Where did the first week go!? We've already accomplished a lot in Room 108 :) Please remember to send back: 1) Yellow Home Notes Folders 2) School Forms 3) Family Questionnaire ASAP *My mistake, milk is now 75c in the lunchroom! Sorry for any confusion The 100 Most Frequently Used Words list was introduced, as students were asked to reflect on their first week at school and write a sentence about “school fun”. Many students used the words “I”, “like”, and “play” from the list while some students used the Smart Board to copy the sentence starter “I want to …”. All other words were sounded out by students independently. We’ve bound our “School Fun” pages and created our first class book!
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Throughout the year students will earn collective “gems” as positive reinforcement when they follow the expectations. For example, if we’re walking down the hallways quietly, respecting the others in the building that are learning and working, we will earn a gem. After a read aloud, if all the students showed active listening, we’ll earn a gem. If we have a Scientist come to do a workshop, and we show appreciation for our visitor by using polite manners, we’ll earn a gem. And if we all follow the steps in a new activity and try something together, we’ll earn a gem. Once all the gems have been earned, we’ll celebrate our good choices by having a ‘gem party’!
Students will also be recognized for making good choices individually too. A favourite read aloud is Have You Filled a Bucket Today? If someone picks up pencils and erasers off the ground to put them where they belong, if they model good listening on the carpet by putting one finger to their lips and the other hand high in the air, if they say excuse me to a classmate at the hooks when they’re trying to get at their backpack or if they take a risk and join in an activity that’s new to them, a student can earn a ‘droplet’ to be put in our classroom bucket. Now, I don't always get the chance to see students making their good choices, so they won’t always get a droplet, but I hope that they’ll continue to make good choices because when they do, they not only make someone else happy (and fill their bucket) they too can feel a sense of pride and happiness for making a good choice. Every once in a while, we’ll draw droplets from the bin and those students will get to choose their centre first, choose the picture book to read aloud, get 5 minutes of extra computer time, or maybe they’ll even get a sticker or a pencil to take home ;) A look at today’s schedule: V.I.P. Congrats Ben! Ask your son or daughter what s/he learned about him from the interview; what did they draw and label on their picture for him? Handwriting Students practice printing Ben’s name and their own names. They draw a picture of something about Ben, then use the anchor chart on the Smart Board to label or write a sentence Recess Swimming (we met coach Pepper and coach Jessica) They discussed expectations for the pool (we start in October). MUST BRING - labelled bag, labelled swim suit, labelled towel, labelled flip flops/crocs (something to wear in case of fire) *elastics or bathing caps for long hair - all long hair MUST be kept up. Girls - one piece bathing suits or tank-inis (if you bring a 2 piece, please send a shirt to be worn in pool) CAN BRING - (NO GLASS) goggles (if wanted, students can borrow from shared bin), ear plugs, nose plugs, plastic water bottles, water shoes *Students will go into the girls/boys change rooms and change independently; adults are not permitted in change rooms. However, I stand close by to the door and students can come to ask for help; I will step just inside the door. *PLEASE discuss with your child appropriate change room behaviour AND that he or she could come to me if there is any silliness that I should be made aware of. *Students take part in a lesson in the shallow end; life jackets are available if needed. *If your son or daughter needs to be excused from swim for any reason, please send a hand written note. Math We started creating our own Number Books and we’ll create a page for each number from #1 - #20. So far we’ve looked at the numbers 1, 2, 3. How can you represent the #2 for example?
This Number Sense book will help to form a foundation for problem solving and showing/explaining our thinking later on. Students will learn to ‘show what they know’ using a ‘WIN’ing strategy: Words, Images, Numbers (in math, we don’t draw pictures, we do a quick sketch of an image).The more ways that students can represent and understand a number, then the more strategies they will be able to use when they problem solve. Lunch Writing Ok so school has been fun, but wow do we miss summer! Today we reminisced about all our adventures and chose one to draw and write about. We'll take these pictures and put them into a class made Summer Fun book! Media Helena took the students up to the computer lab to talk about the routines and the expectations. Soon, she will have the opportunity to work with students one on one to create logins, passwords and save bookmarks on the web (www.starfall.com, www.abcya.com, www.storylineonline.net) Recess Centre Time Puppets, Marbleworks, Listening Centre with Octopus's Garden, Duplo and Book Nook were popular today. Read Aloud The Most Magnificent Thing is a beautiful story about a young girl with GRIT! Ask your son or daughter about Grit (and ask them to show you our action to go along with it!) First off - Thank you so much for smooth transitions at the end of the day! Dismissal can sometimes be tricky with so many people in the yard, but Lillian and I use a little reminder with the kids and we find that it helps: “Eye to Eye and Hand to Hand”. Once a student sees their caregiver they need to make eye contact with me and let me know, then I wave to the caregiver and they wave back to show that they’re ready to pick-up. We’ll always be coming from the middle doors, then walking over to the big white circle. Once all the students are safely inside the painted circle, then we can start our dismissal. Thanks for your support!
