We have had a busy week! We've been working on improving some of our classroom routines and are working together to complete a bingo card. Once students have shown me three times that they can successfully meet the expectations of each activity, they get a check mark. Once the box has three checkmarks, we will cross it off. We are working towards some extra tech time for the whole class! One time of day we are particularly working on is our mindfulness time after lunch. We've been reviewing choices and expectations.
We have been working on adding sensory language to make our writing more interesting! We worked on a sensory language activity as a class with a cinnamon bun, and students worked in table groups to brainstorm their own sensory language. Grade 1 students worked with me on spacing in their writing (what we like to call spaghetti and meatballs!) and Grade 2 students worked with Mrs. Carreño on synonyms.
As part of our exploration into the question: who am I? We read the story "The Best Part of Me." Students chose one (physical) part of them that they think is the best. We started with a brainstorming page and then turned that information into full sentences using sentence frames. We will continue with this work next week - I can't wait to see how it turns out!
We enjoyed starting our daily Word Work Groups at the end of the day Monday-Thursday. Here is an update about what each group is learning:
In Ms. Greenhall's Word Work Group students have been learning about consonants. This week we reviewed the letters B, S, M and R using the Animated Literacy actions. We then cut and sorted pictures that start with these letters. Ask your child about the actions for B, S, M, and R.
In Ms. Lacour's Word Work Group students have been learning about vowels. This week we reviewed short "A" and looked at the "AT" word family. We then sorted pictures to match the corresponding words. Ask your child about words in the "AT" family.
In Ms. Midgley's Word Work Group students have been learning about digraphs. Digraphs are two letters that go together to make one sound. This week we learned about the SH sound and sorted pictures based on whether they started with s, h or sh. Students who were ready for the challenge also used the corresponding words. We learned about the Animated Literacy character Sheriff Shadrack and his Shaggy Sheep - ask your child about the sound and action for 'sh.'
In Ms. Romanko's Word Work Group students have been learning about blends, inflected endings and novel study. Blends or are groups of consonants whose sounds blend together. Each letter within the blend is pronounced individually, but quickly, so they ‘blend’ together. This week we worked on the blend 'ST' and sorted pictured based on whether they started with s, t, or st. Students attempted to write out labels for their pictures if they had time. Our inflected endings group worked with the plural endings 's' or 'es'. They looked for patterns in words to know when to add an 's' or an 'es'. The base words ending is sh, ch, s, or x needed an 'es'. If there was already the letter 'e' on the end of a word, it only needed an 's'. It was tricky but in the end all of the students understood the difference!
We have a few students working on reading comprehension. These students were given a short passage to read and answer questions following their reading. They all did amazing and will move on to a short novel study next week.
In Ms. Gierl & Ms. Green's Word Work Group, students are learning about Common Long Vowels. We began our learning this week focusing on the different sounds like A makes. We explored short A sounds such as "cat, cap, trap" and long A sounds such as "tray, pail, rain, hay." We began sorting using picture cards into short A and long A columns and some students extended their learning by brainstorming additional words that would fit into each category. Our next steps will challenge us to move forward with short and long A sounds in word form.
In math, we have been reviewing base ten, tally marks and greater than or less than. Students played place value bingo and enjoyed some math centres to practice these skills. We created Base Ten Creatures that you can see during conferences!
In science, Mrs. Carreño has been teaching us all about colour! Students enjoyed learning about primary and secondary colours. They created fortune tellers for colours and are working on some artwork as well. We will be connecting this learning to liquids next week. We also connected this work to our social emotional learning. Unfortunately due to staff shortages and illness we were unable to go on our walking field trip on Friday. We will re-schedule for another day next week!
TD Books
We are very pleased to share The Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s gift to each Grade one student at our school. This book has been provided with the support of TD Bank Group. The book this year is Fast Friends written by Heather M. O’Connor, illustrated by Claudia Davila and published by Scholastlc Canada.
We are excited that students will bring these books home to share with you. Reading together as a family helps to develop a love of reading and a passion for books.
