Dec. 19-23

Leader: Hudson
Day 1. Mon- Library
Day 2.Tues- Holiday party in the AM, Movie (PM )for the entire school
Day 3. Wed- Physed
Day 4. Thurs- Computers, Caroling in the PM,  Music
Day 5. Fri- Physed, Movie in the PM with Mrs. Olson's Grade 1 class


Everyone loved the snow!!!

Welcome to the last week of school before the winter holidays. Wow...time flies! I hope that everyone is staying healthy and keeping warm. I am currently spending my weekend in bed with barely any voice left...I hope to feel better by Monday. Fingers crossed! I apologize but I will be keep this post quite short.



It was heartwarming to come back to school to this jar on my desk....
The students wrote Christmas wishes with Mrs. Champagne on Thursday. We read several of them on Friday. Here are some examples:
Justin: "I hope that you can get a new dress for Christmas."
Dean: "I wish there were two of you."

News:
Thank you to everyone for coming out to our winter concert. The children did a fantastic job singing and acting like pirates! THANK YOU SO MUCH for donating items for our Stonegate family. The students and I looked through all the wonderful things that everyone donated over the last couple of weeks.

There will be no extra practice worksheets going home until January. Please enjoy your weekends with your family and friends. Also, please take 20 minutes to read with your child every day :)

Our Holiday party is on Tuesday morning. If you have signed up to volunteer, you are welcome to come to school around 8:30 to set up for your activity. Please sign in at the office and obtain a volunteer tag. We have 19 children and we will be rotating through four different activities (approx. 15 minutes each). 

If you are sending treats/small gifts for the class, please ensure that all food items are peanut and nut free. The children decorated their holiday bags so everyone will be going home with their bag on Dec. 23rd. Please let me know if your child will be going on holidays earlier so that I may get their bag ready.


Writing to Elfonzo, our mysterious little elf....


Making board games with our friends.


More board games and posters....




 
Learning about letter writing.


Writing a letter to Santa.


Adding and subtracting with lego.


Ten Frame game and addition sentences up to 10.

Dec. 12- 16

Leader: Dean
Day 1. Mon- Library
Day 2.Tues- Concert Rehearsal in the PM
Day 3. Wed- Concert Rehearsal in the AM, Reading Buddies, Physed, Holiday Concert at 6 PM
Day 4. Thurs- Computers, Music
Day 5. Fri- Physed



The students decided to decorate our little tree. Look at all the beautiful ornaments that they made! They have also been learning to wrap presents. Everyday, a student chooses a book, unwraps it and we read the story together.

CONCERT- Note from Ms. McGee and Ms. Barry

- All classes gr 1-5 will come dressed only to the evening performance (Wednesday 5:30)
- We are asking parents to deliver their child to their classroom at 5:30 in costume. You will pick up your child AFTER the concert in their classroom.
- We will be lining up the grade 1 and 4 classes (maybe the 2's as well) in the hallway at 5:50ish to enter the gym and go sit on the risers.  The play will begin at 6.- After the finale, all students will return to their classes and will be picked up by their parents there. Sign your child in and out.
- We also need your help with costumes - no weapons or hooks for pirates and patches, should they have one, should be on their foreheads.  And people of Pinataville should be in a colourful, single colour top with black bottoms.  Sun glasses are also good.  See msbarrymusic.wordpress.com for photos and a more detailed description of costumes that the parents recieved a couple of weeks ago.

News/Reminders:
- Please provide your child with an adequate amount of time to practice getting dressed and undressed in their winter clothing. I typically provide children with extra time before recess but some children need a lot more time. We will get faster as we practice. 
- Please ensure that your child's clothing is labelled (even mittens and hats)
- A huge thank you goes out to all our wonderful volunteers :) Thank you for reading with the children, helping out during pizza lunches and joining us for our class parties.
- Please make sure to return your child's field trip form and pay online for the trip. You may pay until December 12th. Several parents checked off that they would like to volunteer on the trip. Each grade one class only needs one parent volunteer, therefore I will put parents' names into a hat and we will pull out a name in class. Thank you for your interest and dedication.
- Thank you to Samantha, our grade parent for creating our online sign up events and helping us set up for our Stonegate donations. Stonegate Family: Please consider donating to the basket for the family our class has been assigned. Please send items with your child or bring directly to the classroom as the basket will stand there. Thank you!


Math: We are finishing our measurement unit with various hands on activities. Next, we will work on composing and decomposing numbers up to 20 with some addition and subtraction problems. Please continue to practise skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s with your child as this will help with our upcoming activities.

Language: We finished our unit on procedural writing (how to writing). Students' work will be sent home before the holiday break. We have been discussing levels/marks based on the following rubric:


Science: We have discussed various energy sources and began to discuss ways to conserve energy at home. A take home activity will be sent home on Monday. Please make sure to return it by Friday, December 16th.
Social Studies: We are finishing up our unit on rules, roles and responsibilities. We will began a new unit on Community after the holiday break.

