Fabulous First Graders

This past week we had a wonderful time doing more fun work in Language Arts! Both classes are working very hard to identify rhyming words when we hear and see them!  We read a poem called "The Fat Cat'".  Throughout the week, each class read the poem several times and worked together to identify all of the "at" words in the poem.  During these conversations we talked about how these words sound the same at the end and that this is called rhyming! For Writing we transitioned from the poem, keeping the same theme.  Each student practiced using s a t i m to write the sentence: "It is a fat cat".  For Art, we completed a guided drawing of Pusheen the Cat (a fat cat) using this video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS_PQYIGrTc .   Last week for Math, Ms, McGill's class finished our cups and they were brought home.  The goal of these cups was for students to work towards: I can count to 100 by 1s and 10s, starting at 0.  Ms. McGill's class a...

Last week we talked a lot about the importance of Remembrance Day, and why we recognize the soldiers that gave their lives for our freedom.  Each class learned a new song and recorded it for our Remembrance Day assembly last Tuesday. Ms. McGill's Class sang Little Poppy to the tune of Frere Jacques:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TmIJuIE1Lqfrw6PbwNDb3V8O_EYy_m31/view?usp=sharing Ms. Secord's class sang Nothing More by the Alternate Routes.   Both classes are continuing to learn about patterns, and how to identify the core of the pattern.  They are both also starting to talk about skip counting by tens, and Ms. McGill's class created counting cups to represent skip counting by 10. Both classes are continuing to create pattern sentences, focusing on capitals, periods, and finger spaces. Ms. McGill's class made the sentence "If I fits, I sits." to go with a popular meme.  

Last week was a bit short, but it was packed full of learning!  Grade 1 is working very hard to use our knowledge of the s a t i m letters and their sounds to sound out and write words!  This coming week, we will be introducing some fun games that focus on these sounds to our literacy centres. Ms. McGill's class worked hard on our printing.  We talked a lot about I can statements such as,  I can write using the sky, clouds, grass and dirt to remember where my letters go. (The lines on the page.) I can use a period at the end of a sentence. and I  can write my first name using only 1 uppercase. In Science, we did an experiment where we asked the question: What's that smell? Students were given 6 mystery cups.  In their animal groups, students made observations using only their noses!  When they smelled what was in the covered cup, students drew or wrote words to describe what they were smelling.  When smelling the lemons, students drew things that ...

What a cold week this has been!  We have all tried to stay warm.  Make sure that you are dressing your student appropriately with snowpants, boots, mitts, a hat, and a warm jacket, as we do go outside for our morning break and at lunchtime. This week we focused on how to fill in a tens frame. Did you know that you have to start in the same box every time?  Ask your child how to fill out these tens frames. Ms. McGill's class also looked at 3 element patterns.  Both classes will continue to look at 3 and 4 element patterns next week. In Language Arts, we have started doing literacy centres.  The children are practicing different literacy skills, such as practicing the alphabet, reading, writing, making magnet letter words, and using play-dough to create letters. We discussed our school community, and how we have special symbols that represent our school (like the Keeler Cougar sign, the outdoor classroom, our playground, and our school building). The children drew...

We started the week off by talking about what a Scientist does.  What is it, you ask?  Well, they ask questions and they make observations!  We spent the week learning about what an observation is and how to make one.  This led us into our Science unit about senses.   We learned that you can use your 5 senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch to make observations.   Throughout the week we made observations in our classroom and the hallways, using language such as "I observed _____ using my eyes."  or "I observed _____ using my ears".  We also learned that scientists record their observations! At the end of the week we put our observations skills to work in Art.  We collected leaves from outside and created pictures by putting the leaves under our paper and rubbing the top of the paper with a crayon.  In Math, we read the story, "Only One You" by Linda Kranz and created 2 and 3 element patterns on our own fish! We also lear...

Hello Grade 1 Families, Below you'll find photos of what our classrooms look like this year!  Each student has a bin to keep all of his/her school work and supplies, a coat hook, a desk and a shelf.   Both Grade 1 classes are split into groups named after animals so that during transition times we can spread out in the coatroom and shelving areas, as well as by the sink while we wash or sanitize our hands!   Ms. Secord and Ms. McGill both have floor seating at the front of the classroom.  We use this as teaching space to keep the students engaged.  When we work on the floor, all students wear their masks and we often take "mask breaks" at our desks where we can all sit safely, facing the same direction.    

For the past two weeks Grade 1 has been exploring a BIG question.  Who Am I?  In our last blog we had just started this exploration by tracing our bodies and cutting and gluing a heart!  We put pictures on our arms to represent the things we like to do, pictures on our legs for the places we like to go, and pictures on our stomachs for the things we like to eat!  Answers to these questions included statements such as candy, No Frills, and colouring, among many more.   Another very important day last week was Orange Shirt Day.  In Grade 1 we learned that many indigenous children were taken away from their families for over 300 sleeps and were forced to go to school far away from their homes.  We read a few different books, including Shi-Shi Etko, and When We Were Alone.  We talked about what it would be like to have to stay away from our families, have our colorful clothes taken away, our hair cut, and told we couldn't speak our language....