| Welcome to Mrs. Ward's Grade One |
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Welcome to Grade One! Welcome to Grade One! My name is Mrs. Ward and I teach an English Grade One class in Room 211. Monthly Newsletters
october_2011.pdf october_2011_calendar.pdf November_2011.pdf November_2011_calendar.pdf How can I help?We use the following items regularly in our class. Any voluntary donations are greatly appreciated!: -paper towels, facial tissues (without lotion) '-hand sanitizer -old CD cases -used and no longer useful CD's for crafting -children's magazines (such as Chirp, Chickadee, Sports Illustrated for Kids) -glue sticks
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Mrs. Ward's Weekly Wrap Up!Have you ever been sitting around the dinner table and when you ask your child what they did at school they say "Nothing!" Well, don't believe it!! Our class is a busy place!! Each week I will update this section to tell you what we've been doing at school all day!! Then you can ask your child more specific questions about the various subjects and activities we completed throughout the week!!! May 14 to May 18: As I am writing, I am longingly looking out at a beautiful day! What perfect weather for the long weekend!! I hope you have a great time outside with friends and family! We learned about adjectives this week. We found out that adding adjectives to our writing makes our writing more interesting! We call them “sparkle” words! We continued looking at the recount and began to write a new independent recount. We are focusing on using the features of a recount ( title, orientation sentence, events in order and personal comment). We also looked at inferring while we read. We inferred tricky vocabulary in the book The Great Kapok Tree. We used the pictures to help us infer objects in the book Seven Blind Mice. In math, we learned about tally charts, pictographs and concrete graphs. We practiced turning data into a tally and pictograph and then reflecting on what the graph showed us. Mr. Coles came to visit and talk about his job as fire fighter. He talked to us about fire safety rules and the equipment that keeps him safe and helps him help others. Thanks for sharing about your job! In art, we studied the work of Kenojuak Ashevak, a Canadian artist from Cape Dorset. She lived a traditional Inuit life in her youth! She created prints from a method called stone art print making. We used styrofoam plates to engrave our images and then used ink and a brayer to make a print! You should have received two field trip forms this week. One for the Fire Station in Brooklin—this is a walking trip and one for the Metro Toronto Zoo. Please be sure to complete these forms and return early next week. Parent volunteers will be contacted late next week. May 7 to May 11 This week we learned about nouns. We discussed that nouns can be people, places or things. We can draw nouns. We completed our first independent recount after following the steps of the writing process. We also completed our May Watch Me Grow writing sample. We were introduced to Iggy the Inferring Iguana. In math, we brainstormed yes and no questions. We learned how to take a tally by asking our friends a yes or no question and recording who said yes and who said no. Each morning we used a popsicle stick to signify our response to a question. Did you know that half our class likes broccoli and half do not!! Here are the steps we do to collect and evaluate data: 1. Survey 2. Tally 3. Graph 4. Reflect In science we constructed our structures. Students completed this task well independently with only the teacher using the glue gun! Students then reflected on their plan, material choices and what they could improve. We also completed our science conferences. In art, we learned about Emily Carr. We looked at samples of her work and explored her use of movement and painting scenes she knew and loved in British Columbia. We learned about her life and work. Did you know she had a pet monkey named Woo?? We went outside and looked carefully at how trees grow and we did a quick sketch. Then we came back to the class and used pastels to create our own art featuring trees. I wish everyone a Happy Mother’s Day—I hope you enjoy spending time with your families.
April 30 to May 4: This week we learned about verbs. We learned a verb is an action word. We went on a verb safari to hunt for verbs in the class and we drew a dog in our scrapbooks and included as many verbs as we could think of for the dog. We continued our focus on questioning as we read the book It’s Mine by Leo Lionni. We worked with a partner to answer our before, during and after reading questions. We also continued our author’s message exploration. In math, we reviewed time to the hour and half hour and learned about the duration of events by finding events that took less time, the same time and longer than singing the ABC song. We also completed our conferences. We have now finished measurement!!! We learned temperature, time, linear measurement, area, mass and capacity! WOW! We reviewed materials, structures and fasteners. Our final project for this science unit will be planning, creating and reflecting on a structure. We created a blue print for a structure we will build in class. The sheet was sent home. Please collect the materials listed and send them to school on Monday. Also return the planning sheet. Our Canadian artist focus began with Alex Colville. We learned about his life, looked at several examples of his art and then created our own piece. We focused on using familiar objects or scenes just like Alex Colville does in his art. April 23 to April 27: We explored the bossy or magical e sound this week. When Bossy e is at the end of a word, it likes to pinch the vowel in middle and make it say it’s name. Example: tap becomes tape. We matched this rule with an exploration of Flipping Dolphin (a decoding strategy). We try a short vowel sound first then flip to a long vowel sound. This strategy will help us solve tricky words! We continued our work with questioning as a comprehension strategy. We used a template and post it notes to record a question we had about the text The Peanut Free Café before, during and after reading. Then we partnered up and tried to create answers for each questions using information from the text or inferring an answer. In writing, we wrote a group recount about the Earth Ranger Presentation. We followed the writing process from brain drain to neat sheet. On Monday, we will present the recount and the class will provide stars and wishes and a scoop for each recount. Next week, we will be ready to try a recount on our own! In math we are working on telling time to the half hour. We played a board game and worked with a partner to use a clock to tell different times and to set the clocks correctly. We also read The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle. After hearing about the ladybug’s day, we talked about the important times in our day. We created a ladybug timeline of our own daily events. In science, we found out that a structure is an object made from materials. We looked at different types of structures including solid, shell and frame structures. We investigated how to make a paper bridge that could hold ten pennies and we discovered that folding and layering adds stability. We also looked around the school to find how cylinders are used to support the building. Mrs. Ward even showed how she could balance a book on a paper cylinder! Notes: Friday Fun was a big hit today—it came from a website www.PrintActivities.com! The page we used was from the colour by numbers section. It uses triangles and the colour by number idea together to create fun pictures!
