Welcome to the exciting world of grade 1!!

Welcome to grade one! For those of you who have had me before welcome back. I look forward to getting to know all of you over the next couple of months and watching your child grow both academically and socially. We are off to a good start. Everyone is adjusting well and are getting along super....perhaps a little to well, we got a chatty bunch. We continue to review class rules and expectations. We have 23 students in our class this year, 10 boys and 13 girls. We also have 5 new students to Holy Name school. I like to see our classroom as a little community were we all work together as a team. I have an open door policy, which means you can come into class anytime. We love having parents volunteer and help out whenever you can. Even if you cannot make it into the classroom there is always something you can do to lend a hand and enrich your childs classroom.

For those who are new to the school or have never had me as their child's teacher I will give you the quick run down on who your child will be hanging out with over the next couple of months. I am originally from PEI. I talk a lot about home, my dad and growing up on a hobby farm as a kid. I apologize now for the accept that your child may develop over the weeks to come I still haven't lost it even though I have been in Alberta for about 6 years now. This is my 5th year in grade 1 at Holy Name, I also taught grade two at Holy Name and taught grade 1 in PEI for a couple of years before heading out west. I got married two years ago to Mike, who I am sure you will hear of or even get the chance to meet. He is very helpful around the classroom and is supportive of my projects. As I am sure you all know by now we are expecting our first child in January. We are very excited and nervous all at the same time. Until the little nugget arrives I hope to work closely with all of you and your child. If you ever have any questions, concerns or need clarification on anything feel free to contact me either by email or call the school.

Some of the teachers like to use eboard, I prefer the blog which is somewhat the same but with a little more detail. You can find the link to it on eboard which is on the school website. I usually email you informing you that there is a new post, along with the quick link. I try to post an update ever  Monday to keep you informed on what's going on in class and what is happening at school for the week. I hope you read it every week as there is a lot of information, suggestions and games that you might want to try out at home to help your child progress through out the school year...it also takes me a long time to sit down and write! I am usually really good at keeping it up dated but then will have my moments, stay on me! Feel free to remind me also...I seem to be very forgetful these past couple of months.

At the beginning of each month I also like to give you the run down on what your child will be learning that month in most subjects. This is also a great way to help you support your child by giving them an introduction to what we are going to be covering. On the blog you will find weekly sight words in both English and French, sounds of the week, French sentences and expressions we are working on. Please take the time to review with your child. There is also a list of French websites you can explore with your child and play games. http://ici.radio-canada.ca/jeunesse/jeregarde/ is a great website to watch French cartoons, to help your child develop listening skills in French. They also have games to play.
I sent home today green sheets that explain a little more about our classroom. Please read over and if you have any questions let me know.

The month of September is busy here are a few reminders of events and items due coming up....
All forms are due back Monday September 11 (demographic, blue package, pink child info sheet)
Scholastic book orders for Sept due -Wednesday September 13
Conference Manager opens to book Parent Teachers- September 15
Opening Mass at Holy Name Church- Thursday September 21   ( We need 3 volunteers to walk with us)
Parent Teachers- Thursday September 21 evening and Friday September 22 full day.
Parent Reading information night- Monday September 25- 7pm at the gym. Please bring a post dated check of 15$ as deposit. Check to be dated June 18th, 2018

This year I am going to try something new in regards to volunteers in the classroom. Usually I ask a week or two in advance, but thought hey I know what I would like to do why not get ahead. So please find a list for the next two months of volunteers needed in the classroom. I am sure I will need to add possible fieldtrips other things that may come up but I thought I would start with this. Some of them are just ideas I would like to try out in class and see if it will work, I marked those I have never done before with **. If you have any ideas also that will go along with our themes let me know. If you need more clarification on what I am asking of you just ask.

For year:

Reading Package Exchange (2-3 volunteers)-
( I suggest at least two people, that way if one cannot make it one week the other can cover the exchange)
Scholastic packages(put monthly book orders together)-
September-
Making playdoh , focus mixing colors (parent lead)-
**Science- colors experiment parent choice (parent lead)-
Opening Mass( 3 volunteers to walk to Church and back)-

October-
Pumpkin carving (3 parents)-
**Apple crisp (make with class, focus reading recipe)-
Halloween centers/party (parent lead, 5 volunteers)-
**Thanksgiving potluck organizer in class lunch-
Reading French Week 1-
Reading English Week 2-
Reading French Week 3-
Reading English Week 4-

I know this is a long post with ALOT of information. It has actually been a week of information. I hope its not too much and if you have any questions just ask. I also apologize for the late post.
Have a great week!
LA

 

Short week with alot of info

Salut,
I hope everyone had a great May long week end and you were able to spend time with family, get out of the city or get some chores we have all been putting off done.

