In math, the students are learning about linear measurement. In grade one, they use non standard units, so we have started with hands, feet, and classroom materials as our units of measure. We will continue with this unit for the next couple of weeks. Ask your child a few of the "rules" when measuring an object. Try writing a procedure at home on how to measure a table. In science, the students continue to learn about energy. This week, we have discussed the use of electricity. We will move into the idea of conservation to end our unit.
Monday, December 12, 2016
December 12th
It is a busy time of year, but the students continue to work diligently. We have been writing procedures using transition words. Ask your child some of the procedures they have written. We have discussed that writing procedures it a step by step process in teaching someone how to do something. Therefore, the students should be choosing topics they are either a "practitioner" or "expert" in. Ask your child some of the topics they have chosen. The students are learning not only to use transition words, but to ensure they are giving enough detail. In our reading program, we have been looking at the idea of ready through the eyes of the writer. That is, looking at things that writers do and why we think they do this. I would read a book and the students would investigate the author's patterns in writing and then express why they think the author does this. We have been doing a Mo Willems unit. Some students discussed the use of punctuation marks and speech bubbles to show excitement and try to be funny. Other students looked at how he puts other characters in his stories from his other books to keep the reader interested.
Monday, November 28, 2016
November 28th
Hello everyone,
Last week was quite a busy week with ending a math unit and starting a new science unit. The students have completed their Patterning unit, but will have one more review session on Thursday. We have started our new unit on addition this week. Last week the students started their science unit on Energy. Scientist in the School came in to jump start the unit. Scientist Zane discussed heat, light, solar, and wind energy. She also discussed ways we can conserve energy in the home. This week, the students have a small activity to complete at home. Please check your child's agenda for the instructions.
The students also had their first formal lesson in their spelling program. Each week, they practice their spelling words by completing different activities and then they have a spelling test on Friday. Please ensure they are practicing their words at home as well. The students however, will not have spelling tests on four day weeks. The students also started a new writing unit on Procedural writing. Procedural writing can be described as "How To" writing. The students are responsible for learning transition words and giving specific instructions that make sense. Ask your child for a few transition words.
Last week was quite a busy week with ending a math unit and starting a new science unit. The students have completed their Patterning unit, but will have one more review session on Thursday. We have started our new unit on addition this week. Last week the students started their science unit on Energy. Scientist in the School came in to jump start the unit. Scientist Zane discussed heat, light, solar, and wind energy. She also discussed ways we can conserve energy in the home. This week, the students have a small activity to complete at home. Please check your child's agenda for the instructions.
The students also had their first formal lesson in their spelling program. Each week, they practice their spelling words by completing different activities and then they have a spelling test on Friday. Please ensure they are practicing their words at home as well. The students however, will not have spelling tests on four day weeks. The students also started a new writing unit on Procedural writing. Procedural writing can be described as "How To" writing. The students are responsible for learning transition words and giving specific instructions that make sense. Ask your child for a few transition words.
Monday, November 21, 2016
November 21st
Hello everyone,
My apologies for the late posting. The students have been working diligently and I've seen so much progression in their stamina, enthusiasm to learn, reading fluency and writing. They should celebrate their success. Since the last posting, the students have completed their Data Management unit and should have brought home their evaluation (rubric). They should have also brought home their social studies unit on Roles and Responsibilities and their science unit on Daily and Seasonal Cycles. Please let me know if you have any questions.
We are currently working on Patterning in math. Ask your child what they have to know by the end of the unit. Some key vocabulary words are: repeating, core, attribute, and extend. We have also started a new writing unit on Procedural Writing this week. We will continue to work on this writing unit over the next couple of weeks. In science, the students are learning about Energy. We have discussed that energy is the ability to do work and that they are different sources of energy. The students will be doing a STEM activity with their learning buddies this week.
The students have also been learning about how to assess their own progression using levels 1 to 4. These levels are connected to the words: novice, apprentice, practitioner, and expert. The reasoning behind the words is to create the mindset that we can improve our skills rather than being "stuck" in a particular mark/grade. Please ask your child to explain these words to you. You can also ask them to share with you their writing goal.
My apologies for the late posting. The students have been working diligently and I've seen so much progression in their stamina, enthusiasm to learn, reading fluency and writing. They should celebrate their success. Since the last posting, the students have completed their Data Management unit and should have brought home their evaluation (rubric). They should have also brought home their social studies unit on Roles and Responsibilities and their science unit on Daily and Seasonal Cycles. Please let me know if you have any questions.
