Thursday, November 30

BLOG UPDATE: I AM GOING TO POST EVERY MONDAY AND THURSDAY (I WILL TRY THIS AND SEE HOW IT WORKS OUT). I WILL TRY TO POST BEFORE 5 OCLOCK UNLESS OTHER COMMITMENTS COME UP.  EMAILS WILL BE SENT HOME WHEN NECESSARY.

MUSIC - Practicing for the Christmas Concert. Wednesday we practiced with the Whole School again and practiced in Music class too.

Literacy:   We've been working on figuring out what is wrong with sentences in our Morning Message.

See what is missing:

good morning boys and girls, 

today is thursday we have book exchange

from your teacher, mrs. maze

This week we wrote to Santa. We tried to persuade (convince) him that we are Responsible Citizens.  I'm sure Santa likes when kids are Responsible Citizens... (gotta get on the Good List!). Here is a video on what a Persuasive Letter might look like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD9arWXIddM

Math:  Please review all these videos (all are YouTube videos, so please watch with your child). Your child should be confident in all these areas by  the end of Grade1. If you see a concern, make it a priority to review at home. We will continue to review at school.

Review subtilize: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsScVF6Jo6A

Review count to 100 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XafJgLQQIdM

Review count by 5's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amxVL9KUmq8

Review count by 10's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQSdKlNvrmw

Science:    This week at school we used Chromatography. By using Chromatography we were able to separate black to see the different colors. Ask your child the steps it took to do such an experiment. See if they can use the words: First, Then, Then and Finally. This was done with the Substitute Teacher, Ms. M.

This week we also used water to separate sunlight into it's different colors.  Again, ask your child what were the steps to do this experiment. Here is a video to review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm9ZkYTnCNE

LET'S GET THINKING.... WHY IS THIS INFORMATION (COLORS CAN BE SEPARATED) IMPORTANT TO KNOW?  ARE THERE ANY JOBS WHERE IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW ABOUT MIXING COLORS OR SEPARATING COLORS? PLEASE RECORD ANSWERS AND SEND INTO SCHOOL. 

We will be looking more closely at transparent, translucent and opaque next week. Here is a video reviewing some items that are transparent, translucent and opaque. Review together with your child.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvMYs5JXjPg

SOMETHING NEW AT SCHOOL: At school, I want all students to contribute more of their ideas, thoughts and understandings. I will be asking more children to give their thoughts on an answer or discussion even if their hand is not up. If they don't 'have an answer' or 'just don't know', I will ask a few other students what they would like to share and then return to the student who didn't know an answer to give an answer after hearing their classmates give some ideas. I hope this makes sense. Hearing from more children (not just those with their hand up) will give me a better idea if students are understanding the expectations and what is being taught.

What do you think a Persuasive letter to Santa would look like or sound like?
Emmett - kind (please)
Phoebe - thank you
Evann- how you are a good boy or girl
Madelyn - say how you are kind to friends
Millie - how you invite friends to play
Tarrack - ask for a toy
Sarah - how you are kind to others
Stanley - nice to friends
Max - nice to your pets
Ella - don't throw trash just anywhere, put in garbage
Malia - help Mom do dishes
Ainsley - clean up your stuff like your bedroom
Ashlyn - help my Mom wash the dishes and help take out the decorations
William -I clean up my lego that I use
Rhys - friendly words and empathy towards others
Isabel - put stuff in the right bins (blue, yellow, compost)
Caleb - how you help your little brother
Catherine - I exchange home reading
Adriana - I be friendly to others and share with others
Margaret (absent)
Estella (absent)
Lucas (absent)
Julia - help Mom in the kitchen

After finishing my letter, I understand that a Persuasive Letter needs: 
- Dear or To
- an opening sentence
- ideas to persuade the reader
- closing sentence
- neat printing 
- punctuation
- Love or From


Here are two samples of a letter to Santa. Read with your child. Which is better? Why? 

