A Day in the Life of Grade 1E....: March 2012

March 29, 2012

We started our morning with a wonderful liturgy presented by the kindergarden classes. They shared the following Easter story with us:

In Social Studies we continued talking about how early aboriginals used birch bark canoes to get around and transport things on the rivers and lakes of Canada. As a class we created a list of items the Aboriginals may have transported using their canoes:

Later in the day we began to learn about contractions. We played this fun contaction game online: http://www.primarygames.com/contractions/start.htm

In Art today we learned about the story of Palm Sunday. We read the bible verse Luke 19: 28-40 and then made our own palm fronds. If you would like to read the story of Palm Sunday at home click here.

March 28, 2012

Did you know that our school core focus is literacy? PBS has a great literacy website. Click on the image below to play fun and educational literacy games at home.

In Math today we continued to learn about shapes. We worked on categorizing shapes based on their attributes. For example, these are shapes with curvy lines:

And these are shapes with only straight lines:

Have a great night!

March 27, 2012

In Music today we continued our Raffi unit. I love Raffi songs and have had fun singing the songs with the kids. I have attached one of my favourites below.

In Social today we learned about how First Nations people used birch bark canoes to get around in the lakes and rivers of Canada. We even watched this video clip of a man making a birch bark canoe today.

This afternoon we had a Jump Rope for Heart presentation. This is a great fundraiser that I'm sure many of you remember doing as a child. To learn more about the Jump Rope for Heart foundation please click here. There will be more information on our school's campaign coming home soon.

Have a great night.

March 26, 2012

We started the week by reviewing this week's No Excuse Words:

had
not
said
pink
nine

In Language Arts we read the story Mrs. Mooley. It is a great story about a cow who wanted to jump over the moon. We then worked together to summarise the story into a beginning, middle and end. This is a great way to check for comprehension when reading at home too.

In Social Studies today we learned about Canada's first official sport; Lacrosse. We watched the following video and learned how the First Nations people were the first people to play the game. When french settlers saw the Huron people playing the game they thought the stick the players used look like a bishop's crozier (la crosse, in French) so the game was given a new name.

In Math today we had lots of fun making towers out of 3D objects. Check out the pics below:

March 22, 2012

In Social Studies today we learned about the yummy Canadian staple; Maple Syrup. We even learned the legend of how maple syrup was discovered:

We also watched the following Reading Rainbow clip about the Maple Sugar harvest:

In Math today we talked about 3D objects you see in the real world. For example, dice, a pop can, a teepee, a baseball, a book, a advd player, etc. While out and about why not look for other 3D objects you can see.

In Art today we learned about the concept of line drawing. We created turtles using curvy and straight lines. Here are Lucas' and Miguel's masterpieces.

Have a great weekend!

March 20, 2012

Well I know it doesn't look like it outside but today is the first day of Spring! We watched Peep and The Big World's Spring Thing.

In Language Arts today we created descriptive paragraphs about snowmen. The kids first coloured their snowmen with their best "college" colouring. Then they wrote 6 sentences all about their snowman. Here are a couple examples of their hard work:

We are starting the geometry unit in Math. In this unit, your child will be learning more about three-dimensional objects and two-dimensional shapes

The learning goals for this unit are:

Compare and sort objects or shapes according to one attribute, such as number of sides or whether they have curves.
Describe objects and shapes. For example, some objects can roll, some have points, some are curved and some can stack.
Reproduce composite objects and shapes, such as towers.
Identify shapes on objects, such as a circle on the bottom of a yogurt container.

In order to help your child reach these learning goals try some of the following learning activities at home:

Go on a neighborhood walk. Talk about objects you see in buildings and different settings.
Gather a collection of different objects. Ask your child to sort them into groups. Have your child explain their sorting rule.
Have your child experiment by building tall towers out of blocks, cans or other household objects.
Choose a geometric attribute of a favourite toy – corners, straight sides, curves, dents – and ask your child to find other objects with the same attribute.
Have your child look through old magazines, cut out pictures of shapes, and create composite shapes with the pieces.
Pick an object from your home. Have your child trace a shape on the object with his or her finger. Ask: “Can you find a different object with a part similar to this shape?”
Give your child a shape (e.g. a circle). Have your child look for objects around the home that have parts similar to the given shape (e.g. the bottom of a mug).

