Dear Parents and Guardians, Bonjour et Bienvenue! This year in the JK/SK French Immersion classroom, a dynamic team of individuals will be working with your children. The day will be divided between 2 teachers – Mme. Bédard and M. O’Donoughue; as well, we have a full time Early Childhood Educator – Mme. Brouse and an Educational Assistant – Mme.Steele. Mme.Tallya Bédard: Bonjour! My name is Tallya Bédard-­‐Indenbosch and I am happy to be back, once again, teaching in Early Learning Kindergarten (ELK) French Immersion classroom; although this year, I will only be in the classroom half of the day as I will also be teaching French in the Junior division and doing some French Coaching. Along with M.O’Donoughue, Mme.Brouse and Mme. Steele, I look forward to providing your child with unique learning opportunities. I have been working for the NNDSB for 8 years, the last 6 of those, teaching at MDPS in the JK/SK French immersion classroom. I was born and raised in Mattawa and currently reside here with my husband as well as our two small children. I look forward to working with your children and I’m very excited to learn alongside them. M. Jonathon O’Donoughue: My name is Jonathon O’Donoughue, and I am super excited to be working in the Immersion ELK classroom this year. Tallya and myself will be splitting the classroom and working collaboratively to provide your child with the best learning experience possible. This is my 3rd year teaching at MDPS; for the last 2 years, I taught Core French and Prep. I have been a permanent teacher with the NNDSB for the past 6 years. Through this experience, I have come to love this school, this community, and my profession. I have spent a large portion of my time teaching the JK/SK classes and it has always been the time of day that I look forward to the most. I have a great love for the outdoors and strongly believe that all students need to increase their exposure to nature and explore the vast amount of learning opportunities that nature provides. I have participated in, and lead projects in our school board involving Environmental Inquiry and Outdoor Education, and plan to bring my experience to the ELK classroom. I am very excited to explore our natural surroundings as a class as much as possible, rain, snow, or shine, we will go outside! M.O’Donoughue resides in North Bay with his wife and three young children. Mme. Sherri Brouse: Hello Parents and Families, my name is Sherri Brouse and I am thrilled to begin this very exciting journey in the French Immersion ELK class. My position within the class is ECE (Early Childhood Educator) and I will be working alongside Tallya and Jonathon on a daily basis to create a wonderful space and learning environment for your child. I have been with the NNDSB working in the ELK classes for 4 years and I am very excited to climb aboard the MDPS train!! I look forward to bringing my experiences & knowledge forward within the school and classroom. I am a small town girl, born and raised in Mattawa. I have two small children at home who keep me very busy from day to day. I love our community and what it has to offer our children and I am incredibly anxious to be part of it again. The ELK program is a program that will give your child ample opportunity to learn through play. The most exciting part is that this can be done both indoors and outdoors, through the child’s interests and questions we will all be learning together. I am looking forward to digging in deep with your child, making their learning fun, and their thinking visible! Mme. Kirsten Steele: My name is Kirsten Steele and I am looking forward to working in the French Immersion ELK class this year. I am a permanent Educational Assistant with the NNDSB for nearly 11 years now. I have worked in several different areas of Special Needs. This year, I will be assisting a student in the Immersion class and wherever my help is required. I enjoy the great outdoors, camping, gradening, music and dancing. I am excited to join the team of Mme. Bédard, M.O’Donoughue and Mme.Brouse. Mme.Steele has two grown children and resides in Calvin with her husband. * As mentioned above, the ELK program involves as much outdoor play as indoor play. For that reason, we would ask that you always ensure that your child is dressed in weather appropriate clothing. What does my child need for Kindergarten? € A large Ziploc bag with your child’s name on it, containing a change of clothing (shirt, shorts / pants, underwear and socks) € A large backpack € A lunch box € Indoor running shoes € A painting smock (if your child is in SK and had a smock here last year, no need to send another one as they are still here) € A box of tissues € A reusable water bottle (as we will often be outside for extended periods of times) € Family picture (it will be staying at school for the year and will be posted up on the wall) * Please make sure to label everything that you send with your child* A little extra Info… € A mailbag will be sent home daily. Please make sure that you look in it every day as we will share information about your child’s day, as well newsletters and important information from the office. Please feel free to use the agenda as our primary source of communication. € If you need to reach anyone who works in the classroom, it is best to try and reach us at school during the nutritional breaks (10:20-­‐11:00 and 12:40-­‐1:20). As well, we are almost always available for meetings after school. € On your child’s special helper day (please refer to the monthly calendar that we send home) you may send ONE object for them to bring to school for show and tell. Please refrain from allowing your child to bring anything to school on any other day as they may get lost and broken. € If you have any magazines, catalogues and egg carton shells, we collect them throughout the entire year. Please feel free to send them in anytime! € Throughout the year, we will be making learning stories that contain pictures and information about what we are learning in the classroom. If you would like to receive these learning stories, please write down your e-­‐mail address in your child’s agenda and we will gladly send them to you! € If you have any other questions, feel free to contact us! We look forward to an amazing year!