Jan 9 - 13, 2023

Hello, Grade 1 families!

Welcome back to Grade 1! I hope it was a lovely break for all and I wish you nothing but the best in 2023. We have started the year off really well and students are jumping into their learning. 

Learning Intention: I can investigate addition strategies. I can model addition within 20.

One of the skills we focused on this week was addition. We have talked about adding two numbers together within 10 and this week we worked with bigger numbers. We had the pleasure of working with Mrs. Gordon, one of our school's Learning Leaders, who came and worked with us in addition problem-solving. Students were given manipulatives and chart paper and asked to find various ways to solve for a given sum. Ex: ____ + ____ + _____ = 13. Instead of using just 2 numbers in our problem-solving, we now had to use 3. Sometimes we were challenged to find a different way to solve the problem or to not use a certain number or it had to contain 2-digit numbers. It was very interesting and exciting to see their problem-solving skills in action. Everyone did so well and I am very proud of them!

To end our week, we had the opportunity to work with Clay for Kids and create a self-portrait. They are amazing and I cannot wait for them to come back from the kiln. Thank you to the volunteers who joined us. 

I hope you have enjoyed reading your child's journal and listening to them read to you from their poetry books. Students have worked hard this year on learning how to read and have been presenting our poems to our classmates, buddies and other school staff. 

Dec 19 - 22, 2022

Hello, Grade 1 families!

Learning Intention: I can identify each of the senses and what they do. I can identify how my senses contribute to my life and overall well-being. I can use my senses to identify and describe.

We had so much fun with a holiday listening game where we listened to short clips of different sounds we might hear during the holiday season and we drew what we thought it was. Ask your child what sounds we listened to! Some we decided didn't sound the same as they would in our houses, especially on Christmas morning (unwrapping presents), we thought it would be much noisier! On our last day before the break, we tested our senses with popcorn! We listened to it. We smelled it. We touched it. We looked at it and we ate it! Ask your child what describing words we came up with to describe popcorn. Thank you to those families we loaned us your air poppers!

Winter Solstice - What is one challenge I am grateful for? 

• "Shots they hurt but they keep me healthy." ~AW
• "Hockey because when we play real hockey games sometimes I fall." ~WG
• "Math problems because they make me smarter but sometimes they are really hard." ~WE
• "Hockey in the real games we play sometimes there are really good people that could score on the net easily." ~LW
• "I am grateful for my seatbelt. It is a challenge to put on because of my booster seat but it keeps me safe." ~BR
• "It is a challenge for me to do hard math problems but I am grateful because I am learning." ~BH
• "Baseball is challenging because sometimes it is hard to hit the ball but I am grateful for it because I have fun." ~SP
• "I am grateful my mum put me in basketball because it is tough for me when I have to use those big balls but I have my own ball and it is fun." ~LK
• "Shots because they hurt but I am grateful for them because they keep me healthy." ~BJ

As we move into the new year, I wish you all the best this holiday season and look forward to seeing each child learn and grow even more in 2023!

Dec. 12 - 16, 2022

 Hello, Grade 1 families!

Learning Intention: I can identify 2D and 3D shapes. 

This week we reviewed 2D and 3D shapes. Students remembered that 2D shapes are flat and 3D objects pop out! Students drew winter scenes with 2D shapes and looked for 3D objects around our classroom. We continue to work on naming our shapes. Playdough is a fun hands-on way to build 3D shapes. 

On Monday, we did Hour of Code and we loved it! Here is the link if you want to check it out at home. 

On Thursday, we will be doing the popcorn 5 senses task. If you would prefer your child not eat the popcorn, please let me know. 

Last week before winter break:

• December 19^th – dress in green (Grumpy Grinch Day)
• December 20^th – dress in your favourite festive funky hat/headwear
• December 21^st – dress in your favourite silly sweater
• December 22^nd – dress in your PJ’s and bring a stuffy