April 8-12

 April 8-12

Another week seemed to fly by in Grade 1.  Here is a look at some of the things we got up to this week.

Thank you to everyone for their prompt return on all of our field trip forms for Leighton Art Centre and Swimming lessons.  We will be notifying and finalizing parent volunteers very shortly.  These experiences are great opportunities for our students and we are very excited.  

Social

With our upcoming field trip, we began to have discussions and conversations around some various topics that will prepare us for our learning at the Leighton Centre. 

We looked at urban and rural communities, by looking at our own community as well as the place where the Leighton Centre is located.  We discussed and identified differences and similarities between these 2 different types of communities.  We recorded this using pictures and visuals in a chart.  

We started our conversations about our own timelines, since we were 1 years old till now.  Thank you to those who had conversations with their child, as you are the ones who hold these memories.  We will continue our timelines and discussions next week as well.  

Learning Intentions:

What are some differences between rural and urban communities.  

I can recognize how my family might have been different in the past than it is today.  

Phys Ed - Gymnastics

The use of gymnastics equipment this week has been a big hit.  It has been amazing to watch the skills and confidence change within even just a few days this week.  Gymnastics will continue for one more week.  Thank you for your support in ensuring that your child is ready for this activity in gym.  A reminder for girls to please have their hair tied back, or hair ties available for them to have their hair pulled back and out of the way.  

   

 

Math

In math, we continue our work in adding and subtracting.  This week, we focused on Subtraction as Comparing.  Subtraction is always a more complex skill for many students to master.  Some further questions and practise at home would continue to support your child in their understanding of this concept.  

Now that we have a solid understanding of the concepts of addition and subtraction, we can begin to shift our focus to also becoming more fluent and automatic with our addition and subtraction skills.  We spent time learning about the doubles from 1-6 with Mrs. Gordon, who is working with us as our math learning leader.  We learned a new dice game with her.  We also practised our skills of adding 2 numbers using cards and seeing who’s number was greater.  Games are a great way for us to practise our math skills

Subtracting to Compare

In a comparison situation, there are two groups, and we want to know how many more are in one group than in the other.

For example, if there are 10 children on the play structure and 4 students are standing near the school, how many more students are on the play structure?

We can answer that question by subtracting: 10 – 4.

Once you know there are 6 more children in the larger group, you also know there are 6 fewer children in the smaller group.

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Comparison Models

You can show comparisons in many ways.

For example, to compare 11 and 3:

•	You can subtract 11 – 3 by matching all the counters you can and then counting the rest: You can see there are 8 extra in the group of 11.
•	You can use a number path. You could put down 8 counters on the number path to get from 3 to 11, so 11 is 8 more than 3.
•	You can use 10-frames.

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Relating Comparison Situations to Part–Part–Whole Situations

When you subtract to compare 12 and 5, you are trying to figure out how much more 12 is than 5. You can think of it as a part–part–whole situation where the whole is 12, one part is 5, and you want to figure out what the other part is.

You can represent the subtraction situation using a bar model.

12 – 5

In reality, all meanings of subtraction are related: part–part–whole, takeaway, and comparison. Every time we subtract, we know a whole and a part and look for the other part. We can choose how to think about any situation in the way that is most helpful to us.

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Helping Your Child

There are many everyday situations where we want to know how much more one group is than another. When situations like that arise, encourage your child to help you use subtraction to compare the two groups.

For example, you could ask the following questions:

•	How many more plates than forks are on the table?
•	How many more people live at our home than live at Grandpa’s home?
•	How many more people are there than chairs?

Literacy

This week in writing, we worked on writing instructions.  We had a good time trying to write clear instructions on how to brush your teeth.  We worked on adding ed and ing endings to the ends of words.  This is still challenging for some of us, so additional practice would be helpful.