We are currently working on Patterning in math. Ask your child what they have to know by the end of the unit. Some key vocabulary words are: repeating, core, attribute, and extend. We have also started a new writing unit on Procedural Writing this week. We will continue to work on this writing unit over the next couple of weeks. In science, the students are learning about Energy. We have discussed that energy is the ability to do work and that they are different sources of energy. The students will be doing a STEM activity with their learning buddies this week.
The students have also been learning about how to assess their own progression using levels 1 to 4. These levels are connected to the words: novice, apprentice, practitioner, and expert. The reasoning behind the words is to create the mindset that we can improve our skills rather than being "stuck" in a particular mark/grade. Please ask your child to explain these words to you. You can also ask them to share with you their writing goal.
Monday, October 24, 2016
Monday, October 24th
Hello everyone,
I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. Last week, the students continued to learn and review graphing in math. The students are starting to survey their friends and analyze the data from their results. The students are beginning to understand that some people may get different results. Ask your child why this may be the case (asked different people). We are also using the number line to help with counting forwards and backwards. We are learning the strategy where we start at a particular number and count from there rather than always starting at the number one. This strategy will assist in adding numbers. We have been adding and subtracting by one and two, so they understand that numbers are in relation to one another rather than isolated digits.
The students also created artwork last week. We have been learning about different lines and the primary colours. They used different lines for the background of their art pieces and used the primary colours as the foreground. Ask your child which lines they chose to use in their artwork.
One component in our language program is letter and sound recognition (phonemic awareness). The students have been given letter tiles to review letters and sounds. The students are learning that all words must have both vowels and consonants. We have also been brainstorming different words for word families, such as "ing", "at", "ell" etc. We will continue to learn and use this strategy to help the students stretch out their words. Every week starting today, the students will be given 5 letters to make words. The bonus word is using all of the letters. Let's see how many words they can come up with.
I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. Last week, the students continued to learn and review graphing in math. The students are starting to survey their friends and analyze the data from their results. The students are beginning to understand that some people may get different results. Ask your child why this may be the case (asked different people). We are also using the number line to help with counting forwards and backwards. We are learning the strategy where we start at a particular number and count from there rather than always starting at the number one. This strategy will assist in adding numbers. We have been adding and subtracting by one and two, so they understand that numbers are in relation to one another rather than isolated digits.
The students also created artwork last week. We have been learning about different lines and the primary colours. They used different lines for the background of their art pieces and used the primary colours as the foreground. Ask your child which lines they chose to use in their artwork.
One component in our language program is letter and sound recognition (phonemic awareness). The students have been given letter tiles to review letters and sounds. The students are learning that all words must have both vowels and consonants. We have also been brainstorming different words for word families, such as "ing", "at", "ell" etc. We will continue to learn and use this strategy to help the students stretch out their words. Every week starting today, the students will be given 5 letters to make words. The bonus word is using all of the letters. Let's see how many words they can come up with.
Monday, October 17, 2016
Happy Monday everyone!
Even though last week was a short week, it was very busy. We had Blue Jay Day for a spirit day and we had the opportunity to dress up for Scrabble Day because we reached our Terry Fox goal of $10,000. That is truly amazing!
The students continued with some of their routines, such as printing and the morning meeting. We also learned a new poem about vowel pairs. Ask your child the rule for when there are two vowels together. The students are learning the concept of vowels and consonants. This is a great writing strategy for the beginning of grade one. They are learning to stretch out words they are unfamiliar with and to ensure a vowel is included in each word.
In math, the students have been surveying their classmates on different questions. The class had a few "I wonder" questions about the data in our graphs. For example, one "I wonder" question was "What would the data look like if we asked another grade one class?" The students were so excited that we also asked our learning buddies' class. Ask your child for the results. They were enthusiastic to analyze and compare the data. We will continue to learn about graphs for the month of October.
We also had art class last week in which the students had the opportunity to experiment with the primary colours. They figured out that putting more of one colour can change the shade of the secondary colour. Ask your child what the primary colours are and why we describe them as the primary colours.
Even though last week was a short week, it was very busy. We had Blue Jay Day for a spirit day and we had the opportunity to dress up for Scrabble Day because we reached our Terry Fox goal of $10,000. That is truly amazing!
The students continued with some of their routines, such as printing and the morning meeting. We also learned a new poem about vowel pairs. Ask your child the rule for when there are two vowels together. The students are learning the concept of vowels and consonants. This is a great writing strategy for the beginning of grade one. They are learning to stretch out words they are unfamiliar with and to ensure a vowel is included in each word.
