Join us for a Free French Concert for Children Featuring:

TURKEY Rhubarb

Norwood Park Elementary School
165 Terrace Drive
Hamilton ON, L9A 2Z2
Thursday, May 24th
6:30pm to 7:45pm

Based in Hamilton, TURKEY Rhubarb is Dale Behnke (mandolin), Gerry Dion (guitar) and Paul Fralick (guitar). They are great believers in diversity and singing in different languages is their way of supporting this value. The group brings a fun approach to traditional folk tunes.

TURKEY Rhubarb has played over 550 concerts for children in the last 10 years, everywhere from the Toronto Library system to the Métis Women’s Conference and Hamilton’s Festival of Friends. TURKEY Rhubarb’s music is for dancing, clapping and singing along.  Their harmonies, humour and sense of fun are worth a listen!  www.turkeyrhubarb.ca

This special free performance will be entirely in French!

New Single-Track French Immersion School (current Bellmoore site)

Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board will be opening a French Immersion only (single-track) school at the current Bellmoore site (2121 Provincial Route 56, Binbrook) in September 2012.

The opening of a single-track French Immersion school at this location means that if your child is in Senior Kindergarten at one of the following schools and you are considering French Immersion, your child will attend the school at the current Bellmoore site.

Please check [the HWDSB French Immersion site] regularly for updates on transportation and Before and After School Care at this new single-track French Immersion school.

To learn more about French Immersion at HWDSB and the program at the new single-track school, please review [this] PowerPoint presentation.

A great big thank you to all CPF volunteers, Less Petites Pommes, and our presenters for making it such a success!

If you missed them, or would like more details, here are the slides from the presentations:

• French Materials at the Hamilton Public Library
  Kathleen Shannon – Youth Services Librarian
• Helping with Homework when you don’t Speak French
  Christine Rees – FSL Consultant Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board
• Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR)
  Laura Hermans, PhD. –  Language Education Consultant
• French Resources and Activities outside of School
  Rosalind Minaji – CPF Hamilton

Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board

• South Cluster (for Norwood, Lawfield) – February 28th, 6:30 – 7:30 at Lawfield
• North Cluster (for A.M. Cunningham, Glen Echo) – March 1, 6:30 – 7:30 at A.M. Cunningham
• West Cluster (City – G.R. Allan, Earl Kitchener) – March 6th, 6:30 – 7:30 at George R. Allan
• Bellmoore – Information Night on March 22nd 6:30 – 7:30 7:00pm – 9:00pm at Bellmoore

A Festival of French for Everyone!

Wednesday, February 29, 2012 6:30pm to 8:00pm
St Eugene Elementary School
120 Parkdale Avenue South, Hamilton
Ample parking, access from Queenston Road

A FREE extravaganza for all families of French Immersion students from Kindergarten to Grade Four
Children’s entertainment, tips & resources for parents,
French book sale

PARENT INFORMATION SESSIONS:
Tips and resources to help your child succeed in French Immersion:

• French Materials at the Hamilton Public Library
  Kathleen Shannon – Youth Services Librarian
• Helping with Homework when you don’t Speak French
  Christine Rees – FSL Consultant Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board
• Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR)
  Laura Hermans, PhD. –  Language Education Consultant
• French Resources and Activities outside of School
  Rosalind Minaji – CPF Hamilton

FRENCH BOOK SALE:
French materials for students: Usborne Books will provide a wide variety of engaging elementary French language material for sale including French dictionaries, nonfiction, fiction for younger readers, activity books, flashcards, and more. They will accept cash, Visa, and Mastercard. Preview the materials at: www.usborneonline.ca/denise

CHILDREN’S ENTERTAINMENT:
While parents are in the library, kids will be entertained in the gym by staff from Les Petites Pommes Camp and students from the McMaster University French Club. French language games and activities will keep them occupied while you learn.

Check out all the fun at our last Frenchapalooza here!

Get the word out to your school or community with this printable poster.

• Frenchapalooza Wed. Feb.29th
  • Parent Info Sessions: French Materials at the Hamilton Public Library, Helping with Homework When You Don’t Speak French, Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), French Resources and Activities Outside of School
  • French Book Sale: provided by Usborne Books
  • Children’s Entertainment: provided by Les Petites Pommes
• CPF Ontario Fiction Contest
• Les Petites Pommes March Break Camp
• Public School Board French Immersion Update
  • Change to Starting Point for FI
  • Creation of New Single Track FI School in Binbrook
• CPF Hamilton on Facebook and Twitter

View the complete newsletter here.

Registration began yesterday morning at 9am and these spots are limited, so if you haven’t already registered, keep that in mind.

Schools offering FI SK in Fall 2012:

• A.M. Cunningham (4 classes)
• Earl Kitchener (3 classes)
• G.R. Allan (2 classes)
• Glen Echo (2 classes)
• Norwood Park (4 classes)

Schools not offering FI SK in Fall 2012:

• Dundana
• Fessenden (see letter here)
• Lawfield

Still undecided at this time:

• New single-track FI school at current Bellmoore site (information session for parents to be held March 22nd 2012)
• Guy Brown (decision to be made after June 15th  2012)

Be sure to read the letters pertaining to your particular school for complete details.

Post updated Feb.21, 2012

This means that FI SK will continue at those schools that can accommodate it  (without new portables, staffing, resources, or extra funding) until the end of June 2014. Beginning September 2014, the starting point for French Immersion for all schools in the board will be grade 1.

Director of Education John Malloy said the board would be meeting Tuesday to iron out details as to how this decision would be “operationalized”. There is a lot of work to be done to identify the criteria that determines which schools can accommodate FI SK this coming September and how the registration procedure will function.

More information to come as it is available.

Monday, January 30th at 6:30pm
Education Centre
100 Main Street West
Hamilton, ON L8N 3L1

The agenda has been posted on the board’s website and includes the results of the public consultation on both issues. French Immersion items begin on page 27.

Introducing a wide range of literacy resources for the elementary grades – Littératout.  A new website dedicated to providing quality French language resources for reading, writing and oral communication instruction.

All the resources on Littératout are downloadable; many are free while others are available at a very reasonable subscription cost.  Click here to visit their website.