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