Can you believe that this Thursday is our first day of the Alphabet countdown?! What is that you ask? Well first off it means we will only have 26 more days left of school! EEEeeekk. Everyday until June 29th we will review a letter of the alphabet by doing fun activities. There will be some involvement on your part and a bit of planning. I will send home the sheet and email you all a copy so that you can plan ahead. This Thursday we will review the letter "Z" for zoo. Students may bring their favorite zoo animal to school, whether it be a stuff, a picture or a write up.
Next week the students will have the opportunity to head out to the Leighton Centre of the Arts. Students  will explore the center and the grounds, learn about sketching and nature. We will need 3-4 volunteers to join us on that day. If you are available and want to join us please let me or Wendy know. It will be an all day field trip. I sent home on Tuesday the field trip forms to be signed, please be sure to send them back by Friday at the latest.

On June 20th our class will walk to the Calgary Library with our grade 4 reading buddies as well as with some awesome volunteers. We will learn about their summer programs, how to chose a book and how to use our library cards over the summer. If you wish to volunteer our class is in need of 3-4 volunteers. For those parents who may want suggestions on books to pick for summer reading I would also be happy to help guide you this day. This fieldtrip is in the morning and back to school by lunch.

June 26th is Activity Day at school. This years theme is to Celebrate Canada's 150th year. They will learn all about Canada from coast to coast. If you wish to volunteer this day you can contact Mr.Desroches or our schools volunteer coordinator.

June 28th will be our school talent show. All is welcome. Auditions continue through out this week. If your child wishes to audition and has not yet had the opportunity they still can do so. They must come to school prepared to show their talent and have all materials in order to audition. Auditions end this week.
Of course there will lots of other fun things in between but I thoughts I would let you know these dates to mark on your calendar.

This Friday at school it is spirit day with a focus on culture. Students are asked to dress to celebrate their cultural heritage.

Just a reminder to everyone... Please do not let up on home reading. I know the weather is starting to get nice and your activities are more frequent but the students continue to need the practice. I will be starting French reading evaluation in the next week. It is important to also continue to read over the summer any chance you get. Studies say that if a student does not read over the summer holidays they can drop at least 2 reading levels.  Our students have worked very hard this year and we want them to be confident readers when they hit grade 2.

Please review math facts with your child. Students are required to know addition and subtraction facts up to 18. There are some great websites were you can download flash cards along with other ideas on how to learn math facts.  Students will also be learning about doubles and doubles plus 1 in the next week.

That's all for this week. Take care everyone.
Laurie Anne

May all ready

Hi Everyone,
Can you believe we are in the month of May already. The count down will soon begin and we have a ton left to learn. We have finished learning all about farm animals, where they live and what they eat. This will tie in nicely on Thursday when we head to Butterfield acres.

This month in French students will be learning about insects, our environment and story writing. We will also focus on reading with expression and fluidity.
In English, we continue to learn about the different parts of stories (beginning, middle, ending as well as who, what, when, where, why and how).

Math we will soon be finishing up with measurement. So far we have covered length, surface, volume and just have mass left. Once we finish this unit we are focusing on addition and subtractions up to 20 for the remainder of the year.

Science students have been learning about seasons and the effects they have on plants, animals, our activities as well as our clothing. This will be tied in with our French unit as well. We will also be learning about the needs of plants and animals. Students will have the opportunity to observe plants, chicken eggs and butterflies.

Social studies the students are starting to learn about the country they live in, the different provinces, symbols and traditions of Canada. We will also learn about East, West, South and North and how it can be applied to the city but also our country.
Tuesday and Wednesday students who are ready will start to present their French poems for the art oratoire.

This week the students will have a fabulous opportunity in music to experience a drum circle. Our class will be going on Tuesday.
School council will be meeting on Tuesday night at 6:30 if you wish to join.

On Wednesday during activite en communaute students will have a guest speaker coming to talk to them about her experiences with the Charles Mulli Fondation.
Wednesday night will the Movie night in the gym for those who have purchased tickets. Do not forget to bring some change to buy snacks and help support the grade 4's on their community project.

Butterfield acres will be on Thursday. This is an all day field trip so please be sure to check the weather and dress your child accordingly. Rubber boots are highly suggested along with a hat if its sunny. Students are allowed to feed the animals. If they wish to do so they are to bring 25cents for the ice cream cones filled with feed. Please be sure to apply sunscreen before arriving to school. They can bring some with them. I will not  apply it for them though.

Friday we have our Marian Liturgy at 2pm all is welcome, especially you moms.


Heads up for next week events. On Tuesday May 16th it will be safari day. Students are asked to come to school dress as a safari character and bring $2.00. They will be able to purchase additional snacks for $2.00. All proceeds will go towards the Charles Mulli Foundation.

No school on Friday the 19th

Thanks everyone. Have a great week and get out and enjoy the sunshine!

Feels great to be back!

