Sunday, April 22, 2018

April/May news


Dear Parents,

I’d like to share a few things we are doing in the class. In Science, we are studying plants. We will be planting seeds and recording its growth. We are learning parts of the plant and learning how water reaches the leaves in a plant. As a class, we added food coloring to water and placed celery in the water. We observed that the leaves turned red after 24 hours.  We tried the same experiment using the blue food coloring.

We will begin our unit on Building Things. We are making robots. Therefore, we will need toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, a few small boxes for the body, arms, face, and legs. Please bring these items by Thursday. In May we will be building other items as well, and we will need other items as well. Please bring extra items to share with others.

In Math, we have started our unit on Measurement. We are also working on adding and subtracting numbers from 10-20. This week, we will be exploring those numbers using manipulative. We have been playing Smartboard games in Math to practice our numbers. I encourage the students to continue to practice numbers 50-100.

In French, we have been talking about Spring and writing sentences about weather and activities we do during Spring.

In Social Studies, we are talking about the past, and comparing life to the present.

The Desk Fairy came to visit our class, and I’m happy to say she though every student deserved a reward for having a clean desk. I hope she will visit us soon again.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Celine





Friday, March 23, 2018

Spring News

Hello Parents,

Thank you for coming to the class for student-led interviews. I hope you and your child enjoyed going through the various activities.

On Friday during our PD, several schools were invited to listen to Dr. Carrington. She spoke about building relationships and making connections with all people in our life. Here is her website if you would like to know more about her.  http://www.drjodycarrington.com/

This week, you will receive a letter informing parents that Alberta Health Services will be in our classroom for several sessions on strategies to support the development of self-regulation skills and executive functioning: working memory, inhibitory control, and flexible thinking.

In the last month, we have had two Teachers Pet sessions, one for Science and one for Social Studies.

In Math, we continue to work on addition and subtraction( until June), review shapes, and introduce measurement.

In French, we will learn words related to Spring and Easter.

In Religion, we will go over the Stations of the Cross.

Please remember to return all library books to the school for day 5.

Sunday, January 7, 2018

January News

Dear Parents,

Welcome back grade 1 families. I hope you enjoyed your Christmas break. I personally enjoyed the quality time I was able to spend with my daughter and family members. I am really looking forward to working with the grade 1 students in 2018. Thank you very kindly for the generous Christmas gifts and cards you gave me.

If you are wondering where your child’s agenda is, I have them in the class. We will be pasting some vocabulary words and a checklist. Please bring your child’s agenda and their yellow reading log book each day. Please read the readings I send home and the Raz kids online books. The readings will be put in the yellow log book (in the plastic bag). If the student forgot their agenda, please find the booklet we read that day in the pouch of your child’s agenda.

The last 2 days of classes before the break included decorating ginger bread cookies I made for the students, preparing the Christmas present the students made for their families, talking about the birth of Jesus, and making various crafts. We had an Elf on the Shelf named Bot visit our class. She often moved about the class as long as the students did not touch her. The students could hardly wait to have their turn to open the Advent calendar each day. We often said a prayer or reflected on what we could do to prepare our hearts for Christmas.

The grade 1 students enjoyed painting the reindeer with a grade 5/6 buddy. Thanks to all those students. In the next week or so, the students will bring these amazing paintings home.
The students loved the Math games we played before Christmas such as gingerbread roll and hot chocolate marsh mellow. These games were a hit as the students were able to eat some candies once they completed the game. The games gave them the opportunity to practice adding and subtracting. 

Thanks to our Educational Assistant, Maria, who was with us for a short time in December, the students   had the opportunity to review, once again, how to hang their coats, snow pants, gloves, back packs neatly. I asked her to take most of the students one by one, and to explain how to organize and keep their belongings off of the floor. Some students still need some encouragement, however, I know with some more practice and reminders they will be able to keep their belongings off of the floor.

The desk fairy came to visit us a few times before Christmas. Some students have been trying to keep their desks as neat as they can. The students are encouraged to clean their desks daily, and once a week the students help one another clean their desks.

At the end of the month, we will be having a winter celebration where the students will be performing poems and songs for their parents. More details to follow!





Tuesday, November 28, 2017

November

Hello Parents,

This month a constable came to visit our class. He read a book about anger, and the students brainstormed ideas about what they could do to calm down when they became angry. The students came up with some fantastic strategies.

