We had a very happy Halloween today. Students came in amazing costumes, we carved pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns, had our halloween parade, ate our pumpkin seeds from yesterday, and had a special surprise from Anish's mom; a jack-o-lantern cake. Dr. Amy came in with pictures from her gorilla trekking in Uganda, and taught us all about the primates that she saw. We were so lucky to have her. In the afternoon, we planted our pumpkin seeds from yesterday, and worked on a pumpkin life cycle craftivity. We ended our day by watching Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin.
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Today we went on a trip to the Ivato Bio Farm. Students learned about the many plants that can grow from seeds. We explored growth and change, specifically the life cycle of a chicken. Students saw ducks, donkeys, zebus, and chickens. We had a great day. Below I have posted a lot of photos that document the fun we had. I will upload a picture of your child and the donkey in their learning portfolio in the near future.
We had a wonderful morning welcoming back so many smiling faces. It was great to hear how much fun each child on their holiday. Soa and I were equally happy to have them back, and safe in one piece. We saw new hair styles, dark sun tans, and a stitch or two in Roch's head from an accident he had over the break. Everyone had a story to tell. In Math we started to learn about patterns. We learned that patterns have repeating attributes, and how to name patters with letters. Students worked in groups to create and extend their partners using popsicle sticks.
We had a busy day trying to get everything done that we have been working on over the past couple weeks so that we can start fresh when we arrive back after spring break. Students illustrated their favourite book publications, Learned about settings, wrote their last self-assessment, and unit assessment for unit 2 of Everyday Math, and engaged in the Daily 5 activities. We also tasted avocado and planted the seeds. The first graders were surprised by how big the seeds were. We were so proud of our students being brave, risk-takers, trying something new. We will be ending our day today, by reflecting on the 43 days that we have shared together in first grade, and by playing some cooperative games, to remind us of how to play nicely with each other. Miss Soa and I hope that you all get to spend some quality time with your children over our 9 day break, and that everyone who is traveling stays safe and healthy. We really will miss this special group of little learners for the next 9 days. I want to begin by apologizing for the lack of information this week. The blackouts have been kicking out the internet in the afternoons. Over the past couple days, we have been busy in Math continuing to learn about number stories and addition. In Language Arts, we finished the writing process by going to the computer lab to type up our publications. We have also been working so well on our Daily 5. After the break we will be introducing a variety of writing activities to our Daily 5. These include writing comic books, cards, letters, menus, stories, and so much more. It is so important to show our little learners how many ways writing is used in our lives. During our UOI time, we have been continuing to explore the life cycle of an apple, and are transitioning into the lifecycle of a butterfly. Today we made apple life cycle mobiles (these can be seen below). Students had a few questions about why the apples turned brown after we cut them. We will be exploring the concept of oxidization after the break. We have also been tending to our class garden, our corn, beans, peas and sunflowers are growing nicely. Yesterday Felix brought in some watermelon seeds for us to plant. We have had a very busy first couple days. The power was going on and off, but our brains stayed switched on for two busy days. In Math we have been very busy writing number stories using pictures, numbers, words and objects. Some students have been telling frog jump stories, some students have been using stamps, and tomorrow we will start using dominoes. All of this story telling led us nicely into our mini unit on responding to literature during Language Arts time. We will be exploring characters, settings, and the main idea this week. We begin this week by talking about what characters look like on the inside and outside. Our daily 5 is also in full swing. The picture above is of students using a-zkids to read to someone in a group with me today. We are so proud of how so many students are moving up reading levels. To keep up with this, you can look at the letter at the top of your child's a-zkids account. During our UOI time, we are continuing to explore the lifecycle of an apple. Today we reviewed the parts, tasted red, yellow and green apples, and will be tallying our favourite type tomorrow. This certainly is a delicious unit of inquiry. We will be moving on to the life cycle of a butterfly in the near future. We wrapped up our week so nicely today. In Math we worked really hard on writing number stories with 3 numbers that needed to be added together. While this way a difficult new skill our first graders gave it their best shot. We will be spending more time on this next week. In Language Arts, we learned about 'editing' as part of the writing process. Students first used a checklist to self-edit, looking for capitals, finger spaces, correct spelling, neatness, and punctuation. Afterwards, they were paired with a partner to peer edit each other's work. Next week we will be conferencing with the teacher, writing good copies, typing them, and publishing a polished class book. We also worked on our daily 5 skills to help become better readers and writers. To learn more about the Daily 5 you can visit https://www.thedailycafe.com/daily-5. During our UOI time, we learned a bit more plant vocabulary, planted our seeds in the large grade 1 garden on our balcony, and played some phonics and high frequency words around living things outside. We finished our day by doing some math with Miss Soa, and being rewarded for our good behavior with some golden time on the ipads. This is because we had 0 sad faces this week on our behavior score board.
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ASA First GradersWe are caring, balanced , reflective, openminded, risk-taking, knowledgeable, principled, thinkers, communicators, inquirers, explorers and learners. Mr. Mason McCormickI am: a husband, teacher, friend, researcher, grad student, mulitliteracies specialist, designer, social media fanatic, lover of all things tech, creative, and progressive. I am an energetic, life-loving, no-nonsense person; passionate about respectful, rigorous, and relevant teaching and learning in the 21st century.
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