I enjoyed meeting and speaking with so many of you at Parent-Teacher Conferences. Thank you for taking time to talk with me about your child.

This week we focused on the sight words "me" and "and" and the letters C and K. I sent home a yellow page of homework on Thursday should you wish to review and practice some short vowel "a" work with your child. As I mentioned last week, if your child completes this work and you initial it, I will give them a sticker for each side completed. Some students enjoy decorating their pencil boxes with the fruits of their labour! :)

This week was a busy one as we acknowledged Orange Shirt Day on Monday, participated in the Terry Fox Run on Wednesday, and had our first fire drill of the year on Wednesday afternoon. All three events went very well. 

Our Terry Fox Run was a huge success!

Through the generosity of the community, the school raised $2,025.05

Mr. V says he will keep his promise and wear a tutu on Friday October 4. 

Thank you to everyone who donated and volunteered for this special event.

In Math, we continue to practice number formation, number representation in pictures, tallies, dice, and ten frames as well as basic addition equations. Zero the Hero left us a fun number game called Tug of War Numbers this week to celebrate our 20th day of school. I will send home a copy of this game next week with those students who would like to play it.

Next week, we will begin to work on a Fall booklet. We will be looking at the changes that happen in the natural world during this season and writing down short facts. Depending on the weather, we will go on a 30-minute community walk either Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon to observe some of the Fall changes in our community. 

A friendly reminder that your child's library book needs to be back by Thursday but ideally Wednesday each week so that they can get a new one.

We have not seen our Grade 4 Buddies for two weeks now but we'll get together again next Friday for a shared learning activity.

A note from Mr. van Sluys regarding Gym classes next week:

Mr. van Sluys would like all families to know that for the next two weeks Physical Education will take place outside because the gym is being used for the grade 3/4 Alien Inline Residency.  So please come everyday prepared to get active outside with close toed shoes (i.e. no crocs or sandals), sweaters, jackets, and mitts and toques if needed.  Thank you!

I hope you all enjoy a wonderful weekend. I look forward to seeing everyone back at school next Tuesday. :)

Thanks to everyone who was able to come and see our dance performance today. I think the students loved the opportunity to perform for such a large audience!

This week, we focused on the proper uppercase and lowercase formation and sounds for letters I, N, O, and D. We have been learning how to identify the different letter sounds in consonant, vowel, consonant, words such as: hen, pig, cat, etc. We follow a guided drawing lesson to add pictures to our printing notebooks of things that begin with these letters. The students really enjoy these online lessons. They serve as a great tool for teaching basic drawing techniques. Here is a link to one of the lessons should you be interested in having your child try some at home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tHq9o9nFXo

In Math, we have been reviewing and practicing number formation as well as continuing our work with patterns. Students worked in pairs to create 3-part shape, colour, and letter patterns this week. We also work on basic place value (ones and tens), counting to 30, and number representation (tallies and ten frames) during our daily calendar time.

As we continue to learn about our similarities and differences, the students practiced drawing self-portraits this week to express their uniqueness. We will be completing our good copy portraits on Monday; adding colour with oil pastels and paint. You can look forward to seeing these on our bulletin board at Parent-Teacher Conferences next Thursday evening and Friday morning. Please make sure to sign up for a conference time. I'm looking forward to meeting all of you! :)

I sent home a Roll and Write sight word game for the students to play, should you have time and/or desire to do so. We have been working with these words daily during our Shared Reading time. Please have an adult or older sibling (who can read) play this game with your child to ensure accuracy. I suggest playing until all six columns are filled as repetition helps to bind these words to the brain! :) On the flip side of the sheet is a CVC activity. You may want to write the five vowels at the top of the page for your child to reference. If your child completes one or both activities, please initial the sheet and have them bring it back to me so I can give them a sticker. 

Library day is Thursday. If your child did not bring back their book this week, they were unable to take out a new one. Please ensure their book is returned by Wednesday each week. Thank you for your support.

On Monday, we will have an Orange Shirt Day assembly. We will read a related story in class and take time to talk about why this is an important day. Please have your child wear an orange shirt if they have one.

Our Terry Fox Run will be on Wednesday morning. Please ensure your child is wearing appropriate shoes and clothing for running. We will have a short assembly at 9:15 and then will go outside to run for approximately 20 minutes. Toonies for Terry will be collected until Wednesday. Your support is greatly appreciated.

A friendly reminder that there will be NO SCHOOL on Friday due to Parent-Teacher Conferences nor on Monday, September 30th as it is Truth and Reconciliation Day.

We enjoyed our first full week of school! The students are developing more stamina and getting used to the full-day routines of Grade One.  :)

This week, we practiced printing and reviewing words that begin with letters S, T, P and F. We have also added the words "a" and "it" to our high-frequency words. Last week we focused on "is" and "the". The students practiced identifying and reading these words daily in a variety of simple sentences. 

Today, I sent home an optional activity for the children to complete at home to practice simple short vowel "a" words. If your child completes the work, please send it back with your initials on it and I will give them a sticker for their effort.

We started to review simple patterns in Math this week - both AB and ABC patterns. We created movement and sound patterns as a group and identified some patterns in pictures. The students also worked with colour blocks to create as many 3-coloured patterns as they could. We will continue to identify, create, and extend 2, 3, and 4-part patterns next week.

The students enjoyed sharing their All About Me bags with their classmates this week. It was fun to see the special items each child brought in. Thank you for your support with this activity.

On Thursday, we went to the library and each child took out a book which hopefully made it home alright! :) Please help your child ensure their book is returned by Wednesday each week so they can get a new one on Thursday.

We celebrated our 10th day of Grade 1 yesterday with a special activity brought to us secretly by Zero the Hero. "He" visits every ten days of school but we never get to see him - he's sneaky that way! Yesterday, he left pipe cleaners and beads for the students to make a 10-bead bracelet. He will help us to mark each day of school that ends with a zero up to 100 when we will celebrate our 100th day of school.

This morning, we met our Grade 4 Buddies in Mrs. Miller's class and did a fantastic art activity to get to know one another. Please see the photos below and ask your child to tell you about this activity. We will get together every Friday with our Buddies to participate in a variety of learning activities.

Next week, we will participate in a Dance Residency at our school put on by the dance company Sound Kreations. We have four sessions and then a performance on Friday from 10:30 - 11:30. Please ensure your child wears comfortable clothing for these days. Our sessions during the week are from 8:05 - 8:35am. It will be important that the children arrive at school on time to get the most from these sessions. The children will perform on Friday from 10:30 - 11:30am. You are invited to attend! 

Welcome to my Blog! My hope is that this synopsis of our week will provide a jumping-off point for conversations with your child regarding their week at school.

This week we focused on the letters "A" and "M". We reviewed proper letter formation by printing them in our notebooks and practiced reading words that began with each of these letters. We will be moving through the alphabet over the next few weeks, working in our notebooks, playing letter games, and doing a variety of learning activities.

Your child came home with a purple Roll and Read sheet day to practice and/or review reading CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words containing the short letter "a" sound. To play this game you will need a die or a spinner. You can find digital dice online at https://www.online-stopwatch.com/chance-games/roll-a-dice/. Have your child roll the die then they can choose a word under that number to read. You may need to coach your child to sound out each letter and then"blend" the sounds together to read the word. We practiced some of these words in class this week so your child should have some familiarity with sounding them out. For children who can easily read the words, you can ask them to make up a sentence containing the word.

This year we will be learning seven Indigenous teachings called The Seven Grandfather Teachings. This week I introduced the teaching of Courage. I read the book Sheila Rae the Brave by Kevin Henkes and showed the students a video of Canadian high-diver Molly Carlson. In the video, Molly speaks about learning how to dive at a young age and how much courage she has to continually muster to perform her dives. We will continue to focus on this teaching next week as well.

Your child has also brought home a brown paper "All About Me" bag today. I would like to have all the bags returned by next Friday at the latest. Each child will have a chance to share their items with their classmates. This activity is a great way for the children to learn a bit about one another. You are welcome to send photos of pets, family members, etc. as one or two of the items.

In Math, we are focusing on numbers and patterns during September. We are reviewing correct number formation and how to represent numbers using tallies and ten frames.

I hope you all get a chance to be outside and enjoy this amazing weather this weekend. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns at jllarmer@cbe.ab.ca.