March 19, 2012

Tonight is our first night of Student-Led Conferences. The schedule is below, but if you haven't got a chance to sign up yet click here.

Today we celebrated St. Patrick's Day at school. The Leprechaun must have visited us on Saturday because what a mess in our classroom this morninig. He was really nice though, and left us some gold coins to apologise. We also did some fun St. Pat's activities and even watched the fun rendition of Danny Boy below:

Have a great night!

March 15, 2012

This morning we really enjoyed grade 1P and 1K's St. Patrick's Day Liturgy.

We then learned the following poem:

Saint Patrick picked a shamrock,
and held it in his hand
And spoke about the Trinity,
so folks might understand.

In Language Arts we continue to learn about compound words. The kids had fun doing compound word puzzles.

In art we made Pop Art snowflakes. You can check them out on the bulletin board at Student Led Conferences on Monday and Tuesday, but here is a quick peek.

Have a great weekend and hopefully there aren't too many leprechauns up to no good this weekend!!!

March 14, 2012

Tomorrow will be having our St. Patrick's Day Liturgy. Please feel free to join us in the gym at 8:50 to help celebrate.

For No Excuse Words today we filled in Cloze Sentences.

In Math today we finished up our Numbers to 100 unit. Please continue to practice counting at home in order to keep your skills up for grade 2!

March 13, 2012

In Language Arts today we worked on story writing. We focussed specifically on title, characters, problem and solution. For our writing today we wrote our stories based on the following picture prompt:

When you come to student-led next week (to sign up click here) be sure to check out your child's story on the bulletin board.

In Math we worked on using pictures, numbers and words to answer word problems. Check out the one below we did as a class.

Today, we also learned about traditional button blankets. Watch the video below to learn more.

March 12, 2012

We started off this week with our new No Excuse Words:

this
from
I
seven
white

In Social Studies we learned about winter holidays around the world. Some of the holidays we learned about are:

In Canada we celebrate Christmas. We get presents from Santa.
In Africa they celebrate Kwanza. They light a kinora which has 7 candles.
In Mexico they celebrate Posadas. They like to hit pinatas.
In Israel they celebrate Hanukkah. They play with dreidels.

In Math today we worked on the concept of place value. Check out the following website to practice at home:

http://www.ixl.com/math/grade-2/place-value-models-tens-and-ones

Have a great night!

March 9, 2012

Today was a busy day catching up on work. We finished up our Little Red Riding Hood Stories in LA, reviewed counting to 100 in different ways in Math and finished our deconstructed snowmen from yesterday.

This afternoon we had Apple Crunch Day. This event is to promote, celebrate and enjoy healthy snacking. At 2:00, everyone in the school crunched down on a healthy apple, what a tasty treat!

Have a great weekend, and enjoy the warm weather!

March 8, 2012

Today we learned more about Lent. We read the bible verse Matthew 4:2 and talked about how Jesus prayed and fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. We also watched the following video:

In language arts today we started to learn about compound words. Here are some of the words we came up with:

We had lots of fun today in Art. We made "Deconstructed Snowmen", think snowman puzzle. Here are a couple of examples:

Have a great night!

March 7, 2012

Are you running out of ways to practice spelling at home? I found a couple of apps which are great.

First off try iAnagram. You can create your own list of words to spell.

Secondly, try Glitter Draw, it's a fun way to practice writing the words.

Last, try out I Speak Word Wizard where you can create custom spelling tests.

In computers today we visited the Pinky Dinky Doo Storybox site. The kids made some great stories. Why not make one at home, print it up, and then bring it in to read to the class.

In Math, we continued to work on grouping objects to make counting easier. Today we used ten frames to group them. Check out what we did:

Have a great night!

March 6, 2012

Sorry for no post yesterday, but I went home at lunch with a killer migrane. I hope you all had a great break, I know I did, and are ready for the month of March.

Check out our No Excuse Work we did today.

In Language Arts this week we are working on rewriting the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Before we began writing we listened to the story below:

In Social Studies today we learned about all the different countries we were born in. We have students in our class born in: