September 18-22

Our first full week of school has been a busy one! The gym floor is complete which was a very exciting moment in our week. We have been playing tag games along with Mrs. Derechey's class as we are learning the rules of the gym. We had a wonderful first day of fall today, we finished up the day and our school week with a fall art project

Odds and Ends

• I am looking for a couple parent volunteers next week to help me finish getting prepped and organized to begin home reading starting the first week of October. With my carpal tunnel I would really appreciate an extra set of hands. If you are able please e-mail me and let me know!
• Please remember to fill out the Terry Fox permission forms on Power School. 
• Scholastic book order will be sent in on Monday if you would still like to order. 

Important dates for next week

• Library books returned on Wednesday
• Blue Day on Thursday
• October hot lunch order due Thursday
• Terry Fox walk on Friday

Math

In math we have been working on our number words as well as still counting on the twenty. All of the students can rock counting from one to twenty. However we worked hard this week on knowing what comes after any number without having to count starting at one (ie. What number comes after 8? Count on starting at 11?). This is something I strongly recommend you all work on with your child at home as it is very tricky for most of them. We played a math game today just using a dice. With a partner they would take turns rolling the dice, and practice counting up to twenty from whatever number we rolled. It also allowed them to practice their subitizing more.

Language

They rocked their first spelling test! Thank you for taking the time to help them prepare. Many of them were shocked when I changed up the order from what was in their agenda but they all did great. I am sending home their spelling duotang, please sign the quiz so that I know you saw it, on the back of the page I have set up a place where they can practice the words that they got wrong. I added in a surprise bonus word that we have been practicing both in math and reading. The word one, such a tricky word in grade one! We have continued on in our phonics book. We have looked at more letters as well as matching the proper upper and lowercase letter together. The children also practiced identifying the beginning sound with the letters that we have learned so far. We started reading our second book, "I Spy." It also connected in with our math unit which was really fun. During our daily five time we are still practicing the expectations of reading to self. We have been practicing reading to a partner as well this week. 

Social

We watched a Franklin video at lunch that related to our 'belonging.' concept we have been talking about. We reviewed what it meant to belong and looked further into how it feels to belong. This also linked into still building our classroom community. The class did such a great job during our show and share. They all shared they stories and listened so nicely to each other. We created a book that shows three of the different groups each child is part of. It took us some time to complete the sentences but we finished it today.

Science

we finished up our lighter and darker ice cream cones earlier this week. You can see them beautifully displayed at right next to the library in the display case. We finished practicing writing our color words, we still struggle to recognize them so we will be working more on that next week. 

Sight Words

Sight words are words that can be read automatically by sight- you just look at the word and read it. These words are also critical words for your child to know how to spell as they prepare to formulate sentences independently.

This year the grade ones will be learning many sight words. Each week we will practice specific new words and add them to our class Word Wall for reference during reading and writing class activities. The goal is that eventually when your child sees these words they no longer go through the 'sounding out' phase. This is by no means a intense test for your child, if your child is stuck on a word please tell it to them, we don't want this to be frustrating. Practicing spelling words is also getting them in the habit of having a short amount of 'homework' to do.
Below are a few ways you might use to help your child prepare for Friday:

• Write the words on flashcards and have them identify the individual letters that spell the word
• Use two sets of flashcards and play memory
• Use pipe cleaners and have them bend into the desired letters to spell each word
• Rainbow words: have them practice printing each word in different colors
• Spell the words using play dough, letter beads etc. 
• Search for the words in a newspaper
• Type words out on a keyboard(even a paper one)
• Make up word search puzzles at http://abcya.com/make_a_word_search.htm

Do what works best for you and your child, as I said this doesn't have to be a painful process, we can make it fun!

September 11-14

Another busy week here in grade one! We are starting to get a hang of this transition from kindergarten into grade one. The students looked so adorable for picture day on Monday. We had a great Red Day we read red themed books including 'My Big Red Lollipop," and 'The Little Red Hen." I also taught the children sign language for various red items we see everyday. Grade one is the first group to have their work posted in the display case so we have been working through two cross-curricular art projects that have been messy and exciting for the children!

Odds and Ends

- Most of you have your Power school online account set up. If you did not I sent home a letter earlier this week. Please set up that account as soon as possible. Once it is set up please go on there and sign your child's permission form to partake in the Terry Fox walk on the 29th. .
- Thursday will be our next color themed day, please send them to school in yellow.
- The hot lunch online registration opened on Monday, you do not have to sign up for the entire year you can do it monthly. The due date for the October hot lunch is on September 28.
-If you were interested in ordering spirit wear for your child orders need to be in by the 21st.
- We will be having our first every spelling test next Friday! Do not stress about them but please help your child in preparing for them and practicing.

Math: We finished our review of numbers 1-10. We also worked on our subitizing skills with a dice game. Next week we will begin looking at the numbers 11-20 and how to represent them concretely, pictorially and symbolically. 

Science: We took a break from creating color earlier in the week and looked at summer. What are some of the activities we do in summer, what do we wear in the summer, what do the days look like in the summer etc. Later in the week we learned about 'lighter and darker' colors, we did a Smartboard activity sorting a variety of items from lightest to darkest; we organized the class based on what we were wearing from lightest to darkest on Red day. The students were so excited when we started our art project using white paint to make various colors lighter. We will be finishing this project next week and cannot wait to show you! 

Language: The students learned three different ways someone can read. I demonstrated a picture walk for them, then we did one as a class. We have been practicing our 'Read to Self' skills as well as building up our stamina, we got up to four minutes once of uninterrupted reading to self! We read our first story ever called "Yellow." The students listened to this story, we read it as a class, they took turns reading it to a buddy. They then reconstructed the story. I had the story printed on strips, with pictures that matched the story. They had to cut and glue the words in the correct order of the book. We continue on with our phonics review. The beginning of the week we looked at simple CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words that used the short /a/(for example van and cat). We have worked through three more individual letter sounds /t/, /p/ and /i/.  

Social: We read the story "Only One You" and talked about the ways in which we are all unique. We looked at physical traits as well as personality traits. This was our next cross-curricular art project the children made a self-portrait that represented how they are unique. We have started brainstorming the different groups we can belong to. We read a poem called "Belonging' and have had some amazing discussions on how it feels to belong, how we can make others feel when we include them etc. This part of social is perfect for the beginning on grade one as we learn the expectations. Please send a group item for Tuesday. It could be a medal your child won in a sport, a picture is easy of your family/a team etc. Help your child brainstorm what they are going to say about that group and we will be sharing our stories with each other. 

Gym: With the gym still under construction we have been going outside everyday for gym along with Mrs. Derechey's class. We are learning how to play together on the park and working on our playing together skills while being 'hands off.' 

September 5-8

What an incredible first week we have had! It has been a great week getting to know all of your children as well as all of you parents! We have learned so much this week and are really settling into this new routine. We completed a "All About Me," as well as a "My First Week of School." These activities were great introductions to following whole class instructions as well as for me to get a sense of where each of their printing skills are. We have also been talking lots about how to be a good friend and the qualities that make up a good friend. The children got to go meet Mrs. McRae twice this week, once they had music and once they had health. They were very excited to get to go to a different classroom to learn!

 Here is just a break down of some of the things we have learned this week

Social: First the children looked at themselves as individuals. We have also been working hard to get to know our daily routine and classroom/school rules in order to build our classroom community. We have been talking about tattling vs. reporting. You may hear your children talk about a very important muscle, their 'ignoring muscles.' Next week we will be extending past our classroom 'group' and looking at what other groups the children are part of (school, family, teams etc). I will be asking the children to bring something to school from one of the groups they are part of other than our classroom/school group (jersey, medal, family photo etc.) This will tie into language as we will have a show and share where the children each get to talk about their groups. 

Math: We have begun reviewing our numbers from 1-20 this week. We have been practicing printing the number and being able to draw the quantity of that number (ex. write the number 2 and draw two hearts). This is a skill we will be continuing to practice next week, extending it to also look at the number words. 

Science: We have introduced our creating color unit. We introduced the unit by reading "The day my crayons quit." In the book the yellow and orange crayon are fighting about which one is the true color of the sun. This concept tied into our math when we voted and counted how many thought the sun should be colored yellow and how many thought orange. This also tied into our friendship and tattling/reporting conversations. 

Gym: With the gym still being under construction we have gone outside for gym to play on the park with the other grade one class. Allowing them the chance to get to know their peers! Mrs. Derechey and myself will be combining our gym classes so it was a get way for the students to get to know each other. 

Language: We have started reviewing the sounds that each letter makes. We have been extending their phonemic awareness by break apart or putting together sounds orally before looking at the letter on a page. We have completed two read- along September poems also. One of the poems was call "If you are wearing red" which connected to science. It was also a great listen and react activity. 

Important dates for next week:

• Monday: Please send in the special snack day sign up forms back on Monday, I'd like to get that organized as soon as possible!
• Tuesday: Picture Day
• Wednesday is library day. The children are allowed the books for two weeks however we go weekly. 
• Thursday: Red Day. We have started our creating color unit in science. Please send your child in red on this day. 
• Friday: No school, PD Day

Odds and Ends

• Next week we will no longer be gluing our agenda messages into the book, they will be printing them! If you have no idea what it says I have outlined most of the messages above, if there is something else to add I will post it on here or send a message. 

Once again any questions/concerns, anything you would like to share/ask please contact me! Have a wonderful weekend, see you all next week!