February 20-23

 February 20-23

After Family Day long weekend, we found ourselves returning to our school routines and learning in Grade 1.  Here are some of the highlights from the week.

Puppet Residency

We enjoyed our final session with Miss Wendy and adding the final touches to our puppets.  We worked on adding the eyes and had an “eye opening ceremony.”  Our puppets truly did seem to come to life at this moment and they all look so unique and special.  We don’t want to give away too many details, as we look forward to sharing our work around this learning with you on Wednesday, February 28.  We look forward to seeing families at our presentation at 10:30-11:00 in the Music room.  With Miss Wendy, she also worked with us on changing our voices and guided us through moving our puppets around the room.  We are now busy with creating our short skits connected to the story, The Owl and the Woodpecker, and sharing our own creative stories of some birds with some problems.

 

Learning Intentions

I can create imaginative representations or dramatizations of stories that include characters, setting and events using puppets. 

I can present stories or dramatizations as part of a group and adjust my voice for the audience 

Social Studies - Landmarks 

Learning Intentions 

I can recognize different landmarks and places in my community.

I can show understanding of why these landmarks and places are significant features of my community 

We spent some time this week learning about an iconic landmark to Calgary - the Calgary Tower.  We learned about what makes this landmark special and some of its special features and historical context.  We then drew our own picture of this landmark and added key words and ideas to connect to our understanding.  

Makerspace

We wrapped up the week with time in Makerspace.  Mrs. Harris had us return to the same winter story and challenges to solve a problem of being in the forest with our dog Pickles.  We worked on a different challenge and had new group members.  With our group, we focused on different things to build.  We worked together as a group, focusing on making sure we were compromising with our group members if we each had different ideas about what to build.  We were very focused and used our communication skills well.  

Math

Learning Intention:

I can break apart a set of objects by sharing and grouping.

Composing Numbers

Generally, “to compose” means to create something by putting things together. You compose numbers by putting together two or more quantities to create a larger quantity. For example, you can put together 3 tens and 4 ones to create 34.

You can put together more than just tens and ones.

For example, if you put together 4 eights and 4 ones, you would get 36.

If you put together 8 and 11 and 20, you would get 39.

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Decomposing Numbers

Generally, “to decompose” means to break something into parts. You decompose numbers by breaking them up into smaller quantities.

For example, you can break 56 apart into 5 tens and 6 ones.

You can also break 56 apart into 8 groups of 7.

You could also break 56 apart into 11 groups of 5 and 1 more.

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Helping Your Child With New Words

Ask your child to put together some smaller numbers to create bigger numbers. As you talk about the task, use “put together” and “compose” interchangeably so that your child will learn that they mean the same thing.

Similarly, ask your child to take apart a big number. As you talk about the task, use “take apart” and “decompose” interchangeably so that your child will grasp that they mean the same thing.

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Helping Your Child

When items come in packs (e.g., of 2 or 3 or 4), have your child figure out how many items are in several packs.

Alternatively, ask your child to figure out how many packs you need to open to have a particular number of items.

February 12-14

 

It was a short this week but we were still busy in Grade 1!  Take a look to see what we have been working on this week!

Social Studies

Students worked hard to write thoughtful thank you notes to our special guests from our school community who visited last week to share their roles and responsibilities around our school. Students had the opportunity to work in partners or by themselves to compose a thank you note that expressed thank you to our guest, a statement of what they learned from our guest, and then each guest is an important part of our school community.  

Puppet Residency and Wellness

We were so grateful to have another visit with Miss Wendy to continue our work on our Owl and Woodpecker puppets.  Students continued to add details like feathers wings and bodies to their puppets.   Thank you to those parents who were able to join us and support this work.  Along with this hands-on creative work we have been discussing and role-playing different problems that our students experience in their lives everyday and possible peaceful solutions.  Just like in the story of the Owl and the Woodpecker, students have been working on their problem-solving skills. This work around wellness will continue to develop and be the focus of our puppetry presentations.  Stay tuned for more information on our presentation to parents on February 28.  

Here are some other ways you can review these ideas at home as well for the tricky sound of ‘ng’ and long a with silent e.  

Math

This is a summary of the concepts we have been working on the last few weeks. You can use this summary as background to understand and support your child’s work.  

Representing Numbers to 100

Many materials can be used to represent numbers to 100. Each material has pros and cons.

A 100-chart shows the sequence of numbers, even though it doesn’t really show size.

10-frames show numbers up to 100, but it takes a lot of counters to show larger numbers.

Trains, or stacks, of 10 linking cubes can be used with loose cubes to show numbers.

Number words are also valid ways to represent numbers, although they do not indicate either sequence or quantity.