April 16 to April 20: Congratulations to all the students who won baskets in the Basket Raffle at the Spring Dance!! This week we worked with y as a vowel. We discovered y can say the long e or the long I sound and it is usually found at the end of words. We practiced asking questions before, during and after reading. I modeled the strategy first then we explored questions we had while reading the book Don’t Laugh at Me. We are also learning about author’s message. We are learning to write recounts. We discovered at recount has several parts: a title, orientation (answers who, when or where), the events in order using words such as first, next, then, etc. and a personal response or wrap up at the end. I wrote a recount of The Ned Show and we labeled each section of the text. We are working on creating a group recount of the Back to the Wild Earth Rangers presentation. It was amazing that the students actually remembered the names of the presenters (my old brain did not!!). In math, we are learning to tell time to the hour. We learned vocabulary such as minute hand, hour hand, digital and o’clock. Practice telling time to the hour at home—when you catch an on the hour time at home, ask your child to tell you what time it is!! You can do this with analogue or digital clocks. It’s exciting to see some students wearing watches!! We created a map to show how to get to the washroom from our class. We looked at everyone’s map on the ELMO and gave a star and a wish. Then we created a map showing how to get to the park from the front door of the school and students had an opportunity to work with a partner to improve their map. We studied Kandinsky, a Russian artist who did a lot of art in the abstract style. We created a crayon resist and watercolour painting of concentric circles imitating his work called “Squares with Concentric Circles” 1913. April 10 to April 13: Our sound focus this week were words featuring ‘ng” such as boomerang, sing and long. We finished our focus on visualization by creating an oral story to go with a wordless book. It was like visualizing backward—seeing a picture and drawing on the senses to create a story! We wrote our April Watch Me Grow piece and finished our first full writing process. The writing piece about themselves was sent home with a parent guide to the writing process terms we use in class such as sloppy copy and neat sheet. A pdf version is also in the new resource section of this webpage. We finished looking at fractions this week and learned about halves, quarters and thirds as well as the idea of a whole. We started to talk about units of time. We explored the months of the year—ask your child to sing you a song telling the months in order! We also reviewed the days of the week and learned a fun song to the tune of the Adams Family theme song!! “There’s Sunday and there’s Monday, there’s Tuesday and there’s Wednesday, there’s Thursday and there’s Friday and then there’s Saturday—days of the week (snap, snap) days of the week (snap, snap) days of the week, days of the week, days of the week (snap, snap)!” In science we investigated our lunch bags. We explored the materials and fasteners used to create our lunch bag and talked about the characteristics such as size, colour and shape. In art we used Model Magic to create our favourite book character and then place it in a diorama representing the setting of the book. Notes: Donations for our Family Fun basket need to be brought in by Tuesday. Any donations are greatly appreciated. The SCC Family Dance is on Thursday, April 19! April 2 to April 5: This week we listened for the sound that er/ir/ur makes in words such as farmer, twirl and turtle. We continued our focus on visualizations. We read a poem about a shell, drew a picture and then shared by talking about the movie we made in our heads and tried to include as many senses as we could in our descriptions. We heard The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter and reviewed the parts of a retell. Then we wrote a response pretending we were Peter standing in the wheelbarrow. We tried to explain how we felt at that moment. Students did really well understanding he would be scared or confused. In numeracy, we worked on symmetry. We were introduced to the mira, a math tool to help us create the missing half of a symmetrical design. We talked about fractions. We learned that fractions are equal parts of a whole. We learned the words: whole, half, third and quarter. For science, we had a quick review of our science afternoon and students completed a multiple choice review of the main concepts of each centre. We also learned more about the materials used to make objects. Notes: No school on Monday! Have a fantastic long weekend!!! March 26 to March 30: This week in literacy we focused on the sound “or” in words such as for and ordinary. We learned how to engage all our senses to enhance our visualizations. We learned about the text features of fiction: characters, setting, problem, solution, a title and author, pictures, ideas can be silly or impossible (animals talking like humans), etc. We learned the purpose of fiction is to entertain. We completed out final procedural writing piece. We assembled a folder for our portfolio with our first piece and our best piece. The mid point procedure about how to blow up a balloon was sent home with the stars and wish given to help students when they created their final procedure. In math, we discovered that area is the space that something covers. We discovered the area of our carpet in the class is 72 pieces of paper. We used non-standard units such as tiles and pattern blocks to find the areas of different shapes. We finished our energy science unit and conferences were sent home. Our science afternoon was fantastic! Thank you so much to Lauren’s Mom, Kennedy’s Mom and Cynthia’s Mom for volunteering and running a centre. Students explored ideas such as buoyancy, absorbency, fasteners and how materials are made into objects. Students learned how crayons are made from wax. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5f7NuGkhX0 is a great site to see a How It’s Made episode about crayons. Reminders: Next week and the following week are short weeks due to the Easter holidays. Students do not attend school on Friday, April 6 and Monday, April 9. Sales of Earth Ranger buttons are over. Thank you to everyone who supported this activity.
