MMH Grade 1 Blog!: September 2014

Friday, September 26, 2014

Hi everyone!

Thanks for checking in on the blog. Wow did our Grade 1s ever do an awesome job on our big Terry Fox Walk! Thank you for your support with this amazing campaign. It was awesome to hear how the students earned their pledges or their “Toonie for Terry”. We were tired when it was all said and done, but the students sure felt proud!

Please keep an eye out for a note coming home asking for volunteers for our Crossings Branch Library field trip. As that is another big walk, we want to make sure students are dressed appropriately for the weather that day as well!

In Language Arts, we are finishing up a letter sound review, and will soon start blending sounds together for reading words. If you’re finding your child is still not confident with their letter sounds, please contact your teacher and ask how you can help with this at home. This is the strong foundation that will build the confidence that kids need to LOVE reading! Don’t forget to keep practising with SIGHT WORDS! Remember, students do not need to know how to spell sight words at this time, but they do need to be able to recognize and read them quickly.

In October, we will be starting our Home Reading Program. It is an expectation that students read at least 15 minutes EVERYDAY! Please keep an eye out for a detailed note that explains home reading, as we will be offering two different programs, and you need to respond with your preference.

In Social Studies we’ve been talking about belonging to different groups, such as our family, friends, school, and any extra activities. In Science, we’re continuing with learning about Colours. We’ve learned about natural and manufactured colours, and have been mixing primary colours to make secondary colours.

We are looking for some parent volunteers who would be willing to help with Grade 1 Recycling. Our recycle bin needs to be emptied and brought into the depot once a week. If you are willing to help us out with this that would be greatly appreciated! The money collected from recycling will be put towards renting school buses for Grade 1 field trips. If this is something you’re interested in, please let your Grade 1 Teacher know ASAP and we can work out a schedule!

This week, your Grade 1 Teacher will be filling out a Mini Progress Report about your student’s progress so far this year. Please talk to your teacher if you have any questions or concerns with the report!

Have a wonderful weekend with your families!

Here’s the dates for October for your calendars:

Tuesday October 7^th- Crossings Branch Field Trip.
(Payne and Fallwell’s class in the AM, Johnston and Tsentouros’ class in the pm)
Wednesday October 8^th- Firefighter presentation
Monday October 13^th- Happy Thanksgiving! No School!
Tuesday October 14^th- PL Day- No School!
Wednesday October 15^th-22^nd- Feed the Bug Campaign
Tuesday October 21^st- Picture Retake Day
Wednesday October 22^nd- Spirit Assembly @ 12:30
Thursday October 23^rd-PL Day in the PM, students dismissed @ 11:45
Friday October 24^th- PL Day-No School
Friday October 31^st- Happy Halloween! Details to come!

Monday, September 22, 2014

Hot Lunch Days for the Whole Year!

I know we all look forward to those hot lunch days when we can take a break from packing lunches! Now you will have the dates for Grade 1-3 for the whole year! If you have older children remember that Grades 4,5,6 are the following day. Enjoy!

Oct. 21

Nov. 18

Dec. 9

Jan. 27

Feb. 24

March 24

April 28

May 26

June TBA

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Hello Grade One Families!

Thank you for checking in on our Grade 1 blog! Thanks to all the families that were able to make it to Meet the Teacher night! The best part was seeing how proud students were of their new classrooms. Here’s some news for our Grade One Group:

Field Trips

This past week, a newsletter was sent home from the office regarding the Terry Fox Assembly and Walk. Unfortunately, there was a time error regarding the assembly. Our Terry Fox Assembly will be in conjunction with our Blue and Gold Assembly, which is on Monday September 22^nd at 8:30 in the morning. There will be no assembly after the walk on Friday. Students are encouraged to wear school colours on both Monday and Friday. At Monday’s assembly, we’ll be talking about Terry Fox and our Spirit Cup Challenge. We’ll also have a special guest, Mr. Terry Fox, give a short presentation. Mr. Terry Fox is actually the late Terry Fox’s uncle!

Don’t forget to email your Grade One teacher if you are able to walk with your class on October 7^th to the Crossings Branch library! Each class time is listed on the blog post below. We’re hoping for some great weather on that day so remember to make sure your children are dressed accordingly!

Lunchtime

It is very helpful for lunchtime if your children are able to open their own snacks/ containers! Involving your child in lunch packing is a great way to help prepare with this! One suggestion from a parent was to open difficult packaging at home, and put snacks (such as fruit cups) into a reusable lunch container that is kid friendly. When the students can open their own snacks, this helps build their independence! Thank you for your help with this!

Bell Times and Coming into the School

Don’t forget that the bell times have changed this year! We want to help the traffic in the office become a bit more manageable! There is supervision on the playground before school at 8:05 am.

The Warning Bell rings at 8:15 am. At this time, students need to line up outside at our Grade One doors. Grade One teachers will then invite students in.

The Dismissal Bell rings at 3:06pm. At this time, students can meet families in the boot room. Having parents wait in the boot room will make our caretaking staff’s jobs much easier, especially when the weather changes.

On Fridays, the Dismissal Bell rings at 11:44am.

