Here are some pictures from this past week!

 

 

Hi everyone! I feel like there is a lot of information for the next two weeks of school so I thought I'd do a recap so everyone knows what to expect.

 

Today, we had our first rehersal with Les Boucheron! Ian and Gilbert are here from Edmonton, and they are coordinating our French Canadian Christmas concert!  Students will be meeting with them all week to practice for our Christmas Concert which is THIS THURSDAY from 6:30-7:15.  There is a green information sheet going home in your youngest child's agenda today, with information about the concert including drop off and pick up. If the green sheet has mysteriously disappeared from backpacks, please check the school website for information or email me if you have any questions. 

 

Students are asked to dress in 'Christmas Best'.

 

On Friday, we have a special assembly where Les Boucheron will perform for our school.  We will also have a "Sugar Shack" where students will get to try real maple syrup.  Students are asked to wear plaid shirts, toques, or 'sashes' around their waists for this Friday December 13th. 

 

Tomorrow is Mr. Hargrove's last day!! We will miss having him in our class, but we are excited for him to continue on at the University.  Thank you for all you've done for our Grade 1 class Mr. Hargrove!

 

A reminder that for the last week of school, families are invited to come and sing Christmas Carols with us in the gym every morning from 8:30- 9. 

 

On Wednesday, December 18th, the Grade 1s will be having a "GRINCH DAY!" An invitation will be sent home explaining the day, as students are encouraged to either dress in Green, or Dress as a "Who" from "Who-ville".  We will be having Christmas activities all throughout the week. Parents who have signed up to bring snacks will be emailed a reminder. 

 

On Thursday December 19th in the afternoon, I would like to show the Jim Carrey Movie of "The Grinch".  Although this is a movie for kids, in order to do this, each student needs permission as it has some mature scenes.  Here is some information from a parental rating site:

 

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this imaginative version of Dr. Seuss' beloved classic may be too intense and scary for the youngest or most sensitive kids. Ominous music accompanies the Grinch and his cartoon trouble making in multiple scenes. Jim Carrey, behind a rubbery green face, is the master of cackles and distorted facial expressions. A heroic little girl is in danger more than once. Kids who understand the difference between the real and the fantastical will delight in the chaotic, very funny mayhem. So will grown-ups. There are a few moments of crude humor along the way (i.e., the Grinch sticks his butt out and says, "Pucker up and kiss it," and several males ogle a buxom woman).





 

Last but not least, I also put an envelope with instructions about our class Christmas Card exchange! Please take a look through and email me if you have any questions.  Each student will be making a Christmas card for someone else in their class, and we're asking for all finished cards to be returned by Monday December 16th. 

 

Thanks! And have a good week!

December 9th- 13th- Les Bucheron's Artist in Residency program
December 10th- Mr. Hargrove's last day
December 12th- MMH Christmas Concert
December 13th- "Sugar Shack" at MMH - Wear plaid, toques/sash
December 16th- 20th- Carrolling in the gym everyday at 8:30
December 18th- "Grinch Day"-
December 19th- Grinch Movie in PMDecember 20th- Christmas celebration and last day before break!

Don't forget to check out the school newsletter which is found HERE. It has information about school council and school wide events including the Christmas Concert. 

Okay, it's official: There are 26 more days until Christmas!

Just a quick update on the Christmas Concert!

Each family will given 2 tickets to the concert.  These tickets will be STAPLED to your child's agenda on Wednesday December 4th.  If you need more for your family members, you need to submit your request to Mr. Bryant in writing.  We are also going to try and set up a live stream  of the Christmas Concert for people to enjoy at home.  Information about this will be sent out closer to the date.  The Christmas Concert is at Southminister Church on December 12th from 6-7:30 pm.  Students are asked to dress in "Christmas Best". 

Today we worked on letters to Santa! We will be mailing these letters to the North Pole on Monday.  We are crossing our fingers for Santa to write back to us!