March 19 to March 23: We continued to talk about visualization this week. We are learning that to visualize a book is to make a movie in our minds where we bring the characters to life! We studied the sound "ar" in words such as barn, car and farm. We call it bossy r because you don't even hear the "a"! We are working on our final procedure this week. Students are writing how to build a snowman (in 25 degree weather!!!). This writing sample will be assessed. Students were reminded about the form of a procedure, encouraged to use the anchor chart posted in the class and will have the opportunity to edit their work before creating a neat sheet (good copy). Next week we will reflect on our procedures and put them in our portfolio. We learned about temperatures this week. We went outside with thermometers and learned how to read the temperature. A poem helps us remember what temperatures feel like: "30 is hot, 20 is nice. 10 put a coat on. 0 is ice." We completed math centres this week to review linear measurement, mass, capacity and temperature. In science we wrapped up our Energy and Control unit with a conference. I still have students to conference with and will complete those today or early next week. Our science afternoon is ready to go next Friday. Thank you to the three parent volunteers who sent me a note in agendas. Students will rotate through 4 centres exploring topics such as bouyancy and fasteners. In art we actually made a craft! We created a firefly like the one in the story we heard at the assembly just before March Break. We also wrote a sentence about something we showed perseverance to complete. They will be posted in the hall outside our classroom. We had a great presentation called P.E.A.C.E. that talked about black history and anti bullying mixed with rap and hip hop music. Lots of fun!! March 5 to March 8: This week we were treated to a concert by Razzmatazz. They sang many different types of songs from different countries and groups of people. They used guitars, spoons and a harmonica. Our Character Ed assembly featured the trait of perseverance. We are learning that if we practise we can achieve. A great life lesson!! We learned about the sound ow/ou like in the words cow, mouse and ouch! We looked at the characters Piggy and Gerald and recorded some things we learned about one of the characters from the books presented in reader's theatre. Writing lessons included writing about being a superhero and thinking about the special powers we would possess. In math we learned how to use a balance scale. We learned how to measure the mass of obejcts using nonstandard units such as cubes. We say good bye and good luck to Miss Brailsford as she has completed her teaching block in our class. Remember: Earth Ranger buttons will be on sale following March Break. I have two parent volunteers for our science afternoon and need 4 to run the centres planned. If you are interested, let me know in the agenda following March Break. Clocks spring ahead over the break--remember to check your smoke detector batteries when you change your clocks! Have an enjoyable March Break! When we return we will be in the home stretch of Grade One!!! February 27 to March 2: This week we finally performed our Elephant and Piggie reader's theatre pieces. We could see how important it is to read fluently and that expression makes a read aloud very entertaining! We studied the oo sound as in the work book. We completed our Flat Stanley letters to Miss Brailsford's friend who will be travelling to Peru. We look forward to hearing about their lives in Peru when they write back! Math this week focused on measurement. We reviewed linear measurement and discovered about capacity. We continued to estimate and record our measurements and units for each activity. We had lots of fun measuring capacity using water and objects such as beans and marbles. We continued our exploration of maps and energy and its uses this week. Miss Brailsford taught the students about Peruvian culture and they created an amazing sun clay relief project. We completed 34 acts of kindness in the month of February. March Break starts on Friday, March 9 (no school that day). Thursday is Superhero Day. Watch for the class newsletter on Monday! February 21 to 14: We continued our work with Piggie and Elephant books this week. We created an anchor chart showing what a fluent reader does (uses expression, stops at periods, puts words together rather than reading one at a time like a robot, etc). We also made our character headbands to help us feel like the character and read the speech bubbles the way the character would if he/she was speaking. We learned about the sound oo as in moose. It is a tricky sound as it can also sound like oo in book (we will tackle that sound next week). We measured and began to compare lengths and heights of objects using words such taller, shorter, etc. We also learned about estimating and making reasonable guesses. In science we reviewed input and output. We went on an energy walk and located appliances that use various types of energy. We also created a laundry line of ideas about how we can save energy in our daily lives. In art, we started a printmaking activity. We used textured paper and cardboard to create a scene depiciting energy. Next week, we will use ink and a brayer to make art prints. Reminders: -return report card comment section and envelope -Wednesday is Pink Shirt Day—wear a pink shirt to show you dedicate yourself to a bully free life! (We will be having an assembly Wednesday morning to talk about bullying and how not to be a bully) February 13 to 16: Oops—so sorry, I realized that I didn’t do a weekly wrap up for our lovely four day week with the PA day. In literacy, we continued our look at Mo Willems. Students selected a book with a partner, selected a character to read and rehearsed to improve their expression. We studied the oi/oy sound to use in our reading and writing. We are learning to write procedures. We learned the text features of a procedure (title, headings, goal, materials and steps in order starting with a number and an action word). We wrote the steps illustrated in