Happy New Year!

Hi everyone,
I hope you all had a great break and are well rested. My break went way to quick and the snow never stopped slamming the maritime's! I am glad to be back and ready to start 2014 refreshed and motivated. I have many resolutions and I am hoping to keep them....for at least a couple of months!

This month in grade one we will be learning about the different winter activities one can do, as well as the clothing we might need to keep warm. We will also be learning about verbs, pronouns and the important ingredients to make a story complete-beginning, middle, end. I tend to teach the students this by showing them a hamburger. The top bun is the beginning of the story, the ingredients or juicy parts is the middle of the story and the bottom bun is the ending holding it all together.
 I will also be focusing on the comprehension of texts by learning how to make story predictions, retelling the story with details and by giving their own personal opinion on whether they liked the story or not. Some of our books are coming in that we ordered from the Gala money!YOUPIE! In those books that have arrived there are some beautiful non-fiction text. We will be reading some of those in class and talking about what we already know about the subject being read, what we would like to learn more about this subject and what we learn by reading the text. 

In math we have put aside the addition for the time being. Please continue though to work on these at home. For the next couple of weeks we will be explore the world of geometry. Students will learn about the different characteristics of shapes and how to class shapes based on these. They will also look at 2d shapes and 3d shapes.

Social studies we will take a closer look at what we need to do to protect our environment and what we can do to help it last for years to come.

We are responsible for putting on the New Years liturgy this coming  month which will be on the 22 of January. We are doing this with Mme Janice's class. More information will soon be sent home.

I also added new books to the reading package to give you more options at home. These can stay in the reading pack until Monday, where I will exchange them for new ones. We also go new books yesterday for our in class library. If you would like for your child to take their French reading bag home every night to practice, please let me know. I would be more than happy to send them home. Please just make sure to send them back everyday, seeing that we use them for silent reading.
Dont forget to practice those sight words when you get a chance!

I will start to do my reading evaluations this month. By the end of grade one your child should be reading at level 7-8. However I always like to have them reading at least two levels above where they should be. It is a known fact that over the summer students drop at least two reading levels if they are not reading. By having them ahead if they drop they are still exactly where they are meant to be reading wise.

I think thats all. Thanks again for the lovely gifts. Wishing you all a great week filled with positive energy!
Laurie Anne