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