Media Literacy: We have been discussing different media forms and the importance of questioning what we see or hear on television. Here is a video that we watched in class:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89-LuFkQ3t8

Sneak Peak into the classroom:

We decorated our holiday bags. We ordered strips of paper from longest to shortest.

We learned to estimate and measure enough paper to wrap our holiday books.


We loved learning how to wrap presents!


We worked together to decorate our class tree.

The students have been talking about Christmas which led to wonderful discussions about different holidays that people celebrate at this time of the year. Ms. Nisker (an ECE who works in a Kindergarten class with Mrs. Burn) visited us last week. She shared stories about Hanukkah and taught us how to play with dreidels. We read a story about Hanukkah and learned about the Menorah. Ask your child what they have learned about Hanukkah.
 
We estimated and measured the area of our chairs and tables.

We have been writing to our mysterious visitor....he has been leaving us bells and notes. We found out that his name is Elfonzo and he is an elf. We asked him many questions and found out that his birthday is coming up. Elfonzo has been talking to us about the importance of being kind and respectful all year round, not just during the month of December.


Writing stories together.



Playing our cheese and crackers sight word game.
Literacy Centres.

Dec. 5- Dec. 9

Leader: Barbara
Day 1. Mon- Library
Day 2.Tues- Health
Day 3. Wed- Reading Buddies, Physed
Day 4. Thurs- Computers, Music
Day 5. Fri- Physed

News/Reminders:
Happy December! This is an extremely busy month at LKS so please continue to check the class blog and Ms. Caddel's blog at lksprincipal.blogspot.ca. Our grade parent, Samantha will be distributing information regarding our Stonegate baskets. Each year, LKS collects gifts for those less fortunate. Every class will be assigned to a family and we work together to provide necessities and small gifts for adults and the children in the family. All donations will be collected in our classroom. Thank you in advance.

Our trip to Harbour Centre has been entered into the cashless system. You may pay from Dec. 5th to Jan. 18th. Every student needs to bring in a shoe box for the trip. They may bring it to school at any time with their name on it. We will store the shoe boxes in our classroom.

Dec. 20- Class Holiday Party (an invite will be sent out if anyone is interested in volunteering)
Math:
We are continuing our unit on measurement. The students have been estimating, measuring, comparing and describing length using non- standard units such as paper clips and cubes. They had an opportunity to complete a hands on measurement activity with their grade four reading buddies. They estimated the length of their feet, arms, lips and hands and measured the length with snap cubes.

Ways to help at home:
- measure different objects around the home using paper clips, blocks, string, straws, etc.
- compare shoe sizes or height of family members

Science:
Students completed their first STEM activity and it was a big hit!
STEM- science, technology, engineering, math
They worked in small groups to develop wind powered cars as part of our energy unit. They worked together and brainstormed ways to make their car move as far as possible across the floor. The students tested their cars, marked the distance, and continued to change their models. Some studies created sails, others used a lot of paper and straws to make their cars move. They loved racing and comparing the distance between each group. We began discussing the importance of renewable resources such as wind and solar energy.






Language
We began our week with journal writing. The students always have such wonderful stories to share! We will continue to work on procedural writing (how to writing). Some transitional words include: first, next, then, after, finally. We will also begin learning about letter writing and get ready to write our letters to Santa!

The students have shown interest in various holidays and celebrations around the world. We will begin reading books and poems about different holidays celebrated in December such as Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa.

Reading at home:
Please make sure to read with your child for at least 20 minutes every night. As your child reads, listen for fluency and ask comprehension questions at the end of the book. It is extremely important for your child to make meaning of the text that they are reading. To enhance fluency, have your child read the same book several times. Fluent readers sound natural and read smoothly. If your child is reading word by word and sounding choppy, ask them to make it sound like they are talking. You may also want to record your child reading and play it for them so that they may hear what they sound like. They will be able to monitor their reading, work on fluency and their expression. 

Nov. 28- Dec. 1 **

Leader of the week: Dylan (bring your mystery object & 3 clues)
day 2. Mon. Nov. 21- Health, Ms. Furczon away in the PM (Ms. D will be teaching)
day 3. Tues. Nov. 22- Reading Buddies, Physed
day 4. Wed. Nov. 23- Computers, Music
day 5. Thurs. Nov. 24- Physed
Movie Night- Tickets are $5 and can be purchased online at http://tdsb.schoolcashonline.com/

day 1. Fri. Dec. 2- PA Day (no school for students)

News/ Reminders:
- Thank you to our volunteers for helping out during pizza lunch and scientist in the school. We loved having Scientist Zane in our classroom. The students rotated through five hands on centres and learned more about heat, solar, wind, light and sound energy.
- If you have signed up for a special event in our classroom but cannot make it, please make sure to email Samantha as soon as you can so that we can find a replacement. Thank you so much for your understanding. I appreciate your ongoing support and willingness to take part in our events. The students LOVE having family members in the classroom.
- Please ensure your child has indoor and outdoor shoes.
- December 14th: Grade 1 Holiday Concert
- Please ensure that your child brings back their green workbook so that I may place additional practice sheets inside of it.
- Thank you for all your Movember donations. The students and I had a blast wearing mustaches on Friday. My black marker came in handy that day!