We understand that sometimes parents need to speak with teachers in the morning. If so, the best thing would be to either come in with the Grade 1 students at the 8:15am Warning Bell, or come through the office doors with your child. The Grade One doors are locked for security reasons. Please do not let other students in through the Grade One doors, as this could become a supervision issue!

If your student arrives after 8:15, and there is no one holding the Grade One Door, please remind them to go through the office door! We don’t want any little ones being locked out! If they go in through the office door, then they need to stop at the office to get a late slip!

Need a Desk??

The student desks that are lined up outside the library are free for the taking!! If you’d like to take some desks home, please help yourself!

Last But Not Least:

Don’t forget to check out our School Newsletter, which can be found by clicking HERE! It includes important information such as Breakfast Club, School Council, Parking Reminders, and a Monthly Calendar.

Don’t forget to add these Grade One Dates to your calendar at home. Thank you for a fun first few weeks! Take care,

From the Grade One Teachers

September

Monday September 22^nd- Blue and Gold Assembly @ 8:30

Tuesday September 23^rd- Hot Lunch Grades 1-3

Wednesday September 24^th- Hot Lunch Grades 4-5

Friday September 26^th- Terry Fox Walk @ 8:45

October

Tuesday October 7^th- Crossings Branch Field Trip

Wednesday October 8^th- Firefighter presentation

Monday October 13^th- Thanksgiving! No School

Tuesday October 14^th- PL Day – No School

Wednesday October 15th- 22nd- Feed the Bug campaign

Tuesday October 21^st - Picture Retake day

Wednesday October 22^nd- Spirit Assembly @ 12:30

Thursday October 23rd- PD Day in PM only

Friday October 24^th- PD Day no school

Friday October 31^st- Happy Halloween! Details to come!

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Grade One News

Hi everyone and welcome to our Grade blog!

We’ve had an awesome first week of school! Grade 1 is such a huge change from Kindergarten but our classes seems to be adjusting well! Here you will find the latest news in our classroom as well as upcoming events/ things to know. There will also be an updated monthly calendar list so you can keep track of what is going on around MMH for your child's Grade 1 year.

Please make sure you have provided your teacher with an email address that you use often and one where you don’t mind receiving emails. Of course, if you prefer a paper copy of handouts/ information/ reminders, teachers can provide one as well -please just let your teacher know.

Here’s a brief summary of what we will be working on:

InLanguage Arts we will be reviewing our letter sounds and printing. We will also start practicing our sight words, which will be written every week in the agenda. Each week we will practice these sight words and we ask that you please practice 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. Our home reading program will begin in October. Thank you to the parents who signed up to exchange home reading! Teachers will contact the parents who have offered to help with home reading exchange closer to the start date.

InMath, 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 will start our Colours unit, and discussions about the season fall.

Morning Routine:

If your child arrives at school prior to the bell, please direct them to the playground. There is supervision there and it is a much safer place than the front of the school. The Grade One doors open each morning at 8:15am, when our first “warning bell” will sound. Another bell will go at 8:20am. Any student arriving after the 8:20am bell needs to enter through the office doors and ask for a late slip on the way by. This helps so much to ensure accurate attendance is taken. Thank you for your help with this!

Lunchtime:

We have had a good start to settling into the routine of eating lunch at school. Students are getting faster at handling their lunch kit from their backpack. Parents, you can help us out here! We ask that you involve your student when packing their lunch, so that they're aware of what's in their lunch kit. It's helpful when they know what they should be eating as their morning snack (10-10:15), lunch (12-12:24) and then as an afternoon snack (1:55-2:05). Don't forget to pack any utensils that they need! Some students are able to open up their containers on their own which is VERY helpful for us! Thank you for your support here!

There are peanut allergies in some Grade 1 classes so we exercise caution when students have peanut butter sandwiches, etc. Please remind your student to wash their hands after handling anything with peanuts!

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

Each class is also looking for a School Council Representative. School Council meets once a month (on a Wednesday) and your job would be to act as a liason between the school council and our classroom. The School Council also works on different committees and helps out with school wide events and fundraising. It’s a great way to get out and meet other parents in the school as well! If this sounds something you’re interested in, please let your teacher know! The first meeting is set for Wednesday September 10^th @ 6pm.

Field Trips:

OnFriday, September 26^th we are going on our Terry Fox Walk! 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. The Grade One teachers are looking for 2 parents per class to join. If you’d like to join us on our walk please just let your teacher 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! Students are welcome to wear our school colours (Blue and Gold) for this morning.

On October 7^th, our Grade 1 classes will be walking to the Crossings Branch Library for a tour! Here are the times that each class is going:

Mrs. Payne and Mrs. Fallwell’s class:

Leave MMH @ 9:45

Return to MMH @ 11:45

Mrs. Johnston and Miss Tsentouros’ class:

Leave MMH @ 12:45

Return to MMH @ 2:45

Each class is looking for 2 parents to help. If you are able to help walk with your child’s class, please email your teacher and let her know.

Although this is a long time away, our Grade 1 group will be going Skating at the Nicholas Sheran Rink on Wednesday December 17^th from 1:15-2:30. Each child will need a skating helmet and their own pair of skates! We’re hoping this early notice will give parents enough time to borrow equipment. Closer to the date, we’ll also ask if parents have any extra skates that we can share with those without.

Thank you for checking out our first blog post!

Here are some important dates to mark your calendars with: