November 20-November 24

Odds and End

-No spelling next week

-Dental Health presentation Monday afternoon

-November 30 is wear a mustache/beard day

-No school December 1

This week we were very excited to welcome not one, but two new faces into our classroom! We had a new friend join us on Monday, we also have a new adult in the room. Mrs. Cameron will officially be with us Monday-Thursdays for the rest of the year. Also your child will all be coming home today with a book called "Good Morning Canada" that was donated by TD Bank to all Grade one students. 

Language

This week in language we worked completed our short e- work. The students played a rhyming game with short A and short E rhyming words. We also spent some time looking at a book called Apples. In this book we analyzed the words and the pictures to find words/items that started with a specific sound, then we used the words we brainstormed in a sentence starter and had discussions about 'making sense' when we are writing. We did a cut and paste activity that also went along with this. 

Math

We continue on with addition. We worked through more strategies, looking at drawing pictures, counting on and using a number line. The students loved playing I Spy having to find all of the addition problems that I hid around the room.

Science 

This week we focused on our sense of sight. We did a graph looking at eye colors in our class. We talked about the different things we use our eyes for. We also talked about near-sighted and far-sighted people, they were quite amused at testing me without my glasses on. We also looked at braille. We looked at some pictures that made our eyes play tricks on us-optical illusions. 

Social

In social we learned about the difference between rural, suburban, and urban communities. We discussed which kind of community Leduc is. The students did a writing activity describing their neighborhood and what their house looks like. We also started looking at what it means to be a community helper this week. We looked at the first community helper in our reader- a police officer.

November 13-17

Coming to you a couple days late, if you have had the luxury to hear the current state of my voice you would know why! Last week was a busy week, the class has loved to continue to develop our computer skills on various assignments on the Chromebook.

Language

We finished up working with the short A sound and introduced the short E. We did many rhyming activities, reading activities, writing in our writing notebooks, picture sorts, you name it! I also introduced the children to the website Starfall where they worked through at their various activities working on those two vowel sounds. 

Math

We have introduced addition to 10 last week. We will be only going up to ten here so that we can go through the various addition strategies with ease. We only practiced last week using ten frames and pictures. The students are doing wonderful so far. Next week (technically this week) I will be showing them different strategies in which to use during addition. My goal with my current approach is to ensure they are all confident before we move on the the bigger numbers in the new year.

Science

Time to learn about our senses. The children were introduced to the vocabulary and the parts of their bodies that they use in each sense. Last week we practiced hard at recognizing these new science words, for example how the word eye is not spelled like the I that we use in writing everyday.

Social

We finished looking at rights and responsibilities last week and introduced the concept of community. We defined a community as a place where people live, work and play. We will be continuing on with this concept this week. 

November 6- November 10

This week we had two special guests in our room. The division's tech coach Tarynne Angel came in to help the students learn how to work with their Chromebooks. They have picked it up quite fast! We also had Miss. Rachel come in again today to teach the students more about the Mind-Up curriculum. The students learned two different breathing activities to do when they are upset. We also looked again at the glitter jars settling and compared it to being mad/frustrated. We ended the session with a really fun Jelly Belly activity. I am really happy with how well the students are responding to the program so far. The kids were very respectful today during our Remembrance day ceremony. We still have had to have lots of conversations this week about being kind to one another and being 'hands off.'

Language

We worked on Raz-Kids listening to reading this week. We will be wrapping up out short A study on Monday and then be moving on the E. The children also got to explore the short -a activities on Starfall. We did readers that had us look at the short A sound, we did a matching activity looking at the -an, -at and -ap word families. We also got to work with and manipulate letter tiles in two different making words activities that worked with the short -a vowel.

Math

We wrapped up out number representation unit this week, finishing the unit with an assignment the student completed on Google Slides. We will be introducing addition to 10 next week!

Science

The students have officially completed their Creating Color unit this week. I had to have almost all of the students rewrite the exam today for not following the substitute teacher's directions. I am so excited to start our Senses unit with a Christmas swing on it. 

Social 

We have finished the "Belonging in my World" unit the students just need to complete a Rights and Responsibilities assignment on Monday then we will be moving on to "Taking Part in my Community"

October 30-November 3

Odds and Ends:
-You will see at the top I have added in a 'parent resources' tab for you all. There is math and language websites/apps there that may help you in getting in that extra practice at home.
-Winter is here! Please ensure you are sending your kiddos with everything that they need to play out in the cold.

Language: This week we started looking at writing and reading words that word with the short a vowel. We did a number of Halloween themed journal entries this week practicing using our color words. We also had a visit from Mrs. Rachel and see will be back every Friday for the next few weeks to teach our class the Mind Up curriculum. We looked about our guard dog(amygdala) and wise owl(pre frontal cortex) that live in our brain and what happens to them when we get mad. We looked how to calm our guard dog by smelling the flowers and blowing out the candles.

Math: This week in math we continued practicing working through math centers. This week they were Halloween themed which the kids loved!

Social: We introduced the concept of rights and responsibilities to the students. We looked through our big book and had many discussion on the rights we have and responsibilities that come with it. This theme fit right in with the hands off conversation we continue to have in grade one. We also started talking about the importance of Remembrance day. We discussed why we wear poppies and finished our week by starting our Remembrance day craft.

Science: Color mixing fun! The students had many opportunities to mix the primary colors together. They had to try to match a color that I created. It was messy but the children absolutely loved it! We will be finishing up this color unit hopefully this week.