Greetings and Reminders:

Tuesday is Halloween. Students may wear or bring their costumes to school. (Please don’t send candy treats, or masks, or props that may get lost). We will have a social time in the afternoon together.

Wednesday is library book and homework bag return day. Thursday is the school council evening family dance event.

This week’s learning goals:

On Tuesday, I am planning some special pumpkin, health, science and art activities. It will be a fun day with lots of hands on learning.

One of our read aloud books is about Frisson. This is a great book to start a discussion about personal safety as it relates to Halloween. We will be making a Frisson safety poster and role playing safe choices. We will also be reading the book “Citrouille, ma Citrouille”. This is a great book for learning to sequence events.

During our working with words focus each day, we are now learning about more difficult vowel combination or vowel + vowel combinations such as “oi” and “ai”. I call the vowels the “super heroes” of the alphabet. I’m attaching some review sheets here: sonsetmots-2mrr2r9 in case you want to have a peek at what I mean. These sheets are also great if you want a little extra reading practice. Every Monday, we complete a class journal based on a weekly grammar structure, e.g., J’aime…., or Je vais…or Mon costume est….. At this point in the year, I model the writing and print off a copy for each child of the class writing. The children keep their weekly journal entries in a folder and practise reading them during the week. These journal entries will become a reference point as the children become more independent writers. In reading, we usually complete three or more booklets together per week during the first three months of school. These booklets are read on a regular basis and relate to the themes we are studying in class.

In Health and Science, we are also spending time this week taking a close look at healthy foods and our digestive system. We will  focus on fruits and vegetables.

There’s lots more going on too! Have a great week everyone.

Orma

Reminders: Library books and homework folders are due in on Wednesday, please. I sent home a flyer advertising a school council dance event for families (Nov. 2nd).

We will have a social time during the afternoon of October 31st. Children may choose to wear their regular clothes, or black and orange, or bring their costumes to school and change at school. Please, no masks or props. I will plan some special crafts and social time. I ask that you not send in any food as I imagine there will be lots of treats given out that evening.

What a wonderful fall weekend! I hope everyone enjoyed the weather and family time. Last week was busy with our soup and biscuit day and our fall walk. Here’s what we are working on this week:

In French, we have finished our review of French alphabet letter names, sounds, and simple Consonant + Vowel combinations. Moving forward, it’s important that these concepts are secure for the children as they are foundation concepts for building strong readers. We spend time each day working on building our understanding of sounds, building sight words, and reading simple texts. I’m also increasing the expectations I have for the children with regard to speaking in French. The children are very capable, they just need lots of encouragement and praise for their efforts.

In Science, we have been reading and writing about Autumn. This week, we will be looking at the photos from our nature walk and writing about the sights and sounds we experienced.

In Health, we will be taking a close look at the food groups and what a healthy meal looks like. In Physical Education, we are learning some fun dances in preparation for our Hallowe’en social event.

In Visual Arts, we will be making some cute Hallowe’en critters with different materials.

Those are the highlights! Have a great week everyone.

Orma

 

 

 

I enjoyed meeting and chatting with so many parents at our Open House. I am thoroughly enjoying getting to know your children better. I’m pleased with how the children have settled into the changes and new routines of grade one.

Reminders and notes:

Library is Wednesday. I will be starting our homework program this week and the details will be explained in the folder I send home on Thursday. A folder of suggested activities will go home every Thursday, and I ask that you return the folder the following Wednesday with library books.

Wednesday is also harvest soup and biscuits day. I will supply the Campbell’s chicken broth and ingredients to make the biscuits and ask that the children contribute the vegetables (completely voluntary). If you wish to participate, here’s what I would like:

1 cup of washed and finely chopped harvest vegetables in a sandwich bag or labelled container (e.g., peppers or onions or carrots or celery or squash or mushrooms or other?). Thanks!

I plan to serve the biscuits and soup as part of their nutrition break.

Here are the ingredients I use: (please let me know if you have any allergy or food concerns)

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2/3 cup milk

On Friday afternoon, I would like to go for a Fall nature walk on the trail behind Brookshire Park (long range weather forecast looks great). This is an opportunity to observe the changing seasons and our surroundings. I will be sending home a permission form either Monday or Tuesday and ask that you sign and return the form the next day. I will also need two or more parent volunteers (from 12:00-2:00). Thanks!

Weekly Learning Goals:

Health: We will be discussing Healthy Living and nutrition as we prepare our soup and take a first look at the Canada Food Guide and healthy food choices.

I will also review personal safety as we prepare for our nature walk and review rules such as road safety, safety in the neighbourhood, and stranger safety.

Science: We are continuing to learn about the needs of plants and how they contribute to our lives. Our nature walk will help us learn about plants around us and how they are changing with the season. We will be starting our science discussion on the seasons with a focus on autumn.

French: In addition to reviewing and working with CV (consonant vowel) sounds, we also spend time each day reading and writing simple pattern books and learning sight words. Our daily writing focus this week will relate to our scientist journals and keeping notes on what we are learning in Science.

In Phys. Ed., we continue to work on ball skills (throwing, catching and target skills); running, changing direction, and stopping safely; and co-operative games.

I’ve included links to some of the songs we listen to every day. I find songs are an excellent way to build vocabulary and the subtitles help build reading fluency.

These are just some of the highlights. Have a great week everyone!

Orma