Thursday, October 31, 2013

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween to you all. I hope that you are all safe tonight and have a great time out and about trick or treating. I am glad the weather is a lot better than last year! Thank you for all of you who sent in some great treats! It was really appreciated.
I cannot believe we have another month gone. For the month of November in class your child will be learning about fruits and vegetable's as well as parts of the body. Our class project is the sampling of the fruits and veggies for the whole month. We will chat about the importance of eating healthy, how it makes us feel and how to make better choices when picking out a snack. In french we are starting to learn blended sounds. Please be sure to practice these at home. They will be seeing them all the time in their reading. We will also finish up our family trees and the students will be presenting them to the class. I will be looking for them to use the sentence structures we learned in class. We will be starting guided reading next week. I am hoping that it goes well and we can start sending different books home. So please review those sight words with your child because they are going to be seeing them over and over again once they start reading.
In math we continue to look at numbers 1-10 and the different ways to represent them. We continue to count to 50 and will continue to work with 10 frames.
Social studies we are learning about layouts (maps) of the school and our classroom. Students will have to sketch the layout of their classroom. We are also learning about the differences between provinces and country. We are trying to remember all the names of the provinces and territories in Canada. Feel free to go over these with your child.
Religion students continue to learn about how to be a better friend. They still need to work on the prayer Our Father.
Report Cards are coming up quickly! if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me to chat. We do not have any school on Friday November 8-Its a PD day for teachers.
Enjoy your night be safe!
Laurie Anne

Friday, October 25, 2013

Happy Gala Week end!

Hi everyone!
|I hope you all had a great week and are looking forward to going to the gala tomorrow night. I am soo hoping that our school raises a ton of money for literacy. I have been asked to speak about the importance of literacy materials in the classroom. Lets hope I do not get too jittery speaking to the crowd. I cannot believe that November is starting at the end of next week. With November comes report card time! I will be doing some in class testing through the week next week and next. I do not call the tests they are more so quiz's in my room. I will be checking to see their sight word recognition in both French and English as well as for the alphabet, the letter names and sounds.
We still did not get the chance to work on our family tree projects. I am hoping to start those next week. We did finish out Halloween pumpkin booklets and are working on finishing up our haunted houses.
During story time we are learning about books, why they have a cover, title page, who is the author and illustrator, where to find their names on the cover. We are really focusing on making story predictions before and during the text. I also love getting their opinion on how they would resolve the problem or conflict in the book. When we are finished we review what we read and I try to ask them the 5 W's-who, what, when,where,why. Feel free to try this at home, its great to hear their answers and it helps them with story comprehension. you could also work on sequencing and talk about the events that took place in the book and have them retell you the story in order.
For the month of November we will be learning  about fruits and vegetables in french, parts of the body and domestic animals. Every year I like to do a class project that involves the students getting the chance to taste different fruits and vegetables. This requires your support. I send out a sheet with your child's name on it with a certain fruit/vegetable on a certain date, you are asked to send in enough for 19 students, already cut up. Your child will have the chance to try and then we will write in our fruit and veggies book about whether we liked what we tried or not. This book is sent home once we are finished and can help you out when trying to make healthier snack choices. I will send the information home next week in more detail. If you have any questions let me know.

Halloweeeeennnn is approaching and fast! EEeeek! We will be having a Halloween party in class but also will be joining the other three grade one classes for centres. Mme Marie- Christine has taking the lead in preparing this activity and I do believe she will need volunteers. If you are interested please email me. If you also wish to send in a nut free treat with your child that would be great, healhy snacks are more than welcomed. (cheese tray, fruit/veggies...) If you have any fun ideas for Halloween centres please also let me know.

Reminders of the week
Reading program exchanged on Monday, please send them in.
All Terry Fox pledge forms are due on Monday.
Anti-bullying contracts are still due for those who have yet to pass them in.
Christian action assemble is Thursday at 9:30
Library is on Tuesday
Mad science -Tuesday and Wednesday
Halloween Party Thursday
Friday no school- Faith Day for teachers

I hope to see you all at the Gala tomorrow night if not have a super week end.
Laurie Anne

Friday, October 18, 2013

Count down to the Gala...

