Hi everyone! I hope you’re enjoying your long weekend at home!

Just a reminder that Monday is the LAST CALL for any Fire Escape plans! If you’ve misplaced the paper, just do it on a blank piece. Your child should be able to explain the map of your house, and know the two escape routes you’ve decided on!

As our first class party is coming up, I’ve listed the details below so you know what we’re up to on that date. A parent in our class- Krystyn Jahn-has volunteered to help with party planning, and so if you’ve signed up to bring a snack, she will email you 1 week prior to the party to remind you. Thank you for those of you who’ve signed up to bring things! If you have any questions, you can email her at: krystynjahn@gmail.com.

Also, our Parent Council Rep is Stacy Deys. Stacy has helped out for a few years now on Parent Council, so if you have any questions or would like to get involved and help out, you can email her at deys@shaw.ca.

Don’t forget that Hot lunch is on the 24^th, and that our class is visiting the Scholastic Book Fair on Thursday the 25^th at 10:45, and Friday the 26^th at 9:30. Please check the blog post below for protocol of the book fair if you have any questions!

Home Reading
Thanks so much for participating in the Home Reading program. Our parent volunteers are coming in this week to switch books for us and to listen to your child read. Remember, it is VERY HELPFUL for the person who is switching books, if you write the TITLE OF THE BOOK, along with your signature, so we know that you child has read it! Please continue to review Sight Words and read Home Reading books on a NIGHTLY basis. This is MORE than enough!

FEED THE BUG!
Our Feed the Bug campaign will run from October 22-26. I absolutely LOVE this time of year. Feed the Bug is a drive for the Lethbridge Food Bank. Children are taught about what the food bank is, and about being grateful for the IMPORTANT things that we are lucky enough to have. Rather than toys, we talk about things such as: enough food to keep us healthy, a warm place to sleep and live, families that love us etc. There will be a box placed in our classroom that we will collect food non-perishable food in that children bring from home. Each time the box is full, we will take it down to the foyer. It is so fun to see all the donations in the school pile up! At the end of the campaign the Food Bank will come and we will create an assembly line to load up the food!

Here’s our plan for Halloween Day:
8:30-11:15am Halloween Centers. Students will travel to each Grade One classroom, participating in a different activity at each stop. These will include, art projects, games etc. 15 min recess at 10am.
11:15-11:45am Lunch Recess Break We are going to switch things up a bit today so we are not rushed to eat and get dressed. Students will play outside early on this day. If you're wanting to take your child home for lunch on this day in order to help them get ready, you can come and get them at this time, and return them by 12:20pm. Please let me know if this is something you are planning to do.
11:45-12:05pm Eating Lunch Students will eat lunch in the classroom PRIOR to putting on their costumes. Hopefully this will help to keep them clean!
12:05-12:25pm Getting Dressed Students will change into their costumes at this time and get ready for the Halloween Parade.
12:30-1:30pm Halloween Parade The entire school takes part in a costume parade so we can see each other's awesome outfits! You’re invited to grab a spot in the hallway and watch all the classes go by!
1:30-2:00pm Party Snack Time!

2:00-2:15pm Recess

2:15-2:30 In Class Activity

2:35-3:05pm Music with Ms. Nevels

Helen Schuler Field Trip
I would like our class to go to Helen Schuler Nature Center on the afternoon of November 21 (1-2:30)for our first field trip! The trip has been booked for our class, but we are in need of parent drivers in order for us to go. If you are able to help out (even if it is just to drive and then pick up) please let me know ASAP. If your child is under the age of 6 AND less that 40lbs, they need to be in a full carseat. If you think this includes you, please come and talk to me ASAP. If you are willing to drive, please let me know how many children you can transport. (Students can NOT be in the front seat) If you are not going to be driving and would like your child to ride in their booster, you are welcome to send it on that day.