a series of pictures as a group and the next day we took those steps and added the title, materials and headings to create a procedure. In math, we learned to use non-standard units (such as cubes or paperclips) to measure objects in the class. February 6 to February 10: What a fantastic week! Thank you so much for attending our Portfolio Share on Thursday night. The students worked hard on Monday and Tuesday to prepare their pieces in the correct order and practise what to say for each piece. They were thrilled to look at the amount of work we had done since November. It was a pleasure to see your children talking about their learning and sharing all their best pieces of work. I hope seeing their work will make the report cards easier to understand. We celebrated the 100th Day of school by participating in a rotation involving the FI Grade One classes. We mixed the students up into groups and they rotated to a variety of activities celebrating the number 100: a scavenger hunt for skillfully hidden cut out 100's, stamping a hundred chart, estimating and measuring using the number 100, playing games like snakes and ladders and exploring what the number is when you look at tens/ones. Valentine's Day is Tuesday, February 14. Though we appreciate your generosity we are unable to accept food or candies for our celebration. Report Cards come home on Wednesday, February 15. Wacky Hat Day is Thrusday, February 16. Friday, February 17 is a PA Day. I am looking forward to an art inservice at the Whitby Station Gallery focusing on print making techniques. I can't wait to try out what I learn. Also, remember Family Day is Monday, February 20 and there is no school that day either. We welcome Miss Brailsford from Queen's University. She will be with us until March Break. January 20 to February 3: We had a busy but very productive week! We have been doing a lot of reflecting and putting together samples for our portfolios. We explored our letter writing and list writing samples and discovered we learned alot about how to correctly write a letter and list. We worked with the "ch" sound this week. Everyone giggled as we drew chimps in our scrapbooks! We continued to explore Mo Willems--this week we read Knuffle Bunny and Knuffle Bunny, too. We watched a video and acted out scenes from the books. We completed a procedural diagnostic and the kindergarten teachers did a fantastic job last year as the students knew a procedure told how to do something and they wrote in steps with pictures to match--way to go! We read a procedure and created our own class crystallized snowflake using Borax and food colouring. In math, we studied 3D shapes. We used models of shapes to touch and count edges, faces and vertices. Each day we reviewed names of shapes. We completed a shape sort of 3D shapes. In art, we began a winter piece using paint and different techniques to create a snowy sky and icy ice flows. Next week we will add a polar bear! Next week is very busy as we have several events: Thursday, February 9 is our Portfolio Share. Please join us at school to view samples of your child's work since the last report card. Thursday is also our 100th day of school so we will celebrate with some special centre rotations. Thursday is also Wear a Sweater day --an eco event so we can turn down the heat!! Friday will be Jersey Day so wear your favourite hockey (or ringette) jersey.
January 23 to January 27: Sh was the digraph we explored this week. We explored the sounds at the beginning, middle and end of words and we listened for the sound to record words. We started reading books by Mo Willems this week. Students were very excited to hear the books about a character named Pigeon. Pigeon wants to drive a bus and get a dog and stay up late. We learned how to draw Pigeon and now, everyone wants to write a Pigeon book! In media, we reflected on our latest three creations and kept one for our portfolio. In Mth we reviewed the names of 2D shapes (circle, square, rectangle, triangle) and we added pentagon, hexagon and octagon. We learned about 3D figures and played a guessing game using figures such as cube, sphere, cone, prism and pyramid. In Art, we reviwed the elements and created "Walking Lines" art that checked our understanding of space, colour and line. In Social Studies we were introduced to maps. We explored maps of Canada, Disney World, Toronto Zoo, the United States and Durham Region. We made a list of things that maps show us. A new learning skills checklist was sent home with student and teacher assessment of skills like independent work and cooperation. A copy will be in the portfolio for your reference at the portfolio share next week. January 16 to January 20: This week we explored the sound "th" makes in words such as those and thumb. We assembled our retell of the Ugly Caterpillar in the shape of a caterpillar. We created two media texts this week. We made a bookmark and a door hanger. We discovered the text features of both media texts were exactly like a poster--we need need and simple messages, colourful pictures and no spelling errors! We also realized that sometimes the audiences can be different. In writing, we completed a cut and paste activity that helped us show how much we know about all the different parts of a letter. In mathematics, we completed a numeration review. We practised skip counting and representing numbers as well as solving a problem independently. We started to look at 2D shapes such as triangles, squares, rectangles, etc. Next week we will expand our exploration into 3D shapes such as cones, prisms and cubes. Art is a review of the elements of art. This week we created a booklet telling about each element and next week we will create a piece of art that integrates all the elements. January 9 to January 13: Happy New Year!! Much of our week was spent tidying up and completing units in many areas. This week we explored the "ph" sound in words such as elephant and phone. We made a poster encouraging the reader to see the Big Kid Production of Rapunzel which we viewed this week. Students are demonstrating their knowledge this week with an independent go chart retell of The Ugly