Merry Christmas!! See you in 2009

Thanks to everyone who contibuted food towards yesterday's biggest ESL Christmas lunch ever. Everyone enjoyed the great food and had a great time.

Friday is a school day but if we do not see you we wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

See you in 2009. Classes resume on Monday January 5th.

5th Annual Christmas Luncheon

The 5th Annual FMM ESL Christmas Luncheon is set to take place this coming Wednesday December 17th during 3rd period in Room 327.

Please make sure to sign up in Room 327 to contribute some excellent food to the celebration. Anything is welcome, especially foods from your culture.

If you are bringing food that needs to be heated up, please let us know and bring it in early on Wednesday.

Have great final school week of 2009.

Prayers please

We ask everyone to keep Miss Spicer in your prayers.

Her mother is in the hospital dealing with some serious health issues so all your warm thoughts and prayers are much appreciated.

Please show Miss Spicer how much you care when she returns to class.

We love you Miss Spicer!

Great turnout / Explorelearning.com

Thanks to all parents, guardians and students that attended (over 300) the Open House last night. We hope you received all of the information that you needed. Please feel free to contact us here at Father McGivney if you require more assistance. We hope make the choice to join the McGivney Family.

Grade 9 Science Students:

Make sure you visit http://www.explorelearning.com/, login to the site and try the many activities that support what we are studying in class. Just use your class code to set up your login and you are all set. The activities will enhance your knowledge so please get on that site as soon as possible.

Have a great week.

PA Day on Friday / Open House on Tuesday

This is a friendly reminder to all parents, guardians and students that we have a PA Day this Friday. There are no classes for students but the teachers will still be working and taking part in workshops and other learning activities. We will see everyone back in class on Monday.

There is an OPEN HOUSE /INFORMATION EVENING on Tuesday, December 2nd at 7pm.

This is an excellent opportunity for parents/guardians of our incoming Grade 9 students, to learn about the excellent programs at Father McGivney.

Format for the evening:

7.00 p.m. - PRESENTATION in GYM - for parents/students - Admin., Chaplaincy, Parent Council, Guidance

8.15 p.m. - VISITS to various booths.

Parents/students will proceed from the Gym to the foyer and Cafe.

OSAID Week at FMM

It is OSAID Week at FMM and there are many activities going on to raise awareness about this very important topic of Impaired Driving. Check out this site to find out more about OSAID.

http://www.osaid.org/index.php



Keep studying hard, complete all homework and assignments, and have a great week!!!

Useful Links Updated

Hello teachers, parents and guardians!

New links have been provided in the Useful Links section on the right of this page. These links will take you to various important Ontario Ministry of Education documents regarding English Language Learners.

To keep updated on the posts on this site, you can subscribe it it. Just click on the link to the right of the "subscribe to:"

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Until next time.
Have a great week!

ESL Inservice & Parent/Teacher Interviews

We thank all teachers that attended the ESL Inservice yesterday afternoon.
We hope it was informative, and that you shed a tear or two.
For those who missed it, please feel free to drop by the ESL Centre to ask us any questions you may have. We will be glad to help.

Parent/Teacher Interviews begin tonight at 5:30 pm in the Gymnasium.
We hope to see all parents and guardians there.

Have a great rest of the week.

Some XC Pics from the YRAA Championships

Report Cards come out Tomorrow!

Students, Parents and Guardians are reminded that report cards will be distributed at 2:15 tomorrow (Friday) afternoon.

Parent/Teacher Interview forms will be included with the report cards so please feel free to make an appointment.

Select a time that works best for you and if it isn't already booked by someone else, you will get your desired appointment time or very close to it. Parent/Teacher Interviews take place on the night of Thursday November 6th. Interviews will take place in the school gym.

Halloween is also tomorrow. Students, you can wear a costume instead of your school uniform but no masks. Make sure to take part in the many activities organized by Student Council.

The Cross-country team will have its season ending party tomorrow. Don't forget to bring your $4.

Have a great rest of the week and weekend.

Best of luck to all students and teachers participating in the Angus Glen Half Marathon & 10 km this Sunday. Don't forget that the clocks go back one hour on Saturday night. Enjoy the extra hour of sleep.

Cross-country Season is Over

Congratulations go out to the members of the FMM Cross-country Team who competed yesterday at the York Region Championships.

The team battled the chilly conditions and the tough course to represent FMM with class and determination.

Wilfried Kouadio had the best performance on the day, placing 15th overall in the very competitive Senior Boys division.

Mr. Hospedales will also like to congratulate and thank the rest of the team members for their efforts yesterday and for a great season:

Roges Johnnelson
Christian Jimenez
Deborah Ramcharran
Shirley Chan
Ivan Jiang
Bruce Lam
Veronica Yuk
Paul Cannistus, and Andrew Gavalas.

Andrew now looks forward to doing his first Half-Marathon at Angus Glen next weekend. We wish him the best of luck.

Team members need to see Mr. Hospedales or Andrew Gavalas regarding the end of year team party next week.

The meet results can be found at http://www.trackdatabase.com/index.php

Post Thanksgiving & Some XC Pictures

A very busy week here after the Thanksgiving holdiay.

If you are making casseroles for the food drive, don't forget to make them this weekend and are completely frozen when you bring them to school.

The cross-country team is reminded that the YRAA Championships are taking place on Thursday October 23. You must be at school by 8 am. If you arrive later, the bus will leave without you. Make sure to bring your lunch, a change of clothes, and a warm jacket.

Here are a few pictures from the last meet:

Extra Help

Mr. Hospedales will offer regular "Drop-In Help" (for English and Science) every Monday from 2:30-3:15 pm in Room 114.

