Thursday, March 6th, 2025 

Dear Phoeby's parents,

Phoeby was excellent in class tonight, and her answers were accurate.

WHAT WE COVERED IN TODAY'S CLASS

In today's lesson, we covered the following literacy concepts and strategies from the renowned comic series entitled "Dog Man, Third Novel, Chapter 10: Three Endings”:

• Key / New vocabulary, collocations and idioms
• Exploring hang-gliding and wing-suit flying extreme sports
• Predictions and comparisons
• Connections: Text-to-self, Text-to-world

HOMEWORK

For homework, if Phoeby has time please complete homework in Lesson 25 - Book Report.

Warm wishes, and all the best for the entire family for the week ahead.

Kind regards,

Teacher Philip

Thursday, February 27th, 2025 

Dear Phoeby's parents,

Phoeby expressed herself well tonight, and did remarkably well predicting the storyline from pictural extracts of the unit.

WHAT WE COVERED IN TODAY'S CLASS

In today's lesson, we covered the following literacy concepts and strategies from the renowned comic series entitled "Dog Man, Third Novel, Chapter 9: Big Fight”:

• Key / New vocabulary, collocations and idioms
• Connections: Text-to-self, Text-to-world
• Predictions and comparisons

HOMEWORK

For homework, if Phoeby has time please complete homework in Lesson 24 - Book Report.

Warm wishes, and all the best for the entire family for the week ahead.

Kind regards,

Teacher Philip

Thursday, February 20th, 2024 

Dear Phoeby's parents,

Phoeby picked up the concepts and lexicon very quickly, and expressed her dream cake very well!

WHAT WE COVERED IN TODAY'S CLASS

In today's lesson, we covered the following literacy concepts and strategies from the renowned comic series entitled "Dog Man, Third Novel, Chapter 8: The French Dressing Revolution”:

• Key / New vocabulary, collocations and idioms: revolution 革命 , go after, save the day, be the hero, beastly, ran out of (dressing), passed away, look out
• Connections: Text-to-self, Text-to-world
• Predictions and comparisons

HOMEWORK

For homework, if Phoeby has time please complete homework in Lesson 23 - Book Report.

Warm wishes, and all the best for the entire family for the week and weekend ahead.

Kind regards,

Teacher Philip

Thursday, November 28th, 2024 

Dear Phoeby's parents,

Phoeby did great job with her writing assignment for homework, which we reviewed. She also picked up the target language and ideas quickly. Excellent job!

WHAT WE COVERED IN TODAY'S CLASS

In today's lesson, we covered the following literacy concepts and strategies from the renowned comic series entitled "Dog Man, Third  Novel, Chapter 3: The Six Thousand Dollar Fish!"

1. Key / New vocabulary, collocations and idioms: bionics, half-man, half-machine, 
2. Exploring idioms and collocation phrases
3. Explored the precedent for this story from the classic TV show called The Six Million Dollar Man.
4. Connections: Text-to-self, Text-to-world
5. Predictions and comparisions

HOMEWORK

For homework, if Phoeby has time please complete homework in Lesson 18 - Book Report.

Warm wishes, and all the best for the entire family.

Kind regards,
Teacher Philip
 

Dear Phoeby's parents,

Phoeby did well and picked up the plot, key ideas, themes and target language. Great job!

WHAT WE COVERED IN TODAY'S CLASS

In today's lesson, we covered the following literacy concepts and strategies from the renowned comic series entitled "Dog Man, Third  Novel, Chapter 2: You've Gotta be Kitten me!"

1. Key / New vocabulary, collocations and idioms: tunnel, dusk, dawn, eve, reek
2. Connections: Text-to-self, Text-to-world
3. Predictions and comparisions
4. cat litter 猫砂盆, sandbox 沙箱, clone 克隆, cloning, DNA holds our genetics 保存着我们的基因, floating helium 氦 balloons, lab (laboratory 实验室), 
5. Exploring idioms and collocation phrases: "make it up to", "you're kidding me"

HOMEWORK

For homework, if Phoeby has time please complete homework in Lesson 17 - Book Report.

Warm wishes, and all the best for the entire family. Also, I wish Phoeby's sister a fantastic birthday party this Saturday!

Kind regards,
Teacher Philip
 

Thursday, October 31st, 2024 

Dear Phoeby's parents,

Phoeby picked up the target language and ideas quickly in tonight's class. Great work!