Sneak Peak into First Grade
We had a fantastic week! The students have been working cooperatively and doing a much better job at managing their own behaviour. Mrs. Champagne was very proud of everyone on Wednesday. She taught the students four new games which involved active listening and turn taking. On Thursday, the students were so excited to tell me about their amazing day with Mrs. Champagne.

In Math, we have been working on number bonds which involves composing and decomposing various numbers. We mainly focused on number 5 and 10 and discussed different ways of making those numbers. The students used coloured tiles to check their thinking. This is a great introduction to addition and subtraction. I have sent home a number sense package with your child's work. The front page tells you the curriculum expectations which we have been covering in class. Please take a minute to go through your child's package and practice some of the skills mentioned in the rubric. We also started our measurement unit which began with a class discussion about the term "measurement" and what it means to measure. The students had some great answers!

                   Number Bonds


                 

Science
Charley brought in a bees nest which led to wonderful questions and a great class discussion. One of the students was convinced that the nest belonged to hornets so we did some research. He was right! We looked at different types of nests and the difference between bumblebees, hornets, yellowjackets and honey bees. The students also discussed the decrease in bee population and how this affects us in so many ways. They created posters which mostly said, "Do not hurt bees! Keep them alive!" The students thought it was a good idea to tape their posters to our class windows so that people could see them as they walk by the school. We will continue with our inquiry for as long as the students stay interested. It is amazing to see the motivation and eagerness to learn and write when the children are interested in the topic.


     


Art
We have been discussing texture which is one of the elements of design. Last week, the children loved the leaf rubbing activity. This week, they had an opportunity to paint with feathers, sponges and q-tips to create different textures.


 

                     An apple for the teacher!
            Thank you, Li-Na! It was delicious.

November 21- 25

Leader of the week: Charley (don't forget to bring your mystery object and 3 clues)
day 2. Mon. Nov. 21- Scientist in the class (9-11:30), Health
day 3. Tues. Nov. 22- Reading Buddies, Physed
day 4. Wed. Nov. 23- Computers, Music
day 5. Thurs. Nov. 24- Physed

day 1. Fri. Nov. 25- Library

News/ Reminders:
- We need two more volunteers for the Scientist in the classroom on Monday, Nov. 21st. Please sign up on signupgenius or contact Samantha. Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers! Please arrive around 8:30 A.M to help set up and become familiar with your assigned centre. The scientist will have all the instructions and materials ready for you.
- Thank you to everyone for making parent teacher meetings enjoyable. I absolutely loved meeting with all of you, sharing stories and talking about your child's progress. Let's take a minute to remember that it is only November and the transition from Kindergarten to Grade One is a huge one. The class has certainly shown improvement this week. The children and I have been working diligently to build a comfortable classroom environment in which everyone is respected and included. We have been fulfilling our responsibilities and learning to solve our problems with kids words. Ms. McGee (music teacher), along with Ms. Taylor (computers teacher) were both impressed by the sudden change in behaviour. We are becoming better listeners. What great news!
- Please ensure that your child has indoor and outdoor shoes, especially now that the weather is a little messy.
- I will be away on Wednesday and Mrs. Champagne (a regular supply teacher at LKS) will be teaching the class. Mrs. Champagne has a lot of experience under her belt and she is simply incredible!

Math
We have finished Patterning and will be moving onto Measurement and number bonds next week. I will be having one on one conferences with students and all the patterning work will be sent home. The children learned to extend, name and create their own patterns. They have been challenging themselves by adding more colours or shapes to their patterns and finding the core (the part that repeats).

                  Patterning with fruit loops and stickers

 

We continue to practise skip counting by 10s, 5s and 2s. The students cut out three worms and an apple to help them with this skill. The apples were sent home on Friday in everyone's mailbag. Please use this tool as a fun way to practise skip counting at home.

 

Science
We continue to learn about Energy. We read a book called, Energy Makes Things Happen and learned about different types of energy such as: heat, light and sound. We are very excited to welcome the scientist in our class on Monday!



Language
The students rotated through four different literacy centres which included making words with magnetic letters, using dry erase boards and playing sight word games in small groups. It is amazing to observe the students as they create words, share their ideas and take turns playing various games.

We will begin learning about procedural writing (how-to writing). Students will use transitional words such as first, next, then, last to write about their steps. Here is an example: