January 16-20
Hope you are enjoying this blast of winter. Please remember that we enjoy it at school too, but we can't go outside and still have fun without proper winter gear. Please send your child with a warm jacket, mitts, hat, and boots.
School policy says that if it is -18 or colder we stay inside. In grade one, we also stay inside if the wind is making it too cold, or if the conditions are slushy, slippery or otherwise unfavorable for having a fun time!
Thank you for being consistent in signing your child's planner everyday. We have about 95% of our parents who NEVER miss signing! I love the communications too! Remember your child earns money for store when you sign. Also, please don't sign the planner for the entire week on Monday! I need to know that you are checking your child's binder each day, theres important stuff in there!!
Reminders
This is the place to check for reminders of events happening in our classroom. Check here often!
There has been a correction to the calendar for January. In the planner it states that Friday, January 20th is a PD day and there is no school. This is incorrect. It should say that Monday, January 30th is a PD day and there is no school. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
Please make sure your child has indoor shoes that they can keep at school. It is school policy that we wear shoes inside. We will also use them for gym. It is so much easier to have a pair here always. Please send these at the beginning of the year appropriately labeled. Shoes should stay here and not go home each day in backpacks.
* Please remember that hot lunch does not include a snack, so you will still need to pack a snack for the morning for your child if they are buying a hot lunch.
*please try not to send things to school that need to be heated up or cooked. With over a hundred kids in grade one, it can be very difficult and time consuming to make sure everyones lunch is ready. Thermoses are great for keeping warm foods for your child's lunch. Thanks!
Curriculum Content
Language Arts
I have four reading programs going on in the classroom every day. They include Reading A-Z, Primary Phonics and Modified Primary Phonics. Your child will be in two of these. Three programs go on inside the classroom , one of which your child will be a part. One program is delivered by our educational assistant under my direction. All children are in this program (Reading sprouts/Joe and Joan). I find it necessary to carry out several programs to meet the individual needs of each student. If you would like more information on the particular program your child is in, give me a call and we can meet. We write in our planners everyday as part of our journaling.
Home reading books are coming home in your child's Monkey Binder every day. The books are in the red folder. The books coming home are BOB books (all decodable - can be "sounded" out). Once your child masters all the BOB books, they will graduate to the next set of phonics readers. Please help your child read this book each night and send it back IN the Monkey Binder the next day. As your child becomes a more confident reader, the books will become more challenging. I keep track of the books each child brings home, they do not get to choose. This way I can make sure they are reading at their own level, and are being appropriately challenged. Your child will have a new home reading book each day, Monday through Thursday.
Math
We are on chapter 4, working on showing numbers in different ways such as numerals, number words, ten frames, dot patterns and pictures.
Social Studies, Science and Health
We are working on a unit on Penguins! We LOVE penguins! In fact we might love them nearly....nearly as much as monkeys!! We have been learning alot about them. We know what they are, where they live, what they like to eat and how they stay warm. We are busy making books about them and writing about them. Ask us, we know alot about penguins! At the end of this unit we may even try some of the food that penguins like to eat (squid and shrimp). Don't worry, I will send a permission slip home before we do this, just in case you don't want your child to try any! Stay tuned, it's gonna get exciting!
The sentences we write in our planners every day often focus on the concepts we are learning in Science and Social.
Spelling
I have decided to try individualized spelling this year. This means that your child may not have the same words as his/her classmates. I start with a pretest (we did it on Friday) of 25 grade one words. This list has been developed with our team and the grade two team. We determined the 25 most important words for grade one students to master before they go to grade 2. Once the student masters a word on this list, I cross it off. I will send home 5 - 8 words a week for you to work on with your child. Once a word is mastered, we cross it off and put a new one on the list to learn. Each monday your child will bring home a spelling booklet with his/her words on the front and a page to practice for each day of the week. Please do this with your child every day. We will test on Fridays.
Do you buy dishwashing liquid in squirt bottles? If you throw those bottles away after you are done with them DON'T!!! Please please please send them to our classroom. There is an awesome activity involving squirt bottles, food coloring and snow that I would love to do with the kids this winter. That means I would need 21 squirt bottles!! Your donations are appreciated!
Favorite links
The starfall site has lots of fabulous language arts activities. It teaches letter sounds and has guided leveled reading activities.
This is a math site that has math activities geared to different levels of learning.
We are currently using the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum in our classroom to teach printing. We are having great success with it. This site is the official site of the program and contains tons of information and parent helps too!
Closer to the marathon date in June you can find information posted here about this fabulous event!
This is a great site for kids! There are lots of fun activities and some really fun stuff for Earth Day! Have fun!
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this is an awesome penguin game from the National Geographic Kids site.