November Conferences
Next week on Thursday evening and Friday morning, we are holding parent-teacher conferences. Please make sure to sign up for a 15 minute meeting time. If you have trouble booking a time, please contact me or the front office for support. Our book fair will be open during this time for you to browse and purchase books. All of the books at the book fair can also be found online (see the next message!)
Scholastic Book Fair!
Dear families,
Mark your calendars! The fun and excitement of a Scholastic Book Fair is coming to our school! To adapt to our changing needs, Scholastic has developed a Hybrid Book Fair (in-school with a virtual link) to provide an opportunity for our students and families to experience the joy of reading together.
So, save the date! OurScholastic Virtual Book Fairwill take place on:
When it’s time to shop, you can choose to visit the virtual link and purchase online or send in cash for your child to purchase books in person. We will be sending home a letter with more information soon!
Happy reading!
Card Club Days for Grade 1/2 (For students who returned signed forms)
Cards are only to be brought to school on card club days.
Students attend card club from 11:40-12:00 instead of going outside for lunch recess.
Monday, November 21st
Monday, December 5th
Winter Concert
Mark your calendars...December 15th will be our Grade 1-6 Winter Concert. Kindergarten concert will be in April. More information will come from Mrs. Kawchuk as we get closer to the performance date.
Upcoming Dates
Every Tuesday afternoon - Library book exchange
November 21st-27th: Virtual Book Fair
Wednesday, November 23rd - Photo Re-Re-Takes (please email me if your child needs a re-take!)
Thursday, November 24th (PM) & Friday, November 25th (AM) - Conferences. & in-person book fair
Thursday, December 1st - Banzai Fun Lunch
Thursday, December 15th - Waffles and Chix Fun Lunch
Thursday, December 15th - Winter Concert (AM & PM)
Hello families, We had a great week in room 11! The highlight of our week was our field trip to Studio Bell. Students learned about sound, pitch, volume and rhythm. They had so much fun exploring different musical instruments! Thanks so much to the volunteers who were able to join us. This year we are also planning a field trip to the new SAM Centre at Stampede Park and the Zoo! I learned at Studio Bell that students do not know many (if any) Canadian musicians. So, during snack time we're having "Canadian Musician Appreciation Time" - we are listening to different Canadian artists and deciding if we enjoy the music or not. This week we listened to The Tragically Hip and Corey Hart (they had "the sunglasses" at Studio Bell). They also don't know The Beatles so we'll have to listen to some of their songs as well! This week in science we also wrapped up our learning about matter, including...
Hello families, My apologies again about not making a blog post last week! Here's what we got up to this week: We enjoyed spending lots of time with Elder Shirley on Wednesday morning. She walked students through a smudge and talked about some of the sacred medicines. She taught us how to hoop dance and how we can tell a story using our bodies and the hoops. We also enjoyed spending time outside with the hoops and some stuffed animal friends. We performed some hoop dancing for Ms. Zimmer's class and then enjoyed watching Elder Shirley perform some hoop dancing. We also met her mischievous bear friend, Lemon! We're continuing to learn about the Indigenous Seven Sacred Teachings. This week we learned about the teaching of honesty which is represented by the Sabe. Students wrote about a time when they showed honesty. We also read a story called Finn's Little Fibs by Tom Percival and students used loose parts to create a time when they fibbed....
Our first two days of school in room 11 were great! We enjoyed reading some stories together, getting to know each other and our classroom space, and students enjoyed exploring different work choices together in the classroom. We've also already celebrated two birthdays in the classroom! We had gym outside on Thursday and Friday and are looking forward to joining Ms. Zimmer's class for gym next week! We talked a lot about different expectations at school and why it's important to follow the classroom expectations. I always use my cat, Eli, to show listening expectations on the carpet. A notice from School Council came home today! (At least one was found on the ground so I just wanted to make sure everyone saw) Soft Entry We will be starting "Soft Entry" on Wednesday, September 4th. This means that students can arrive between 8:00-8:10 am, come through the garden doors and walk down to their classrooms. The teachers will be on supervision at the door, in the ...
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