WHAT WE COVERED IN TODAY'S CLASS

In today's lesson, we covered the following literacy concepts and strategies from the renowned comic series entitled "Dog Man, Second Novel, Chapter 11: A Tale Of Two Kitties":

1. Literary Comparisons to Charles Dicken's classic  "A Tale of Two Cities": paralleled the two stories of the jailed French Doctor with a daughter to Petey the cat with his kitten
2. Key / New vocabulary, collocations and idioms: tunnel, dusk, dawn, eve, reek
3. Cohesive devices: reviewed key ideas of previous chapters and connection between chapters in comics
4. Connections: Text-to-self, Text-to-world
5. Predictions: Before Reading

HOMEWORK

For homework, if Phoeby has time please complete homework in Lesson 15 - Book Report.

Warm wishes, and all the best for the entire family.

Kind regards,
Teacher Philip
 

Thursday, October 24th, 2024 

Dear Phoeby's parents,

Phoeby as usual was very focused and picked up the target language and ideas quickly. Well done!

WHAT WE COVERED IN TODAY'S CLASS

In today's lesson, we covered the following literacy concepts and strategies from the renowned comic series entitled "Dog Man, Second Novel, Chapter 10: An Ice Ending:
Key conceptual foundation themes:

1. Identification, clues pre-reading and post-reading
2. Key / New vocabulary, collocations and idioms: monkey business, trouble-maker; adventures; flatten
3. Reviewed key ideas of previous chapters
4. Connections and comparisons: Text-to-self, Text-to-world
5. Predictions

HOMEWORK

For homework, if Phoeby has time please complete homework in Lesson 14 - Book Report.

Warm wishes, and all the best for the entire family.

Kind regards,
Teacher Philip
 

Thursday, October 17th, 2024 

Dear Phoeby's parents,

Phoeby did really well and picked up the new concepts and target language very quickly! She is a fantastic student and has so much potential in English!

WHAT WE COVERED IN TODAY'S CLASS

In today's lesson, we covered the following literacy concepts and strategies from the renowned comic series entitled "Dog Man, Second Novel, Chapter 9 - The Mysterious Stranger Returns":

1. Key conceptual foundation themes: identification, clues pre-reading and post-reading
2. Key / New vocabulary, collocations and idioms
3. Reviewed key ideas of previous chapters: cohesiveness and threads
4. Predictions
5. Connections and comparisons: Text-to-self, Text-to-world

HOMEWORK

For homework, if Phoeby has time please complete homework in Lesson 13- Book Report.

Warm wishes, and all the best for the entire family.

Kind regards,

Teacher Philip

Thursday, September 19th, 2024 

Dear Phoeby's parents,

Phoeby picked up the target language and all the literacy ideas and strategies quickly. Well done!

WHAT WE COVERED IN TODAY'S CLASS

In today's lesson, we covered the following literacy concepts and strategies from the renowned comic series entitled "Dog Man, Second Novel, Chapter Six, A Buncha Stuff that Happened Next:

1. Key conceptual foundation themes: identification, clues pre-reading and post-reading
2. Key / New vocabulary, collocations and idioms: crook 小偷, treasure chests 宝箱, made out of bark/plastic/wood
3. imposter 冒名顶替者, impersonating 冒充 
4. Reviewed key ideas of previous chapters: cohesiveness and threads
5. Predictions
6. Connections and comparisons: Text-to-self, Text-to-world

HOMEWORK

For homework, if Phoeby has time please complete homework in Lesson 10 - Book Report.

Warm wishes, and all the best for the entire family.

Kind regards,

Teacher Philip

Thursday, September 5th, 2024 

Dear Phoeby's parents,

Phoeby as usual was very focused and picked up the target language and ideas quickly. Well done!

WHAT WE COVERED IN TODAY'S CLASS

In today's lesson, we covered the following literacy concepts and strategies from the renowned comic series entitled "Dog Man, Second Novel, Chapter Four: The Big Robbery":

1. Key conceptual foundation themes: identification, clues pre-reading and post-reading
2. Key / New vocabulary, collocations and idioms:
3. Reviewed key ideas of previous chapters: cohesiveness and threads
4. Cohesive devices: scanning and skimming picking up details that connect the chapters
5. Connections and comparisons: Text-to-self, Text-to-world
6. Predictions

HOMEWORK

For homework, if Phoeby has time please complete homework in Lesson 08 - Book Report.

