It was an energy-charged day at school for Grade Ones today! Our class enjoyed an afternoon of Halloweeny crafts and activities, ending the day with a shared center time with Room 3. The best part of the day was sitting together and talking about our costumes!
We had our first Buddy activity today with Mrs. Ellis’s grade 5s and 6s. Everyone was very excited to meet their buddies and share their Room on the Broom story retelling. The older kids were great with our younger ones. It’s so nice to make connections with other students within the building to strengthen our school community.
Your child brought home their Room on the Broom activity. Have them share it with you…it has been a fun activity this week!
Halloween is coming up on Monday…once again, please be sure to leave any costume weapons, masks and delicate accessories at home. Students will change into costumes after lunch and have fun activities throughout the afternoon.
No school for students tomorrow!
Our volleyball unit has started in gym. Ask your child if they can show you the hand and arm position for 'bumping' the ball! Volleyball is not the easiest game to play with 6 year olds but we are sure having fun chasing balls around the gym:)
Friday is a professional development day, so there is no school for students. Monday is Halloween, so of course it will be an exciting day at Woodlands! We invite students to bring their costumes to school to change into after lunch and we will have a fun afternoon with Halloween activities. A few requests:
-please do not bring costume accessories that might get lost or broken
-no costumes with masks please!
-consider the easiness for bathroom visits...a costume will need to be comfortable and easy for the students to put on and take off independently
-no weapons are permitted...light sabres, pirate swords and police firearms must stay at home
If you would like to send your child with a small, manageable 'party food' snack, you are welcome to do so but we ask that you do not send any for the rest of the class. There are so many food restrictions and severe allergies at school that this is very important to keep everybody healthy. Great ideas include a small bag of chips, popcorn or a cookie. Please help us keep costumes clean and dry by not sending sweet, sticky drinks!
If you have any questions or need clarification, please email me at adnicholas@cbe.ab.ca
We spent some time revisiting the book "Room on the Broom" by Julia Donaldson today. We will be using this book to practice story sequencing and retelling this week, so be sure to ask you child if they can share what they remember with you!
It was pretty icy this morning, and of course it got quite wet by the afternoon...always hard to be prepared with the right outdoor wear but thank you for sending your child with everything they need to be comfortable outside.
We used water droppers and water-based markers to mix colours this morning. Red, yellow and blue were blended to create all kinds of secondary colours and mysterious magic potions.
Thank you to all the family members who were able to come and cheer on our Grade Ones during this morning's assembly. We were so proud of how the students tried their best and put on a show to remember! Even when we lost the sound to our 'Sweater Song', the kiddos stepped up and continued to sing their hearts out. Bravo!
With the temperature dropping, it's time to think about winter clothing (ugh). Be sure to have a practice run with your child in putting on snow pants, mitts and boots...having items labelled is a big help too as sometimes it's hard to know whose black mittens are whose. Thank you!
The class is excited about tomorrow's assembly! We made leaf garlands today to wear during our performance. Assembly will start at 9:00 and we hope to see lots of family there.
Photo proofs went home in backpacks today. Ordering instructions are inside the package. For those who missed picture day or aren't happy with their proofs, you will have another chance on November 8th!
We had library with Mrs. Montgomery today. Students are always excited to sign out two new books to keep in their book boxes in the classroom for quiet reading time.
Ask your child about the story we read today called "Porkenstein" by Kathryn Lasky. Poor Dr. Smart Pig tries to invent a friend...and hilarity ensues.
Our students viewed a video about the Zones of Regulation today and thought about different strategies we can use when we are red (angry), yellow (silly, worried) or blue (tired, sad) to get back to the green zone. Ask your child about some of the strategies we discussed together...and maybe share some of your own to add to the discussion!
We used rods and units to represent numbers up to 29 today. These manipulatives are very handy to introduce place value to Grade Ones. Ask your child if they can tell you what number the picture below represents and why...
Our field trip to Fish Creek Park was a super exciting way to spend a sunny afternoon! We experienced all the senses of fall (well, we intentionally left out 'taste') as we walked and observed our surroundings. A big highlight was the ladybug that came to visit us!
Thank you to Lincoln's mom for joining us today.
Tomorrow is our walking field trip to Fish Creek Park. Please help your child make sensible choices for clothing, jackets and footwear so that they stay comfortable! We plan to leave the school around 12:45 and return by 2:15.
A reminder that our Grade One assembly will take place next Thursday October 20th in our gym at 9:00. All are welcome! Our students are bringing home a copy of our poem As Soon As It’s Fall to practice. They will be excited to show you the actions that go along with the poem.
We had a super busy literacy block today with our phonological awareness routine, a read aloud of Goodnight Gorilla (very few words but loaded with action) and story workshop time. The students were buzzing with all kinds of creative ideas for their characters, settings and actions!
Ask your child to tell you about tinting and shading...we did this today with chalk pastels (I apologize for the dusty pants and sleeves).
There is no school for students tomorrow as teachers partake in professional learning activities. Monday is a holiday so we will see everyone back here next Tuesday.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Side note: this thermos was left in the classroom the other day. Is it yours?
Everyone looked fabulous for picture day today! We will have the proofs sent back to us within a couple of weeks for families to make a selection.
Ask your child about our Social Studies discussion of good choices/bad choices when it comes to being a responsible citizen. We always have great chats about how we can make good choices about helping others, staying safe and being responsible.
Our Grade One students are hosting the October 20th assembly at Woodlands at 9:00 am. All are welcome to join our school community in celebrating the accomplishments of our awesome Grade Ones. The assembly will be about half an hour in length if you are able to schedule it in:)
Casino Volunteers needed! This is the major fundraiser for Woodlands School. Please consider giving your time to this cause to help out students access extra money for enhanced learning, materials and experiences.
This Friday October 7th is a non-instructional day for students. With the Thanksgiving holiday on Monday it will be an extra-long weekend.
Ask your child to sing our new Fall song that Mrs. Switzer taught them today...it's adorable!
We did some research into fall changes by looking at a non fiction book called Awesome Autumn today. We talked about the things we see in trees, animals, weather and our community that tell us fall is here (and winter is not far away). We used our visual journals to sketch and write about our thoughts.
180 'school days' ago, we started our journey in Grade One together...and now it all wraps up tomorrow with our last day of school! ...