*If ever there’s a change in your pick-up routine, please send me a handwritten note* --- Each day we’ll start by checking our backpacks for our Yellow Home Notesfolders (thanks to those of you that have already completed your paperwork and sent it back!!) and place them in the ‘Home Notes Bin’ under the Smart Board. Then, students do quiet reading and chatting on the carpet to get settled. Once we're all ready, we go through our blue pocket chart and schedule for the day, so students can know what to expect as the day goes on. Today’s schedule looked like this: Arival V.I.P. Recess Read Aloud Assembly Lunch Gym with Helena Centre Time Recess Book Buddies with Arthur’s ⅚ Community Meeting Dismissal For the next few weeks, we'll be doing a V.I.P. program for some "Very Important People". Each student will get the chance to be a V.I.P. for a day - Grabriel's name was picked out of the bucket today! He was interviewed by the class and we got to know him a little bit better. This integrates the Oral Language part of the curriculum, as students are expected to ask questions and listen carefully on the carpet, as well as respond to questions thoughtfully (Overall Language Expectation 1 “listen in order to understand and respond appropriately”). As the students are interviewing, I’ll be taking jot notes on the SmartBoard. Then, once an interview is done each student will create a V.I.P. page to contribute to the V.I.P.'s 'all about me' book. We learn how to print the Very Important Person's name as well as one fact that we’ve learned about them (students can write their own idea, they can use keywords or can copy a sentence from the Smart Board). This also provides students the chance to practice using the proper uppercase and lowercase letters (we practice printing before we move into using our daily writing journals). **Please practice printing at home with your son and daughter. You can visitthis website to use as a reference and/or to print practice pages. For the first while we’ll have cooperative centre time in the afternoons, to help our students transition and ease back into the routine of school (especially our grade 1s!). By mid morning some students are already eager to visit their favourite centres - ask your son or daughter about the centres that have been open for group play time. It's a great way for the students to get to know one another and encourages them to practice the Character Education Trait of the month: Respect. As students play, I rotate through the centres to reinforce the routines and the expectations. Students also had the chance to share their thoughts on rules and routines for Book Buddies time. Here are some of their ideas: - big buddies can help boost the little buddies' confidence - little buddies can learn how to read - little buddies can even teach big buddies something new! - our big buddies get a chance to relax and read favourite picture books - we get to make new friends from a different class in our school Despite the heat – your kids had a great first day in grade 1 and 2 in Room 108!
I was honest with the kids as we walked into the room, that I was feeling a little nervous. It’s a new space for me, I’ve got to learn some new routines, meet the new Administrators … but by the end of the day all our jitters were gone and we were all smiles. All of a sudden, it was 3:30!! Here’s what went down: Morning Entry & Explore the Room - what are some things that are the same or different from your class last year? Students noticed so many things that they were familiar with! Ask about some of our centres /stations. Read Aloud - The Night Before First Grade – oh no! What happens when you’re not in the same class as one of your best friends? Recess Routines – we should always try to eat a healthy snack before we play; it gives you the energy you need! When outside, ask a teacher wearing an orange sash if you need help solving a problem, want a drink from the water fountain or if you have to use the washroom. Always go with a buddy! Bathroom Routines: Because our hallway is busy with 3 kindies, a daycare room as well as 2 other HPAS rooms, we’ll be using the ‘recess bathrooms’ as our main bathrooms during the school day (the ones down near the main office). Think / Pair / Share: If you could create a magical potion or a spell, that would make the best teacher ever, what would your teacher be? First we think quietly, just to ourselves, then we rotate on the carpet and pair up a few times to share our ideas with a small group, finally if students want to they share their thoughts with the whole group. (In this heat, one of the answers was: To have enough extendable arms so she could feed ice cream to the whole class at the same time!) *Ask your son or daughter what makes their teacher a ‘good teacher’ Read Aloud - Don't Be Silly Mrs. Millie! Lunch Routines - students were dismissed to daycare as a group or were walked down to the lunchroom. We all sit at the same table, eat our healthy foods first, then the treats as dessert. We learned about the recycling, compost and the garbage bins. If we have any spills or make any mess, it’s our responsibility to wipe it up with the cloths provided. Lunch Recess! Video: Franklin Goes to School Writing: how are you like, or not like Franklin on the first day of school? Music with Violet Afternoon Recess – last snack of the day or your chance to eat left overs from lunch End of Day FREE TIME! Students had the chance to play at lots of centres in our room - listening centre, puppets, library and buddy reading, games, puzzles, bin toys, blocks ... you name it, we've got it! *The computer centre will be open once students go to Media and get passwords. Read Aloud - First Day Jitters; even teachers get nervousJ For some tips on how to ask your son or daughter about the first day, check out : 25 Ways to Ask Your Kids 'So How Was School Today?' Without Asking Them 'So How Was School Today?' If you’re a Tweeter – please follow us! Mention @KellysEdu and share your #FirstWeekWin with your #backtoschool thoughts, feelings and successes. Here’s to a new school year J |
In our Room 108 Classroom Community, we foster an engaging, respectful and caring environment. I aim to balance a consistent program with flexible responsiveness to students' individual needs. Archives
November 2017
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