May 6- May 10

 May 6-10

It was yet another busy week for us in our Grade 1 class.  As we got back into our regular routines after our exciting week of swimming last week, our school was buzzing with the baby chicks, which I’m sure you heard lots about!  We enjoyed checking in on the chicks in the Learning Commons and seeing more chicks arrive throughout the week.  

We were also lucky enough to have some of our Grade 6 buddies support us, with getting to have a closer look at them and for those of us who wanted to, a little pet as well.  We were surprised at how soft they were.  

Writing 

I can create written messages that are for an intended audience or for a specific purpose.

I can generate ideas that can be expressed through messages

We returned to our how to writing to support us with creating a special message for our Moms.  We hope these will bring a smile to your faces!  The growth of our students as writers is amazing as they apply their letters and sounds and spelling patterns of vowels to their writing.  They also had some interesting ideas about “How to Be a Mom.”  We hope these remind you of how special you really are and how much you matter every day!  

Math

I can investigate different addition and subtraction strategies.

I can determine a missing quantity in a sum or difference, within 20, in a variety of ways.

I can model addition and subtraction within 20, in various ways, including with a balance

We continue to explore and build upon our increasing understanding of addition and subtraction.  Near the beginning of the week, Mrs. Gordon joined once again!  Using the balance scales, we had different math equations that had missing parts.  We had to work in our table groups to solve the problems so that the balances would balance and be equal.  We were very focused and it was excellent to see how we solved our problems together.  

We continued to build on our skills of finding the missing part of a number sentence to build more practice for us.  The problems were all over the room and we had to move around and find the equations and then solve them.  We are really showing our fluency and confidence with addition and subtraction and will be wrapping up this focus in the coming weeks.  

Makerspace 

I can communicate effectively with others

I can collaborate with others.

I can show empathy to others.

I can show respect to others. 

Our challenge is makerspace this week was to work in our groups to construct a Chicken Coop that would give the chicks everything they would need to have a good place to live and be happy.  There were a lot of different things that we needed to include.  Here are some of the creations we built.  

Reading/Phonics

We continue to work on R-controlled vowels and this week focused on learning the IR and UR can also make the /er/ sound as well. 

Here is some further information in regards to our learning about subtraction and our counting on and counting back strategy.

Subtracting by Counting Back

•	When you know a total amount and you want to figure out how many are left when you take some away, you can count back from the total. For example, if there are 14 birds and 6 fly away, you can count back to see how many birds are left: 13 (after the first bird flies away), 12, 11, 10, 9, and 8. Note that when you count this way, you say one number for each bird that flies away. You can keep track with your fingers to make sure you say the correct number of numbers. The number of birds remaining is the last number you say.
•	If you wish, you can count back by 2s and say 12, 10, and 8 as you think of 2 birds flying away at a time.
•	You can represent the situation on a bar model like this: The bar model shows that there were 14 birds in total; one part (the birds that flew away) was 6, and the other part (the birds that stayed) was 8.
•	You can count back to subtract the part you know from the total. For example, if there were 14 birds and now there are 8, you can count back 6 numbers from 14 to figure out how many birds flew away: 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8. You said 6 numbers and ended on 8, so you know that 6 birds flew away.
•	You can count back until you get to the part you know to figure out the part you don’t know. For example, if there were 14 birds and now there are 6, you can count back from 14 until you get to 6. The number of numbers you say is the number of birds that flew away: 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6. You ended up at 6. You said 8 numbers, so you know that 8 birds flew away.

---

Subtracting by Counting On

•	Sometimes you know a total and a part, and you want to figure out the other part. This can be done by counting forward, or counting on, from the part you know. For example, suppose there are 14 people coming for dinner. If you know there are 6 plates on the table, you could count on from 6 to 14 to figure out how many more plates you need. It’s not the last number that you say that tells you how many more you need; it is how many numbers you say. You can keep track with your fingers. In this case, you said 8 numbers, so you need 8 more plates.
•	You can count on by 1s or 2s. If you count by 2s, you need 2 plates for every number you say.
•	You can represent the situation on a bar model like this:
•	Even though you are counting on, you are actually still subtracting the part you know from the total: 14 − 6.

---

Helping Your Child

It is useful for children to continue to practise counting on and also to practise counting back from numbers less than 20. Some practice in counting on by 2s (not starting at 1) is also useful, but do this only when the child is ready.

Your child can practise at any time. For example, you can say, “Count on from 6,” “Let’s count back from 15,” or “Can you count back from 10 by 2s?”