Hi everyone! Welcome back to the blog! We had a really great week back in Grade 1 after a relaxing Easter break!  We jumped right back into the swing of things and picked up right where we left off.

In Language Arts we continued with our fairy tale unit, and looked at Little Red Riding Hood and (my favourite!) The Princess and the Pea.  For Little Red, students made their own forest setting and stand up characters.  We spend some time on Wednesday retelling the story to partners. 

We’ll continue to wrap up Fairy Tales, and then move onto learning about taking care of our Earth, which ties nicely into writing, Science, and Social Studies.  With Earth Day approaching, we’ll be discussing how we can take care of our Earth, and recognizing the things that our environment does for us. 

In Math, we are working on our Measurement unit.  In Grade 1, we measure by comparing and using non-standard units of measure.  We’ll also be getting into representing numbers in different ways, from 1-100.  We’ve also been talking about our preferred ways of problem solving.  Here’s a picture of our favourite ways to solve problems so far:

Is your child fundraising for the Math a Thon? Have they collected any pledges yet?  More information about the Math A Thon can be found in the MMH newsletter.  The Practice Test will be sent home next Wednesday.  PLEASE help prepare your child for this test, regardless of whether or not they are fundraising! Thanks for your help!

We have wrapped up our Building Things unit in science with a Unit Test! Students will be bringing home their unit and test which shows the different vocabulary and questions we covered.  We’ll talk about the changing season of Spring (now that it’s starting to look like Spring out there…) and then move on to our last unit, which is Living Plants and Animals. 

In Social Studies, we’ll be discussing how to take care of our world around us, including our environment.  This is a mini unit before we start to compare our Past and the Present. 

We’re wrapping up our Friendship lessons with Mrs. Savage.  The kids LOVE when Mrs. Savage comes in because she has such neat ideas and ways of getting them to connect to things can sometimes be difficult for them to understand.  You’ve probably heard about “Milkshake Breathing” and “Pizza Massage”.  These are great conversation starters with your Grade 1er at home, and we’re so appreciative to have Mrs. Savage in our class. On Thursday we talked about “Red” negative thoughts and “Green” positive thoughts.  It was really empowering, as they opened up and shared times when they’ve had thoughts like “I’m stupid”, or “they don’t like me”. Mrs. Savage gave them tips and tricks on how to deal with these thoughts, and how to use positive thinking, especially when communicating with peers. Here’s some video clips of how they got rid of those negative thoughts and feelings: 

In Phys-Ed we’re starting to learn some skills for T-Ball, and needless to say, I think we have some future baseball stars on our hands!

Our Grade 1 students have been working hard on a beautiful song with Ms. Nevels, which will be showcased at our Family Assembly on May 7^th at 12:30.  If you’re able to make it to our performance, that would be great! 

I’ve noticed that many students have been really diligent this week in returning their home reading- THANK YOU for the time put in at home with this! It’s so neat see their confidence during reading exchange. Daily reading is what makes the biggest improvement! Thank you!!

Last 2 reminders- we are still collecting PLASTIC egg cartons! Please think of us on your next grocery trip! Each child will need one by May, so if you have extras please send them along!

We also need drivers for our Helen Schuler field trip on April 30^th. We’ll leave MMH at 12:45, and be back just before 3.  Even if you can just pick up and drop off, that’s helpful!

Thanks for your time, have a wonderful weekend!

-Anna Tsentouros

Wednesday April 17^th- Hot Lunch, Mathathon Practice Test goes home!

Monday April 22nd- Earth Day

Tuesday April 23^rd- May Scholastic order due back
Wednesday April 24th- Grade 4/5 Airband competition

Thursday April 25^th- Spirit Assembly @12:30
Friday April 26th- Professional Learning Day no school

Tuesday April 30^th- Helen Schuler field trip 1:00

Wednesday May 1^st- Math-a-thon Test Day!

Tuesday May 7^th- Family Assembly Grade 1s perform

Friday May 10^th- PD Day No School

Monday May 20^th- Victoria Day no school

Thursday May 23^rd- Spirit Assembly @1230

Tuesday May 28^th- Galt Museum Field Trip (TBA)