Spring Update!

Dear Grade 1M Parents/Guardians,

Just a couple things to keep you up to-date:

1.  Home Building Project: In science class we have been using recycled material to build things. Our first project was the Leprechaun Trap! Our second project is a home building project. Please help with cutting, gluing, etc. but please do not build it for your child. Today I sent home a booklet with ideas of things to build at home (feel free to use your own ideas, you don't have to use my ideas, and your child only has to build one thing). Your child has a whole month to complete the project (it is due April 25 or sooner -if your child is done then they can bring it to school anytime before the due date too), there is no rush, but I thought I would send home the information during spring break just in case some wanted to work on it when they had time off school. They will present their project to the class during "Show and share" time. They will need to be able to communicate to the class what materials they used, how it works, how they built it, what was the hardest part and what was the easiest.

2.  The EPCOR Share a Book program provides new books and book bags to Grade 1 students across Northern Alberta and ensures the joy of reading is not limited to a student’s financial means. Books stir the senses and ignite a love reading that can last a lifetime and are essential to lifelong development. Since the program began, more than 14,000 books have been distributed to over 7,000 students. Ms. Mason’s grade one class was one of the lucky ones to receive a book bag!  Ms. Mason will be sending the book bags home after Spring Break (in April). The books included in the bag are “Puckster's New Hockey Teammate and Give Me Back My Dad”. Thanks so much Edmonton Oiler Community Foundation and EPCOR! 

3.  Spring Break:  The kids have 11 days off! They return to school Monday April 4th. 

Enjoy the Spring weather and Happy Easter!

Sincerely,

Kim-

February Update

Dear Gr. 1M Parents/Guardians,

Lots of information this month!

1. Early dismissal tomorrow Feb.3 and February book orders are due if you are buying any books.
2. No school Thursday & Friday - Teacher's convention
3. If possible please return the envelope that the report card was in, I'd like to reuse it for the report card in June. Keep the purple paper report card for your records.
4. Feb 10 - Dress up day - dress like your favourite movie/cartoon character (ex. Harry Potter, Inside Out Joy). Dressing up is optional.
5.  Feb. 12 - Our class Valentine's party will be held from 2:00-3:00pm Feb. 12. Group 3 is responsible for snacks for this party, the students are: Kassady, Zoe, Kendrick, Mikka, Brooklyn, Ryder & Landon. Just a reminder about party food – please try to bring in a healthy snack like cut up fruit, veggies, or cheese & crackers, etc.. We can have some sweets or chips but maybe let me know what you plan to bring (note in agenda or email) just so we can coordinate - so we don’t all bring the same thing! Also, please make sure that if your child is planning to hand out Valentine’s, please include ALL students in the class. There are 20 kids, 11 girls, 9 boys. The class list is printed in your child’s agenda where we normally print the spelling words.
6. Feb. 15 - Family Day - No school - Families encouraged to try to be unplugged that day (no electronics).
7. Feb. 17 - The Bread Lady - The Grade One classes will be participating in a program called “Let's Bake”. This program brings an exciting and hands-on learning opportunity right to our classroom. We will need about 5 parent volunteers for each class if possible. This presentation combines elements of two field trips into one cost-effective day at school. It is $10 per student, I will send home a letter tomorrow (Wed.). Students learn about agriculture and how wheat is grown. They'll even get the opportunity to work with real wheat plants! Later, the students will make their own loaves of bread, starting right from the grinding of the wheat up to baking the bread. It is a wonderful opportunity to integrate many areas of the grade one curriculum into one presentation.
8. Feb. 22 - 100^th Day of School – We have a special celebration and activities planned for the 100^th day of school. Each student is expected to bring in a collection of 100 things. The collection can be anything they want, but should be small like rubber bands, marbles, or cheerios. Please don't count out the 100 things for your child, get your child to do it for practice. The video below will help them group by 10's. We will display them and use the collection as manipulative's to help us with grouping and counting by 10’s.                                
9. Feb. 24 - Pink Shirt Day - Students can wear a pink shirt this day to symbolize a stand against bullying.