Next week we will be wrapping up our bear unit! We spent a lot of time this past week learning about different types of bears, and each student got to choose a bear to do mini reasearch on!  The students are SO PROUD of their bear projects! We will be sending those home next week for you to enjoy.

Don't forget to check the calendar below for important dates! 

Have a wonderful weekend!
-Anna Tsentouros

Hi everyone!
I just wanted to say THANK YOU so much for taking the time out of your busy schedules to come to our Student Led Conferences!  The best part about it all is seeing their happy faces and how proud they are of their work. They get so excited to share with parents, and it wouldn't have been such a success without all of you! 

THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

This is crazy to say, but there are 4 more weeks left until the Christmas break! Here are some events that you can add to your calender:

November 27th- MMH Family Assembly hosted by the Gr 5s
November 28th- Performance from Uof L Theatre 9:30-10:15

December 3rd- Hot lunch for Grades 1-3
December 4th- Hot lunch for Grades 4-5
December 6th- "Bear Day" classroom switchesDecember 9th- 13th- Les Bucheron's Artist in Residency program
December 10th- Mr. Hargrove's last day
December 12th- MMH Christmas Concert
December 13th- "Sugar Shack" at MMH
December 16th- 20th- Carrolling in the gym everyday at 8:30
December 18th- "Grinch Day"- TBA
December 20th- Christmas celebration and last day before break!

Don't forget to check out the school newsletter which is found HERE.  It has information about school council and school wide events including the Christmas Concert. 

We have a few parents from our class who attend School Council meetings, and act as our classroom representatives.  They are offering some information about the past meeting. This information will be posted on our blog, and if you have any questions about School Council, please let me know and I can put you in contact with them! 

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful weekend!
-Anna

Here's the latest from School Council: 

Thanks and have a great weekend!

Hi everyone!

Just a quick blog post for today!

Your student brought home their report cards today!  Check out last weeks blog post if you're unsure of the break down in the report card.  We will spend time  next week preparing the students for their Student Led Conferences, which is always so much fun for them. 

PJ and Teddy Bear day was awesome! This was a perfect way to kick off a bear unit for the Grade 1s! We'll spend time doing some bear writing, and learning about different types of bears.  Here's a picture of our class having a 'nap', in gym. 

We've had a wonderful past week welcoming Mr. Hargrove into our classroom.  Mr. Hargrove has been teaching gym and science!

Also, our school has started their Sock It To 'Em program! This is where students can bring in new socks to donate for those in need during the winter season. There is an enormous stocking hanging in the office, and our Caretaking team will collect socks to hang them from the stocking. 

Also, our school is collecting Pull Tabs! If you have any pull tabs from canned beverages, we would love to have them! We send them off to the Ronald McDonald House foundation. 

Thanks for reading, and looking forward to seeing everyone next week!

Have a good weekend!
-Anna Tsentouros

Hello everyone!

Thanks for checking in on the blog.  Here are the latest happenings of our Grade 1A classroom:

We’ve had a very busy past couple of weeks! Halloween was an exciting day with our centers and parade!  The students had fun spending time in the other Grade 1 classrooms. Here we are in our awesome costumes!

 

Thank you to the families who were able to come watch us parade! Also thank you to the following people who had signed up to bring treats for the afternoon:  Taryn, Seth, Larsen, Keetly, Hayden, Abigail, and their families!

Once Halloween was over, we had some classroom discussions about Remembrance Day and the significance of this holiday.  We talked about how this holiday is different than others, and how it can be very sad at times. We also talked about Peace and how we wish that for everyone.  The students wrote about what “Peace is…” to them, and every time we do these activities, their sentences warm my heart! I love reading about the little things that are so important to our students.  Their work is on the bulletin board outside our hallway- please check it out when you can!

 

We had a few Grade One students do a reading of a Remembrance Day Poem at our assembly today.  Here’s the video footage:

 

On Wednesday, our class welcomed Mr. Hargrove into our room! Mr. Hargrove is a PS1 student from the University of Lethbridge, and the students are so excited to get to know him and to learn from him.

