I enjoyed speaking with many of you at Parent-Teacher Conferences. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me.

Our focus words this week were: let, get, well, tell, red, ten. We worked with short vowel "i" as well to come up with an extensive list of consonant, vowel, consonant words (CVC) and sorted them into word families such as the "ig" family and the "it" family.

We have started to do a weekly dictation to review and practice both the high-frequency and word family words we have been working with in class. The dictations comprise of both words and simple sentences. I give the words to the students orally. The students are encouraged to carefully sound out the words and/or reference text around the room to help them with this exercise. 

Most of you were able to see the beautiful bison art the students created to represent the Indigenous Grandfather Teaching of Respect. This was a multi-step art project that involved paper tearing, printmaking (cotton ball and paint), texturizing (the wheat was made by making prints with a fork which created texture and the bison's thick fur was made by applying coffee grounds with glue), the use of oil pastels, and cutting skills.

We worked with number lines in Math this week. The students learned how to landmark a blank number line by adding 0, 5, and 10 and then placing a given number on the line. They also had a chance to do an activity where they had to identify a number on a line that had been covered or was missing. We will be using number lines more in the future to aid in solving addition and subtraction equations.

** Important Christmas Sharing Information **

We have started practicing songs and a poem for our upcoming Grade 1 Christmas Sharing. We will be sharing a total of 4 songs and a poem. This sharing will happen at 8:15am and again at 1:15pm on Thursday, December 14th in the West Wing open space of our school. Grade 1 parents, grandparents, and all other family members are encouraged to join us for one of these performances! 

We did not have our regular book exchange at the library this week due to the Book Fair. We will be going again this Tuesday. 

Thank you to everyone who is returning Home Reading books each Friday. I will be sending home a game for you to play with your child this week to review and practice some of the CVC words we have been working with in class.

I hope you all enjoy a relaxing weekend! :)

Over the past 2 and a half days we have focused on the words: hot, got, mom, want. We continue to practice reading and writing many consonant vowel consonant (CVC) words using the short vowel sounds of letters a, e, and o. Today, the students participated in an activity where they had to look at a picture and determine which three letters were needed to spell the name of the item in the picture. The students are getting very good at listening for and identifying the beginning, middle, and end sounds of words.

The students have also been writing sentences focusing on proper word spacing, the correct use of an uppercase at the beginning of the sentence, and a period at the end.

In Math, we are becoming familiar with locating and placing numbers on a number line. We have also been learning how to spell number words and continue to develop our ability to represent numbers in many different ways.

We continued work on a multimedia art piece this week centred on our second Grandfather Teaching about Respect. The students' work will be on display for you to see during Parent-Teacher Conferences next Thursday and Friday.

In Science, we learned what is involved in doing investigations. We did a Mystery Bag activity where the students had to use many of their senses to predict what object was hidden in the bag. We discussed the importance of curiosity and how questions and wonderings can lead to new learnings.

In Gym, the students practiced floor hockey skills through different drills and games.

In Music, we have started learning the songs we will share at our Christmas sharing celebration.

* I hope to meet with all of you at the Parent-Teacher Conferences next Thursday from 4pm - 8pom and Friday from 8am - 12pm. Bookings open tomorrow morning.*

We will be viewing the Book Fair next Tuesday and the students will have an opportunity to purchase items on Thursday. You may send money with your child on Thursday if you wish.

The week was a short one but we packed a lot into it!

This week we focused on short vowel "o". We have created a large list of CVC words with short o and have been writing sentences with these words. The students have been using their knowledge of letter-sound relationships to write independently. We also have many high-frequency words up in our classroom that the children are beginning to reference when completing writing tasks.

Yesterday, I read The Peace Book by Todd Parr to the students. Afterward, they each created their own page for a classroom book by finishing the sentence starter "Peace is_______" and drawing an illustration to go with it.

The whole school came together at an assembly yesterday to honour Remembrance Day. We created ripped paper poppies to decorate the wall outside the Gym and discussed the significance of the poppy as well as the importance of taking time to remember all those who fought for our freedom.

We continued to practice number representation in Math this week. The students have now learned to represent numbers through dice, tallies, ten frames, equations (addition and subtraction), a number line, pictures, number words, and fingers.

Thanks to everyone who either sent in a family photo with your child or emailed me a photo for your child to share. If you have not done so already, please send in a family photo after the break that we can put up on our classroom's family tree. I'd like for every student's family to be represented, if possible. Thank you for your support. My email is jllarmer@cbe.ab.ca

I wish you all a relaxing Fall Break and look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Wednesday, November 15.