I hope I didn’t forget anything! Feel free to email me if you have any questions,

                                                               

Sincerely, Kim-

Info and Reminders as the End of December Approaches

Dear Grade 1 Parents/Guardians,

I’m sure it’s just as busy at home as it is at school! So much to get done before Christmas! And so little time!

Here are your reminders for December:

1. Tomorrow (Thursday Dec.10) we are going to the Rec Centre to watch the Holiday HoHoHo presentation. Please fill out the permission form (if you haven't already done so) and return to me by tomorrow (Thursday) at the latest. Here is a link to the permission form if you can't find it. https://drive.google.com/a/gshare.blackgold.ca/file/d/0B9S_0dJruYWvakpQR1NTLUhEQjQ/view?usp=sharing 
2. Thank you to Liz & Kristie for volunteering to join us at Holiday HoHoHo and help with supervision during our mini field trip. 
3. This week is Computer Science Week. We have been learning to CODE. Here is a link for more information about coding. Hour of Code
4. The Christmas Concert is on Wednesday December 16. There are two identical performances, 1:30pm & 7pm. Students are expected to be at both performances.The afternoon performance is to accommodate grandparents or relatives who are able to attend during the day. We try to encourage people to come to the afternoon performance if they can because at night the gym is packed…sometimes we run out of chairs and people have to stand. So if we can get some people to come during the day this makes more room for others at night. On the evening performance, please bring your child to the classroom at 6:45 (15 min. early). They should be wearing nice dress clothes, no costumes this year, just the puppet we made at school and a battery operated tea light.
   
   They will stay in the classroom during the concert, only going to the gym during their scheduled performance. So you do not have to supervise your child, I will be with them in the classroom while you enjoy the show!
5. Friday Dec.18  – last day of school before the holidays! We
   will be walking up town in the afternoon to go carolling. Please return the permission letter that I will send home on Thursday. Make sure your child has suitable clothing for the weather, keep an eye on the forecast, in case it is cold, the kids need snow pants if we are walking around town for an hour!
6. On the last day we have a small Christmas party the last hour (from 2-3pm). This is when I give the kids a present from me (a book) and we have snacks (group 2 is responsible for food this time – Cathryn, Shelby, Audrey, Axel, Justin & Dana). Just a reminder about party food – please try to bring in a healthy snack like cut up fruit, veggies, or cheese & crackers, etc.. We can have some sweets or chips but maybe let me know what you plan to bring (note in agenda or email) just so we can coordinate - so we don’t all bring the same thing!
7. I am always grateful to receive gifts from my students, but usually each year I ask for a charitable donation in lieu of a gift. Don’t feel obligated to donate or buy a gift, but if you were planning to give a gift please consider a donation instead. Some local charities are Thorsby FCSS & Christmas Elves. Several families in our own  community are in need, especially at this time of the year. Thank you for your consideration.
8. Here's a picture of our Rudolf drawings: 
   

Sincerely,

Ms.Mason

Santa Video..........

Christmas Concert

The students have already started practicing their Christmas concert songs in music class with Mrs. Schmidt (the music teacher). The students don't need a costume this year, they just need to be dressed in nice clothes. They will be making a sock puppet at school that they will use at the concert. Please send a sock with your child by Thursday Dec. 3rd, so we can turn the sock into a puppy puppet the following day in art class. The sock can be either black, brown or white. As well, each child will need one battery operated tea light candle. You can send it to school with your child's name on it and I can keep them all together until the concert on Dec.16th.

Create and Learn with LEGO!

Today we had an "In-school Field Trip"! We decided to try an "In-school field trip" this year instead of travelling off location, saving transportation costs. Our parent association (TEPA) always donates the cost of one bus every year for each class (approximately $250), but instead of using the money for a bus we will use the money for the registration fee for the "Field trip" today, so it won't cost you anything. In the past we have also gone to the Devonian Gardens in June for an off location field trip. More info to follow in the spring. Here are the links for more information about the field trips.