 

On Thursday November 14^th it’s PJ and Teddy Bear Day!  We will have a Spirit Assembly at 8:30am. Please note- do NOT send oversized stuffed animals! If the bear is bigger than the student, it can be distracting/ difficult for some of the activities planned for that day!  The Grade 1 Team thanks you in advance for this!

By now you should have received your confirmation slip for your Student Led Conference! We’re really looking forward to these as the students are often so proud of what they have done so far in Grade 1.  Report cards will be sent home on Friday November 15^th.  You can help us save some trees if you send back your envelope, and we’ll use it again in March and June.  Here is a breakdown of the report cards, and how they differ from the Kindergarten reports:

The Grade 1 Report card is divided up into sections.  The first being Personal Growth, and then into separate subject areas.  The grading scheme is different than kindergarten, and is as follows:

4 Excellent achievement of grade level expectations

3 Meeting grade level expectations

2 Approaching grade level expectations

1 Not meeting grade level expectations

 

You’ll notice that two major areas on the report card are with the Language Arts and Math strands. Please keep in mind that the expectations in these subject areas change throughout the year- for example the reading level goal for November compared to June. In Science and Social, we focus on different units throughout all reporting periods.

 I think with Grade 1 being such a change from Kindergarten, the first page that focuses on Personal Growth is an extremely important section. It’s quite the step up from half day to full day school, and each and every day we focus on things like the golden rule, how to work together, and how to think like a problem solver. Together we’re helping them develop into responsible students, and they’re going to see success all throughout their time at MMH because of this.

Here are some important dates to mark on your November Calendar. Have a wonderful long weekend with your families!

Friday November 8^th- Remembrance Day Break no school
Monday November 11^th- Remembrance Day No School
Wednesday November 13^th- School Council Meeting @ 6:30
Thursday November 14^th- Spirit Assembly @8:30
Friday November 15^th- Report Cards sent home
Thursday November 21^st- Student Led Conferences- No School in the pm
Friday November 22^nd- Student Led Conferences- No School

Hi everyone!

Just a few little reminders about the upcoming weeks!  Thank you to those who have let me know what your preference is for our Home Reading program! Remember, please continue to write the name of the book that your student read last night (either online or hard copy) as this really makes things clear to our Home Reading parents when checking in and doing switches.  If you find that as time goes on, Raz Kids is NOT for you, or you prefer to try Raz Kids, just let me know via email. 

Are there any families who did not receive a class photo?  If you didn’t get one a few weeks ago, please let me know asap so that I can look into getting more printed!

I was informed that our classroom came in 2^nd place for most donated items to the Lethbridge Food Bank!  How AMAZING are we?!?!  Thank you for being so open to the idea and for helping to teach our students the importance of giving! They sure were excited when they told me about it!

Here’s some exciting news for our class: We are getting an education student from the University of Lethbridge!  The education student is coming to meet the students on Thursday, and then will complete a practicum in our Grade 1 room for 5 weeks. 

We also will have a special presentation about Fire Safety on Thursday, October 24^th, as well as another visit from Melany Duffin, our occupational therapist. Melany has been in our classroom two times already, teaching the students about the Artist’s Grip and the Magic C. The students just love her, and I’m learning a lot from her too!

Don’t forget that this Thursday October 24^th the students are dismissed from school at 11:45 for a PD afternoon, and there is no school on Friday October 25^th for a PD day. 

On Monday, your student will be bringing home a very important note about Student Led Conferences.  In Grade 1, we do Student Led Conferences in lieu of traditional Parent/ Teacher interviews after the 1^st report card is sent home.  Please read the note carefully, and you’ll be asked to return a slip indicating your preference for time for your Student Led Conference.  Thanks in advance for your help with this!

Here is the plan for Halloween Day! 

Our students will be rotating to different centers all morning. They will visit each of the other Grade 1 teachers, and complete different Halloween activities.

