Thursday January 19, 2023

We learned how to weave with yarn and paper cups today. After some struggles to coordinate fingers with string and the pattern of the weave, we got into a groove and made a lot of progress!  It was a very calm and soothing way to end the day.

Wednesday January 18, 2023

We investigated our sense of sound today, with a fun game that tested our ability to differentiate between different sounds without seeing the source of the sound.  It was fun to guess and see how close we got to the right answer.  It's hard to tell the difference between a motorcycle and a tractor, apparently!  Ask your child to tell you the difference between volume and pitch...

Thank you for helping your child succeed with the RED folder home reading program!  The students are very excited to fill out the reading logs and exchange books every day.

Monday January 16, 2023

 Your child will be bringing home a home reading folder today.  Look for the R.E.D folder (Read Every Day) in their backpack!

This home reading program will give your student an extra boost in their early reading skills, and ideally will be done at a convenient time with an adult or older sibling assisting.  It is definitely not meant to add any pressure to busy family life, so if there are days when it just isn't going to happen, that is completely fine.  The students will read one or two books aloud, record the titles and then bring the books back to school the following morning to swap out for new ones.  There is a pink notice inside the folder that explains the program in more detail.

Thank you for continuing to support your child in their exciting Grade One year!

Friday January 13, 2023

Today's math activity centred around estimation, data collection and odd/even numbers.  Students used loose parts to grab by the handful, estimate the quantity, count and then determine whether the amount was an odd or even number.  They then used tally marks to record the number of odd numbers and even numbers counted.  We were all interested to see how our estimation skills improved as we progressed through the activity.  We were surprised by the results, too...we counted way more odd number amounts than even!  Ask your child to demonstrate to you how we prove that a collection of objects is an odd amount or an even...

There are a number of fun lunch/popcorn dates approaching, so be sure to check the healthy hunger information on the website to place your child's order, if you're interested.

Thursday January 12, 2023

We explored objects in our classroom to spark a discussion on texture today.  After poking, prodding, stroking and squishing many things, we came up with a big list of words to describe the way things feel.  Ask your child if they can list the objects we explored and what kinds of words we used to talk about them!

Wednesday January 11, 2023

What do a crazy camel, a white whale and a jumping jaguar have in common?  They all feature alliteration!  As we continue to work on our phonological awareness in language arts, we have fun with word play, including tongue twisters, rhyming games and nonsense words to develop our vocabulary.  Ask your child if they can continue the alliteration game with you at home (funny frog, anyone?)

Tuesday January 10, 2023

We are back in the swing of things in Room 4 after a great winter break.

Our new science unit is about the 5 senses.  We have already learned some incredible things about how our brain processes information from through touch, sight, hearing, taste and smell.  Ask your child if they can tell you which is the biggest organ in our body and what sense it processes...

Thank you to Lukas's mom Mathilde for continuing to come in every Tuesday morning to read with our students!  If you are interested in coming in to volunteer, and have your current police clearance, please email me at adnicholas@cbe.ab.ca