Please note the following dates:

Nov. 15 - Picture Retakes

Nov. 20-24 - Book Fair

Nov. 23 -  (4 - 8pm) and 23 (8am - 12pm) Parent-Teacher Conferences

Nov. 24 - No school for students

 There was much excitement in the classroom this week both pre and post-Halloween! The energy was definitely high. :)

In Language Arts, we continued to learn word families with the short vowel "a" - at, an, ag, ad and applied this learning when doing shared reading activities as a class as well as in independent word work activities and games.

The students have started to write sentences in their writing notebooks. Using sentence starters, they are asked to complete sentences independently by referencing words both on our classroom Word Wall, using their knowledge of high-frequency words taught in class, and by listening for the main sounds in words and recording these consonant and vowel sounds. We are learning that sentences must begin with an uppercase letter, that a space needs to be left between words, and that a sentence must end with a period, question mark, or exclamation mark.

In Math, we continued to represent and identify numbers 10-20 using ten frames and began working with number lines. Zero the Hero brought us a fun graphing activity to celebrate our 40th day of school on Wednesday. Each student was given a package of Rockets and had to graph how many of each colour their package contained. They also had to identify which colour they saw the most and which one they saw the least.

For Halloween, the students listened to a story called Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson. They then had to complete a sequencing activity to show how well they remembered the order in which 3 different animals got onto the broom and the order in which items fell off the broom. In the afternoon, all of the Grade 1 students had the chance to rotate through the five Grade 1 classrooms to participate in a variety of fun Halloween-themed learning activities including dance and music.

In Science, each student has started to make a pumpkin book where they record stages in a pumpkin's life cycle. They will be bringing these books home to share next week.

** Next week, as part of our Social Studies curriculum, we will be starting to talk about families. If possible, please send a print of a family photo you have of your immediate family or you can email this to me at jllarmer@cbe.ab.ca. Each child will have the opportunity to introduce their family to the class.**

We will be having a Remembrance Day assembly for the whole school on Wednesday at 10:30 am. Parents are welcome to attend. 

A friendly reminder that there will be no school Thursday, November 9 due to a Professional Development Day and no school Friday, November 10 - Tuesday November 14 due to our Fall Break. School resumes Wednesday, November 15th.

Please return Home Reading bags and Library books on Monday if you have not yet done so. You can keep the Halloween poem at home.

Our field trip to Storybook Theatre was a lot of fun and the students really enjoyed the show. For many of them, it was their first experience going to see a play at a theatre. The acting, singing, and dancing were all very well done and will hopefully have the children excited to see more live theatre in the future.

This week we focused on the "at" and "ap" word families. We will continue to look at other short vowel "a" word families next week. We have been practicing reading many CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words with "a" this week during our daily Shared Reading.

In Math, we practiced representing numbers 1 - 20 using ten frames. The students also had fun doing an "Around the Room" ten frame hunt. They had to find 24 different ten frames and identify the number being represented. Next week, we will be learning how to represent numbers 1-20 on number lines.

Once a week, we do a "Which One Doesn't Belong" Math Talk. Please see this week's in the photo below. You may be interested to ask your child which item they feel does not belong and have them explain their thinking.

We have been working on some special wintry art this week that will get made into art cards for an upcoming fundraiser. The cards can be purchased to be sent at Christmas and/or other Winter holidays. More information will be coming shortly.

The students made monsters out of playdough, googly eyes, and pipe cleaners this week. Afterward, they had to write sentences to describe their monster and to tell about what they liked to eat and do.  You can see some examples below.

We went to our Grade 4 Buddies' classroom today to hear the story Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds. The students then got to create their own Creepy Carrot using Sharpies and paper. Your child should have brought their carrot home today. Mrs. Miller (the Grade 4 teacher) talked to the students about the artistic choices made by the illustrator to depict a spooky atmosphere such as colour choice and shading. We also listened to the illustrator talk about the process of illustrating a book and got to see how many different illustrations he did before the final ones were chosen.

Due to our Field Trip, we had to change our Library day to today. We will go back to our regular Tuesday time next week. Please return Home Reading and Library books on Monday, if you have not done so already.