At 11:30, we will be going outside for an EARLY recess. Students will be outside from 11:30-11:45, and then they will come back into our OWN classroom from 11:45-12:25.  At this time, they will eat their lunches, get a little bit of down time, and this will also be the time where they can get their costumes ready/ get dressed for the Halloween Parade.

Around 12:30, the Halloween Parade will start! Parents and family members are invited to watch the students parade around the hallways with our costumes. 

After the parade, we will return to our own classrooms for snacks and a video until afternoon recess at 1:55.

After recess, students will spend the rest of the afternoon with Ms. Nevels for a Halloween activity.  It’s going to be a busy but fun day! 

Here are some things to remember:

-            As a school initiative, we’re asking that costumes be simple and easy to assemble.  Please do not send your student with any weapons, masks, or any costumes that are particularly ‘gory’. 

 

-            If you think your student will require a lot of help in getting their costume ready for the parade, you are welcome to come and help your student, or pick them up at our early recess to take them home for lunch.  Lunch recess/ Lunch time will be from 11:30-12:25 on this day.  I will email the parents who volunteered to bring snacks for the party separately as a reminder. 

 

I think that’s it for now! Here are your calendar updates:

Tuesday October 22^nd- Picture Retakes Day
Thursday October 24^th- PD Day in the pm, students dismissed @11:45
Friday October 25^th- PD Day No school
Tuesday October 29^th- Hot Lunch for Grades 1-3
Wednesday October 30^th- Hot Lunch for Grades 4-5
Thursday October 31^st- Halloween Parade/ Activities

Tuesday November 5^th- “Motivational Magic” assembly @ 1pm

Thursday November 7^th- Remembrance Day Assembly @ 10:30
Friday November 8^th- Remembrance Day Break no school
Monday November 11^th- Remembrance Day No School
Friday November 15^th- Report Cards sent home

Hello everyone! Thanks for checking in on the blog!

There is lots of important information about the weeks coming up so please read carefully, and as always, email me with any questions! 

Did you know our class came in 2^nd place for most money raised for Terry Fox?!!? That’s AMAZING!!!  Out of 25 classes in our school, our class managed to raise almost $300.  I was absolutely astounded! It was so neat to listen to the students share stories of how they collected their toonies or who they asked to pledge them.  What wonderful support we have- thank you thank you thank you!!

Language Arts:
Home Reading is starting this week!
The idea behind Home Reading is that every child will get daily practice reading a book at their level, for approx. 15 minutes.  Home Reading will be sent home Monday- Thursday.  No reading will be sent on Fridays, as agendas stay at school on Fridays.  Each day, a parent volunteer is in the classroom and they are switching the home reading books.  It is VERY HELPFUL for the person who is switching books if you write the TITLE OF THE BOOK, along with your signature in the agenda, so we know that your child has read it!  If you miss a day, just write ‘Keep for one more night’ so we know not to send a new book home. 

We are mainly using a program called A-Z. For those families with older students at MMH, you will be familiar with this already.  As we start out the home reading program, your child might take home a book that is too hard or too easy.  If this is the case, you can note this in the agenda, so we can find appropriate levels.  If the book is ‘Just Right’, you can write that too!  It might take a couple of books before we find the level that your child is comfortable with. 

Don’t forget to continue to review Sight Words as well! 

We are also starting our Daily 5 program this week!  If you haven’t checked out what Daily 5 is on the internet yet, you definitely should! Daily 5 is a frame work in which students participate in different literacy centers, and then it’s coupled with a CAFÉ reading strategy program.  CAFÉ teaches students all of the different ways to improve their reading strategies.  Getting the Daily 5 program up and running often takes a bit of time, but it’s so neat to see how much the students love working on their own, and how much responsibility it is for them. 

Math
In Math, we’ve finished up our patterning unit and have continued with different ways to represent a number from 1-20.  In this unit, students work with pictures, numbers, tally marks, rods and cubes, and 10 frames.  We also practice every morning in our Circle Time about ways to count on the 100 chart- forwards, backwards, by 1s and by 2s.  We played the game of “Sparkle”- ask your student if they remember and see if they can teach you the game! 