Happy Friday to everyone!
Next week in French will will be starting our family trees so please be sure to send in pictures of your family members. I will send home a note on Monday as a reminder but also with a spot for you t correctly spell the family members name. I forgot to do that the first time. We will also be starting our haunted house booklet. We are going to start learning combined letter sounds in French starting with "qu" sounds like "k" this week. Students also continue to learn about vowels and consonants as well as masculin and feminin. As I introduce a new sound students learn how to properly print it, we need a lot of work on how to follow a line of print, staying in between the lines and how to properly space between letters and words. Feel free to work on this at home.

I am hoping to start guided reading next week,it will take some time to teach the students how this works. I base some of my literacy blocks on the daily five. If any of you are interested in it you can learn more about it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrBnziWjbQQ. I also bought The cafe when I was in Oregon so that will be my next read, which is by the same authors of the daily five.

In math we continue to work with numbers and learning that we can represent numbers in different ways. Les mots (written word- deux, trois), grille de 10 (10 frames ), les dessins (drawing), les objets (using manipulative's) and les chiffres ( the numbers themselves 2,5,7). Please help your child along by practicing counting 1-20 as well as 20-1 in French. If you can count to 50 please do so. Some ideas to improve their number recognition is to pick out a number out of order and ask your child what it is, if you have 100 chart randomly isolate numbers and ask the what it is or to represent it with macaroni or other objets.

In religion your child is learning "Our Father" they do need practice this and know it by heart so please do so at home. It will be continued for their report card as well as the sign of the cross. This coming week we have morning prayer, where we read over the PA for the whole school. I did have some volunteers so a big thank you to Carter (Monday), Annika(Tuesday), Lucas (Wednesday) Hillary (Thursday). We still need one for Friday. I will send home their prayers that they are reading to practice on Monday.

We have library on Monday so please send those books back in. We are also missing some bully contracts so if you have them send those back in as well. All the reading programs were exchanged today (I hope) so they do not have to be sent in on Monday for an exchange. Mad science starts next week during noon hour and the students who signed up for Young Rembrants have it on Monday after school.Special lunch is on Friday. The harvest moon gala is on Saturday. I hope to see most of you  there, if you still wish to come there is still time to purchase tickets. That's all for now. Have a super week end, be safe and remember to smile!
Laurie Anne :)

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Welcome back from a rested week end!

Hi everyone,
Welcome back from a long week end. i hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving and got to spend time with your family. Oregon was great, it made me miss the east coast with all the fall colors, the sand and the mist of the ocean.
This is a little later in the week then I normally post...sorry.
So this is a short week with no school Monday and our field trip on Wednesday. I hope the kids enjoyed themselves. This week we have started to learn Halloween vocabulary which they are loving. We started to work on a simple Halloween story with repative text that the students will take home and practice reading once they are finished. Next week we will be working on creating a haunted house and students will require to pick what Halloween character they want to put in it. This is also a repeative text but the students will be required to work on this more independently then the one we did this week. We are almost through learning the sounds of each letter in the alphabet and their names. Our next step will be combined sounds such as ch, oi and so on. In french we are also learning about members of our family, free to ask your child at home what mom, dad, brother, aunt, oncle or even grand parents are, they should be able to tell you in french. We are also looking at the difference between masculin and feminin words. This is a hard concept to learn in French and it is something they will not master anytime soon. A suggestion for you to work on at home is to put on flash cards the determinant such as un, une, mon, ma, le and la. On another set of flash cards you can put family members such as maman, papa, frere, soeur, grand-maman, grand-papa, onle, tante, cousin, cousine. Have student match up the proper determinant with the word. Here is a list below to help you if you are not sure. Those highlighted in blue are masculin and purple is feminin.
un,le,mon papa
une,la, ma maman
une,la, ma cousine
un,le,mon cousin
un,le,mon frere
une,la, ma soeur
un, l', mon oncle
une, la, ma tante
une,la, ma grand-maman  ( we can also say une grand-mere)
un,le,mon grand-papa        (we can also say un grand- pere) 

