Friday, January 9th, 2015
What a terrific week back!!
The students were excited yesterday to create their own crossword puzzles using words from our Word Wall. Please visit www.abcya.com - then gr 3, then Word Search creator. They can create a small or big Word Search using whatever words they choose. It is a fun way to practise!
In math we are starting up a new unit on Data Management and Probability. We started today with reading some graphs and talking about 'how many more' (have your child tell you about the story with the snake and the 4 other animals and what we did with this information!).
Our New Year Resolutions are displayed proudly on our door and wall. If you have a minute take some time to come read them!
In Fully Alive we are continuing our discussion about individual likes and dislikes, and we have discussed the Epiphany and the Wise Men's journey to meet Baby Jesus.
Merry Christmas to everyone!!! I hope you enjoy the break with your family! :)
See you in 2015!
What a terrific week back!!
The students were excited yesterday to create their own crossword puzzles using words from our Word Wall. Please visit www.abcya.com - then gr 3, then Word Search creator. They can create a small or big Word Search using whatever words they choose. It is a fun way to practise!
In math we are starting up a new unit on Data Management and Probability. We started today with reading some graphs and talking about 'how many more' (have your child tell you about the story with the snake and the 4 other animals and what we did with this information!).
Our New Year Resolutions are displayed proudly on our door and wall. If you have a minute take some time to come read them!
In Fully Alive we are continuing our discussion about individual likes and dislikes, and we have discussed the Epiphany and the Wise Men's journey to meet Baby Jesus.
Merry Christmas to everyone!!! I hope you enjoy the break with your family! :)
See you in 2015!
I apologize for the lack of information this last week or two - our internet connection at school has been having troubles!!
Tomorrow, (Friday, Dec 12) the two Grade One classes are taking part in leading our school's Advent celebration. As always, parents are welcome to attend. Tomorrow's liturgy is at 10:45 (ish!) - probably closer to 11am. If your child comes home with a sentence to read, please have them practice tonight.
We are doing a fabulous job practicing for our Christmas Concert. We are joining with Mrs. Antonini's class and Mrs. Hodgson/Miss Richardson's classes. We have a simple dresscode for the kids - a red or green or white shirt along with dark pants. Please send to school Monday if possible so we can be sure it is here! NOTE: The grade ones DO perform at night on Wednesday as well as the daytime - please let me know if your child cannot make the nighttime performance!
Tomorrow, (Friday, Dec 12) the two Grade One classes are taking part in leading our school's Advent celebration. As always, parents are welcome to attend. Tomorrow's liturgy is at 10:45 (ish!) - probably closer to 11am. If your child comes home with a sentence to read, please have them practice tonight.
We are doing a fabulous job practicing for our Christmas Concert. We are joining with Mrs. Antonini's class and Mrs. Hodgson/Miss Richardson's classes. We have a simple dresscode for the kids - a red or green or white shirt along with dark pants. Please send to school Monday if possible so we can be sure it is here! NOTE: The grade ones DO perform at night on Wednesday as well as the daytime - please let me know if your child cannot make the nighttime performance!
Thursday, November 27th
Our first Advent liturgy starts tomorrow at 2:15 pm. All are welcome. We will have one each Friday until Christmas, but the time will alternate each week. Please check our class calendar for times.
Monday is Pottery to Go! I love love love the products that emerge from the children's creativity in this activity. Thank you for your support and enjoy the keepsake for your tree for years to come!
Wednesday we will continue with our Grade One tradition of decorating gingerbread houses with the Grade Four helpers. I will provide the graham crackers and knives and a few candies to share. If possible, please send your child with some white premade icing (noname is great!) and some peanut free candies to decorate. Typically half a container is plenty so if you want to split one between two students that should be fine. They will bring their creations home the same day, and you have a centerpiece for your table for the next few weeks! :) If we could possibly have all donated decorating pieces at school by Tuesday, I will shop for those without Tuesday night.
Thursday next week I am participating in a workshop for how we can better utilize our 5 ipads in the classroom. There will be a supply teacher that day.
Christmas concert is Wed, Dec 17th. You are welcome to both the afternoon performance and the evening performance, as the grade ones participate in both. If you are anticipating grandparents coming, there is typically much more space in the afternoon... more info to follow for number of tickets allowed per family and other details.
Our first Advent liturgy starts tomorrow at 2:15 pm. All are welcome. We will have one each Friday until Christmas, but the time will alternate each week. Please check our class calendar for times.
