Once, Twice, Thrice!

At the beginning of the month the students set a goal in math to learn to count by 3’s to thirty.  Current research suggests that the reason so many individuals struggle with certain times tables in upper elementary math (like 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, etc.) is due to the lack of practice counting with these numbers in the formative years (think, on the other hand, of how often we encourage young children to count by 2, 5, and 10).  We therefore decided to work on a variety of counting methods.  This month we have chosen  ‘3’.  Take some time each night to make counting by three’s fun and engaging.  Maybe you could count the peas on your dinner plate by three’s…yum!

Honesty is the Best Policy

Already the last week of November!  Today we celebrated our 57^th day of school.  We enjoyed our celebration of no T.V. week that just ended, and hope that the good habits of reading we enjoyed the last several days will continue on in the weeks to come!  We are grateful for all of your support in making last week a success.

 This Thursday is another milestone – our first report cards.  As a result, there will be no school for students on Friday (P.D. Day) so that students can enjoy their last long weekend before Christmas.  I am so grateful for each of my students and appreciate the hard work they do.  It is so fun to watch each of them grow and progress, and I hope that each report card accurately reflects where each individual is at in their learning and where they need to go.  If you have any questions, concerns or comments, be sure to contact me at the school or by email, and I’ll be happy to talk or meet with you.

There is Drama club again on Tuesday for any students in our class who have joined, however due to an overwhelming response for Lego club, our class only goes every third week, so no grade ones will be attending this week or next. 

In math this week we are taking a closer look at numbers up to 12.  It’s an important skill to easily recognize and print numerals, their words and identify at a glance group of numbers (think how easy it is to recognize the value on any face of a pair of dice).  We are also taking at look at how to be better citizens by taking care of our earth.  We’ve been studying water and air pollution, as well as collecting litter and trash.

Our spelling words this week include four, over, saw, like, you.  Our try-it at home for this week is to cut the words up on paper into puzzle pieces, and then try to put them back together before challenging a family member or friend to read your word!

Our spelling program is going to change slightly starting this week.  Along with the regular spelling activity I will be adding a sight word recognition activity.  This will involve students underlining key words (the same words as we use in our spelling activities) in a simple paragraph based on instructions I give.  This should help my understanding of the way the students are learning and interpreting the words they are seeing and using each day.  We will also be adding a ‘star’ word each week.  This is an extra word of the students’ choosing that does not count toward the total of any spelling activity, but is a chance to increase vocabulary and sight word recognition.  The star word the students selected this week was Christmas.

Our busy, buzzy goal this week is to ‘bee’ honest.  We are discussing the importance of telling the truth and knowing when it is okay to imagine stories and when it’s more important to say what really happened.

Have a great week!

No Television???

This week is turn off the T.V. week and read.  To kick of the event, we held a school wide read-a-thon on Monday morning where every adult and child in our school read for half an hour, and we totaled up the number of pages.

Here are the grade results...

Mrs. Thomson's Grade One read......   2107 pages!

Magrath Elementary School read.....  16 028 pages!

Way to go readers!!!

No TV week newsletter

Today our school begins its annual turn off the TV week.  Take the opportunity for the next couple of days to encourage your family to put aside television and video games in favor of reading and spending more time together.  Students who participate each night have the chance to enter their name into a draw for prizes.  Friday is the last day of no TV week, as well as our November student of the month assembly.  The lunch available this week is pizza.

The students have earned a board game party, which we will be having after recess on Friday morning.  Students may bring whatever games from home they choose.  If your child chooses to bring a game from home, encourage them to bring one that other students will be capable of playing.

Our spelling words this week include she, call, run, big, may.  A fun try-it at home would be to use colored markers or crayons to copy your words in as many different color combinations as possible.  That could make a pretty collage!

We have two new clubs starting at the school tomorrow.  If your child has signed up for either drama or lego club, be sure to include a lunch in their backpack tomorrow.