Math we continue to count to 50 and are learning how to recognize numbers from 1-10 in the 10s frame. I will be sending home a math game with the number 1-10 on them in written form, numbers and in the 10 frame you can play a match game with your child. They are suppose to be able to recognize numbers 1-10 in a 10 frame in about 3 seconds. They are also learning that there is several different ways to represent numbers-written/mots (deux), en chiffre/number form (8) and by either a 10 frame or using objects.

I will exchange the reading programs tomorrow for all of you.  I did ask my sub to d so however I don't think she did everyone. I will leave all the matching games so far in there for you to practice at home. There should be one on colors, school supplies, and two different Halloween ones. If you do not have enough puzzle pieces just let me know and Ill change them out for a new set. SO to clarify Monday will always be our book exchange. However with the exception of next week, seeing that I am exchanging them tomorrow for you all, we will start the following week. Also please let me know if you would like more books to practice at home. I will try and get us some in both languages. On the blue papers you only have to fill out your child's first attempt at reading the book sent home. I will also try and send one home for their duo-tangs for the french, but for that one I would ask that you record the word they are struggling with and I will help them at school when they arrive.

I am hoping to start my guided reading lessons next week. This is where I will work with groups one on one and teach them different reading strategies, work on word work and so on. the others students in the class at this time will be working in literacy centres independently. Guided reading lessons usually last for 30 mins. It is a process to teach the correct behaviour when working in centers so I will keep you posted on our success. This will also be when you start to see new books in their reading bags in French.

FYI: Tomorrow we will have a practise lock down. I went over it in class on my expectations and how we should be in class during this activity. We also talked about what to do if we are not in the classroom and are unable to get back to class in time before the doors are locked. They all seemed ready and no one was scared, which was great. I will let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Ok thats all for now.
Laurie Anne

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Happy early Thanksgiving!

Hi Everyone,
This week in class we are learning about the different members of our family. I sent home a letter requesting photos of your family members yesterday, if you could send those pictures in by October 16th it would be greatly appreciated. Please send them in a ziplock bag labelled with your childs name on it. You could also put the name of the family members on the back so we know how to properly spell their name once we start our class project. We continue to learn the different letters of the alphabet, their names and the sounds that they make. I am teaching them hand gesters in french that goes along with the jolly phonics program. Feel free to ask your child to demonstrate some actions. Please go over the alphabet with your child. In the up coming weeks I will quiz them on the sounds that each letter makes and the name. The letters will also be a mix of upper and lower class so please review both with yout child. In French we continue to sing songs and go over short stories in class. This week we are learning "Merci" which is for Thanksgiving and Quel temps fait-il?. The students really seem to enjoy singing.
In math we finished up patterns and are now learning about numbers 1-20 in french and how to represent those numbers with objects. Students will learn how to use a 10 frame and are required to set up numbers in rows of 5.
How to represent numbers 1-10.
When representing 11-20 you double the 10 frame.
 
 
I will be sending home a math game that you can play and practice with your child that has the number, the number in written form and it represented in the 10 frame. We continue to count orally up to 50 as well in class.
In social studies we are learning how to recongize different groups by the language they speak, symboles and clothing they wear. We are also going to learn the differences between a country and province. Students will learn about the the provinces of canada and their flags.

In religion the students are learning about how to be a good friend and the meaning of giving thanks. They are asked to practice the prayer "Our Father" at home and will have an oral quiz later on in the week. The prayer can be found in their reading program duo-tang.