Dear Santa

I have been good this year I help my friends I help Dad I walk quiet 

From Josie

------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Santa

I believe I have been a GREAT girl this year by being a responsible citizen. At home, I help my Mom clean up the kitchen. I do my best to sweep up every crumb. In my community, I make sure to throw garbage in the garbage can so wild animals don’t eat it and get sick. That would make me really sad. My school is awesome, so I make sure I am quiet when I walk in the hallways. I don’t want to disturb kids who are working.

I think you can see I’ve been a GREAT girl this year.  

Love Lisa



READING : Today Stanley read to us a book called 'Up and Down'. Ask your child what were some items that went up and down (umbrella, escalator, ladder...). Also we read about a boy who was in a wheelchair that when he got onto his bus, the ramp went up and down. So at the end of the day today, we got to see a boy in our school, Nicholas, who is in a wheelchair use the ramp in his school bus to go 'up' into his bus. It was a great connection between what we read and our real life!
Here is a pic from the book:

Monday, November 27

BLOG UPDATE: I AM GOING TO POST EVERY MONDAY AND THURSDAY (I WILL TRY THIS AND SEE HOW IT WORKS OUT). I WILL TRY TO POST BEFORE 5 OCLOCK UNLESS OTHER COMMITMENTS COME UP.  EMAILS WILL BE SENT HOME WHEN NECESSARY.

AGENDA MESSAGE - Ask me how I improved on my spelling test.

Literacy -   Today I passed back spelling tests. All students improved in some manner whether it was recalling the spelling of a word that was tricky last time or several children improved on their legibility and sounded out the words better than the initial test on Nov. 6.
We will do more practice this week and then have another test next week but then we will move on to other words.
If your child continues to need help spelling these words they will be posted on our Word Wall and in their Visual Journal. As well, they can find them on their Learning Folder that is in their desk. These words do not need to be misspelled as there are many places to find out how to spell them.
Here is some great work. Check out how they improved. The shorter test (of 6 words) was the second test.  At home, continue to post words and review.

Science - This week we are doing more on Colors. Tomorrow I am out of the classroom for the afternoon and the teacher Ms. M will be trying  an experiment with the students called Paper Chromatography. Watch the video to prepare. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvHvx7k7UPU

This week we will further review 'transparent - see through' and 'opaque - not see through'. Review these words with your child. What can you see through (clearly) in your house? (window, saran wrap, glasses, plastic box, ziplock bag). What can you 'not' see through? (wall, dark curtain, rug, mirror). 

If you can see a little bit of light come through an object than it is 'tranluscent'? What is translucent in your house? (wax paper, grocery bag). 

Have fun looking!

We will also be looking at how sunlight is separated. White light can be separated into it's separate colors (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet). See video. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGY9jV11FuU

Social Studies - Here is some great work! Look for more in the hallway!

Music - The students had two sessions of music today. Whole school practice in the Gym and own Music class. If your child would like to try to make a 'cheese burrito' for the Christmas concert, they can make it at home and bring in to Mrs. Sorensen. 

Also Mrs. Sorensen asked it anyone has a sombrero that it would be appreciated if they could bring it in. Please label with your child's name. It would be used for the Christmas concert (and then returned). 

Math - Ask your child about the story they made for the number 27 (a few students were out of the class at the time). Ask review how to make Tally Marks. 

As well, for those students who often get the letter 'b' and 'd' printed incorrectly or backwards, here might be a good way to remember- It' Mr. Beady Eyes'. Use your fingers and thumbs to make the picture below and put your formed hands up to your face like glasses. Then pull them down to see which side the line is for the b and which side for the d. 

Another trick to help you remember is just to print an upper case B and erase the top bubble to get the lower case letter b. 

Thursday, Nov. 23

BLOG UPDATE: I AM GOING TO POST EVERY MONDAY AND THURSDAY (I WILL TRY THIS AND SEE HOW IT WORKS OUT). I WILL TRY TO POST BEFORE 5 OCLOCK UNLESS OTHER COMMITMENTS COME UP.  EMAILS WILL BE SENT HOME WHEN NECESSARY.

