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!