1: We are working on action verbs ( cut, write,draw,ect.)
               The mime game. The students must mime the different actions they learnt so the rest of the class can guess what verb they are miming.
                Activity sheet on action verbs.
                Potato pals story: In the morning.

Note aux parents: Les élèves sont en train d'apprendre les verbes d'action utile en salle de classe car nous allons bientôt commencer la méthode '' Little rascals''. Le but est de les rendre plus autonomes dans leur compréhension des consignes de travail lors des périodes d'anglais.Aucun devoir.

 year2:  Finish alphabet document.
                           Action verbs review activity sheets.
                           Learn names of objects in the classroom.
                           Game: Find me a... ( The students must find different useful objects in the classroom based on teacher instructions).

Studying: Continue review of classroom expressions

Cycle2, year 1: Numbers from 0 to 100.

                           Number crossword puzzle.

                            ''th', pronounciation practice.

                            Tag p-7 

                            Review of colours.

  
Homework: finish p.7 and p.8 ( review of colours).  

year 2: Activity sheet on days and months.

                         Tag page 4 -6-7

                         Number dictation ( Practice of numbers with hundreds and ''th'' sounds).

                          

Homework : Tag p-7 ( if not finished in class). P-8
                    Review of classroom expressions. 

Cycle 3, year1: Correct p-7 ( Spirals)

                           Game '' Find Someone who...''

                            Review question words

                            Pronouns p-8

Homework: Study classroom expressions
                    Activity sheet on pronouns.

year 2: Question word posters.

             Correct homework p-4.

             Shape castle game ( boardgame designed to make students communicate in English).

              Spirals p-5   ( Action verbs)

Homework: Finish p-5 and study classroom expressions.

Note aux parents des élèves de Manon Murray: Les inscriptions au projet de correspondance à l'étranger ont été postées aujourd'hui. Théoriquement, les élèves devraient recevoir les adresses de leur correspondant d'ici environ six semaines. Juste le temps de travailler l'écrit pour être en mesure de correspondre.

 Bonne semaine à tous! / Have a good week everyone!  



                              

Hey, you! Do you know Tongue twisters???

No! Well... they are sentences really difficult to pronounce The challenge is to try to say these sentences really fast.

Les '' tongue twisters'' sont des phrases très difficiles à prononcer sans faire fourcher notre langue. Le défi est de les prononcer très rapidement.

Try it.../ essaie pour voir...

  

'' If you understand, say "understand".
If you don't understand, say "don't understand".
But if you understand and say "don't understand".
How do I understand that you understand? Understand! ''

Reading strategies...

When reading any kind of text, look out for the Keywords. Highlight them to make them more visual. Same trick applies to questions. Pay attention to question words and key words to locate the information more easily in the text.

Lorsque vous lisez un texte, repérez les mot importants et surlignez-les. Les surligner les rendra plus visibles. La même règle s'applique aux questions. Portez une attention particulière aux mots question ( What, where, when, who, why, etc.). Ce sont eux qui vous mettrons sur la piste de l'information recherchée.


EX: Text... Hi, my name is Seymour Spirals. My first name is Seymour. My family name is Spirals. I am 11 years old...

Question: What is his first name? 

This week...

Cycle 1

In grade one: We are learning to introduce ourselves ( Hello, my name is ............. . What is your name? How are you? )

We started the numbers with the'' Potato pals'' song which makes the students count, sing and dance. 

We also started learning a few action verbs...( remember, sing, show).

Note to the parents: No homework in 1st grade.

In grade two: We are learning useful classroom expressions so the students can become more and more comfortable using English in the classroom.

We are also working on the alphabet and the phonetic aspect of each letters.( Review of last year's content)

Studying: Classroom expressions

Cycle  2

In grade grade 3: Review classroom expressions. 

                              Work on action verbs.

                              Review Body parts.

Studying : Review classroom expressions learned in class.

In grade 4: Review classroom expressions.

                   File ''Me'' which is a personal file completed by the students to give them an opportunity to present themselves.

                    Numbers from 0 to 100, number crossword puzzle.

Studying: Study classroom expressions.

Cycle 3

In grade 5: Review classroom expressions so the students will be able to communicate only in English.  

                   Question words  and reading strategy ( Highlight keywords with a highlighter.

                    Page 4 in Tag. ( Seymour Spirals)

Homework: Finish page 4 in spirals.

                     Study classroom expressions.

In grade 6:  We started the pen friends project.

                     We started the review of classroom expressions.

* *Because of ped days, I have seen the 3rd cycle students only once.

    

 Studying: Classroom expressions. 

Note to parents/ Note aux parents: Cette semaine, l' accent est mis sur les expressions utiles en salle de classe, et ce à tous les niveaux, afin de donner aux élèves les outils nécessaires pour fonctionner en anglais dans la salle de classe. C'est pourquoi vous retrouverez ces expressions à réviser à tous les niveaux.

En 6e année ( Classe de madame Manon Murray), nous travailleront l'écrit de façon plus soutenue, notamment en participant au projet de correspondance '' pen friends''. Les élèves auront l'occasion d'échanger avec des jeunes de leur âge originaires d'autres pays.  

Il est à noter  qu'à chaque niveau, les élèves seront encouragés à s'exprimer en anglais durant les cours à la mesures des connaissances qu'ils détiennent.

         

Welcome back!