Snowball Science!

Today Siros and Brynn brought in a big snowball for us to observe in our classroom. Here is what we thought might happen:

Here are our scientists observing the changes in our snowball.

 The snowball took 4 hours to melt completely. We noticed it changed from a solid to a liquid.

 Then we read:

Pajama Day Friday!

Pajama Day is this coming Friday!

Wear Your Christmas Colours this Thursday!

Wear your Christmas Colours and show Christmas Cheer this coming Thursday. We will be having a school-wide sing-a-long in the gym!

Reminders & Requests

Wednesday December 14^th all of the grade 1 classes will be participating in a craft day.  There will be NO library book exchange and 

NO stuffed toys at school tomorrow!

Kindly return any outstanding library books before the holidays!

If you have any medium sized gift bags at home, kindly send one in for your child –we will use the gift bags to collect Christmas crafts created over the next couple of weeks.  Any extras would be greatly appreciated!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

The date of the White Elephant Sale has changed to FRIDAY DECEMBER 16th! If you have any gently used toys, books or houseware items, please send them in as the volume of things for our children to buy is low this year. Thank you!!

Waiting in Hope

Our Grade One students did a fabulous job creating this tree for our door yesterday. We are decorating it with messages of love and hope, waiting in anticipation for the birth of Jesus.

Math Curriculum Update

We continue to explore important concepts within the Number Sense & Numeration strand of the math program.  Knowing the friendly numbers for 10 helps children to build their understanding of number relationships. For example, if we know that 1+9 = 10 (1 and 9 are a friendly number set for 10) then it can help us to more easily calculate what 9+2 is (1 more than 10).  We continue to practice skip counting by 2's, 5's and 10's using tools such as 100's charts, loose parts, etc., We are learning to use number lines, 100's charts and rulers as tools to help us count up and solve simple addition questions.

We have also started exploring concepts within the strands of Data Management & Probability as well as Geometry & Spatial Sense. In Data Management we are learning how to collect data by asking simple survey questions such as 'What is your favourite winter activity?'  Students are learning how to tally the answers of their classmates (i.e. 1 tally mark = 1 response, circle groups of 5).  They are also learning how to properly graph the information on prepared graph templates.  In Geometry and Spacial Sense we are exploring 2-D shapes.  Students are learning to describe and sort common 2-D shapes (i.e. square, circle, rectangle, triangle, etc .) by their attributes (i.e. number of sides, corners, straight or curvy lines, etc.).

The Season Of Advent

We are nearing the end of the second week of Advent! As a school, we have been celebrating the Advent season,  and getting ready for Christmas,  by attending the weekly Advent liturgies in the gym. In our Grade 1 classroom, we have been reading and discussing the important parts of the the Christmas story each week.  We have talked about the Advent wreath and how it's ever green branches symbolize God's never-ending love for us!

We are following the journey of Mary and Joseph as they make the long trek to Bethlehem. The children have loved coming in each day and locating Mary and Joseph as they make their way closer to the stable in the Bethlehem! 

Each day throughout December, the special helper also chooses a wrapped Christmas book from underneath our mini classroom tree which we read during snack time! 

Such an exciting time as we wait for the birth of Baby Jesus at Christmas!

More Practice Skip Counting by 5's

Skip counting by 5's is an important skill for counting larger numbers (i.e. when counting survey results to graph information). Using loose parts, the students were challenged to skip count by 50's up to 50, or for further challenge, from 5's up to 100.

Celebrating the 50th Day of School!

We counted by 1's, 2's, 5's, and 10' s to 50. Then we used loose parts to show how we could count to 50. So many creative ideas!

The Zones of Regulation

We have added a Cozy Nook to our classroom in order to provide students with yet another Safe Space that they can visit when they need a little break.  We are trying to teach the students a variety of tools for Self-Regulation. Our Safe Spaces in the classroom (Colour Me Calm drawing centre, Reading Corner in our classroom library, Prayer Table and the new Cozy Nook) are just one type of tool students can use to help them self-regulate their feelings and emotions.

Above our Cozy Nook there is a Zones of Regulation poster. There are four Zones (e.g. Blue, Green, Yellow and Red).  Each colour is associated with a set of related feelings. The optimal zone is the Green Zone. When we are in the Green Zone we feel happy, calm, focussed and ready to learn.  Underneath each zone colour there is a cup. Students are invited to move their personal craft stick in order to communicate which zone they feel they are in. By doing this, they are learning to recognize their own feelings which is the first step toward self-regulating.  It also provides an opportunity for collaboration (e.g. student-student, student-teacher, etc.).

Pajama Day & Family Movie Night Tomorrow

Thursday November 18th will be pajama day at school! 

All are welcome to the Family Movie night on Thursday evening. It is too late to order pizza but not too late to attend the movie night! All are welcome.