Tuesday November 29, 2022

We got started on some wintery trees for our bulletin board display for the Christmas Concert coming up on December 15th!  Families are invited to come celebrate the season at Woodlands School on the evening of the 15th, or alternatively to come to our dress rehearsal in the afternoon if the evening time does not work for you.  Keep an eye on the school weekly update for information!

Friday December 2nd will be Colour Day at Woodlands.  Room 4 voted to dress in as much blue as we can...shirts, hoodies, pants, socks, and whatever else you have in your closet:) 

Monday November 28, 2022

Today we discussed the similarities and differences between our classroom community and our school community.  There are many expectations, routines and rules around being part of each community...some are the same and some are different.  Ask your child if they can tell you some of them.

We also looked at some examples of 'birds' eye view' maps to draw our own versions of a Woodlands School map.  Students sketched, coloured and labelled the important landmarks of the school.  As we talk about community and citizenship, we will expand our thinking to how we show our communities respect and generosity.  It will tie in beautifully to our Food Bank food drive that we are starting next week!

 

Thursday November 24, 2022

The Grade One team is proud to announce that we are hosting the holiday Food Bank food drive at Woodlands December 5th-16th!

Our class met up with our Grade 5/6 buddy class today to make posters to advertise our food drive.  The kids worked in teams and created some dynamic advertising!  We will start raising awareness next week and have boxes in place to collect food items starting December 5th.  The class that brings in the most items will win an extra outdoor recess...as well as the pride in knowing they are helping others in our community. 

No school tomorrow due to conferences...have a great long weekend!

Wednesday November 23, 2022

Today's story workshop session saw the students drawing from their own experiences to create original stories to tell, write and share.  We read Arnold Lobel's 'Frog and Toad All Year' story "The Ride", which was a highly relatable story about a toboggan ride gone wrong.  We agreed that Arnold Lobel probably had some experience as a child riding toboggans in the snow, and that he used his experience to help him tell the story.  We use our own lived experiences to help us tell stories, just like real authors!

Small cracker/cereal/snack boxes are a big hit with our students these days.  Our class loves to build and create small worlds and structures with interesting materials, so we would appreciate any donations of small boxes for our engineering activities!

If you are able to join our class on our field trip to Storybook Theatre on December 8th, please let me know.  We are still hoping to find one more parent volunteer!

A package went home with your child today for you to reference during our online Parent/Teacher conference.  These work samples will be very helpful in guiding our discussions about your child's strengths and areas for growth.  Please be sure to keep them close by for your conference time.

Tuesday November 22, 2022

With all the germs and viruses floating about these days, it was a good day to talk about hygiene in Grade One.  We discussed the importance of hand washing, coughing and sneezing into elbows and most importantly how to deal with 'boogers'.  We read 'I am a Booger, Treat me with Respect', by Julia Cook.  This book conveys important information with humour, and makes this topic very relatable.  Our students made pamphlets that emphasized the tips they learned about proper nose blowing habits and will hopefully remember everything they learned about boogers:)

Please be sure to sign up for parent teacher conferences taking place online this Thursday and Friday!

Monday November 21, 2022

Our class learned about the meaning of transparent and opaque materials today.  Ask your child if they can recall any of the objects we found around the room for this activity.  'Transparent' and 'opaque' were brand new words for all of us.  See if your child can explain the difference between transparent materials and opaque ones.

Letters and consent forms went home on Thursday for our exciting field trip to Storybook Theatre on December 8th.  I will send home forms to students who were absent last week...please remind me that you need one if you don't see one in your child's backpack.

Please book your Parent-Teacher conferences as soon as possible...these conferences are an important touchpoint for how your child's first part of Grade One is going.  There are still lots of spaces available!

Thursday November 17, 2022

Our first day of inline skating was a big success.  Each student made progress from the start of the session to the end...and there were lots of smiles and perseverance!

A package went home with your child today about an exciting field trip coming up on December 8th.  We are taking our Grade Ones to Storybook Theatre to enjoy a festive holiday live theatre performance...and we get to ride a bus!  Please go over the information enclosed and sign and return the consent forms in the coming days.  The cost for the trip is $17 per student, which can be paid through your MyCBE account.  We are so excited about this big outing!  I will be looking for 2 parent volunteers to accompany us on this trip.  If you have your police clearance and can join us, please email me at adnicholas@cbe.ab.ca to let me know.

Here is the link to 'The Candy Cane Kids' production: https://www.storybooktheatre.org/candycanekids