Caterpillar. They looked at their stars and wishes from The Bully Blockers Club retell and are using that information to make their final retell even better. We also completed a January Watch Me Grow. In math, we created a continuum of the liklihood of events happening. We also completed a unit summary to show we understand words such as likely, impossible and certain. In science and social studies we reviewed and completed conferences to wrap up our units. We had a presentation from the Kindness Club and we learned about the responsibility of being a pet owner and we met a beautiful dog named April. Several students dressed in groovy costumes for Hippie Day. December 19 to December 23: Wow--we made it! This week we focused on the long u sound--long u can be spelled in several ways: u, ue, u_e, ew. We spent a lot of time rehearsing and performing at the concerts. We hope you enjoyed our French and English version of A Porcupine in a Pine Tree. Students indoor shoes are sent home for a fit and condition check. Please return them on our first day back to school on Monday, January 9! When we return from holidays, we will have a science conference that we didn't get done (due to many illnesses) and a probability conference (using words such as likely, unlikely, certain, impossible). Our first week back will also feature a Big Kids Production in our gym and a visit from the Kindness Club. I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and holiday season and all the best in 2012! December 12 to 16: Literacy: Our vowel focus this week was the long o sound. We discovered long o can be spelled several ways: ( o_e, oa, ow, o). We added the following words to our word wall that use the long o sound: cold, for, goes, don't , own. We continued looking at letter format and read The Jolly Postman. We wrote a letter to the Big Bad Wolf as a reading response. We continue to practise go chart retells focusing on The Bully Blockers. Numeracy: We explored probability through the idea of ticket draw and the liklihood that someone's name would be drawn. We also explored the idea of pulling out a black marble from a bag filled with other coloured marbles. We should be able to use likely, unlikely, certain and impossible in a sentence. The class enjoyed dressing in their pj's on Wednesday. Our craft afternoon was fantastic. Thank you to Shannon's Mom and Laine's Mom for their help--the class even asked them to share in our bucket circle at the end of the day--very cute!! We have been rehearsing our concert piece daily and we have the words down!!! We hope you can make one of our concert performances--Tuesday at 9:30, Wednesday at 1:15. The Primary Choir will then perform at Wednesday at 7:00 with the Kindergarten classes. Our class does not perform on Wednesday night. Miss Wisdom completed her placement with us today. We wish her all the best as she returns to her studies at Queen's University. We look forward to having Miss Brailsford in our class in February.
December 5 to 9: Literacy: We focused on hearing and applying the long i sound this week. We discovered long i can be made by writing ie, i_e, y and sometimes i by itself. We added the following words to our word wall: my, find, five, like and write. In shared reading we continue to focus on making connections and developing our go chart retell skills. We read The Bully Blocker and talked about how bullies empty buckets and the text offered many practical ways to deal with a bully. We wrote a letter together as a class to Mrs. Malandrino telling her the ideas we came up with on things we could do to fill buckets. Numeracy: We are exploring probability and focusing on words such as likely, unlikely, impossible and certain. We are preparing for the Christmas concert. We are joining Mrs. Boivin and Mrs. McLelllan to sing a Canadian 12 days of Christmas called A Porcupine in a Pine Tree. We are all singing half the song in French and half the song in English. Our class is doing very well learning some new words in French. Please see the words online: porcupine_in_a_pine_tree_words.pdf Our craft afternoon is scheduled for Friday, December 16. Currently I do not have any parent volunteers available to help us out for the afternoon. If you are free and would like to spend some time with us, we would be very happy to have you join us! Just let me know by writing a note in the agenda. I participated in some amazing technology workshops this week. I learned about Pixie 2 (a program to make posters and movies), Comic Life (a cartoon format) and SMART notebook which I can use for whole class instruction with a wireless mouse. November 28 to December 2: We learned about Spinner Spider--he likes to use his schema (background knowledge like things we've learned, places we've been, etc) to make rich, deep connections with the books he reads. Spinner taught us to connect our schema to books by saying "The part in the book when....reminds me of a time I.....". We practised making connections with two texts this week--Stephanie's Ponytail and Franklin's New Friend. We also looked at the long e sound. We discovered that long e can be spelled with like: e, ee, ea, or y. Words added to our word wall included we, see, read, keep and please. We reviewed our patterning vocabulary words like core, repeat and attributes. We reviewed how to extend, label and create patterns when given a core or attribute. End of unit patterning onferences were started today. Next week we will begin to explore probability. In art, Miss Wisdom taught about the element of art called form. Students used salt dough to create an art piece that displayed form. Remember we need 4 parent volunteers for our craft afternoon on Friday, December 16. If youa re able to help out, please send me a note in the agenda and I will confirm your participation. Congratulations to Carissa for winning a medal in our school wide Eco Couture contest. She looked fantastic! Many students in our class also dressed up in a wide variety of Eco Couture--necklaces, hats, ties, skirts, etc. Alexander and Mason also contributed to our primary assembly by sharing a bucket filling story with the primary division.
