École Provencher 2019-20 School Plan
École Provencher is a kindergarten to grade 3 French Immersion School in 91̽»¨app.
Our school plan reflects the Multi-Year Strategic Plan of the 91̽»¨app.
Our four school goals this year are the following:
- Mental health for students and staff
- French oral speaking
- Citizenship
- Literacy and numeracy
As a school team, we met in September to review the 2018-2019 school plan. We discussed the 91̽»¨app Multi Year Strategic Plan and conversed about the importance of continuity and consistency in school planning for the 2019-2020. These discussions lead us to our four school goals for the year.
1. Mental health for students and staff:
Our school staff is continuing to incorporate strategies to help students with self-regulation. Student and staff Mental Health is part of our school plan going forward, and we have built this time into our schedule. Here, teachers will do meditation, yoga, mindfulness and other calming mental health activities with their students. The teachers work at incorporating movement breaks throughout the school day. It is to be noted that when we enter classrooms, we see students practicing a variety of relaxation technics such as yoga, quiet time activities, reading a book, using our sensory paths, incorporating Zones of Regulation strategies and language in the classrooms, Second Step, Kelso and so much more.
- This year, our school is taking part in a divisional pilot project where we are using the Balanced School Day schedule. This allows students and teachers the opportunity to have longer focused teaching blocks in the morning and fewer recess transitions throughout the day.
Since we offer full-day kindergarten, we had the opportunity to build a schedule that allows for fewer transitions and to maximize the optimal learning time of our students. Also, this allows for more flexibility for teachers' planning by having larger learning blocks.
- The staff and students at École Provencher will continue to work at creating a climate of safety and inclusion in our school environment. We will support our students in taking risks and discovering the joys of learning in a safe school setting. We will work closely with all grade levels to develop positive classroom settings and a school climate where all students feel empowered and engaged in their learning. Each teacher will work with their students to develop classroom contracts that are be posted in the classrooms. These classroom contracts will be reviewed on a regular basis. Strategies to help resolve problems will be modeled in the classroom setting during morning meetings and classroom discussions and school announcements. It is our belief that when a child feels safe and secure in the school setting, their engagement level will increase, and the child will feel free to take risks within the classroom and school setting.
- We will be using a grant that we received through the Healthy School Grant Funding to promote healthy eating and healthy food choices. We will be doing "Soupe du jour" cooking classes with all the students from grades k-3 from the end of January to March. We will implement a cultural theme to be diverse and inclusive of our school population. This would include soups of various cultures such as Pea soup, Thai soup, Conge soup, Arroz Caldo, Borscht, Tortilla Soup, Zuppa Toscana soup, and good old fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup. The older students will go over the recipes with the younger students. They will work in small groups to complete the tasks such as washing the vegetables, cutting the vegetables, peeling, grating and preparing the ingredients. We will review proper handwashing, food safety, manners and table etiquette. As the soup is cooking, we will incorporate a teaching element to the activity by introducing a book for discussion to support the cultural experience. All students and staff will share in the feast.
2. Le français oral-French oral speaking:
- Speaking French is our raison d'être and we are so proud to be teaching our students an additional language. In order to immerse our students in the French language, routines are put into place to reinforce language development. All our staff members are strong role models in this area, and it is an expectation that staff model this language at all times.
3. Citizenship at École Provencher:
- At École Provencher, citizenship is a way of being. We will continue to give opportunities to our students to improve cooperation, respect and responsibility in our French milieu school community by modeling and developing what good citizenship looks like. We will help to develop citizenship skills and strategies such as empathy, initiative, interpersonal skills, how to work together and make our school a safe and caring environment.
- Students at École Provencher will be given the opportunity to perform community service through citizenship initiatives such as the Terry Fox Walk, United Way, Bag Up Winnipeg, Christmas Cheer Board, Koats for Kids, Seniors' Day, spirit days and many other activities throughout the school year. We will also work as a staff to reinforce good citizenship by teaching and modeling appropriate social behaviors within the school setting.
- At École Provencher, we will be able to observe a compassionate learning community where engaged learning flourishes. We will see fewer recess problems because children will be observed solving their problems by using the strategies modeled in the school during classroom and recess activities.
4. Literacy and numeracy:
- The staff at École Provencher will work closely with all students to increase the ability of all students to apply numeracy, reading and writing strategies in both French and English. Our staff will collaborate to prepare and use a variety of activities to ensure French sounds are taught at appropriate grade levels to help develop confidence and fluency in French reading. Part of our school team attended the Orton-Gillingham conference and this approach is being used in the lower grades. Our grade 1 team will also be attending an Orton-Gillingham conference in the Spring.
- Our student services and administration teams will continue to meet on a regular basis to review class profiles in order to provide interventions for all students regarding literacy and numeracy skills. Professional learning communities will be created within the school to encourage conversations and support consistency from one grade level to the next. As a school team, we have created some professional learning opportunities (PLN's) for our teaching staff and will continue to provide professional learning meetings to discuss literacy in our school.