Science
We are wrapping up our Colours unit, and at the end of the week we will have a mini assessment to see if students remember all about natural vs. manufactured colours, primary and secondary colours, colour mixing and colour properties.  We did a really beautiful art piece where students had to think about their favourite place in nature. Using flower petals and leaves, students had to rub the natural colours out to colour their drawings.  If you’re around our classroom, come by and check out our bulletin boards! 

 

We also painted paper to give it a textured look, and the students made an autumn collage! 

 

In Social Studies, the students have been learning about different groups they belong to, including their family, school, friends, and any other activities. They’ve been showing their work on a Social flap book that they’ll be bringing home this week. 

FEED THE BUG!
Our Feed the Bug campaign will run from October 7^th-11th.  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!

As the weather is changing, this week is a good week to start being diligent about indoor/ outdoor shoes. We keep 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 (ie. Not sandals and boots). 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! 

I am away this week on Friday, October 11^th, but my good friend Mrs. Patti Cherederyk will be subbing in for me.  I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with your families!

I think that’s all the information you’ll need for this week!  Here’s your calendar update:

October 7^th-11^th- Feed the Bug Campaign
Thursday October 10^th- New Scholastic order due
Monday October 14^th- Happy Thanksgiving! No School
Tuesday October 15^th- PD Day- No School
Wednesday October 16^th- Last day for Magazine Fundraiser
Tuesday October 22^nd- Picture Retakes Day
Thursday October 24^th- PD Day in the pm, students dismissed @11:45
Friday October 25^th- PD Day No school
Tuesday October 29^th- Hot Lunch for Grades 1-3
Wednesday October 30^th- Hot Lunch for Grades 4-5
Thursday October 31^st- Halloween Parade/ Activities

 

Hi everyone! Thanks for checking in with the blog!  We’ve had a busy and productive week in Grade 1A! 

**** A bit of house keeping- Someone has left a purple, black and pink Hurley zip up sweater in the classroom! We all had a good look at it today and no one could remember if it belonged to them!  If this sounds like something from your child's wardrobe, tell them to come and get it on Monday!! It's super cute, but it just wouldn't fit me!

I’ve had some parents ask how they can be helping their children at home.  Until home reading begins, our biggest job right now is getting the students to memorize their sight words!  This is a place where students can easily fall behind in!  Our job is to get those students so familiar with those words so they can easily recognize them when reading books.   

It is not enough to have them just reading from the agenda! Here are some really simple ways of making sight words fun! 

Each week as we write 5 new words in the agenda, start your own sight word flash card set at home. 

Have the students make the flash cards! You can build sentence starters with them, and take turns finishing the sentences (example:  I like to play_____). 

You can build 2 sets of flash cards and play a game of Memory Match- they LOVE this!!

Have them sort the words in different ways! Words with 3 letters, 2 letters, 4 letters, etc. and then read out the piles.

I promise with this extra practise now, it will make the daily home reading much easier to transition into!  Thanks for your help with this!

Next week we will be talking about Terry Fox and what a tremendous spirit he had.  This is one of my favourite events of the year!  I love teaching the kids about what a hero he was, and how lucky we are that we can participate in such an amazing event!  In addition to students collecting pledges for their walk, our school is putting on a spirit challenge where we are hoping that every student at MMH can bring a ‘Toonie for Terry’.  It was Terry’s dream to have every Canadian donate 1$ to his cause, and we know we can do even better than that!

On Thursday September 26^th, I will be sending home Terry Fox tattoos, and “I am running for…” stickers that they can wear on the walk! I’ll tuck them safely into the plastic sleeve of the agenda so that they don’t get lost over the week, and then students can proudly wear them, along with MMH colours for our walk on Friday September 27^th! 

As a staff, we understand that this time of year can be difficult with the start of school, registration costs for activities, fundraising, etc.  In the spirit of Terry, we will be talking with the students about not just asking for a toonie to donate, but perhaps earning a toonie to donate.  They can offer to do a chore around the house, help a neighbour or grandparent, etc.  Thanks for your support with this!