In math, the students have been surveying their classmates on different questions. The class had a few "I wonder" questions about the data in our graphs. For example, one "I wonder" question was "What would the data look like if we asked another grade one class?" The students were so excited that we also asked our learning buddies' class. Ask your child for the results. They were enthusiastic to analyze and compare the data. We will continue to learn about graphs for the month of October.
We also had art class last week in which the students had the opportunity to experiment with the primary colours. They figured out that putting more of one colour can change the shade of the secondary colour. Ask your child what the primary colours are and why we describe them as the primary colours.
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Octobere 11th
I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving weekend and is ready for a new school week. The students continue to practice and review concepts in the morning meeting. This week we will be adding a morning message to the meeting. The morning message helps students learn new reading and writing strategies. I will discuss this in further next week.
The students have also started their unit on Data Management. The students have been collecting data by recording tally marks. Ask your child how to use tally marks and the song they have learned to help them remember the rule.
We have also introduced our unit in Science on Daily and Seasonal Changes. We have been discussing how we have four seasons and how the day turns into night. The students have also been asking "I wonder" questions around this topic that we will research and find the answers.
The students have also started their unit on Data Management. The students have been collecting data by recording tally marks. Ask your child how to use tally marks and the song they have learned to help them remember the rule.
We have also introduced our unit in Science on Daily and Seasonal Changes. We have been discussing how we have four seasons and how the day turns into night. The students have also been asking "I wonder" questions around this topic that we will research and find the answers.
Monday, October 3, 2016
October 3rd
Happy Monday everyone,
The students have been working diligently on both their printing and poetry programs. These programs help them with different spelling strategies, such as sounding out words phonetically and learning about rules such as vowel pairs and word endings. Please take a look at your child's printing pages. You will find that they are beginning to use more colour and detail in their pictures because they are building stamina as they work. Encourage your child at home to be proud of the work that they do at school and at home.
In our math program, the students continue to work on number words, even/odd numbers and skip counting. We have also been working on Data Management (graphing) as part of the morning routine. The students are learning to compare data by making conclusions on what they learned from the graph. In our class, we post the "Success Criteria", which helps the students understand what they have to know by the end of the unit. Ask your child to tell you the success criteria or some of the vocabulary words they have been learning in their math unit on numbers.
The Terry Fox walk was a success despite the rain. Many of the students connected their difficult walk with some of the conditions and feelings that Terry must have felt during his run. The students were curious and enthusiastic to learn about Terry Fox and his mission. We watched a movie and read books to learn more about the impact Terry Fox had on all of us.
The students have been working diligently on both their printing and poetry programs. These programs help them with different spelling strategies, such as sounding out words phonetically and learning about rules such as vowel pairs and word endings. Please take a look at your child's printing pages. You will find that they are beginning to use more colour and detail in their pictures because they are building stamina as they work. Encourage your child at home to be proud of the work that they do at school and at home.
In our math program, the students continue to work on number words, even/odd numbers and skip counting. We have also been working on Data Management (graphing) as part of the morning routine. The students are learning to compare data by making conclusions on what they learned from the graph. In our class, we post the "Success Criteria", which helps the students understand what they have to know by the end of the unit. Ask your child to tell you the success criteria or some of the vocabulary words they have been learning in their math unit on numbers.
The Terry Fox walk was a success despite the rain. Many of the students connected their difficult walk with some of the conditions and feelings that Terry must have felt during his run. The students were curious and enthusiastic to learn about Terry Fox and his mission. We watched a movie and read books to learn more about the impact Terry Fox had on all of us.
Monday, September 26, 2016
Monday, September 26th
Hello everyone!
The students continue to build stamina as they work and they are beginning to understand that producing work they are proud of takes time. We encourage the students not only to do their best, but to be proud of the their work. As the year progresses, we will discuss the importance of self reflection and improving their work.
You should have received a note last week regarding IXL and Raz Kids. If you have not yet logged on, please try this week so we can make sure all the usernames and passwords do indeed work. These two web resources will be the homework for grade one. Starting this week, I will be assigning weekly math practice that corresponds with our math program at school and daily reading. You can also practice snap words at home to help your child with his or her sight word recognition.
