Week 20

- February 04, 2018

MESSAGE FROM MS.STAROSTECKI

Thank you to all of our parent volunteers last week braving the cold and a painting project! The students enjoyed having you help out and I appreciated it greatly.

Winter is upon us once again! Just a reminder to send ski pants, toques, mitts and boots each day. A number of little ones had to be sent in to borrow extra items from the office. Thank you in advance for your help with this.

REMINDERS

EARLY DISMISSAL on February 7th.

WINTER SEASONAL WALK on February 7th (weather permitting). Parent volunteers are welcome to join! If this is your first time as a volunteer please fill out the volunteer form at the office, thanks!

NO SCHOOL (TEACHER'S CONVENTION) on February 8th and February 9th.

SKATING WEEK from February 12th to February 15th. 1C will be skating from 9-9:30am. Parent volunteers are welcome to join us on or off the ice. Please let me know if you would like to help out!
We will be leaving for the rink at 8:45am.

SKIP-A-THON Pledge envelopes went home this past Thursday. All students are encouraged to try to donate a toonie to this worthy cause . . . heart and stroke disease affects all ages! Choose to pledge online instead and make it easier for all. There are tax receipts for $20 donations. Donations are due by February 14th.

Please help support your child’s fundraising efforts by registering them online at jumpropeforheart.ca and send out donation request emails to friends, family and colleagues. Online fundraising is the quickest way to reach all of your contacts and online donors receive an automatic tax receipt. Plus, when students raise money online they can earn bonus prizes including a skipping rope*, and gift cards from Indigo, Toys “R” Us, and Canadian Tire!

PENGUIN VISIT on February 14th (1:00-1:45 pm).

100TH DAY OF SCHOOL on February 16th.

SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDER is due by February 16th.

NO SCHOOL (FAMILY DAY) on February 19th.

HOME READING The books will be exchanged every Friday. You may also read books from home or the library, just make sure you log it! Our classroom goal is to read (or have a book read to us) at least 7 books per week.

LIBRARY Please bring back your child's library book each Monday so they may exchange it for a new one.

LANGUAGE ARTS

LISTENING GAMES I read the book, Snow Day by Lester Laminack to 1C this week. Our phonological awareness activities were focused around the book this week. This charming story of a “wishful thinking” day is about a family who tells us how they would spend their day off IF it were a snow day... sipping hot chocolate from snowmen mugs and sledding in the neighbour’s field..only to realize a surprising teacher twist at the end!

WRITING We read Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner. 1C brainstormed ideas of what snowmen do at night when the world goes to sleep. The students wrote a sentence or two based on the question. Later on, they shared their ideas with their peers. So proud of your writing this week!

WORDS THEIR WAY Throughout the week, the students explored the diagraph "ch" with words such as chop, cheetah, chart.

RAINBOW WORDS Next week, 1C will be learning five new Blue Rainbow Words: dog, eat, from, got, had. I encourage for you to practice Rainbow Words with your child to increase their exposure and improve their word recognition. I will be informally assessing each student at the end of each week to see if they are able to read and recognize their Rainbow Words.

DAILY 5 The Grade 1's are working towards staying focused for 15 minutes during each of their centers during Daily 5. This week they completed all of their centers including Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listening to Reading and Word Work. Keep up the hard work Grade 1!
While they reading the students are practicing the Flip the Dolphin, Chunky Monkey, Stretchy Snake, Eagle Eye, Lips the Fish strategy.
Flip the Dolphin tries the short vowel. If it doesn't sound right, flip the sound to the long vowel and try it again.

Chunky Monkey looks for hunks and chunks they know inside a word.

Stretchy Snake reminds the students to "S-T-R-E-T-C-H" it out and to say each sound slowly then say it fast.

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.