*Please ensure that on Friday September 27th, your student has good walking shoes and is properly dressed for the weather. 

On Monday September 30th, your student will be bringing home their mini progress report! The intent of this progress report is to give you an idea of your child's progress so far in Grade 1, in relation to grade level expectations at this time.  We hope that you can use this progress report to set goals with your student between now and the first formal reporting period, which is in November.  Keep an eye out for this report coming home on Sept. 30th! 

That’s it for now! Have a wonderful weekend!

-Anna Tsentouros

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to the blog! We’ve had an awesome first couple of weeks of school! Grade 1 is such a huge change from Kindergarten but our class seems to be adjusting well! 

It was great to see so many families out at our Meet the Teacher night!  It’s always neat to see just how excited the students get to have you in our room.  They're already so proud of being in Grade 1 and that’s just awesome!  In our class this year, we have 20 students – 13 girls and 7 boys:

Abigail                 Layla
Berkley                Lizzie
Chloe                   Madison E.
Danica                 Madison P.
Gavin                   Nisarg
Hailey                  Peyton
Hayden                Reilly
Kaiden                 Serenity
Keetly                  Seth
Larsen                  Taryn

Yesterday I sent out our Class Phone list! It’s very possible that I made a typo while inputting all your phone numbers so please let me know if there are any mistakes!

Here’s a brief summary of what we’ve been up to in Grade 1:

In Language Arts we’ve been reviewing our letter sounds and printing.  We’ve also been practising our 5 sight words which are written every week in the agenda.  Each week we will practise these sight words and we ask that you please practise them at home!  It is important that the students are able to READ (not spell- but if they can spell them woohoo!) these words without trying to sound them out.  I mentioned to many of you last night that our home reading program will begin in October.  Thank you to the parents who signed up to exchange home reading!  I will be emailing you closer to the start date. 

In Math, we began with printing numbers 1-10 as a review, as well as testing out different ways to represent them.  Our first two units in math are about numbers 1-10 and patterning.  In Science we’ve begun our Colours unit, and this week we spent some time talking about colours in nature as well as manufactured colours.

This year, we do NOT have any peanut allergies in our own class. There are peanut allergies in other Grade 1 classes so we exercise caution when students have peanut butter sandwiches.  Please remind your student to wash their hands after handling anything with peanuts! 

Thanks to parents who signed up to bring snacks outside our door! When it comes time, you’ll receive a reminder for what you’ve signed up for via email. 

On Friday, September 27^th we are going on our Terry Fox Walk!  We are going to be walking with our Grade 4 book buddies.  We are leaving MMH just after announcements, and will walk over to Nicholas Sheran Lake.  We go around the lake once where we meet up with the other Westside Schools, and then we head back to MMH.  If you’d like to join us on our walk please just let me know via email. We ask that younger siblings don’t come for this, as usually the walk is pretty exhausting for our Grade 1s.  If you don’t want to walk, you are more than welcome to grab a spot at the lake and cheer us on when we pass! 

I think that’s it for now! Here are some important dates in September and October to mark your calendars with.  Have a great weekend!

-Anna Tsentouros

September

Wednesday September 18^th- Magazine fundraiser assembly @ 8:45
Thursday September 26^th- Terry Fox Assembly @ 11:15
Friday September 27^th- Terry Fox Walk @ 8:45

October

Wednesday October 2^nd- Family Assembly TBA
Wedneday October 9^th- School Council @ 6:30pm
Monday October 14^th- Thanksgiving! No School
Tuesday October 15^th- PD Day – No School
Tuesday October 22^nd- Picture Retake day
Thursday October 24^th- PD Day in Pm only
Friday October 25^th- PD Day no school
Thursday October 31^st- Halloween Parade in the pm

The First Day of School is Coming!!

Hi everyone and welcome to our
Grade 1A classroom blog!