The students will be bringing home a Reading log book. Everytime they read a book, they will write it down in their book. This year, we are able to access virtual books via RAZ A-Z. More information to come.

In French, we have been going over various beginning sounds and have begun working on double sounds.  In French and Science, we are presently learning new vocabulary related to animals. We have also been reading a story called "Au zoo de Calgary". Soon, the students will bring this home to read with you.

In Math, we have been working on sorting, 5 frames and counting. We are learning how to count on and back.

I look forward to seeing you all at interviews.

Celine


Monday, October 23, 2017

Dear Parents,


The students have been learning Halloween vocabulary in French. They have been singing songs about Halloween and learning a few Halloween poems. We have been working on Halloween Math centers to review patterns and to work on number sense.

We continue to work on our sounds in French. Among many new sounds we learned, OU was a favorite as this is the sound ghosts make. The students enjoyed making this sound.

We are reading stories about Halloween. In English, the students enjoyed the story about 'Green Witch'.You may have read the student copy that was sent home. In French, the students are working on a reading about Halloween.

In Religion, we are talking about Noah's Ark.

In Science, the students enjoyed a science experiment called 'walking on water'. We made secondary colors using water and food coloring.

In Social Studies, we are talking about groups.

In art, the students drew leaves and painted them. Tomorrow we will be making skeletons.

The students are preparing to sing for our Remembrance Day liturgy.

If you have any questions please let me know.

Celine








Saturday, September 30, 2017

Dear Parents,


The purpose of my Blog is to let parents know what we have been working on. As you know we had a PJ party on Thursday. In French, the students had to tell the class what color the stuffy was, and whether it was big or small. Suprisingly, we actually covered a lot of French words on PJ day.

Next Week the students are to bring a show and tell item to school which they will describe to the class in French. The students are asked not to play with the toys in the class and bring them only for the show and tell.

In class, we talked about tattling, personl space and blurting out. We continue to read the book" My Mouth is a Volcano" to encourage students to raise their hand. Another great book is " Personal Space Camp". This book encourages students to keep their hands to themselves.

We have also talked about Quiet turtles, whispering whales and chatty chickens. Chatty chickens are almost never allowed in the school only whispering whales and quiet turtles. Sometimes the students are given little stuffy turtles if they are listening well. However, one went missing, maybe someone accidentally brought it home. If you see a litte turtle in your home, pleae return it. Thanks :} :}

In French, we are working on sounding out letters. We have started with the vowels a e i o u. In our program, all our sounds come with pictures to help students remember the sounds. Most students are catching on well. Most still have trouble with the u.

We continue working on vocabulary for school and colors. Please visit the following site if you would like to get more information on what we will be learning this coming week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2JwURExB9A&t=305sWe are learning sight words in French. If you would like to review sight words please visit the following sight on Youtube.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wrfdDf4GAM&t=34s  The title is grade 1 sight words in French with pronunciation.

In Science, the students participated in a color experiment. They mixed yellow water with food coloring and red water with food coloring. Of course, they discovered it made orange.

In English, we are working on sight words such as do, play, I am, me etc... We play smartboard games to learn these words. We will soon begin learning English letter sounds.

In Math, we are still working on patterns, learning numbers, and subsitizing. (looking at dots or ten frames and saying the number) The students could continue practicing this

If you have any questions please email me or call me.

Mme Celine






Friday, September 15, 2017

Hello Parents,


I can't believe two weeks have already gone by. For now, we have 23 students in our class. We have 3 new student joining us this year. We welcome these new students to our school. We are so fortunate to have them with us.

We are presently working on routines and more routines.... In addition to this, we are working on vocabulary pertaining to colors and school, the alphabet and their beginning sounds in French, printing skills etc..

If their are any parents willing to make playdoh for the class please let me know. I can provide zip-lock bags. It would be great if each student could have a bag of their own.  

Please ensure your child is getting a good sleep as the days can be long for the children. Sometimes behaviour issues can result from just not getting enough sleep.

If you would like to make an appointment please let the office know or email me at celine.danis @cssd.ab.ca and we can meet after school. I would prefer meeting in the afternoon than in the morning. Thank you in advance for contacting me before coming to the grade 1 classroom to meet.

If you have something to drop off to the student, please do not come to the grade 1 classroom during school hours, but kindly drop the item off at the office or have the office phone me if you need to see the student during school hours.

I look forward to meeting with you at the parent-teacher interviews. I look forward to knowing more about your child and their needs.




Celine Danis