AGENDA MESSAGE - No School Friday

LANGUAGE ARTS - We had a spelling test today on our 6 words we have been working on remembering. Ask your child how they did last time and how they improved for this test. Last time I assessed 10 words and this time the students were only assessed on 6 words (come, can, funny, away, find, for). The other 4 words were correctly spelled by most students, so we didn't focus on them.

We have also reviewed the rhyming words in our Apple Poem. Some students were able to do the homework that was suggested on the Blog (that was : try to think of new words that rhyme with the words in the poem). Those students who brought in their work were the teachers during our Rhyme work. Here are some pics of us learning from each other:

 We will review the fact that some rhyming words are spelled with a similar 'rime' (cat, fat, bat)

but other words that rhyme don't always have a similar ending (rime)  (such as 'red' and 'said')

This week we've been reading with a friend. Ask your child who they read with and what their friend's book was about.

Morning Message - This week we've been working on figuring out what is wrong with the morning message. Here is the message for today. Can your child identify where the capitals and periods should be?

good morning boys and girls, 

today is thursday we have book exchange

from your teacher, mrs. maze

MATH - We've tried to give a gift to a friend with the pattern they made. So each student was asked to read their friends pattern. They needed to be able to say if their pattern was AB, or ABC or AABB etc. After they read the pattern, they needed to create a gift (drawing of something their friend liked  - for example, Rhys made an ABC color pattern on a dog for Ainsley because he knew she liked dogs). Ask your child what their friend's core pattern was and what they created. This was a challenging concept for many. We will further review. 

SOCIAL STUDIES -  This week we also worked on independent writing. Students needed to write 2 ways they are a responsible citizen in each of these areas: community, school and home (thus 6 sentences all together). Our process is that students are expected to write their thoughts independently and then come to read me their work. Then they go back to their seat and reread their work and underline words they feel they might need help spelling. And then I provide the spelling. After all the prep work, they students will then print their 'best' work on a poster display. These will all be ready by next week and on display in the hallway outside our class. After our posters are completed,  we will look at what our 'rights' are. Here is a little info for you:

Next week, we'll be writing to Santa. We will be including in our letter how we are Responsible Citizens. Santa will like that!!!!!

ASSEMBLY - Yesterday the Girl's Choir performed for our school and parents. What a great experience for our girls. 

Thank you William - Thank you for writing so much over your holiday. You did a great job sharing. William also shared about arrowheads. Some students have heard about arrowheads before. Here are some pics of arrowheads. 

THANK YOU Eric-  Yesterday Eric from Grade 3 came into our class to talk to us about his cochlear implants. His class is learning about Sound and his project was to describe how his cochlear implants work and how he hears sounds. Ask your child what they learned from Eric. Also if your child has a question for Eric or would like to say 'Hi' to him, please review how to do that (get close to him, make eye contact, speak clearly). 
Here is some info: 

MUSIC PRACTICE - Again today every student was in the Gym to rehearse for the Christmas concert. Please ask your child about this. 

GYM - Ask your child how to play 'Secret Bouncer'.  Try it at home!

REMINDERS: 

- no toys brought to school

- please send enough snack, as several children have had no snack left by the afternoon (one possibility is to label the snack for when it should be eaten)

- if your child did not get the book that was given to all Grade 1 students, titled, 'Good Morning Canada', please remind them to get one from me tomorrow

- Home Reading should be exchanged daily and returned daily

- Agenda needs to come to school daily

- please be on time for school (8:28 bell rings)
- if you are late, you need to have your child go to the office to get a late slip and then give to me when they enter the classroom quietly

AS WELL - I STILL HAVE A FEW OF THE KID'S PHOTOS (CALEB, ELLA, PHOEBE) and Family Photos too.


Here are three videos of myself demonstrating how a student might read a Level D book (expected average level for this time of year). I realize some parents and students are having a challenging time distinguishing if the book is - hard, good, easy - for their Home Reading. 
Any questions please don't hesitate to ask . I hope this helps (it's not a perfect example but I hope it helps)
SORRY THE VIDEOS ARE NOT WORKING - I WILL TRY TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM

EASY

GOOD

HARD