Other times are available too but you need to see him and arrange a date and time.

Don't be shy and drop by!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Gr. 9 Orientation & XC GPS Routes

A number of ESL students went to the Grade 9 Orientation at Muskoka Woods (Oct. 1-3) and all had a great time meeting other students, trying many activities (rock climbing, zip line, mountain biking, etc.). The teachers are tired but all had a rewarding time. It will be a trip to be remembered for the rest of every one's lives. Congratulations on being the first FMM group to go through this experience, you have set the trail for the rest to follow.

Here is something for the Cross-country team. Here are a bunch of GPS measured running routes from our school. Don't forget, the first meet is this Wednesday. Be at school by 8 am.

Click on the links below to see the route:

7 km Route
4.5 km Route (add another lap of track for 5km)
FMM Track (400 m)
5km Route (Markham Rd and back)
5.2 km Route (Track, Around School, to Markham Rd)

Feel free to create your own routes.

Hospedales Classes (Oct. 1-3)

Since Mr. Hospedales will be away at the Muskoka Woods Trip with the Grade 9's, students in his classes (and not going on the trip) must report to the following rooms and teachers on these assigned days:

Wednesday October 1, 2008
Period 1: ESLCO1-01 - Room 202 Mrs. Chan
Period 2: SNC1D1-09 - Room 305 Mr. Hum
Period 4: SND1DS-01 - Room 327 Miss Selvakumar

Thursday October 2
Period 1: ESLCO1-01 - Room 213 Mr. Lecours
Period 2: SNC1D1-09 - Room 213 Mrs. Venosa
Period 3: SNC1DS-01 - Room 103 Mr. Dharmai

Friday October 3
Period 1: ESLCO1-01 - Room 202 Mrs. Chan
Period 2: SNC1D1-09 - Room 305 Mr. Hum
Period 4: SNC1DS-01 - Room 113 Mr. Dharmai

Week 4 - Gateway to McGivney

Thanks go out to all students that attended the Gateway to McGivney Trip on Wednesday.

Despite not getting to go to the original location of Shadow Lake, you all made the best of an emergency replacement location at Prince of Peace Church and made it into a very fun and rewarding day.

We took lots of pictures and they will be posted in the ESL Room soon.

Don't forget to bring your $1 to donate to the Haiti Relief on Monday.

Have a great weekend.

Week 3 - Trip & Information update forms, and XC info

Make sure to get your Gateway to McGivney Trip permission forms, and $10 fee to Ms. Spicer or Mr. Hospedales as soon as possible.

Also, your student information update form must be given to your homeroom teacher by Friday.

Important dates for Cross-country Team members:

Wednesday October 8 - Cardinal Carter XC Invitational at Boyd Conservation Area

Thursday October 23 - YRAA XC Championships at Boyd Conservation Area

* On both days we will leave the school by taxi/bus at 8 am, and return to school by 3 pm.

Make sure to get your permission forms and team fee to Mr. Hospedales as soon as possible.

Have a great rest of the week.

Gateway to McGivney Trip - September 25th

Hi students,

Mark your calendars/agendas. This year's Gateway to McGivney Trip will happen on Thursday September 25th. Permission forms will be given out soon.

This means that all going on the trip will miss the Terry Fox Run at the school. However, you can still raise money and donate to a great cause. You can also run 5 km with Mr. Hospedales and the Cross-country Team after school.

Speaking of teams, there will be no Tennis team this year. We were unable to declare a team by the league deadline. Sorry, maybe next year.

Tennis, Cross-country and Manager Jobs

It is week #2 and we hope all is still going well with everyone. Today is the last day to make schedule changes so make sure to see Ms. Spicer today.

Mr. Hospedales is coaching the Tennis and Cross-country team so please feel free to see him as soon as possible for details and to try out for either team.

Both teams need a manager so if you need community service hours this is the perfect job for you. See Mr. Hospedales as soon as possible because these jobs get claimed very quickly.

The end of week #1

We hope everyone had a great first week.

Remember to see Ms. Spicer or Mr. Hospedales regarding any schedule changes you would like to make. The last day to make changes is Monday September 8.

Feel free to come out for the FMM Cross-country Team. See Mr. Hospedales for more details. Practices are everyday at 2:45 pm. Meet at the track ready to run.

Have a great weekend.

Explore Learning Website

Students in the SNC 1DS-01 course, make sure you visit this site http://www.explorelearning.com/

Click the link below and enter the class code to enrol:
Enroll in a Class Here

Your class code is SBAQQWXR8R.

We will be using many activities/gizmos from this site which will enhance your learning in this course.

Welcome to the first day of school!!!!

Welcome all ESL students to the start of another great year at Father McGivney!

To our new students, please feel free to ask your teachers for help at any time. Or see Ms. Spicer or Mr. Hospedales in Room 327 if you have any questions, problems, etc.

If you have not done so already, make sure to give your schedule to Ms. Spicer or Mr. Hospedales so we can photocopy it. We must have this from ALL ESL students.

If you need to make changes to your schedule, this must be done by Monday September 8. Please see Ms. Spicer or Mr. Hospedales if you want to make a change.

We hope you enjoy your first week.

Welcome the the FMM ESL/ELL Blog

Hi everyone,

Welcome to the official website of the Father McGivney Catholic Academy ESL/ELL Department.

FMM ESL/ELL students, parents, guardians, staff, and admin are invited to visit regularly to keep updated on the happenings of the our wonderful ESL community.

We plan on using this site to keep you informed on weekly activities, post test dates, post documents and assignments, post due dates for major assignments, have book reviews, and a whole lot more.

Look for this to be fully active by September 2008.

Come back often.