This week we have begun looking at colors in science.  Take opportunities to point out colors that occur naturally in the world around us, and the beauty they can bring to this world.  Also point out color words in books you read so that they become very familiar to your budding reader.  We are also finishing up our unit in math that looks at how objects can be equal and unequal.

I have sent home December book orders.  They are due back quick this time – by next Thursday, November 27.  You are welcome to order anything if you choose, but I don’t know if they will arrive before Christmas.

Our busy, buzzy goal this week is to ‘bee’ patient.  We are learning to patiently wait our turn to speak and give our ideas, and patiently wait in line, or for help from a teacher, parent or friend.

Hope you have a great week!

Lest We Forget - Remembrance Day Newsletter

It is a short but important week because of the Remembrance Day services to be held Monday and Tuesday, with the 11^th being a statutory holiday.  If you live in or around the town of Magrath, there will be town services being held beginning at 9:30am on Tuesday at the Tom Karren Gym.  One exciting piece of news we have is that one of the students in our class, Kari, participated in the recent Magrath Lions Club speech competition, and as a result, earned the opportunity to speak at town Remembrance Day services.  So be sure to go out Tuesday morning and give her and two of our grade six students a show of support for their hard work and a job well done.  We are so proud of you Kari!

 Take the chance this week to honor our veterans by having conversations with your family about topics related to this special occasion – war, peace, freedom, democracy, etc.  You might be surprised how much even young children understand and respect these principles and are grateful for them.  If members of your family have been involved in any sort of military endeavors, share their stories and experiences. 

 What other things are happening this week?  Friday is library book return as well as Deli Sandwich week.  Forms are coming home with this newsletter, so send them back Wednesday for any week to week orders.  Book orders are also due this Friday.  Anything ordered this week should be here by the first week of December.

 We also have some exciting new lunch hour clubs beginning next Tuesday – an engineering exploration club (lego) and drama club.  Both will run over the Tuesday lunch hour and are open to any students.  Please return signed consent forms with your child.  If you did not receive one, there additional forms in the office. 

 Our busy, buzzy goal this week is to ‘bee’ respectful, in light of Remembrance Day.  Help encourage your child to show more ways to be respectful of all things and people.

 We had a contest on our class website for various pumpkins we had designed in math class.  The winner was pumpkin #1 belonging to these students: 

 Great job group!

 We are working on fun games in gym this week, as well as continuing to help students develop a ‘number sense’ of numbers 1-12.  We are taking a closer look in social studies at citizenship, and how we take part in a community.  We are also beginning a new unit in science about creating color, and our new language arts theme is magic!  If you know of anyone who can perform several simple magic tricks, please let Mrs. Thomson know.  I would love to get someone into the classroom before the end of the month who could dazzle the students, and maybe even share a short simple trick for them to try on their friends and family.

 Spelling words this week include can, all, are, and, his.  The spelling try-it for the week is: stamp letters using a variety of colors or papers.

 Because of the Remembrance Day show and tell we are hosting today (Monday) there will be no news minute this week.  We will return to our regular schedule next Monday.

 A big thank you to all who have donated classroom supplies and craft materials over the past weeks.  Our closet is now at full capacity for recyclable materials, so for the time being we do not need any more sent to our classroom.  We will let you know when another need arises.  However, if you are ever in the process of getting rid of something and are unsure whether we could use it in our room, just ask!

 Also a big thanks to Mrs. R for the presentation she gave our class last Friday – this classroom mom recently returned from Paris, France, and came to talk to the students about her trip.  Students learned all about the Mona Lisa, the Eiffel Tower, the Catacombs, the Euro dollar, and tasted some French bread and chocolate.  What a neat experience!  Thank you!

 Every day after lunch our students participate in DEAR – drop everything and read.  We have been slowly working up our time each week, and we are now reading as a class for 10 minutes!  This is an exciting accomplishment, and in celebration, your student will be bringing home a book today that has been donated by TD bank to all grade one students in Canada.  Thank you to them, and congratulations to all our budding readers for their hard work!