November 21 to 25: This week our phonological awareness focus was the long a sound. We explored the letter combinations that make the long vowel a sound: a_e, ai, ay. We are adding words to our word wall and this week we added: ate, came, play, today and again. We are learning to write lists and we explored the text features of a list (hyphens, a title, no punctuation, words not sentences). We continued to use our Go charts to practise retelling stories and we were introduced to making connections. Patterning activities continued this week. We learned the word attribute and decided the attributes we use in patterning include size, colour, shape, direction and position. We made bracelets with a repeating core. We are almost done our patterning unit and hopefully, we can have our conference at the end of next week. Texture was our focus in art. We looked at various texture words such as bumpy and smooth. We created an autumn tree using a variety of textures for the leaves. We learned about Bart the Black Bear who lives in Algonquin Park. We explored what he does in each season and created a diary of his activities throughout the year. Friday, December 2 is Eco-Couture day--students are encouraged to design an outfit using recycled items. An Eco Fashion Show will be held during our Primary Assembly following lunch. November 14 to 18: This week we spent time creating, organizing and preparing for our portfolio share. Thank you to all the parents who listened and asked great questions during the portfolio shares. The students were very proud to share their work and be in charge of our time together. In literacy, we created a anchor chart of when we should use capitals. This chart is the basis for our 3 check editing step, We decided capitals go at the beginning of a sentence, at the beginning of important words, on the word "I" and not in the middle of words. In numeracy, we looked for patterns in the illustrations of the book Patterns in Peru using our math investigation teams. We also participated in a pattern walk and reviewed the vocabulary word "core". In science, we finished our season booklet exploring the weather, temperatures, and activities of plants/animals/humans. We want to find out more about hibernation! The library will reopen next week following the packing up of the book fair. Miss Wisdom (isn't that a great teacher name?) will be joining us on Monday until December 16 as she completes her second placement at our school. November 7 to November 11: We participated in a moving Remembrance Day Assembly this morning. It was great to see parents remembering with us! In literacy this week, we reviewed short vowel sounds. Each day we sang a verse of a song and then brainstormed words for a target sound. Short vowel sounds should now be very familiar to all students. This knowledge will help them when they stretch words for reading and writing! We practised our choral reading of the poem Joining Hands for the assembly and successfully recorded it with Mrs. Stuart's class on Thursday. We also selected our best October writing and sent home a big pile of writing we completed throughout the month. Please reflect with your child on this writing package, record two stars and a wish (2 strengths and a next step) and return to school. In numeracy we explored patterns. We met our new Math Investigation Teams and completed an investigation into why the chicken dance is a pattern. We also looked at a series of patterns with our team and decided what was the same about all the patterns. We discovered patterns repeat and they have a core/rule. We also began an anchor chart telling all the places we find patterns. We discovered patterns in clothing, fabric, the seaonal cycles, the days of the week and months of the year and patterns in counting! We also read a great book together called Patterns in Peru. In art, we created a paper bag sculpture of an autumn tree and a poppy. Remember next week progress reports come home on Wednesday. We have student led portfolio shares on Thursday and Friday. Times were sent home on Tuesday. Please remember to bring your child with you!!!! Also remember that Friday next week is a PA Day. October 31 to November 4: Our Hallowe'en Carnival was a huge success. Students loved the opportunity to travel around to different activities with their friends. Thank you very much for the donations to Unicef. In language we learned about a go chart--What is a go chart??? go_chart.pdf A go chart helps students retell strories. We made a small set of shapes that we keep in our reading folders so we can pull them out to use as visual cues to retell any story! We also started a short vowel review to consolidate vowel sounds for both reading and writing. In math, we talked about what a good mathematican does. Since we are all mathematicians, we realized the following things: A good mathematician 1. Tries 2. Uses tools 3. Listens to the ideas of others 4. Shows their thinking. We also completed a patterning diagnostic so we are ready to begin our patterning unit next week. In science, we talked about the weather and activities by humans, plants and animals for the seasons of spring and summer. We are creating a booklet that summarizes our findings. In art, we explored Mondrian's work with line and colour. We created a secondary colour version of his artwork. We made sure we used vertical and horizontal lines, thick and thin lines and secondary colours (orange, green and purple). Students checked for the three goals and gave themselves a scoop for their artwork. Wednesday is Wacky Hair day. Remembrance Day is Friday. Our Primary assembly will be at 9:15. We welcome family and members of the community to join us as we remember all those who serve or have served to protect our freedoms. If you have a family member who served or is serving, please send in a copy of a photograph for our Hall of Heroes. Our class really responded well to the food drive. We added "make a food donation" to our bucket song this week. Our class brought in 37 items for the food drive. Well done! Thank you for filling someone's bucket!!! October 24 to 28: Wow--October is almost done! That is incredible!!!! You