September 29, 2017

What an exciting week it has been.  We met our new Grade 3 buddies and learned a lot about Terry Fox.  We plan to work with our buddies on projects throughout the year.

We spent the first three days this week involved in Terry Fox Training, in order to prepare for Thursday's run. In our diad alone, we raised over $100!  Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity.

We had some interesting visitors last week as well. Two tortoises named Rosie and Jerry came to see us.  We introduced them to Shelly too!






We have been focussing this week on self-selected and paired reading, and how that should look. Ask your child to show you what both kinds of reading look like.  We have also been developing comprehension strategies through our read alouds.  This week we focused on The Greedy Triangle, where we learned about 2D shapes and their attributes.  I wonder how many shapes your child remembers drawing?  Perhaps your child can draw and label them to show you! We also learned that it is not cool to be greedy, rather to be satisfied with the wonderful things we already have.

As a follow up to last week's International Peace Day, we learned to draw round peace signs.  Ask your child to show you how it's done!

This week we focused on the letter Oo.  We practiced printing in our books, and brainstormed all the names of the students in our class whose names contained an Oo.  We talked about how Oo is one of the vowels and that it has a long and a short sound.

We also re-read a favourite story called Cat on a Mat.  We then brainstormed words that rhymed with "at".

Next week we would like to go on a walk back to the pond for an early Fall walk.  We will require up to 8 volunteers.  Please go to the link on the Blog.  There will soon be room on Thursday, October 5 for all of you to sign up.  Please ensure that you have a valid security clearance.

Have a super weekend!

September 22, 2017

Dear Parents,

Welcome to the first full day of Fall.  The weather has certainly taken a turn.  Please take time with your child to talk about the changes they have observed in the natural environment over the last few weeks.  We will be focusing on seasonal changes as they occur throughout the school year.

In a few weeks we will be returning to the pond for a Fall walk to look for additional changes that have occurred, especially with our cattails.  Ask your child what he/she has learned about this plentiful resident of our Cranston pond!
           

This week in Math we have reached the number 13 on our day count.  The students are learning how to represent numerals in ten different ways!  We have also been reviewing number pairs to 10, such as 4+6 or 7+3.  Finally, we have been working on graphing various data about our class, such as our favourite colours, birthdays etc.  Students are learning to collect their own data, so if your child says, "I mustache (must ask) you a question", you will know what he/she is talking about!

In the area of literacy, we continue to participate in activities such as whole group guided, paired and self-selected reading.  We have been making words with individual letters and have been noticing that words with the same spelling patterns usually rhyme.  We are beginning to add two letter words to our word wall.  The focus for printing this week was the letter Tt.  We also enjoyed a little tea party!

On International Peace Day we focused on ways that we can be kind, helpful and friendly when we are at school.  Ask your child how to draw a "squiggle people" who are demonstrating a peaceful interaction.

Our volunteer sign-up is up and running, and is attached to our Blog.  If you have any problems signing up, please send an email to either Ms. Cvach and Mrs. Kenna.

Next Thursday, September 28, students will be participating in the Terry Fox Run, beginning with an assembly at 1:00.  We will be running to the windmill with our new grade 3 buddies.  Please encourage your child.  We are collecting Toonies for Terry all next week if you would like to participate.

Enjoy your weekend!

Friday Sept, 15, 2017

Hello parents of Room 1 and 2. Welcome to our blog. This is where we will highlight our learning from the week as well as post some key activities that are coming up on the horizon. Our future posts will have more of a student voice so look for posts from the children about topics they want to share :)

This picture is what our classroom looked liked at the beginning of the school year before the children arrived ! It is very much a "blank slate". Our belief is that as we learn in the classroom, the decor will evolve to celebrate what we are most proud of, sharing our art work and demonstrating learning the objectives of that time. 

We are excited to meet you next week at our Meet the Teacher interviews. If you have not signed up, or you are not receiving emails from the office, feel free to call Karen Hunter or Deanne Kitely in the office at 777-6267. 

This week we have been full of wonder as we explore late summer. We thoroughly enjoyed our walk to the pond as we noticed seasonal changes. This has lead to the beginning of an inquiry about cat tails. Come in and see your child's artwork and information gathered from our walk. 

In math we are getting to know each other and graphing our results. These graphing activities have been multi-disciplinary as we talk, write, infer, print, colour, and notice math patterns in the data. 

In grade one we write, read and think mathematically daily.  We blend all of the curricular outcomes through these lenses. We believe in inquiry, a student centered approach, and bringing the outside natural world into our class as much as possible.

The children seemed very excited about Shelly time. We end most days with a class meeting as Shelly wanders around our circle. 

We LOVE grade one! If you have any questions, feel free to email us. 

Sincerely
Mrs. Kenna and Ms. Cvach

Welcome back to school !

This is our first blog of the year!

We will be posting more information on our blog every Friday.

From Room1 and 2

Ms. Cvach and Mrs. Kenna