Monday is Pottery to Go! I love love love the products that emerge from the children's creativity in this activity. Thank you for your support and enjoy the keepsake for your tree for years to come!
Wednesday we will continue with our Grade One tradition of decorating gingerbread houses with the Grade Four helpers. I will provide the graham crackers and knives and a few candies to share. If possible, please send your child with some white premade icing (noname is great!) and some peanut free candies to decorate. Typically half a container is plenty so if you want to split one between two students that should be fine. They will bring their creations home the same day, and you have a centerpiece for your table for the next few weeks! :) If we could possibly have all donated decorating pieces at school by Tuesday, I will shop for those without Tuesday night.
Thursday next week I am participating in a workshop for how we can better utilize our 5 ipads in the classroom. There will be a supply teacher that day.
Christmas concert is Wed, Dec 17th. You are welcome to both the afternoon performance and the evening performance, as the grade ones participate in both. If you are anticipating grandparents coming, there is typically much more space in the afternoon... more info to follow for number of tickets allowed per family and other details.
Wednesday, November 19th
I look forward to meeting with many of you tomorrow night (Thursday, November 20th) for Parent/Teacher interviews. If you haven't already made an appointment, please call the school. If you are unable to meet tomorrow night but wish to make other arrangements, send me an email and we will find a time.
Remember that this Friday, November 21st, is a PD day. There is no school for the children on this day. On Monday, December 1st our class will be participating in a pottery workshop. This is always a favourite for the children as they get to create a Christmas present for mom and/or dad to hang on the tree. Thank you to those who have sent in their $6. If you do not want your child to participate please send me a message, or if you need assistance with payment please let me know.
Gym Days continue to be Tuesdays and Fridays. Students are encouraged to dress appropiately in gym clothes.
*Thank you for all the donations for our snack program. If anyone is able and willing, our snack program is looking for volunteers to help out - typically on Tues, Wed, Thurs from 8:00 - 9:30am or so. If you are interested please let me know and I will put you in touch with the ladies in charge!
Wednesday, November 12th
I trust everyone received their child's Progress Report and hopefully had an opportunity to read through it with your child. I am so pleased with everyone's progress to date. The students are anxious to get words taken off their Word Rings and I am doing my best to see each child individually during the week to do this. Please keep the words that have been removed in a safe place for continued review as you see fit at home. These words will remain on our Word Wall for the year and as a Grade One expectation, the children should be using the Word Wall to print these words correctly in their writing activities.
In Math we are moving into Time, Temperature and Money. Each morning the children are required to copy the time on an analogue clock into their calendar books. They record both the hour and minute hands, as well as the time in digit format. After exhausting the o'clocks, we have now moved into the half hours. It would be most helpful for you to review this at home with your child. We find ourselves in an interesting position with regard to money and the penny... as of now we will continue to learn about the penny and it's value of one cent. (We need this when we show how many days we have been at school using money!!! - which, by the way, was 50 days today!). We will be working on identifying each of the coins as well as adding money to twenty cents.
In Language we continue to look at retelling stories using beginning, middle, and end vocabulary. The students are learning to infer in their small guided reading groups and are receiving instruction based on their level of reading. Many students have already come a long way since the beginning of the year, and I look forward to seeing more improvement in the coming months. We will be reviewing our send home reading program shortly to begin having the students take home a leveled book to share with you.
We are very lucky to have subscriptions paid for by the school for our students to participate in the Raz Kids program. This is an opportunity for your child to practice their reading skills at their personalized level while gaining stars to build robots and other fun space things. Many of the students had the opportunity to login during last week's computer time. (Thank you to Mrs. Deuilis for her assistance with computer time!). The headphones your students have brought in are invaluable to this activity!
The students are also able to increase their math skills using Prodigy. Please look for login information in the near future (if your child hasn't already come home with theirs!). Similar to Raz Kids, Prodigy lets students improve their math skills at their level and moves them along as they master certain skills. All questions are based on the Ontario curriculum, and it captivates the children's attention with spells and wizardry as they answer questions correctly.
Sorry - this was a long post! I hope to see you all next Thursday night at parent/teacher/student conferences. Please call the school to book your appointment.
Wednesday, October 29th
The magic e has arrived in room 114! This week's Word Wall words coincide with last week's words. All words have an e at the end who uses it's 'magic' to make the vowel before it say it's own name. (ie pin has a short i sound, but add a magic e and you have the word pine with a long i sound) The e uses up all it's magic on changing the vowel sound so it can't make any more sounds. (Often grade ones try to still make the e say a sound at the end of these words.) Please go over this concept with your child.