will soon see the results of our two months at school when you attend our Student Led Conferences on November 17/18 (also known as interviews!!). Please book a time that you and your child can attend together as the students will lead the portfolio share. This week in literacy we finished our printing and letter sound review with the letters X, Z and short E. We looked at the -ug family of words. We began a shared reading unit focusing on filling people's buckets, retells and making connections. Library exchanges have now moved to small group exchanges as part of our independent reading centres. We will try to write a note in each group's agendas the day before their book exchange as a reminder. In Numeracy we completed out first math conferences on Monday and Tuesday. Watch for those coming home next week. Please continue to review counting by 1, 2, 5 and 10 to 100. We introduced the idea of being a mathematician. We are exploring math tools and how mathematicians record their thinking. In science we are focusing on activities, weather and changes in temperatures in all four seasons. We are saying goodbye to Mr. Mayhew and we thank him for his time with us! Next week we are collecting food for a food drive to support local food banks. Please send in a non-perishable food item any day next week. Hallowe'en is on Monday! Costumes may be worn all day at school. Students are reminded that costumes should not include weapons or masks. Make up blood is also discouraged as it is disturbing to some students. In the afternoon, students will participate in a Unicef carnival from 1:00 to 2:20. Students should bring a bag of coins to use as admission to each activity. When students use up their coins, they will still be permitted to enter activities. At 2:40 primary students will participate in a costume parade around the school. Please do not send food for Halloween as any home baked, store purchased or candy donations will be sent home in accordance with Ministry Health guidelines and Sabrina's Law regarding food allergies.
October 17 to 21: Students really enjoyed the Fred Penner concert today! They sang along to many songs and learned some sign language (ask them how to sign reading!). In literacy this week we explored the letters V, short u, y, and q. We practised printing them and listening for their sounds. We started reading conferences. You may notice that students will bring home different levels of books. I read with a different group each day as part of the independent reading centres. I offer students a star ( a reading skill or strategy they are using well) and a wish (something they could do to be a better reader.). Writing conferences also began this week using the same star and wish format. Students will be encouraged to use the wish the next time they read or write. Writing workshops focused on the use of periods and learning how to tell when a sentence expresses a complete idea. We use a red dot as a self editing check for periods. In numeracy, we worked with a hundred chart looking at the patterns of counting by 1, 2, 5, and 10 to 100. I hope to conference with students on Monday/Tuesday. I sent home a note about the skills to practice and a hundred chart for you to use. Dylan's nose became Brooklin when he represented the Earth in a science exploration! We learned how the Earth spins and the sun shines on the Earth for day and then the Earth spins away from the sun for night. We also extended this learning to look at reasons for the seasons and how the Earth is positioned throughout the year. We wrapped up the rules section of the social studies unit by talking about rules in the community and how rules differ for adults and children. In art, we learned about warm and cool colours while exploring a science link to the book The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons. Here are some dates to remember: Friday, October 28= Mr. Mayhew's last day of placement in our class. Monday, October 31= Halloween Carnival (visiting different classrooms in the school to play fun games while donating coins to Unicef as admission to each game)in the afternoon and wearing costumes all day! October 10 to 14: This week we reviewed the formation and sounds for letters H, J, and K. We also looked at the -ip word family and individually brainstormed as many -ip family words as we could. In reading, we learned about Lips the Fish (get your lips ready) and Stretchy Snake (stretch out the word then read it again faster). Please try to encourage your child to use these strategies in their daily reading. Reading Logs are being used very well. I will continue to check them each Friday to see progress. The last day of the month, sheets will be signed and stickers given for completed pages. We wrote about our adventures at Knox's Pumpkin Farm. First, we brainstormed ideas for each section of the trip (corn maze, pumpkin patch and barn) and recorded important words that students would need when they wrote. Students are highly encouraged to use charts in the classroom during writing. Math this week finished our exploration of numbers to 50 and representing them using base ten blocks and ten frames. We started skip counting today. Students learned how to use a hundred chart to count by two's. Next week we will continue counting by 5 and 10. I am hoping that we can have our first math conference next week. A math conference is a chance for students to show what they know about the topic we studied. I read the question and record student responses and then level the responses. In science we explored day and night focusing on the activities we do in both times of day. In art, Mr. Mayhew taught us about different types of lines. In social studies we explored rules at home and talked about safety in the kitchen, bathroom and backyard. Please note the Fred Penner concert was on the calendar for Oct. 20 but we were switched to Friday, October 21 in the a.m.. Here is a summary of upcoming dates: Photo Money and orders due on Tuesday, October 18 Trip Money and permission form--please send both by Wed. October 19 Milk orders for November due on Thursday, October 20 Photo Retakes are scheduled for November 3.
