Falling Leaves!

Hi Everyone! Thanks for reading!

Our first week of October will be a busy one!   To begin, my good friend Mrs. Aimee Gast will be subbing for me on Monday.  Mrs. Gast used to teach Grade 1 at MMH so I’m excited for her to meet all the little personalities in room 15! 

Next week, I will be sending home a Mini-Progress Report.  This report will include a brief summary of how your student is doing in Grade 1!  I'm hoping to have these home on Tuesday or Wednesday.  They will be tucked safely in the agendas so please keep an eye out for them!

..speaking of the agendas- THANK YOU for being so consist in signing them! 

Here are the happenings in Room 15:

In Language Arts, we will continue on working with our sight word reading, printing, word families, and our Daily 5 program.  And also…HOME READING WILL START ON TUESDAY OCTOBER 2^ND!! What does that mean?  It’s pretty simple:  Encouraging your child to read DAILY.  At MMH, we’re firm believers that reading daily significantly improves skills, in both comprehension and fluency.  We are using a program called Reading A-Z.  This is a great resource because the books are levelled, and they’re a mix of fiction and non-fiction. Later on, we will incorporate other books into the program.  We will use Reading A-Z books to get us going, and we’ll talk about how this is a big responsibility for Grade 1.  Monday to Thursday, your child will bring a book home to read.  There will be a little note coming home with the first book that explains everything you need to know, and how to get in the swing of Home Reading. 

In Math, we are kicking off our unit in Patterns! This is a fun unit because we will make lots of patterns using different manipulatives.  Our goal is to get students to see patterns in things around us, everyday life, nature, as well as numbers.  Often students don’t see the connection in patterns and numbers, so this is a great unit to begin with as we become more confident in Math. 

In Social Studies, we will finish talking about groups that we belong in, and we’ll move on to learn about students’ families.  Perfect timing I’d say, as we also prepare for the Thanksgiving weekend!  Keep your eyes out for a special surprise coming home at the end of the week- I know the students are going to be very proud to be taking this home for the long weekend!

Our Art Room is in need of Rags! If you have any old towels you are willing to part with, please send them to school and we’ll cut them for rags for our Art room. 

We’re excited to have Kaydance’s Dad come in to speak to us about Fire Safety on October 3rd!  Fire Prevention week is from October 8^th to October 12^th and the theme this year is “Have 2 Ways Out”.  We’ll be sending home some Fire Safety information and activities that you can do with your entire family. 

Here is some information about school wide events:

On Wednesday Oct. 3^rd, we are having our first Character Education Assembly of the year.  There will be a number of these throughout the year, as we are focusing on Character Education across our school.  We began this last year, and what happened was all of the students (grades 1-5) were divided up into “Families”.  Each Family consists of 1 teacher and approx.  25 students from all grade levels.  We meet monthly, do fun activities together, and gather in the gym to celebrate the month’s theme. 
Since your kids were in Kindergarten last year, they weren’t placed in a “Family” yet, so this is a big step for them!  On Wednesday afternoon they’ll meet their MMH Family which is pretty cool, as this will be their Family until they leave MMH after Grade 5.  I’m excited to catch up with my Family from last year, and also welcome the new Grade 1s to the bunch! 

October 18^th is “Dress Like Your Favourite Book Character” Day! I’m exciting to see what our Grade 1s can come up with!  If your favourite book character has a really difficult costume, consider bringing a prop in that you could use to explain.  

Another day you’ll want to mark your calendars with is the Scholastic Book Fair on Oct. 25^th and 26^th.   Ms. Renner has been busy organizing this, and the book fair always has an amazing selection.  Our class will visit the book fair on both days.  Usually, the first day we just go and LOOK and write down titles and prices on a wish list.  Then, the second day, if the student has brought money they can shop.  Please feel free to come visit and shop in the book fair yourselves!  It will be open from 8:30-11:45, and again from 12:30-3:30 on Thursday, and 8:30-11:45 on Friday.  You are welcome to visit the book fair with our class, or you can go at your own convenience.  If you choose to send money with your child, let me know via email or agenda if there’s a specific thing they’re SUPPOSE to buy.  If there’s no instruction, I usually tell them they have to purchase at least 1 book so that they don’t spend all their money on erasers and posters.  Due to the book fair, I will not be sending home a Scholastic order for October. 

I think that’s it for now!  Have a wonderful Fall weekend!

-Anna Tsentouros & Grade 1A

October
Monday October 1^st- “Walk to School” Week begins!
Wednesday October 3rd- Guest Speaker about Fire safety
Wednesday October 3rd- Character Ed. Assembly @ 12:30 & MMH Family time
Monday October 8^th- Happy Thanksgiving! No school
Tuesday October 9^th- Professional Learning Day: No School
Wednesday October 10^th- School Council Meeting @ 6:30
Thursday October 18^th- Dress Like Your Favourite Book Character Day!
Thursday October 18^th- Professional Learning day in the PM-students dismissed @ 11:45
Friday October 19^th- Professional Learning Day- No School
Thursday October 25th- Scholastic Book Fair
Friday October 26th- Scholastic Book Fair
Monday October 29^th- Picture Retake Day
Wednesday October 31^st- Happy Halloween! Halloween parade in the pm and class party