Tally marks work well, especially for numbers that are not very big.

Base ten blocks also work. Rods (or sticks) represent tens, and small cubes represent ones. The risk here is that students may not easily equate a solid item, such as the 10-rod, as representing a multiple (i.e., 10).

  

February 5- 9

 February 5 - 9

Social

This week we were excited to invite other important people in our school community to learn more about their roles and responsibilities at school.  One of our guests was Mrs. Scarrow.  She told us what some of her important jobs are at school.  We learned that she helps to keep our school safe.  She also helps teachers learn too!  

Learning Intentions:

I can understand ways that people help one another in our school community, to ensure the strength and positive energy of our school.  

I can appreciate the experiences of other members in our school community.  

I can appreciate how the actions of others can affect us.  

We learned that:

She uses her computer and her phone  

She organizes and makes schedules for the teachers and special activities, like Inline Skating and our Puppets 

Mrs. Dupius also came to talk to us about her important role and responsibilities.  She is a very important helper in our school and she does lots of different things to help us and our school.  

Here are some things that we learned

When kids get really hurt or break their arm she calls moms and dads and then an ambulance - Jovee

If they run out of stuff, she gets more by ordering more and she is in charge of keeping track of the budget - Eamon

If school is done and i get with my mom and my mom is not soon, Mrs. Dupuis will call my mom - Marat 

World Read Aloud Day - Wednesday, February 7

Wednesday was a special day as it was World Read Aloud day.  This is a day that has been marked as recognizing the importance and power of reading aloud.  We often enjoy many stories read aloud throughout each day and during the week in our classroom.  We use these to guide us in our writing to help us improve as writers.  We also often enjoy a story read during snack time.  Ask your child about some of the books we have shared together.  We also have them posted on our wall, to remind us of some of our favorite books read recently.  Ms. Gardner also read one of her favorite books this week - Sometimes You Barf!  It was a hoot.

We enjoyed the virtual session with David Robertson, who shared about himself as a writer and his inspiration for writing On the Trapline.  

Learning Intentions: 

I can listen to a variety of texts that are read aloud.  

Here are some of our comments after to listen to him speak about being a author:

That he learned what his trapline looked like after he visited it with his dad - Presley

How the trapline looked and I noticed that he was very happy to be home in his place again - Liesel

It was interesting that the illustrator drew what his dad looked like and then it matched what he really looked like in real life 

We also had the privilege of beginning our Puppet Residency with Ms. Wendy.  Together we read the story The Owl and the Woodpecker.  Then children had the opportunity to begin making a stick puppet of one of the two main characters.  Students enjoyed this experience of meeting with an expert and beginning a hands on project.  Thank you to the parents that were able to join us and volunteer to help out.

January 29 -February 2

 January 29 - February 2

Math

In math this week, we moved back into thinking about numbers and how to represent them.  We worked with groups of ten trains and made connections to numbers with 0 - 20, 30, 40, 50 to 100.  We are now trying to extend our thinking and understanding of numbers beyond 20.  With a group, we also reviewed numbers from 1 - 20 and worked together to see if we could organize the numbers on an open number line in a way that made sense.  Some students were also ready to try with greater numbers to 50.

Learning Intention:

I can represent numbers to 100 using words, numerals, objects or pictures.

 

Social Studies

This week in Social Studies, we continued to talk about our school as an important group and community to belong to.  We discussed and brainstormed different roles and responsibilities that students have at school.  We worked together in our table groups to think of all the important roles and responsibilities we have as students.  We then shared all the GREAT ideas that all the groups came up with.  Students then reflected and chose 4 that they think are most important to them, and recorded them visually in their visual journals.  We look forward to learning about other people in our school community and the different responsibilities that they have compared to students.

Learning Intentions:  

I can understand and identify my rights and responsibilities at school.  

Art

Even with the snow rapidly melting this week, we took time to create our own snowmen.  We then wrote a set of clues about our snowman and what they looked like.  We then play the Snowman Guessing Game as a class, to see if we could listen and then identify which snowman belonged to which person.  We enjoyed this very much and look forward to continuing to play our guessing game next week.  

Learning Intentions:

I can create messages that are for a specific purpose.

I can write sentences that contain a complete thought and make sense. 

I can share information with an appropriate volume, tone and pace.

I can present my writing and ideas individually to an audience.  

Kosior’s Secret Snowmen 

Maker Space

We wrapped up the week with time in Maker Space.  Mrs. Harris gave us specific parts of a winter story and were challenged to solve the problem of being in the forest and our dog Pickles.  With our group, we focused on different things to build.  We worked together as a group, focusing on making sure we were compromising with our group members if we each had different ideas about what to build.  We were very focused and used our communication skills well.