I can’t believe that our school year is in its final month! It has been such a busy time that it really has not seemed that we have been working together for nine months already! This is a brief message to give everyone a quick glance at our June activities.
I would like to thank all the parents for sharing your children with me this year. They are a wonderful group of children! I have enjoyed teaching AND learning with them this year; it has been an incredible journey. They have blossomed into readers, researchers, and responsible Forestview citizens. It has been a joy and privilege to be their Grade One teacher.
I want to encourage all of you to continue to read, write, and mathematize over the summer months! We have come so far this year, and it is important to keep our skills sharp during the summer hiatus. I will be sending home a summer newsletter on the last day of school with some suggestions for helping your child “keep sharp” over the summer.
I also wanted to remind parents that with the warm and sunny weather, it is important to send a hat to school for your child to wear outdoors during the fitness breaks. Your child should have his/her sunscreen applied before school.
Dates to Remember
June 7 – Year End trip (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat / Dave and Buster’s) – remember to bring a packed lunch
June 9 – Learning with Logan
We will also have our final “baby visit” from Logan this month. We thank Mrs. Palmer and Logan for sharing this special year in Logan’s life with us! We are planning a special celebration and making a “wishing tree” for Logan.
June 20 – Forestview Art Show (gymnasium)
June 21 – last day for Take Home Reading Programme – please
return all books and book bags on Friday, June 24
June 29 – Last day of classes for students
Congratulations to our May Award Winners!
Achievement Award – Aidan
Effort Award – Anthony
Character (Cooperation) Award - Grace
Welcome to my Grade One/Two Classroom! This blog is intended to be used by my students and parents of my students to find out more information about my program. I hope that you will frequently visit our classroom blog to check out links and to see what we have been up in our classroom.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
May News
Everyday when we add another ‘straw’ to our place value chart where we keep track of how many days we have been in Grade One, I am amazed! We are approaching the 150th day of school already!
Literacy
We will be concluding our unit on non-fiction (All About books) writing this month in addition to reading and writing about insects. Descriptive writing will also be a focus this month. To support your child in writing, you may wish to practice describing items in your home. I strongly recommend that you do lots of talking first. In fact, you may just wish to make this a “talking activity”. Model how to describe things using interesting (“juicy”) words or adjectives to make your description interesting. For example, you may wish to describe a tree in your yard with the observation, “Our sturdy maple tree looks like it is starting to wake up from its winter sleep.” If your child wishes to write or draw, encourage the use of sensory words by asking, “What does your [lamp] look like? Why is it needed in your room? Why do you like it?
One of the reading strategies that we will be focusing on when reading this month is “synthesizing”. Synthesis is the process of ordering, recalling, retelling, and recreating into a coherent whole. A synthesis occurs as you summarize what has happened and what it means to you. One of my favourite books for demonstrating synthesizing to the children is The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown.
We will discuss how reading can ‘transform’ our thinking. We will be drawing and writing about what we know about a topic before we read a book AND then drawing and writing about the topic AFTER we read a book. This way, we see how our thinking changes (a synthesis occurs) sometimes when we read a book.
Mathematics
In Mathematics this month, we will be finishing concepts in measurement and exploring transformational geometry. We will also begin activities related to probability and data management towards the end of the month.
Try some of these activities with your child:
Ask your child to put away or get objects by using directional words such as above, below, next to, and left or right.
Do puzzles together.
Estimate how many things cover an area (for example, how many jelly beans will cover each of the cookies we are making?) Check to see if your estimates are reasonable.
Look in the mirror together and see what happens as you move closer to and farther away from the mirror.
Fold a piece of paper in half. Draw a shape on one side, touching the fold. Cut out the shape with the paper still folded. Have your child decorate the shape to show symmetry on each side of the fold line.
Look for ways to use probability language at home. Take turns completing sentences that start “I sometimes...,” “I never…,” and “I always…” Other probability terms include possible, impossible, chance, probably, likely, and unlikely.
Play cards games or board games with your child, and talk about what sometimes, always, or never happens, and what’s possible or impossible, and about what will probably happen.
Congratulations
At our April celebration assembly today, the following students were recognized for their achievements.
Christopher – Achievement
Levi – Effort
Sierra – Responsibility
Dates to Remember
May 2-6 - Scholastic Book Fair in the library
May 10 – Jump Rope for Heart pledge forms due
May 12 – Jump Rope for Heart – we will be skipping!
May 13 – each division will be recorded as a full group singing ‘O Canada’; we should hear ourselves soon on the morning announcements
May 16 – we will begin wearing pedometers and counting how many steps we take each day; we are going to ‘walk around the world’!
May 23 Victoria Day – no school
May 24 – walk for Ronald McDonald House charity
May 27 – 2nd Annual Forestview Talent Show @ 1:40 in the gym
Literacy
We will be concluding our unit on non-fiction (All About books) writing this month in addition to reading and writing about insects. Descriptive writing will also be a focus this month. To support your child in writing, you may wish to practice describing items in your home. I strongly recommend that you do lots of talking first. In fact, you may just wish to make this a “talking activity”. Model how to describe things using interesting (“juicy”) words or adjectives to make your description interesting. For example, you may wish to describe a tree in your yard with the observation, “Our sturdy maple tree looks like it is starting to wake up from its winter sleep.” If your child wishes to write or draw, encourage the use of sensory words by asking, “What does your [lamp] look like? Why is it needed in your room? Why do you like it?
One of the reading strategies that we will be focusing on when reading this month is “synthesizing”. Synthesis is the process of ordering, recalling, retelling, and recreating into a coherent whole. A synthesis occurs as you summarize what has happened and what it means to you. One of my favourite books for demonstrating synthesizing to the children is The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown.
We will discuss how reading can ‘transform’ our thinking. We will be drawing and writing about what we know about a topic before we read a book AND then drawing and writing about the topic AFTER we read a book. This way, we see how our thinking changes (a synthesis occurs) sometimes when we read a book.
Mathematics
In Mathematics this month, we will be finishing concepts in measurement and exploring transformational geometry. We will also begin activities related to probability and data management towards the end of the month.
Try some of these activities with your child:
Ask your child to put away or get objects by using directional words such as above, below, next to, and left or right.
Do puzzles together.
Estimate how many things cover an area (for example, how many jelly beans will cover each of the cookies we are making?) Check to see if your estimates are reasonable.
Look in the mirror together and see what happens as you move closer to and farther away from the mirror.
Fold a piece of paper in half. Draw a shape on one side, touching the fold. Cut out the shape with the paper still folded. Have your child decorate the shape to show symmetry on each side of the fold line.
Look for ways to use probability language at home. Take turns completing sentences that start “I sometimes...,” “I never…,” and “I always…” Other probability terms include possible, impossible, chance, probably, likely, and unlikely.
Play cards games or board games with your child, and talk about what sometimes, always, or never happens, and what’s possible or impossible, and about what will probably happen.
Congratulations
At our April celebration assembly today, the following students were recognized for their achievements.
Christopher – Achievement
Levi – Effort
Sierra – Responsibility
Dates to Remember
May 2-6 - Scholastic Book Fair in the library
May 10 – Jump Rope for Heart pledge forms due
May 12 – Jump Rope for Heart – we will be skipping!
May 13 – each division will be recorded as a full group singing ‘O Canada’; we should hear ourselves soon on the morning announcements
May 16 – we will begin wearing pedometers and counting how many steps we take each day; we are going to ‘walk around the world’!
May 23 Victoria Day – no school
May 24 – walk for Ronald McDonald House charity
May 27 – 2nd Annual Forestview Talent Show @ 1:40 in the gym
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