Important information regarding Halloween at MTS:

Please ensure your child does not wear a mask as part of their Halloween costume while at school. Also, we ask that children do not bring props such as swords and do not have any gore. Please ensure that your child's costume will allow for participation in all learning activities including Gym and that they will be able to go to the washroom independently (no assistance needed for zippers, buttons, etc.). Lastly, please do not send treats with your child to be handed out to other students. Thank you for your cooperation. :) 

We have now completed our focus on the names and sounds of the alphabet letters, having worked on W, Y, and Z this week. We will now work with word families. Yesterday, we started with the "at" family. We also continue to read and write CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words daily, listening carefully for the short vowel sounds. We played a short vowel "a" game yesterday that I will be sending home soon for at-home practice, should you choose.

In Math, we continued to practice representing numbers 1-15 using tally marks as well as identifying the value of a group of tally marks. Next week, we will be working at representing numbers using ten frames. Both of these skills are reviewed daily during our "Calendar" time. During Math times, we sometimes do what is called an Esti-Mystery. These learning activities are created by a teacher named Steve Wyborney. Here is a link to his website where you can see the type of Mathematical learning that takes place when students participate in this activity. 

https://stevewyborney.com/2022/10/170-new-esti-mysteries/

I hope you all found the subitizing game I sent home with your child on Wednesday. They have played it twice now and should be able to explain it. However, if they forget, all you need is one die and playing pieces for two people. The goal is to be the first to cover four squares in a row. This is a great game to practice subitizing skills (the ability to identify a group of dots/objects with little to no counting).

In Science, we have started to talk about Matter and the properties of Matter. The students worked in partners to use "properties vocabulary" to describe a toy. We will be applying this same vocabulary soon when describing pumpkins and other objects. Key terms are: rough, smooth, heavy, light, tall, short, etc.

We will be leaving for our field trip at 8:30 a.m. sharp on Tuesday. Please ensure your child comes to school on time. 

Please return Home Reading and Library books on Monday, if you have not done so already.

Important information regarding Halloween at MTS:

Please ensure your child does not wear a mask as part of their Halloween costume while at school. Also, we ask that children do not bring props such as swords and do not have any gore. Please ensure that your child's costume will allow for participation in all learning activities including Gym and that they will be able to go to the washroom independently (no assistance needed for zippers, buttons, etc.). Lastly, please do not send treats with your child to be handed out to other students. Thank you for your cooperation. :)  

 Friday, October 13

Our focus letters this week were: X, K, and V.

We added the words "can" and "you" to our sight word list. We have been reading and writing these words in sentences, in addition to the other sight words learned this year.

In Math, we began to represent numbers 1 - 10 using tally marks this week. We learned that we make bundles of 5 when using tallies and have been practicing counting by 5s to 20. We also have been working on accurate and efficient ways to count groups of objects - by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s depending on the quantity.

We have also been practicing our subitizing (ability to recognize the number of objects without counting them) skills through a fun partner game. I will send home a copy of the game for the students to play with an adult or older sibling if they choose.

In Inquiry (aka Science), we began talking about scientists. We read a book called I Wonder by Annaka Harris and shared some of our "wonderings". We learned that scientists are people who are curious about the world and their surroundings. Scientists have many wonderings that they try to answer through experiments and research. We will be conducting a leaf experiment next week! :)

We read the book The Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert and created our own leaf animal or person using creativity and leaves, pinecones, pebbles, berries, and some twigs. Here are a few examples:

We met with our Grade 4 Buddies today and did a Picture Book Scavenger Hunt. The students had a list of 20 things they needed to look for with their buddy in both fiction and non-fiction books. Afterwards, the buddies looked at books together with the older buddy reading to the younger buddy. Some of the Grade 1 students were also able to practice their reading skills with the older buddy's support when needed.

Mr. van Sluys introduced lacrosse this week in Gym. The students have been practicing many skills and have already improved greatly in their ability to scoop, throw and catch, and cradle the ball with their lacrosse sticks.

Important! :)

*** Next week, we will begin to delve into a Science unit on Matter. Please have your child bring in a small toy that they can use for our lesson on Tuesday.***

Please support your child in bringing their Home Reading books back each Friday so I can give them new books and/or reading activities the following Monday. Please ensure the books are returned in the Ziploc bag I provided or one from home so that the books can be protected while in transit. Thank you for your help. :)

Field Trip forms for our Storybook Theatre trip on October 24th were sent home on Tuesday. Please return the completed forms as soon as possible.