We continue to do our grade one program routine, such as our morning meeting, printing and poetry. Our daily morning meeting is where most of our learning occurs. This is where students are introduced to new strategies and concepts to apply to their reading, writing, and math skills. To give you an example, we graph the weather daily which helps students to create conclusions on the data that they read. We also compose and decompose numbers through a variety of smartboard slides. This week, we have been focusing on beginning each sentence with an uppercase letter. As the students continue to review their letter formation, this concept will also become clearer.
In math, the students have been looking at number words. We have used the vocabulary: digit, number word, and even and odd. Ask your child if she or he can explain these terms. We will continue to review these terms this week. The student have also been working on rules and responsibilities in social studies. They have been discussing the difference between rules and responsibilities found in the home, school and community and discussing how these may change over time.
We have also started asking I wonder questions. The notion behind an inquiry process is for students to ask questions and to have a voice in their learning. To begin, we have been reading a few books to pique an interest in the unknown and to ask questions that they may have already been reflecting on. This will help them get ready to use skills required for inquiry such as investigating, experimenting, and researching.
The students continue to build stamina as they work and they are beginning to understand that producing work they are proud of takes time. We encourage the students not only to do their best, but to be proud of the their work. As the year progresses, we will discuss the importance of self reflection and improving their work.
You should have received a note last week regarding IXL and Raz Kids. If you have not yet logged on, please try this week so we can make sure all the usernames and passwords do indeed work. These two web resources will be the homework for grade one. Starting this week, I will be assigning weekly math practice that corresponds with our math program at school and daily reading. You can also practice snap words at home to help your child with his or her sight word recognition.
We continue to do our grade one program routine, such as our morning meeting, printing and poetry. Our daily morning meeting is where most of our learning occurs. This is where students are introduced to new strategies and concepts to apply to their reading, writing, and math skills. To give you an example, we graph the weather daily which helps students to create conclusions on the data that they read. We also compose and decompose numbers through a variety of smartboard slides. This week, we have been focusing on beginning each sentence with an uppercase letter. As the students continue to review their letter formation, this concept will also become clearer.
In math, the students have been looking at number words. We have used the vocabulary: digit, number word, and even and odd. Ask your child if she or he can explain these terms. We will continue to review these terms this week. The student have also been working on rules and responsibilities in social studies. They have been discussing the difference between rules and responsibilities found in the home, school and community and discussing how these may change over time.
We have also started asking I wonder questions. The notion behind an inquiry process is for students to ask questions and to have a voice in their learning. To begin, we have been reading a few books to pique an interest in the unknown and to ask questions that they may have already been reflecting on. This will help them get ready to use skills required for inquiry such as investigating, experimenting, and researching.
Monday, September 19, 2016
Monday, September 19th
Happy Monday everyone!
The students are beginning to understand and follow the new rules and routines of grade one. With every new class, the students need to learn what the expectations are of the classroom community. This week we focused again on our rules and routines, I have also started assessing students. Therefore, we have been reviewing letter and number formation. I have also assessed some students on their reading level. In grade one, we are not only looking at a student's fluency (the ability to read the words on the page), but also his/her comprehensions skills, such as retelling and making connections. That is, we are teaching students to read for meaning and to think about what they are reading.
This week, we started our Social Studies unit on Changing Roles and Responsibilities. This is a great opportunity to discuss, at home, the different roles each family member has and their responsibilities. We have been discussing the importance of rules and what happens when rules are broken. In math, we have been looking at numbers from 1 to 20. We are looking at recognition, the ability to print, and one to one correspondence. We have also reviewed counting by fives and tens to one hundred. Ask your child to count by tens with you the way he or she does in class. We have also started our Printing Program. Printing not only provides fine motor practice, but it also supports their letter-sound development along with building stamina to sit and work. It is important that students learn "stamina" to ensure they are able to pay attention, focus and learn. I have also introduced the different levels assessing so help with their stamina. We discussed how to create a WOW picture. Ask your child how to get a level 3 picture.
The students are beginning to understand and follow the new rules and routines of grade one. With every new class, the students need to learn what the expectations are of the classroom community. This week we focused again on our rules and routines, I have also started assessing students. Therefore, we have been reviewing letter and number formation. I have also assessed some students on their reading level. In grade one, we are not only looking at a student's fluency (the ability to read the words on the page), but also his/her comprehensions skills, such as retelling and making connections. That is, we are teaching students to read for meaning and to think about what they are reading.