Hi everyone,
I hope you all had a fabulous break and are well back into the swing of things. I am happy to get back but was not happy to leave the fabulous weather of Italy. I will post some pictures of the trip once I look over them. I brought our class puppet with us, as I do for every trip we take. So far he has been to Italy, England, Africa, Prague and Austria.

For the month of April our class will be learning all about farm animals. Its my favorite theme! Students will be learning about the proper names in French for female, male and baby animals. We will also learn about their homes, the food they eat and the sounds they make. We will also visiting Butterfield Acres in May ( I believe May 11th. Our class will need 4 volunteers for this field trip. If you are interested in joining out please let me know. ) We have started our farm animal books where they get to chose 5 animals of their choice. They are to include male, female, babies and where the animals live. Once finished, they will share them with their friends.
We will also be starting our free writing in class in the coming weeks, with a focus on French writing. Students will become their own authors and illustrators of their own books. This is a great way to teach them how to put their ideas together, pay attention to punctuation, penmanship and spelling. They will also work on beginning, middle and end of stories. Every year the students love this project.

We have started to receive post cards. Merci beaucoup!! The students are excited to read and learn about the different places around the world. Thank you for making this possible!

Our Liturgy for Easter is on Thursday at 10am. All is welcome to attend. Please note that we have no school on Friday as well as Monday.

Our class is in need of another 3 volunteers for April 21,2017. Mme Janice booked our teachers pet field trip not realizing that we had Science in schools the day before. This field trip is in the am starting at 9 am. Volunteers are asked to arrive at 8:45 to go over instructions with the presenter. If you are able to come please let me know as soon as possible.

April 20th we have scientist in school. If you have been collecting newspapers please send them for Thursday.

We will kick off our annual ice cream reading challenge next week until the end of the year. Students are required read all their English sight words along with French sentences found in their yellow duo-tang. This will get them their bowl and spoon. They must also read each day and have you sign off on a sheet that will be sent home along with a letter explaining the details of this reading challenge.
I think that's all for this week. I wish you all the best Easter holiday. May your home be filled with laughter and great memories.
Laurie Anne

Happy Spring!

Well its finally spring! I love this time of year, the weather warms up, the days get longer and new motivation comes upon me.

The month of march has sure gone by fast. The students have been learning about different means of transportation in French. We have looked at those that roll, float and fly. We have also been looking at masculine and feminine words and how to recognize them in sentences. The students have also been working on identifying plural and singular words.

 We have yet to receive any postcards to go along with our project this month. If you could send a note out to friends and family again that would be lovely. If you and your family are heading away for March break you could also send the class one.
Here is the address again:
La classe de Mme Laurie Anne
3011 35 street SW
Calgary Alberta
T3E 2Y6

We are done of our Math unit on numbers between1-100. Please continue to count with your child in French from 0-100 also continue to practice counting by 2, 5 and 10's. Our next unit is on Geometry and measurement. They students always love this unit. They will be learning about 2D and 3D shapes and how to classify them by similar characteristics.

In Science, the students have started their buildings unit. We have looked at different structures around the world. The students voted on 3 structures that they would like to learn more about. They have chosen: Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Colosseum, Rome and Burj Khalifa, Dubai. We will also be building our own gadgets in class.

In social studies, we continue to learn about the differences and similarities of Urban and Rural living. So far we have looked at the landscapes and the jobs that can be found in each.

In English, we have started to learn about the different parts of stories with a focus on the beginning, middle and end of stories. We have also started to work on our comprehension skills by answer who, what, when, where, why and how questions. More practice is needed. This can be done at home as well if you read bedtime stories.

I will be sending home another reading challenge over spring break. That will be sent home on Friday. If you wish to have extra books over the break just leave me a note in the agenda.
We have a Lenten liturgy on Wednesday March 22 at 10am, all are welcome.

Mme Johanne will be teaching our class the week after March Break. I have extended my Holiday to take our Honey moon. That week if you have any questions or concerns you can direct them to Mme Johanne. I will be back on Monday April 10th.

I hope you all have a safe and rested break.
Laurie Anne

Quick post

Bonjour tout le monde,
This week is a short one. Students do not have school on Friday. All teachers have a professional development day. We also have a lot going on at school this week. Wednesday at 10 am is the New Year liturgy, all is welcomed to join. Tuesday we have Lisa Bowes coming in to speak with students about her children's books she has been writing. She use to be a sports broadcaster and now has turned her focus to writing. Please check agenda's for note that went home yesterday in regards to pink shirt day. I will also be sending home this weeks your child's sounds quiz to review and sign and send back.

