October Newsletter
Fall has arrived! Our grade one students have grown comfortable with the classroom routines and they are showing enthusiasm and interest in their learning.
Home reading is well under way. I strongly encourage you to read with your child every night. When you document the books read in the reading folder it is easy for me to choose new books for your child. Please take the time to read, question and document your child's progress.
Sight word work has begun in the classroom and at home. Your child should have a bag of words in their reading folder. These words must be memorized to make reading a more enjoyable task for your child. If you have any questions or comments
please contact me.
We are in the middle of our inquiry on bats in Science. The children have learned amazing facts about bats. Ask your child what echolocation is and how it helps bats. At the beginning of the unit - 13 children said they like bats and 7 didn't. I am curious to see if that changes. Another question you might ask is "how are bats helpful to people?" We will delve deeply into bears in November.
We have been mapping and exploring our citizenship in Social. Our endangered animal adoption project is in full swing. I am happy to announce that our first 4 animals have arrived in the classroom. Pictures to follow.
In Math we completed our pattern work and are now exploring numbers to 20. One area to work on is helping your child with the concept of 1 and 2 more or less than a number. Give your child the number 7 ask what number is one more, two more, what is one less, two less? This is a hard concept for some. We are learning how to count by 1's, 2's, 5's and 10's to 100 and backwards from 20.
In Religion we are looking at friendship and belonging. We know that the bible is a collection of stories about God. We read several Bible stories and focused more time on Noah's Ark. Please practice the Our Father and the Hail Mary prayers with your child. They are required prayers for Grade One.
In Health our focus has been on safety. We have practiced fire drills and lock downs and have had several discussions on stranger safety.
Sketching and painting were the focus in Art. We are learning how to draw trees and people. Our most recent painting is a water colour called "Bats at Sunset."
Coming Events:
Tuesday, November 25th - Field Trip to the Leighton Art Centre. We will be taking the bus and require 4 adult volunteers to come with us. Please send me a message if you can volunteer.
Welcome to the 2014/2015 School Year.
ReplyDeleteWe have had an eventful and fun filled first week of Grade One. We have picked up on new routines, and have already mastered the "Give Me 5" system where we stop, place our eyes on the speaker, our mouths are zipped, our hands and bodies are still, our brains are thinking about the topic, and our ears are listening. We know how to be a good listeners.
We have formed a new family and become a community of learners. Together we have joined hands and pledged to help each other to be the best that we can be!
Please join us as we begin our grade one journey and share our stories and our learning.