Week 3

REMINDERS

PICTURE DAY is on Wednesday, September 27th. I can't wait to see 1C looking their best!

SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDER due Thursday September 28th.

INDOOR SHOES  If your child has difficulty tying their shoes independently, please purchase the bungy laces or lock-up laces for their inside shoes. It will really save some time getting ready during certain transitions and ensures their safety during gym class.

LIBRARY 1C has library every Monday. Please make sure your child brings back their library book so they can exchange for a new one!

AGENDAS I encourage parents to look at their child's agendas and mail bags daily. I also check their agendas daily so feel free to use them as a form of communication.

SNACKS & BIRTHDAYS In an effort to provide students with the healthiest environment I can, I am encouraging you to provide healthy snacks for school snacks and celebrations (i.e. birthdays).
Some healthy snack foods:

• Cereal with milk 
• Low-fat cheese melted on a whole-grain tortilla 
• Fresh cut-up fruit with yogurt for dipping 
• Graham crackers and low-fat milk 
• Yogurt or Yogurt Tubes
• Vegetables and low-fat dip 
• Fruit
• Whole-grain crackers or toast with peanut-free butter or hummus
• Fruit salad 
• Low-fat string cheese 
• 100% juice
• Whole-grain muffins or bagels

MATH

In our pattern unit, the students began their week by sorting objects by one attribute. This week, the Grade 1s put their pattern knowledge to the test and found that repeating patterns can be short or long and include many different items (i.e. numbers, shapes, letters, colours). Next week, I will challenge the students to identify and create a pattern that has more than one attribute.

On Tuesday, Zero the Hero paid a visit to the classroom. Grade 1s track the number of days they are in school...all the way to 100! On Tuesday, we made our first bundle of 10 (10 days of school). Woohoo, that was a lot of fun.

LANGUAGE ARTS

DAILY 5 The Grade 1's continue to work on their goal of 15 minutes during Read to Self. This week they made it all the way to 3 minutes and 56 seconds! While they Read to Self the students are practicing the Eagle Eye and Lips the Fish strategy. Eagle Eye serves as a reminder to look at the pictures for clues when reading a book. Lips the Fish looks at the beginning and ending sound of a word. Keep up the great reading 1C!

PRINTING This week the students practiced and refined their half moon letters (a, c, d, g, q)I will be sending a printing practice sheet for those letters on Monday and will be due by Friday. The sheet provides parents with some instructions and tips on how to refine their child's printing. 

ALL ABOUT ME I sent "All About Me" Bags home with some students this week. I will continue to do so at the end of each week. If your child has an All About Me bag, please follow the instructions, and return the bag after the weekend. We will use these bags to learn more about our classmates, learn about asking/answering questions, and participate in shared writing.

LISTENING GAMES I read the book, How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long to 1C this week. Our phonological awareness activities were centered around the book this week. "Pirates have green teeth- when they have any teeth at all..." So proclaims Jeremy Jacob, a boy who joins Captain Braid Beard and his crew in this witty look at the finer points of pirate life. Jeremy learns how to say "scruvy dog", sing sea chanteys, and throw food...but he also learns that there are no books or good night kisses on board: "Pirates don't tuck." A swashbuckling adventure with fantastically silly, richly textured illustrations that suit the story to a T.

SCIENCE

This week we went on a scavenger hunt around the classroom to find certain coloured items (primary, secondary, or neither). The students would make very good detectives. Also, they learned the acronym ROYGBIV to remember the colours (and their order) of the rainbow.

Our Walking Water Experiment (stay tuned for more!)

PS. The students really love to listen to this song about the primary and secondary colours. Click here.

Highlights of the Week...

Our finished Piet Mondrian Marble Paintings

Enjoy the weekend!