 Our grade one class has set a goal this month in math to learn to count by 3’s to thirty.  We are taking as many opportunities as possible to find patterns of three in our daily lives and to learn to count by this fun number.  Please review counting by 3’s once or twice an evening with your child in a fun way.  It just another chance to build emerging number sense, and gets our class one step closer to their goal!

 Have a great week and a meaningful Remembrance Day.

Critical Thinking

What is the purpose of education?  Is it to fill our minds with endless texts and facts?  No - but rather to develop the ability to think critically, to analyze and resolve, and to problem solve.  To be able to apply these skills to life and learning is the goal for which we aim.   

Our grade one's were recently asked to complete a graphing exercise about their responsibilities in their home.  A question came up - "Do you clean up the toys in your house?".  When faced with a yes/no T-graph, without being instructed to do so, several students used their critical thinking skills.  They explained to me after that while it is their responsibility to clean up toys in the home, it is not always their job, or it is often overlooked (and thus completed by mom, dad or older sibling).  The students invented a third column - the sometimes column.  Now that's problem solving!

Bake Sale Fundraiser

Mrs. Coppieters and Mrs. Davies classes are selling puffed wheat and Rice Krispie squares tomorrow (Nov. 6) to raise more money for bikes for Cambodian children.  We have raised enough for almost 9 bikes but we want to buy more!  Please support our cause tomorrow.  This project will change the lives of children who would otherwise not be able to continue to go to school.  Squares will be sold for 50 cents each.  Thank you for your support!!

I Hope Your Halloween Went Well...

Halloween is past us now and we are into November.  By the end of this month, we will have celebrated 3 Canadian holidays (Thanksgiving, Halloween and Remembrance Day), received one report card, enjoyed 60 days of school and be only 3 short weeks from Christmas!

Just a reminder that Wednesday is picture retake day, Friday library books will be returned, and the Friday lunch order will be Tacos (for $3.50 each).

Because the 11th of November is a Tuesday (no school that day) we will be holding a school Remembrance Day assembly on Monday which will begin at 10:15am in the Tom Karren Gym.  Please encourage your child to wear a poppy this week in honor of those who have fought and died for our country.  Teach them and talk to them about the consequences of war and the gratitude you feel for the freedoms we enjoy.

Our busy, buzzy goal this week is to 'bee' friendly.  Talk to your child ab

out ways they can develop and improve their friendship skills, including being better friends to those they play will already, being a better friend to the members of their family, and just as importantly, being a better friend to someone they don't know as well.

This week in science we are finishing our unit on five senses.  We will talk about taste and do a taste party on Friday that introduces and discusses the five food groups.  Please make sure that your student has a healthy snack in their Friday lunch that they can use as an example for an activity.  Note - they do not need to share their snack with anyone, they only need enough for themselves.  After Remembrance day we will be starting a new unit - part I of Creating Colors.  We will also be focusing on Remembrance day this week as our classroom theme, and doing several Language Arts activities related to it.  We are finished our basketball unit in gym and are working towards completing a games unit.

Last week a reading folder came home with your student containing three poems.  Please ensure that you read through those poems with your child, helping them sound out words they don't know.  Encourage them to track (move their fingers from word to word) so that they begin to see the words that go with certain sounds, and gain a true understanding of the direction and flow of text.  These folders will come home about once a month, and need to come back to school within a few days.  If you have not yet returned this duotang, please do so soon.

We are having a contest on our class website with pumpkins we designed in Math last week.  Just scroll down to see what we created, and vote on the side bar for your favorites (note you can vote for more than one at the same time).  We'll close the poll on Friday and see who's group got the most votes.  Also watch the website for upcoming Halloween pictures from the wonderful Halloween party our classroom helpers organized.  A big thank you to all those involved.