We had a fantastic morning collaborating with our friends, teachers, and learning assistants from Kindergarten to Third Grade today for our Holiday Hoorah! We worked in mixed groups so that the older students could help the younger students. In Mrs. Amanda's room students played a games. In Mrs. Jennifer's room, students sang songs. In Mrs. Yvonne's room, students read stories, and in our room, students did crafts. We did four 20 minute rotations so that we could all do each activity. It was a great experience. After that, we went back to our math centre rotations, measuring the rest of the students in our class. Some adults came by to be measured too (photos below). We encourage any parents who would like to be included on our height chart to come up to have your child measure you, and take a photo. We also read the book 'Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.' We began to write reasons why we should let the pigeon drive the bus, and reasons why not. We will be using these in a persuasive letter to the bus driver tomorrow. See video below.
0 Comments
We had another fun filled couple days.
In Math, we have started some new centres where students are measuring in inches and feet. We are also measuring our height. Please come by and check out our classroom door to see how your child "measures up". In Language Arts, we continued to work on fact and opinion. Today students used cards that had facts or opinions on them. They read the statement and had to sort it in either the fact pile, or the opinion pile, and give an answer telling why they thought it went there. During our UOI, we had a visit from the Second Grade class. Both First and Second grade have been working on a mini literature unit on The Polar Express. Yesterday we read the book, and today we watched clips from the movie. We will be spending some time tomorrow comparing and contrasting the two. We are looking forward to our Holiday Hurrah with the lower elementary school tomorrow. Pictures to come!
We had a so much fun today with a lot of activities. In Math this morning, we played a memory game where students had to pair up times written in analogue to times written in digital format. We also learned how to measure different things around the school using our bodies. Students learned how to measure with their fingers, hands, feet, and paces. We also worked on ordering and comparing objects in our classroom, and sorting them from shortest to longest.
After that, we followed a procedure to make fake snow using baking powder and bubble bath. Our classroom smells lovely! Once we made the snow, students built snowmen in groups of two then did a procedural writing piece on how to build a snowman. This was really fun for so many of our students who have never seen snow before. I will load your child's pictures and writing to their portfolios as soon as possible. Once we brushed the snow off of ourselves, we went to work on finishing our rough copies of our animal reports. Each student has written at least nine sentences about their animal. They have been such wonderful little researchers. I am looking forward to working with them on typing up their good copies tomorrow. We also had a visit today from Mr. Matthieu Crette (Louise's Dad) today. He came in to read with us, and learn about the Daily 5 program. The boys and girls, love having new adults to read to, and share their learning with. We look forward to when he can join us again. If there are any other parents who can spend an hour learning with us once in a while, please send me an email with your availability.
It has been a busy couple days with lots of reading and writing. In Math we are resuming our work with thermometers, and exploring temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. Our little one's accuracy with reading thermometers is really improving.
In Language Arts, began by learning about authors' purposes. We discussed how authors write for three reasons; to persuade, to inform and to entertain. We used the word PIE to help us remember. When you are reading at home, ask your child what the author's purpose was for the particular text you are reading. We have also began a mini expository writing unit on procedural writing (or instructions). We made peanut butter sandwiches yesterday, and wrote instructions about how to make them using the sequencing words; first, next, then, and finally. We will be engaging in a number of other fun activities this week for students to write the procedure for. During our Unit of Inquiry time, students are continuing to write their animal reports. We are so impressed with the improvement we are seeing in our students' writing. We are seeing capitals, spaces, and periods much more accurately and frequently. We are still working on using connecting words, and adjectives in our sentences. Please work on this at home. Our little learners are also continuing to care for our balcony garden. Our plants are growing, and we are hoping to see some of our fruits and vegetables produce seeds soon so that we can repeat the life cycle, and see it come full circle. |
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.
Archives
June 2016
Categories |