I'm so excited to meet everyone on Tuesday September 3rd!  Here you will find the latest news in our classroom as well as upcoming events/ things to know. I will also update a monthly calendar list so you can keep track of what is going on around MMH for your child's Grade 1 year.

I will email all parents once the blog is updated (usually on Fridays) so that you know to go and check it out for new information. Please make sure you have provided me with an email address that you use often and one where you don’t mind receiving emails from me. Of course, if you prefer a paper copy of handouts/ information/ reminders, I can provide one as well -please just let me know.

I'm pumped for an awesome first day of getting to know the students and to share stories of our summers! I can tell it's going to be an exciting and busy year in Room 15.

Thanks for checking in!

-Anna Tsentouros

Hi Everyone! Thank you for checking in.  We had an awesome field trip last week to the Galt Museum.  Thank you to the parent volunteers who were able to meet us there. Here are some snap shots of our class taking it all in!

It was awesome to see so many families out for our Pancake Breakfast on Tuesday as well! Thank you to those who were able to attend! 

Well, we’re going through our classroom notebooks and we’re slowly organizing things to be sent home. I never know what’s better: a slow, steady stream of random school things sent home throughout the weeks, or having your child’s backpack explode near the end of the year with one massive pile of things!  If you are taking off before June 27^th to begin your summer holiday, please let me know so I can arrange to have your child’s report card sent with them. 

 We have started some local Animal Research projects! Your child picked an animal that is local to our area, and we’re going to be doing some research in the next two weeks about them! I’m always amazed at what the students find and how much information they retain when it comes to this kind of stuff.  Future scientists, perhaps!?

 Speaking of science, for anyone who is interested in the “If You Don’t Use It, You Lose It” presentation our speech pathologist Christie Schipper gave, she has posted it on her blog http://slpopedia.blogspot.ca , along with some Q and As, and some useful resources that you might be interested in.  When I went to her presentation, I immediately went home and told my family members about it.  There’s so much information and its really fascinating stuff!  I highly recommend you follow her blog! 

 On Monday, our students are heading BACK to Kindergarten!  They’ll be hanging out with Mrs. McCrady all morning while I get a new batch of KinderKids!  The purpose of Switch Day is so the Kindergarten students get a feel for what a day is like in Grade 1, and the Grade 1s always love going back to visit their Kindergarten class and teachers.  Should be a fun time! 

 We are still looking for some volunteers for Sports Day! If you or an outgoing family member are able to help run a center, please let me know ASAP! This is honestly a really fun day and the kids just get so excited to spend so much time out doors.  Students will be placed in colour coded teams, and are expected to wear their team colour. We’ll write this information in their agendas closer to the date. 

One of the final units we’ll be doing in Grade 1 is a Camping themed unit! I’m pumped because there’s so much cool stuff you can do out there with camping!  It is tentatively set for Friday, June 21^st! Each student will need to bring:  1 sleeping bag (or blanket), 1 pillow, and 1 flashlight.  We hope to go on a mini ‘hike’ around the school yard, and some other awesome camping activities.  

 Information will also be going home about our Grade 1 Year End Picnic.  This is an awesome day where we walk to Nicholas Sheran Park, and enjoy lunch!  We usually leave MMH around 11, to be at the park for 11:45.  Please bring a blanket and come join us!  The note home will include all the information as well as a chance to sign up to bring food, as we organize this as a ‘pot luck’ picnic.  We stay at the park until about 1, and then head back to MMH. 

 I think that’s it for right now!  Thank you for your time!

-Anna Tsentouros

Don't forget these important dates!!

Monday June 10th- Kindergarten / Grade 1 Switch Day!

Tuesday June 18th- Sports Day

Friday June 21^st- Camp Day!

Monday June 24th- Farewell Assembly

Tuesday June 25th- Grade 1 Year End picnic

Wednesday June 26th- Grade 1 picnic back up date

Thursday June 27th- School Slideshow/ Last Day of school!
*Students are dismissed @ 12 on the 27th!*