Friday is our Halloween Day. Your child is encouraged to either wear orange and black, or an easy costume that can be removed for the afternoon. Please ensure they are respectful with no weapons or masks.
Stay tuned for some Halloween pics! :)
As always, please contact me any time with any concerns. The best mode of communication is email - [email protected]
The magic e has arrived in room 114! This week's Word Wall words coincide with last week's words. All words have an e at the end who uses it's 'magic' to make the vowel before it say it's own name. (ie pin has a short i sound, but add a magic e and you have the word pine with a long i sound) The e uses up all it's magic on changing the vowel sound so it can't make any more sounds. (Often grade ones try to still make the e say a sound at the end of these words.) Please go over this concept with your child.
Friday is our Halloween Day. Your child is encouraged to either wear orange and black, or an easy costume that can be removed for the afternoon. Please ensure they are respectful with no weapons or masks.
Stay tuned for some Halloween pics! :)
As always, please contact me any time with any concerns. The best mode of communication is email - [email protected]
Tuesday, Oct 14th
No new Word Wall words this week!!! This week I will begin to take off words from Word rings your child really really really knows! Please keep these in an envelope to review at your leisure.
Pita Pit order forms are due on Thursday. Our Guelph Lake trip is set for next Tuesday, October 21st. A permission form will be sent home tomorrow. Please volunteer to assist on this wonderful day if you are able.
Wednesday, Oct 8th
It's turkey time! Our class has been talking about Thanksgiving and what we have to be thankful for (which is a lot!!). If you are able, please send some non-perishable items in with your child for our families in Guelph who rely on the Food Bank. This is a great opportunity to talk with your child about how lucky we are to have food and about the act of giving.
We are working on printing our number words to 10 and numerals (without reversals!) as well as comparing numbers to 10 using ten frames and other manipulatives. (For example, 7 is less than 10.. I need 3 more to make 10)
Thank you to those who ordered books from Scholastic. Some of the money our class earned was spent on materials to make a Remembrance Day activity, as well as some new books for our classroom.
Stay tuned in the next couple of days to see our contribution to the school's "Thankful Tree" !!
We each had the opportunity today to feel the beads of a rosary and learn how to move along them. We said the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be together. Don't be surprised if your child comes home looking for a rosary! :)
Tuesday, September 30th
Please check out the picture of the creation of our outdoor number line on the 'A Star is Born' page. We are working hard at using a number line to solve addition problems, and using the hundreds chart to find 'one more, one less, ten more, ten less' of a number. Please review this at home with your child with the 100 chart. This can stay at home.
Thank you to those who have supported our Scholastic orders thus far. October's orders are due Friday, Oct. 3rd.
In our Many Gifts program (Social Studies) we continue to talk about our roles, responsibilities and relationships and how these change over time. Next week we will begin a 'passport' to identify different things in our life that have shaped us to be the people we are. (For example, being an older brother or sister, learning manners from our family, etc.)
Our class is excelling in our Read to Self times. We have learned the 3 ways to read a book: by reading the pictures, the words, or retelling a familiar story; and with the help of our book boxes full of books we were able to read for 15 minutes today! Ask your child how they made out.
Tuesday, Sept 23rd
Tomorrow is our Terry Fox Run. Please send a toonie if you can for cancer research. We will walk around the block!
Today we will learn some information about Terry Fox.
Yesterday we started our Social Studies unit on Roles and Responsibilities. Ask your child what responsibilities he or she has in this world of ours!
We are finishing up our unit of patterning and sorting in math. Look for patterns in the outside world with your child.
In language we have put our book boxes together and will continue to practice 'Read to Self' among other activities.
Keep practicing those Word Wall Words every night!
Remember Friday is Pita Pit day (and my first day away at a conference...)
Thursday, Sept 18th
Tonight is the big night! I hope to see many of you between 5-7pm - your child has many things to share with you! Remember Pita Pit order forms are due tomorrow for next Friday's lunch. We are excited to start using our 5 classroom iPads next week!
Tomorrow is our Terry Fox Run. Please send a toonie if you can for cancer research. We will walk around the block!
Today we will learn some information about Terry Fox.
Yesterday we started our Social Studies unit on Roles and Responsibilities. Ask your child what responsibilities he or she has in this world of ours!
We are finishing up our unit of patterning and sorting in math. Look for patterns in the outside world with your child.