October 3 to 7: Happy Thanksgiving--I hope you enjoy spending time with loved ones and friends!! We had a fantastic afternoon at the Pumpkin Patch. We learned many new facts --ask your child how many things they learned about that have corn in them!! I hope all the pumpkins made it home safely. Students took great care in picking the perfect pumpkin! This week we reviewed the letter formation and sounds for G, N, W and short i. We explored the -ig word family and we drew a wacky picture of a pig with a wig on a twig eating a fig. In reading we learned about eagle eye and how to use picture cues to figure out unknown words. In writing we continued our focus on spaces and using a yellow mark to show editing for spaces. We also began to learn about how important it is to use periods at the end of thoughts. In science we learned about shadows and went outside to see the shadows we made. In social studies we learned all about bus safety rules in preparation for our first field trip. We are having school spirit days again this year. Wednesday will be Twin Day! September 26 to 30: I can't believe that today is the last day of September--time is going by very quickly!!! We are pleased to welcome Mr. Mayhew to our class starting on Monday. He is a Queen's University Faculty of Education student and will be in our class for the month of October. We are ready to begin our home reading program. Specially decorated book bags will arrive home on Monday. Inside you will find a reading log to complete nightly and a levelled book. Each block in the log represents 10 -15 minutes of reading. Please record the title and sign each entry. I will have a peak at the reading logs every Friday and then give out the stickers to students who completed their sheet at the end of every month. I hope you enjoy this reading time with your child. We focused on the formation and sounds of the letters L, P, O and D and explored the -op word family (mop, stop, flop, etc.). We also began shared reading to focus on a variety of text features, vocabulary and concepts of print. In writing we focused on spaces this week. We saw how hard it is to read work without spaces. We are using a yellow dash as an editing check to ensure we have spaces in our work. We continued to use ten frames but also learned about base ten blocks. We even used a secret code to draw base ten blocks. We used a straight line for tens and an "x" for ones--it's so much easier than trying to draw 3D rectangular prisms and cubes!!! We worked with the teen numbers and numbers in the twenties. In social studies, we reviewed school rules and examined different areas of the school and the rules that are specific to those areas (ex. gym, stairs, playground). Thank you to everyone who volunteered to come on our class trip. We had 10 parents volunteer their time to us. McKenna's Mom and Liam J.'s parent will be accompanying us on this trip. Please don't be discouraged if your name wasn't drawn. We will have other opportunities for you to spend time with our class throughout the school year. September 19 to 23: Happy first day of fall! Thank you to all the parents who came to visit our class during Open House. I was really pleased with how the students showed off their work and all the special things in our classroom. This week we reviewed the proper letter formation and sounds for the letters t, c, (short) a and r. We looked at the -at family of words and drew a crazy picture of a cat on a mat with a bat and a friend named Rat! Students continue to refine their understanding of just right or "Chickadee" books. Starting in October, students will be selecting their own books for home reading (with some guidance at first). Please be patient as students will make choices that are not their just right level. Watch for the home reading log to come home on Monday, October 3. Our homework program for the year is nightly reading. Writer's Workshop focused on stretching out words and recording the sounds we hear, coming up with ideas for writing and the phrase "When you are done, you have just begun." That means when you think you are finished, go back and add details to your picture and add words to your writing. In math we continued to explore numbers 1 to 10 using ten frames and the words more than and less than. For science time, we learned some interesting facts about the sun. Did you know that more than a million Earths could fit inside the sun and the sun is a medium sized star!!!
September 12 to 16: Congratulations to the class for raising $34 for the Terry Fox Run. It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon to walk and run!! Library books are in backpacks. Please return on Friday. We will try to visit the library each Friday until we begin our independent reading centres where Library will be a centre for 4 students to go and trade their books. I will let you know when we switch from class visits to small group visits. Our Bucket filling goal is to say please and thank you. The class was introduced to the icecream scoops outlined in our September newsletter. We talked about tyring to achieve 3 scoop work and how we look over our work and ask ourselves "How can I make it better?". In Literacy, we reviewed the letter formation and sound for M, S, F and B. Reviewing the sounds will help us when we read and when we stretch words to record the sounds we hear in writing. We are starting to talk about just right books. We read a book about the feeling a chickadee makes on your hand when they land on it to eat seeds. Reading a just right level book should give us the same excited, happy feeling. In Mathematics, we explored the numbers 1 to 10. We learned what represent means and we practised counting, printing and representing those numbers. Thanks for sending students dressed for a mess. We painted our self portraits! We explored the self portraits of artists from the late 1770's to present day then created our own portrait. Look for them when you visit our class at Open House on Thursday evening.
September 6 to 9: Welcome! I hope you will find this section of the webpage helpful in following your child's learning!!! This week we worked on developing routines and rules to follow to create a class that is safe and caring. We read books about Rainbow Fish that highlighted sharing. We talked about sharing resources. Filling buckets was introduced--no not with dirt or water--we fill buckets by saying and doing kind things for each other. We want to be bucket fillers not bucket dippers! Bucket dippers are people who do or say things that hurt someone. Our class rules are listed in the class newsletter I sent home this week. We explored some words for our word wall including names and colour words. Mrs. Brouse led us in a scavenger hunt to see where we can take out books and we will begin to check out books next week. Eventually, students will exchange books as part of our independent reading centres--more to follow later. Ask your child about the Caught You Being Good tickets!!!!
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