April/May news

Dear Parents,

I’d like to share a few things we are doing in the class. In Science, we are studying plants. We will be planting seeds and recording its growth. We are learning parts of the plant and learning how water reaches the leaves in a plant. As a class, we added food coloring to water and placed celery in the water. We observed that the leaves turned red after 24 hours.  We tried the same experiment using the blue food coloring.

We will begin our unit on Building Things. We are making robots. Therefore, we will need toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, a few small boxes for the body, arms, face, and legs. Please bring these items by Thursday. In May we will be building other items as well, and we will need other items as well. Please bring extra items to share with others.

In Math, we have started our unit on Measurement. We are also working on adding and subtracting numbers from 10-20. This week, we will be exploring those numbers using manipulative. We have been playing Smartboard games in Math to practice our numbers. I encourage the students to continue to practice numbers 50-100.

In French, we have been talking about Spring and writing sentences about weather and activities we do during Spring.

In Social Studies, we are talking about the past, and comparing life to the present.

The Desk Fairy came to visit our class, and I’m happy to say she though every student deserved a reward for having a clean desk. I hope she will visit us soon again.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Celine

Spring News

Hello Parents,

Thank you for coming to the class for student-led interviews. I hope you and your child enjoyed going through the various activities.

On Friday during our PD, several schools were invited to listen to Dr. Carrington. She spoke about building relationships and making connections with all people in our life. Here is her website if you would like to know more about her.  http://www.drjodycarrington.com/

This week, you will receive a letter informing parents that Alberta Health Services will be in our classroom for several sessions on strategies to support the development of self-regulation skills and executive functioning: working memory, inhibitory control, and flexible thinking.

In the last month, we have had two Teachers Pet sessions, one for Science and one for Social Studies.

In Math, we continue to work on addition and subtraction( until June), review shapes, and introduce measurement.

In French, we will learn words related to Spring and Easter.

In Religion, we will go over the Stations of the Cross.

Please remember to return all library books to the school for day 5.

January News

Dear Parents,

Welcome back grade 1 families. I hope you enjoyed your Christmas break. I personally enjoyed the quality time I was able to spend with my daughter and family members. I am really looking forward to working with the grade 1 students in 2018. Thank you very kindly for the generous Christmas gifts and cards you gave me.

If you are wondering where your child’s agenda is, I have them in the class. We will be pasting some vocabulary words and a checklist. Please bring your child’s agenda and their yellow reading log book each day. Please read the readings I send home and the Raz kids online books. The readings will be put in the yellow log book (in the plastic bag). If the student forgot their agenda, please find the booklet we read that day in the pouch of your child’s agenda.

The last 2 days of classes before the break included decorating ginger bread cookies I made for the students, preparing the Christmas present the students made for their families, talking about the birth of Jesus, and making various crafts. We had an Elf on the Shelf named Bot visit our class. She often moved about the class as long as the students did not touch her. The students could hardly wait to have their turn to open the Advent calendar each day. We often said a prayer or reflected on what we could do to prepare our hearts for Christmas.

The grade 1 students enjoyed painting the reindeer with a grade 5/6 buddy. Thanks to all those students. In the next week or so, the students will bring these amazing paintings home.

The students loved the Math games we played before Christmas such as gingerbread roll and hot chocolate marsh mellow. These games were a hit as the students were able to eat some candies once they completed the game. The games gave them the opportunity to practice adding and subtracting. 

Thanks to our Educational Assistant, Maria, who was with us for a short time in December, the students   had the opportunity to review, once again, how to hang their coats, snow pants, gloves, back packs neatly. I asked her to take most of the students one by one, and to explain how to organize and keep their belongings off of the floor. Some students still need some encouragement, however, I know with some more practice and reminders they will be able to keep their belongings off of the floor.

The desk fairy came to visit us a few times before Christmas. Some students have been trying to keep their desks as neat as they can. The students are encouraged to clean their desks daily, and once a week the students help one another clean their desks.

At the end of the month, we will be having a winter celebration where the students will be performing poems and songs for their parents. More details to follow!