Building Clocks!

Today the students worked in partners to make their own clocks. The only thing I gave them was a hula hoop. I told them they could use anything they wanted in the room (spare parts, g.o.o.s paper, markers, etc.).  After they made their clocks, they used them to make different times and challenge their partner to guess the time. Check out these cool clocks!

Chickens Aren't the Only Ones!

Chicken Unit - Week #2!

The eggs have been incubating for 8 Days in our classroom incubator ('Momma Hen.')  We will candle the eggs again this week. Hopefully we will see blood vessels in some of the lighter coloured eggs. This batch of eggs is really difficult to candle due to the fact that they are so colourful and some of the colours are very dark!  Today we read the book 'Chickens Aren't the Only Ones' by Ruth Heller. Then we did a sorting activity where we sorted animals into two categories: ones that lay eggs (oviporous) and ones that do not. Here are some of the things that the children shared today about what they have learned so far:
"It takes 21 days for a chick to hatch." Arjenne
"Only hens lay eggs." Antonio
"The hen keeps the eggs warm.....or our classroom incubator." Dayna
"In order for a chick to grow inside an egg, a rooster needs to fertilize the egg." Evan
"A hen lays about 300 eggs per year." Omar

Egg Arrival Day!

The students were so excited this morning when they came to class because today is ARRIVAL DAY!  We have received 30 fertilized chicken eggs from local farmer Shawn. The students were very excited to discover that chicken eggs come in so many different colours!  We have green eggs, brown eggs, a speckled egg, beige eggs and only 1 white egg! The eggs have been placed in the incubator pointy side down and numbered 1-30. The temperature in our incubator is steady at 99.5 degrees F. We will plug in the egg turner tomorrow which helps to keep the eggs warm on all sides. Tomorrow our student scientists will record all of their observations in their chick journals (number of eggs, colours, etc.).  In math class, we will work through an 'egg' addition word problem using pictures, numbers and words.  In Language class, we will be introduced to the remainder of the chick unit vocabulary that was in the newsletter that was sent home (we did the first half last week). We continue to record our thinking on our ''I Wonder' and 'I Have Learned' posters.

BOOK FAIR VISIT & PURCHASING ON TUESDAY!

Just a reminder to everyone, that our grade 1 class will be visiting the Book Fair on Tuesday April 17th in the morning.  If you are sending in money for your child to spend at the book fair, please make sure it is in a resealable bag or change purse, etc., and is clearly marked with their name. Thank-you!

The EGGS are arriving on Monday!

The children will be discovering how this happens. Already, they have so many amazing wonderings! We are all so excited here in Grade 1!

In Math, we have learning about fractions and equal parts or shares. Today, the students made jam and/or WOW butter (peanut-free) sandwiches with a partner. They then had to cut them in HALF, into 2 equal parts. We had so much fun! Here are a few snapshots:

REMINDERS:

It is the wet and muddy season. Please make sure your child comes to school with rubber boots, splash pants and jackets. They want to play on the field and sandbox and need this clothing so that they do not come into class soaking wet with muddy clothes.  Thank you!

BOOK FAIR!

BUYING day is Monday, April 16th! The students will be going to view the books tomorrow and will write a list of their wishes to show you.

HOT DOG LUNCH IS TOMORROW APRIL 13TH!

ATTENTION! EGGS ARRIVING SOON!

Attention!

Deep Learning is happening in Grade 1!

We Are Hatching Eggs!

Dear Parents,

On Monday, April 16th, chicken eggs will be delivered to our Grade One classes.  As you can well imagine, the children are very excited about this very special hatching experience.  Over the next 21 days, the children will be participating in a number of egg and chicken related rich tasks including:

• The Life Cycle of the Chicken
• Egg Candling
• Development of the Growing Chick
• Parts of the Egg and Chicken
• Egg Experiments
• Story Writing
• Non-fiction Reading and Writing
• Reading fictional Chicken stories

The chicks will be hatching during Education Week, giving the children the opportunity to experience firsthand the lifecycle of the chicken and share their experiences with their families.

Over the next 3 weeks the children will become familiar with the following words.  There will be no Word Wall Words for the next 3 weeks.  Instead, the children can review the following Chicken themed words:

body bird beak baby brooder crack

chicken dry egg feather food fluffy

fly grow hen hatch lay nest

peck quickly rooster ready rest shell

wet incubator heat warm

Yours in Catholic Education,

The Grade One Team

Today we welcomed a special guest at Georges Vanier. Daphne Sandre is the 'First Nations, Metis and Inuit Learning Partner' with the OCSB. In her presentaion, she taught us all about the 'Seven Grandfather Teachings' of our Indigenous People/First Nations People of Canada. She explained each of the seven teachings and the animal symbol for each teaching. The 'Seven Grandfather Teachings' and sacred animal symbols are: Love (Eagle), Wisdom (Beaver), Respect (Buffalo) Truth (Turtle),

Humility (Wolf), Honesty (Sabe or Big Foot), Courage (Bear). 

Hoppy Easter!

We used watercolours to paint a horizontally striped background. Then we created bunnies and placed them at the bottom of the picture so it looks like they are popping up in the foreground of the picture!

Today's Special Visitor!

Today we were lucky enough to have another visit from Mrs. Fields and baby Thomas.  Their visit coincides nicely with our current 'Family Life' unit where we have been learning all about the miracle of new life through the story of Dominic, Sarah and their newborn son, Alexander. It's been one month exactly since we have visited with Thomas and he has changed so much!  Last month Thomas only had 1 tooth and now he has 3!  There are a bunch of new foods that he loves to eat (carrots, cheerios, bananas) and a few that he no longer enjoys (chicken, avocado).  We learned that while he still cannot crawl, he is now able to roll over and move himself in a backwards direction. We sang Thomas some songs which he loved and after we were done, he had a lot to say back to us!!  Mrs. Fields told us that while he can still only say the words Mama and Dada, he loves to sing and chatter to himself when he is laying in his crib.  Just like before, Thomas' needs continue to be food, love and care!

Spring Updates

We hope all of you had a wonderful March Break. It is great to have so much light now! The yard is becoming a little muddy so an extra set of clothes and socks would be a great idea!

Language:

We read a book this week called "A Day in March..." that shows what March looks like in various cities all over the world. We pulled out the world map to help us locate each place.

We learned a new reading strategy called "Try'in Lion" which involves thinking of which word makes the most sense by going back and re-reading the whole sentence. We practiced that with partners this week.

We are also learning about non-fiction text features such as Table of Contents, Glossary, Caption and bold print. Our students will be looking for these features in easy to read non-fiction books and marking them with a sticky note next week. Then they will be selecting an animal to read about with a partner, finding 3 facts to write about.

Mathematics:

In Math, we are finishing our Money unit and moving onto Time. We are also learning about Area. We read a story called "It Looked Like Spilt Milk". Each student got a piece of yarn which they could make into whatever shape they chose. They had to estimate how many cotton balls it would take to cover the area of the "spilt milk", and then cover the space by gluing them down. Fun! Today we also covered blocks of wood with non-standard measurement tools, determining area. Students discovered that the smaller the measurement tool, the more of them was needed. Here are a few pictures:

Remember that next week is Holy Week. Georges Vanier will be doing the Stations of the Cross on Thursday at 11:00 am. You are welcome to join.

We are still collecting toiletries for our Lenten project.

Thank you for your continued support. We hope you have a wonderful first weekend of Spring!