In-school Lego creations - https://www.createandlearn.ca/home.html

Out of school Bugs & Plants at Devonian Garden -  http://www.devonian.ualberta.ca/EducationCourses/KidsInTheGardenFieldTrips.aspx

Create and Learn with Lego - This morning grade one students followed step by step instructions to build a spinning Lego machine that was connected to a battery. The students used primary, secondary and monochromatic colours to create circular art. They made a booklet with all their pictures. After the spinning machine, then they made a Lego dune buggy. The students had a great time working with the Lego kits! It directly relates to the grade 1 science curriculum, Topic A - creating colour and Topic C - Building Things. 

Thank you Mr. A Van Achte & Ms. K Hancock for volunteering this morning and helping the students build with Lego!

Reading, Writing & Spelling

Dear Gr 1M Parents/Guardians:

By now you have probably heard from your child about a new program we have been using in class called “Daily 5”. It is a program that helps students develop the daily habits of reading, writing, and working independently that will lead to a lifetime of literacy independence. 

While the students are completing their literacy tasks, I meet with small groups and conference with individual students allowing me to differentiate instruction using appropriate tools that are fair, flexible, challenging, and engaging to students in a meaningful way. Differentiation is individually student centered. Students may vary in readiness levels. 

One choice during Daily 5 is “Word Work”, where students work on spelling and vocabulary. I will be using a spelling program called “Words Their Way” which identifies each child’s spelling stage and tailors activities to each individual. Spelling tests will continue to be on Fridays, however not everyone will have the same words or same number of words. A spelling lesson will be given to your child every Monday, and your child will continue to print their words in their agenda. Classtime to work on their lesson will be provided. The lesson will be sent home on Thursday to complete if they did not finish it in class, as well it can be used as a study sheet. Students can practice at home online at SpellingCity.com. http://www.spellingcity.com/Find-A-Spelling-List.html Click on “Find a Teacher” and search for my name (Kim Mason) to find the word list to practice. 

Your child will move up a level if they demonstrate a clear understanding of the spelling pattern on their Friday test. Depending upon the skill being practiced, some students will not be tested on the entire word, rather they may only be tested on the first 2 letters. This is because the words are tailored to fit the skill, for example, the lesson might be practicing the "tr" & "dr" blends, the student needs to recognize the blend that the word starts with, but will not have to know how to spell the entire word. This is not the norm for all lessons, only the ones practicing initial consonants, blends and digraphs, otherwise they are expected to know how to spell all the words. I hope this isn't too confusing, I will put a note in your child's agenda letting you know if they just need to know the first 2 letters or the whole word.

Thanks so much for your amazing support, and as always, please let me know if you have any questions.  

Sincerely,

Kim Mason

Home Reading

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Today I sent home books with your child (the books are in their black take home bag). These are the home reading books. There should be 5 books in the bag (sometimes it might be more or less, depending on the length of the books). The books are for all week. 

Please assist your child with the reading; help them sound out, encourage them to track the words with their finger, get them to look at the pictures (the pictures help the child figure out the words). Please don't read the books to your child (it's OK to read it once to them to get them started, but they are expected to read to you). 

Also in the black bag is a Home Reading Log book for you to record the title of the book and how many minutes your child read each night (the goal is just 5 or 10 minutes every night).

If they finish all of the books, please get them to re-read them to you, this helps them with fluency and recognizing words by sight rather than always having to sound them out. 

Your child will select new books every Monday (please keep the books and the paper Log book in the black bag). 

Due to varied abilities, students may be on different levels. Level "A" books are “pattern” stories, where a phrase is repeated on each page. Level "B" books are similar, but a little bit harder, where the pattern may vary from page to page or more words are in each sentence. 

If you would like to level your books at home, there is an app called "Literacy Leveler" in the app store which allows you to scan the ISBN bar code or manually type it in and it will give you an estimated level of the book (it's not perfect but works sometimes). 

Below is an info graphic which shows you the benchmarks for each grade.