Warm wishes, and all the best for the entire family.

Kind regards,

Teacher Philip

Thursday, August 22nd, 2024 

Dear Phoeby's parents,

Phoeby did really well in class. We worked on her vocabulary and pronunciation and also some common colloquial collocations. Great job!

WHAT WE COVERED IN TODAY'S CLASS

In today's lesson, we covered the following literacy concepts and strategies from the ELSCO course lesson entitled Dog Man, Second Novel, Chapter Two: Penelope's Pets":

1. Key conceptual foundation themes: identification, clues pre-reading and post-reading
2. Key / New vocabulary, collocations and idioms
3. Exploring the ideas around distractions
4. Cohesive devices: connection with the previous chapter on the Secret Meeting
5. Connections and comparisons: Text-to-self, Text-to-world
6. Predictions

HOMEWORK

For homework, if Phoeby has time please complete homework in Lesson 06 - Book Report.

Have a wonderful week ahead and I look forward to seeing Phoeby again.

Warm wishes, and all the best for the entire family.

Kind regards,

Teacher Philip

Thursday, August 29th, 2024 

Dear Phoeby's parents,

Phoeby as usual was very focused and picked up the target language and ideas quickly. Well done!

WHAT WE COVERED IN TODAY'S CLASS

In today's lesson, we covered the following literacy concepts and strategies from the renowned comic series entitled "Dog Man, Second Novel, Chapter Three: Happy Birthday Chief":

1. Key conceptual foundation themes: identification, clues pre-reading and post-reading
2. Key / New vocabulary, collocations and idioms; making a mess, made a mess of (the cake); reporter; journalist; newsworthy; Big News
3. Reviewed key ideas of previous chapters: cohesiveness
4. Cohesive devices: connection with the previous chapter on The Secret Meeting and Penelope's Pets
5. Connections and comparisons: Text-to-self, Text-to-world
6. Predictions

HOMEWORK

For homework, if Phoeby has time please complete homework in Lesson 07 - Book Report.

Warm wishes, and all the best for the entire family.

Kind regards,

Teacher Philip

Thursday, August 15th, 2024 

Dear Phoeby's parents,

Phoeby did really well in class. She worked hard throughout today's lesson. However, we need to work more on increasing her vocabulary, speaking and writing skills, collocations and lexical library. Phoeby is such a joy to teach!

WHAT WE COVERED IN TODAY'S CLASS:

In today's lesson, we covered the following literacy concepts and strategies from the ELSCO course lesson entitled Lesson 05: Dog Man, Second Novel, Unleashed, The Secret Meeting":

1. Key conceptual foundation themes: identification, clues pre-reading and post-reading
2. Key / New vocabulary, collocations and idioms: cut it out, it's settled
3. Exploring the ideas around surprise birthday parties
4. Connections and comparisons: Text-to-self, Text-to-world

HOMEWORK

For homework, if Phoeby has time please complete homework in Lesson 05 - Book Report.

Warm wishes, and all the best for the entire family.

Kind regards,

Teacher Philip

Thursday, July 25th, 2024

Dear Phoeby's parents,

Phoeby did really well in class. She worked hard throughout today's lesson. However, we need to work more on increasing her vocabulary, speaking and writing skills, collocations and lexical library. 

WHAT WE COVERED IN TODAY'S CLASS:

In today's lesson, we covered the following literacy concepts and strategies from the ELSCO course lesson entitled Lesson 03: Dog Man, Book'Em:

1. Key conceptual foundation themes: identification, clues pre-reading and post-reading
2. Key / New vocabulary, collocations and idioms: outsmarts, secret stash of books,
3. disruptive 破坏性的, zapper, elementary, school/ high school/ college/university, creative streak, book them, fed up, it stinks
4. Exploring the idea of being “booked" and an "escape plan"
5. Connections and comparisons: Text-to-self, Text-to-world

HOMEWORK

For homework, if Phoeby has time please complete homework in Lesson 03 - Book Report.

Have a wonderful week ahead and I look forward to seeing Phoeby again.Warm wishes, and all the best for the entire family.

Kind regards,

Teacher Philip

Dear Oscar's parents,

It was very nice to work with Oscar over all these months. I wish him much academic success with his studies and with his assessments/midterms. 