Thank you so much for all that you do. I can't say enough how much fun I am having this year and how PROUD I am of what my students are doing every day.  - Anna Tsentouros
Important Dates in October

Monday October 22nd- 26th: Feed the Bug Campaign

Wednesday October 24th- Hot Lunch

Thursday October 25th- Scholastic Book Fair @1045

Friday October 26th- Scholastic Book Fair @9:30

Monday October 29^th- Picture Retake Day

Wednesday October 31^st- Happy Halloween! Centers, Parade and Party 

Hi everyone! Thanks for checking in.  I just want to let you know about a few things coming up for the next week.

We’ve been moving forward with our Daily 5 Language Arts program and this week students got to ‘shop’ for a Good Fit Book.  What that means is, each student had to find books that they picked which are at their interest level, and books that they could understand the words/ read.  We keep these books in our book boxes at school, and we will be using them for Daily 5.  We’ll go shopping for different books next week, to keep it interesting. 

I kid you not, this is what one student said to me today:  “Miss Tsentouros, can we PLEASE build some stamina today??” My heart melted!  It’s so wonderful to see them excited about reading and we celebrate every time we build ‘stamina’.

Here's some snapshots of our class 'Shopping' for Good-Fit books!

Thank you for putting in the time to practice reading the Sight Words from the Agenda! We will be assessing the students on their sight words this week as well.  In class we learned a game called BANG! Ask your student to see if they can explain it to you, and try playing it at home!

In Math, we’re deep in our Patterning unit, and we take little brain breaks by playing games.  I ask certain students to stand in front of the class, and others try and guess the pattern- for instance (Tshirt, Sweater, Tshirt, Sweater). We’ve been talking about the difference between an AB and an ABC pattern.  Try playing the game at home! Or see if your student can make patterns out of random things around the house. 

For Science, we are getting close to wrapping up our unit in Colours.  Students brought home their ‘Squish’ art project, which was done with Corn Syrup and food colouring.  Unfortunately, some of the papers stuck to others when they weren’t completely dried, so a few got ripped and torn. I explained to the students that I still thought they should take them home, as despite the rips and tears, they could still see where the primary colours squished together to make secondary colours.  Your student will be bringing home their Colours unit soon, which includes all of the activities we’ve done so far, and will show you what they need to know! Later on, we’ll be having a Colours Unit test.  Not to worry- this is done in an informal way where we read out questions, and give students the opportunity to really show what they know. 

Once again it seems the weather is flip flopping from cold to warm, and this week was a good week to start being diligent about indoor and outdoor shoes.  We are keeping our indoor shoes in our classroom, underneath our desks. Students are expected to keep this pair at school, and travel to and from school in their outdoor shoes, which we keep on the Grade 1A boot rack.  Please make sure your child has the proper footwear, as we prepare for the cold weather.  It’s helpful if their indoor shoes are gym appropriate (i.e. not sandals or boots).  Also, making sure that your student has a proper outdoor jacket, as many students were cold this past week as they only had a sweater.  Labelling all of your child’s clothing will help tremendously as we start to find mittens, toques and scarves hanging around! Thank you for your help with this!

Your student will be bringing a Hot Lunch form home on Monday! These are on bright pink paper, and if you have older children at MMH you’ll notice that this year’s hot lunch is done a bit differently.  Rather than ordering an entire lunch (meal, drink, snacks, etc), this year Parent Council is only organizing the hot lunch portion- not the extras.  This month’s Hot lunch date is on Wednesday October 24^th, but order forms are due back by October 16^th! Usually the forms come out a bit sooner, but if you could please send your order form and money right back to school on Tuesday that would be very helpful. 

Last but not least- please don’t forget to help your student with their Fire Escape plan! We’d like students to be presenting these to their classmates this week. If you’ve lost the handout (hey, it happens!) you can just make one on a blank piece of paper.  Remember the theme for this year is “Have two ways out!”

Don’t forget that on Thursday October 18^th, it is “Dress like your Favourite Book Character day, and that students are dismissed at 11:45.  Also there is no school on Friday October 19^th. 

Thanks and have a wonderful weekend!

Anna Tsentouros

 Important Dates in October

Monday October 15^th- Hot Lunch order forms sent home

Tuesday October 16^th Hot Lunch order forms due back

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