In art we will be working on Thanksgiving day crafts.
In science they continue to learn about colors and how to mix different colors to make others.
In english they continue to learn about the English sounds letters make in the alphabet and the difference between consonants and vowels.The words of the week in english are: play, do, it, see, me , a. Please go over these with your child at home.
 
I hope your first night with the reading program went well. I included two matching games that you can play with your child. One is on colors and the other is school supplies. You can also have your child practice putting the words in alphabtical order. (This is a new concept that we did not go over yet in class), having them group the words together according to the number of letters in each word or have them practice saying complete sentences with those words.

The scholastic orders are put in thank you for sending them in. Retake pictures are coming up next week. We do not have school on Monday. Friday October 11 we will have our thanksgiving liturgy so feel free to drop by and join us. Friday is the last day for items for the Gala baskets. I am told now that you can send in any item that would go with the theme, it does not have to be on the list. Some of you still need to send in the Anti-bulling forms as well as permission forms for the field trip. We are still needing some volunteers for next weeks field trip, so please contact me if you are free.
I think that is all! Enjoy your week everyone and I wish you all the most fabulous Thanksgiving with your friends and family.May it be filled with laughter and great memories.
Keep smiling:)
Laurie Anne


Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Reminders....among other things

Hi everyone,
Just wanted to give you a few reminders and somethings that I forgot to mention in my last post.

Pictures are due October 4th, 2013, please have orders in by then. We have no school on Friday because of PD, I am sure you could drop them off to the office if you forget to send them in by Friday.

An email was sent out looking for volunteers for our upcoming field trip on October 16th to Calgary Corn maze. If you wish to volunteer please let me know either by email or a note in the agenda. We are asking those volunteers to transport their child to and from school.

If you are not getting any emails from me or the parent class reps, please email me with your email address and I will add you to the email list.

If you have not sent in the anti-bully contract, please do so by next week. Mme Kitts has asked for them.It would be great if you could also go over it again with your child, we are having some problems with our grade one boys and playing to rough with one another. (wrestling, pushing, dog piles...)

Terry Fox donations will e excepted up until the end of October. Our school is trying to raise more than last year, so there is still time to get those donations in. Thank you to everyone who has already sent them in.

Gala donations are still being excepted. All donations are due October 11, 2013. The class that fills their basket with the most donation will be rewarded with a pizza party that is being donated. We are doing great. We have still some items that could be filled so please sign up if you are able to do so. Thank you to all who have done so already. The galas theme is literacy which excites me! The money that will be raised will go to the school for purchasing books and other resources to build literacy.

On the note of literacy i thought you might like to know that if your child is into reading Costco has a bunch of great deals on box sets! Costco in Sunridge had box sets by Roald Dahl (James and the giant peach, Charlie and the chocolate factory), Bettrix Potter (Petter Rabbit) , Laura Numeroff (If you give a mouse a cookie) Jane Oconnor ( fancy Nancy) and much more. They were all under $20.00, which is amazing!

Scolastic orders will be due on Monday October 7th. Please send them in for then or before. If you forget that's OK to I will still send them in, its just that you get more reward if its all in at the same time.

Please practice our father with your child and the sign of the cross. You can also check out Marie-Christines eboard for games and the stories of the week. Once I figure out how to add them to my blog I will let you know.

Next Friday October 11th is our thanksgiving liturgy start  at 10h45, all are welcome to join us in this celebration.

As you might have noticed I added a voki to the blog so that you can hear the words of the week. Thanks for the suggestion Erin!

Reading programs will go home on monday, thank you all for your patience. I am also hoping to round up some other books to send home for your child to practice reading. Please be sure to send in the book everyday. The CD you can keep at home until the end of the year. If you have not done so yet please send in a cheque dated June 20, 2014 for $15.00 for the deposit on the reading CD. If any of the books are not returned you might be asked to replace them, seeing that we are low on appropriate reading resources for your child, hence the gala fundraiser!!

I think that is all folks! Enjoy the rest of the week. Happy fall!
Laurie Anne :)