Oscar, keep working hard with overcoming your procrastination challenges, and don't forget to study well and prepare for your lessons and assessments. 

Also, remember, if you need help, ask for it. There is support all around you to help you succeed with your studies and throughout your life.

I wish the whole family many blessings and good fortune in your lives.

With high regard,

Mr. Grande

Dear Oscar and Oscar's parents,

Oscar had a strong English research lesson today. He was fully engaged, actively participated, and worked very hard to succeed in his learning. Really wonderful work today, Oscar. Very well done!

For today's lesson, we covered Lesson 49 - Task 1 - In Class - Research Part 1.  

We covered the following research concepts and strategies:

1) When to use research

2) What do we research

3) Facts only or Facts & Opinions

4) Sources: primary, secondary, tertiary

5) Evaluating Sources Checklist

6) Credible Sources

7) Attribution: citing your sources

8) Boolean Operators: for Google or other search engines

9) Writing Practice

_____________________________

For HOMEWORK, can Oscar please complete the following:

Slide 26

Writing Exercise

Choose a country in the world, OTHER than Canada or your family’s home country. It should be a place you don’t know a lot about.

Use the research tips we’ve discussed to write a country profile that could be used to educate Social Studies students in grade 4. (So don’t get too complicated!) This should include the country’s population, top exports, most popular religion, and some facts about climate and culture.

Slide 36

Create an Annotated Bibliography

- find at least 3 websites with facts about your Slide 26 country

- create an annotated bibliography (cite your sources)

- type out the APA citations for each website

- under each citation, explain in 2-3 sentences what you learned from that website

** Refer to Slide 34 and Slide 35 to guide you with APA citations.

Thank you.

_______________________________

Have a wonderful week, an enjoyable family long weekend, and I look forward to seeing Oscar next Wednesday. 

My very best regards are with the entire family, as always.

Mr. Grande

Dear Oscar and Oscar's parents,

For today's lesson, Oscar and I worked on his Advertising Homework Assignment from his last lesson. Some aspects of advertising methodology were quite challenging for Oscar so that was today's lesson focus. 

For today's lesson, we covered the following Advertising components:

1) Staying on message

2) Simple and Clear (short but sweet!) descriptive sentences

3) 'Sense of Urgency' sentences

___________________________

For HOMEWORK, can Oscar please read all of the slides (including watching the videos in some of these slides), for the following lesson:

Lesson 49 - Task 1 - Sep 27 - Homework - Research, Part 1 - Read Slides

____________________________

I would like Oscar to work hard to understand the information presented in these slides, as much as he is able to. We will review these slides together, in more detail, during Oscar's Wed.Oct.04th lesson.

Thank you very much.

Have a wonderful week and I look forward to seeing Oscar next Wednesday.

With my very best regards,

Mr. Grande

Hello Oscar,

Very good work today.

For today's lesson, we covered Lesson 48 - Task 1 - In Class - Persuasive Advertising.  

We covered the following Writing concepts and strategies:

1) Catchy Product Names

2) Special Features

3) Words & Phrases

4) Sense of Urgency

5) Affordable Prices 

_____________________________

For HOMEWORK, can you please complete the following:

Lesson 48 - Task 2 - Homework - Advertisement Frame

(remember to use the slides to guide your writing)

Thank you.

_______________________________

Have a wonderful week, Oscar, and I look forward to seeing you next Wednesday. 

Mr. Grande

Dear Oscar's parents,

Today's lesson on Descriptive Essay Writing was quite challenging, with much detail and curriculum to cover. Oscar hung in there and did very well in remaining engaged and motivated throughout the lesson: (Lesson 47 - Task 1 - In Class - Descriptive Essay Writing).

For today's lesson, we covered the following literacy concepts:

1) PIE = Persuade, Inform, and Entertain

2) Sensory Words

3) Adjectives and Adverbs

4) Synonyms

5) Key Supporting Details

6) Connections

7) Emotion and Feeling Vocabulary

8) Sequence: beginning, middle, and end

______________________________

For HOMEWORK, can Oscar please complete the following:

Lesson 47 - Task 2 - Homework - Descriptive Essay

Thank you.

_______________________________

Have a wonderful week and I look forward to seeing Oscar next Wednesday.

My very best regards are with the entire family, as always.

Mr. Grande