In language we have put our book boxes together and will continue to practice 'Read to Self' among other activities.
Keep practicing those Word Wall Words every night!
Remember Friday is Pita Pit day (and my first day away at a conference...)
Thursday, Sept 18th
Tonight is the big night! I hope to see many of you between 5-7pm - your child has many things to share with you! Remember Pita Pit order forms are due tomorrow for next Friday's lunch. We are excited to start using our 5 classroom iPads next week!
Tuesday, September 16th, 2014
We participated in our first school mass today in the gym. It was almost as if Fr. Noon had been in our class for the past few weeks because he was reminding us about all of the talents God gave us and how it is important for us to share those talents with others and to help others with things that come to us easily.
We have been practicing those Word Wall words a lot with all of our Word Work activities. I will begin checking in with students this week to start the process of removing some of the words they know by sight but I don't want to do it too early - they haven't gotten too big to handle yet! :)
We are wrapping up our unit on Sorting and Patterning in math.
I hope to see many of you on Thursday night - Open House runs from 5-7.
ps - wow, can this class count by 5's to 100!!! And 10's to 100! Great job to those SK teachers and of course to you, their number one teachers. I suggested that each of us practice while on the bus or in the car on short trips to make it second nature! We will continue to practice at school and become masters of those 'terrible two's' !!!
Monday, September 8th, 2014
Well, we have made it to the second week!
Please make sure you have returned any outstanding forms.
Scholastic book orders have been handed out and if you wish to order please return them by this Friday. This is a great way to support both your student's learning at home and help our classroom as a certain percentage of money generated goes towards new books and materials for our class.
This week we will be focusing on the Word Families at and an. Please go over your child's new Word Wall words with them and cut up their new words for their rings. If you own a hole punch and are able to put them right on the ring please do, but if not please return them to school and I will help your child finish the job.
This week we will also being practicing the proper formation of printing letters. If you notice your child starting to print a letter from the bottom up, encourage them to remember the song "If you're going to print your letters start at the top, if you're going to print your letters start at the top. If you're going to print your letters, you had better better better, if you're going to print your letters start at the top!" (sung to If You're Happy and you Know it)
Last week we started a calendar page where we explored many ways of recording the number of days we have been in school. We learned a new word - digit, and it has been placed on a wall in our classroom for reference. This week we will 'add' the word 'add', and begin practicing different ways to add numbers together. This might include using a number line, the hundred chart, objects such as counters, or simply our fingers. Please practice at home.
We participated in our first school mass today in the gym. It was almost as if Fr. Noon had been in our class for the past few weeks because he was reminding us about all of the talents God gave us and how it is important for us to share those talents with others and to help others with things that come to us easily.
We have been practicing those Word Wall words a lot with all of our Word Work activities. I will begin checking in with students this week to start the process of removing some of the words they know by sight but I don't want to do it too early - they haven't gotten too big to handle yet! :)
We are wrapping up our unit on Sorting and Patterning in math.
I hope to see many of you on Thursday night - Open House runs from 5-7.
ps - wow, can this class count by 5's to 100!!! And 10's to 100! Great job to those SK teachers and of course to you, their number one teachers. I suggested that each of us practice while on the bus or in the car on short trips to make it second nature! We will continue to practice at school and become masters of those 'terrible two's' !!!
Monday, September 8th, 2014
Well, we have made it to the second week!
Please make sure you have returned any outstanding forms.
Scholastic book orders have been handed out and if you wish to order please return them by this Friday. This is a great way to support both your student's learning at home and help our classroom as a certain percentage of money generated goes towards new books and materials for our class.
This week we will be focusing on the Word Families at and an. Please go over your child's new Word Wall words with them and cut up their new words for their rings. If you own a hole punch and are able to put them right on the ring please do, but if not please return them to school and I will help your child finish the job.
This week we will also being practicing the proper formation of printing letters. If you notice your child starting to print a letter from the bottom up, encourage them to remember the song "If you're going to print your letters start at the top, if you're going to print your letters start at the top. If you're going to print your letters, you had better better better, if you're going to print your letters start at the top!" (sung to If You're Happy and you Know it)
Last week we started a calendar page where we explored many ways of recording the number of days we have been in school. We learned a new word - digit, and it has been placed on a wall in our classroom for reference. This week we will 'add' the word 'add', and begin practicing different ways to add numbers together. This might include using a number line, the hundred chart, objects such as counters, or simply our fingers. Please practice at home.