This week, we started our Social Studies unit on Changing Roles and Responsibilities. This is a great opportunity to discuss, at home, the different roles each family member has and their responsibilities. We have been discussing the importance of rules and what happens when rules are broken. In math, we have been looking at numbers from 1 to 20. We are looking at recognition, the ability to print, and one to one correspondence. We have also reviewed counting by fives and tens to one hundred. Ask your child to count by tens with you the way he or she does in class. We have also started our Printing Program. Printing not only provides fine motor practice, but it also supports their letter-sound development along with building stamina to sit and work. It is important that students learn "stamina" to ensure they are able to pay attention, focus and learn. I have also introduced the different levels assessing so help with their stamina. We discussed how to create a WOW picture. Ask your child how to get a level 3 picture.
Friday, September 9, 2016
Housekeeping
1.Cross Country will begin on Tuesday, September 13th. Please bring your completed form to our first practice, if you have not yet done so.
2. Rotary Teachers
Mr. Blais for Health and Phys. Ed on Day 2 and Day 4
Mr. Lynde for Computers on Day 3 (correction as stated as Mr. Iceton)
Ms. McGee for Music on Day 1
Ms. McGee for Library on Day 5
*You can check for holidays, PA Days and Day Cycle on page 14 of your child's agenda.
3. Join us for curriculum night on Thursday, September 15th at 6:00pm in the gym (non-stage side)
2. Rotary Teachers
Mr. Blais for Health and Phys. Ed on Day 2 and Day 4
Mr. Lynde for Computers on Day 3 (correction as stated as Mr. Iceton)
Ms. McGee for Music on Day 1
Ms. McGee for Library on Day 5
*You can check for holidays, PA Days and Day Cycle on page 14 of your child's agenda.
3. Join us for curriculum night on Thursday, September 15th at 6:00pm in the gym (non-stage side)
First Week
Congratulations! We have finished the first week of grade one. This week we focused mainly on creating a safe and caring environment, as well as, practicing our routines and classroom expectations. To reinforce these concepts, we read many books that discussed empathy and respect, such as Have you Filled a Bucket TodayÉ and Chrysanthemum.
Another component that we are emphasizing in our classroom is a growth mind set. It is the idea that we are always looking to improve. We are trying to get our students to move away from ``Ì can`t`` to ``I`ll try``. We have discussed that``Mistakes are the proof that you are trying``.
We did many activities that fostered a growth mindset such as an art activity inspired by the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds and a STEM activity using the book The Most Magnificent Thing. Ask your child about these two activities.
Here is a list of some growth mindset books that we read:
The Dot
The Most Magnificent Thing
Beautiful Oops
The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes
Another component that we are emphasizing in our classroom is a growth mind set. It is the idea that we are always looking to improve. We are trying to get our students to move away from ``Ì can`t`` to ``I`ll try``. We have discussed that``Mistakes are the proof that you are trying``.
We did many activities that fostered a growth mindset such as an art activity inspired by the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds and a STEM activity using the book The Most Magnificent Thing. Ask your child about these two activities.
Here is a list of some growth mindset books that we read:
The Dot
The Most Magnificent Thing
Beautiful Oops
The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes
Thursday, September 1, 2016
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
We have been concentrating on reading strategies in our language program. We have discussed that reading is more that just reading the words on the page. It is about thinking. Ask your child what they should be doing as they are reading. We discussed concepts, such as what they notice, wonder, see, think, and feel.
We also discussed strategies to help understand difficult words, such as looking at the beginning, middle, and ending sounds of words, using pictures, and notice if the sentence makes sense. Many children make the mistake of only looking at the beginning sounds of words. For example, reading "house" instead of "home".
The students have also started their reading groups. During the small groups, students look at different reading strategies, think critically by making connections and wonderings, and retell the story in their own words.
In math, the students are currently working on 2 and 3 dimensional shapes and figures, as well as, linear measurement. Ask your child what is they need to remember when they measure different objects. In science, the students continue to work on identify different materials and their uses.
Your child should have brought home their patterning, addition, and energy units with their evaluations.
We also discussed strategies to help understand difficult words, such as looking at the beginning, middle, and ending sounds of words, using pictures, and notice if the sentence makes sense. Many children make the mistake of only looking at the beginning sounds of words. For example, reading "house" instead of "home".
The students have also started their reading groups. During the small groups, students look at different reading strategies, think critically by making connections and wonderings, and retell the story in their own words.
In math, the students are currently working on 2 and 3 dimensional shapes and figures, as well as, linear measurement. Ask your child what is they need to remember when they measure different objects. In science, the students continue to work on identify different materials and their uses.
Your child should have brought home their patterning, addition, and energy units with their evaluations.
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