We are now exploring numbers 1-100 in Math. Students are learning to count from 1-100 and also be counting by 5 and 10. Once we have a good grasp on these two concepts we will introduce counting by 2's. Students are also required to recognize numbers out of order up to 100. Please practice at home, there is a 100 frame in their yellow reading duo-tang.
Here is a link to a website to practice filling in 100 frames:
http://www.mathlearningcenter.org/web-apps/number-frames/


We are going to wrap up the 5 senses in Science with taste which will be coming in the next couple of weeks. We will be looking at the 4 seasons next.

In English, students will be learning about different sound blends and words families. Each week they will learn a new blend and word family. We are also going to start working on our English writing skills. Please continue to review sight words with your child. we have already started evaluations for second terms report card.

In French, we continue to learn about clothing and are taking a closer look at masculine and feminine words. Please review weekly sight words seeing that they will have an evaluation in the next week on those covered so far. Students will also be required to read a small text in French and answer questions, practicing their French reading at home will help.

In Social Studies, students are learning about their rights and responsibilities. We will take a look at schools from around the world, compare them to our own and think of ways to be more responsible in our community and at school.

We are coming close to the 100day of school. I am wondering if any parents would like to volunteer to guide a center/activity on that day. Last year parents came in and made 100 day monsters with 100 objects. If you are interested please let me know. I will also count the days and get back to you to let you know what day it will be exactly.

I am also looking for some great gluers....I have games made that need to be glued to card stock, if you are interested in helping out please let me know and I will send it home with your child.

Have a great week everyone.
Laurie Anne

Cheers to 2017!

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas surrounded by family and friends. The island time was great. I got to visit my friends, hang out with my dad, visit Mikes family and eat my dads cooking. YUM, nothing beats it. I am happy to be back though...not happy to be back to the cold and snow!

Thank you all for the lovely gifts that you and your child gave me for Christmas. I truly appreciate all of them.

We had a huge success this year with Turkeys! We were able to purchase 170 turkeys, plus one that was donated by a family in our class to make it a grand total of 171 Turkeys. We also donated 23 Christmas stockings which were all stuffed, along with the remaining goodies that did not make it into a stocking. We also purchases 9 books of transit passes. Thank you for your support, it means a lot to the kids as well as myself! Because of your support and contribution we had a very successful year!
Here are a few pictures from the days leading up to Turkey delivery day.

Bravo!!!

We have a new student who joined us on Monday. We are happy to welcome Keen to our awesome class. Our class is now up to 23. If you see him our his family be sure to say hello!

Its the month of January and the students are going to learn all about different articles of clothing. We will tie this in with different seasons and months of the year. They are also going to  learn a little bit about masculine/feminine, singular, pluralwords. They should be able to recognize masculine and feminine words and use them accordingly when writing their simple sentences. We will work more on writing sentences with correct punctuation (upper case letters, proper spacing and periods at the end of each sentence) Through out the month of January we will also learn about different winter sports and start to talk about Québec's Winter carnival near the end of the month. Please review sounds of the week with your child at home. So far in class we have covered the following:
oi (oiseau)   ou ( loup)  on ( cochon)  au  (auto)  eau ( bateau)  in ( lapin)  eu  ( jeu)  ui (pluie)
ph- (photo)  un  (brun)  qu  (qui)  ch- (chien) an ( maman) en ( enfant) am (lampe)  em (temps)

Here are some of the vocabulary your child will be learning.

 

Please also review the following body parts with your child. They will be required to take a short quiz in the following weeks.

In class, we will start guided reading on a more regular basis. During this time I will work with small groups of students to work on reading strategies. The other students will be in literacy centers, which will have a focus on topics already cover or are presently learning. We have also started in class our "Je parle en francais" chart. Each student has one on their desk and are encouraged to speak French with Madame or their peers. When they attempt to speak French or are heard chatting in French they will get a sticker for their chart. Once the chart is full, which has 14 squares, they can cash in their stickers for a prize. They will take the stickers off and start again. Since starting this on Monday, there are two students who are 1 sticker away from winning. Everyone is very excited.

In Math, we continue to work on numbers 0-20. We have started to count to 50 in French and are working on skip counting by 5 and 10. You can practice at home the concepts plus (more), moins (less) autant que (same) egal a (equals to). PLease also be sure to practice counting in French by 5's and 10's as well as 0-50 or higher if possible.

In English, we have been reviewing vowel sounds long and short. We reviewed all consonants and have been learning about bossy e or magic e. For those of you who don't know about bossy e, it makes the vowels say its name in words. (tap-tape, kit-kite, cut-cute) We will also be looking at beginning, middle and ending sounds in words.


We have library on Thursday, please send books back. Special lunch is on Wednesday. Next week in Gym students will be having hip hop dance. They always love this. Please return the pink A books in your childs reading package for Monday to be switched out with a new one. You will also get a tic tac toe game board in the packages. This is a fun way to practice sight words or vocab found in books or ones that we are learning in class. With a dry erase you write words in all the spaces and play as you normal would play tic tac toe, but you must read the word correctly to be able to put your X or O.