November Newsletter

Dear Parents

The students have been doing a great job reading their daily books and practici,ng their sight words from their yellow folders.

In language arts, students are beginning to use many of their sight words in their daily writing and are beginning to use capital letters at the start and a period at the end of a sentence. *Encourage your child to write about the pictures they draw at home. This month we are working on retelling a story. We are discussing the setting, the characters, the problem and the solution in books we read. We are also writing about the main idea of a text and learning how to give examples from the story.

In math for the next little while we will be learning the fact families of 3, 4 and 5. Students will be exploring all the ways to add these numbers and later on, subtract. For example the fact family of 3 is (0+3, 3+0, 1+2, 2+1). We will also be doing some problem solving using words like: altogether, total, sum, left, equal.

At home try:
-Turn everyday events into math stories for your child to act out and solve. For example: “There are 6 slices of bread left in the bag. If you take 2 slices out to make a sandwich, how many are left?”
We are also starting to count by 5s and 10s. Please practice this at home, starting at different numbers. (ex. 40, 50, 60, __, __ or 10, 15, 20, 25, __, __)

In Science the class is beginning our unit on Matter and Materials. Students will be investigating what objects are made of and will be exploring their uses, such as the best materials for repelling water, materials best for strength or flexibility. Students will also learn which materials are found in nature (wood, wool) and those made by humans (plastic).

Sight Word List #3

Sight Word List #4

is
a
black
purple
he
with
big
do

Can you put these words in a sentence?

October, 2010.

Dear Parents,

The first month of school is over, and the children are starting to settle into their routines and classroom rules. Please be sure that your child has indoor and outdoor shoes.


AGENDAS and Communication: We are finding that not all the agendas are coming back to school or not used, so we have decided that the best way to communicate to you is through the Home Reading bags. If there is something that we need to communicate to you about we will put the note in the Reading Bag. Also any school communication notes, pizza and milk forms will be put in there INSTEAD of an agenda. We hope that this will be an easier way to communicate with you.

Also, please review any work that goes home. At times, we will make comments on the top of the page.

Math: We are continuing our patterning unit and we are learning about numbers from 1 to 30. Students will read and print numbers and number words, count objects, compare quantities, and describe numbers (e.g., 13 is 1 ten and 3 more)
Try these activities:
- read counting books together
- let your child count the knives, forks and spoons you need to set the table for dinner
- build towers out of blocks and count to see how many are in each tower.

Later in the month we will focus on sorting, graphing and taking surveys. Students will show their sorted information on different types of graphs.
Try these activities:
- when you see a graph or chart in a magazine or newspaper, share it with your child to show how we use graphs to share different kinds of information.
- Sort items (by colour, size, likes and dislikes) such as: vegetables, coins, toys, socks, and create a graph to show what you found out.

Science: The students are finishing up their unit on the five senses (taste, touch, smell, hear, see).


Social Studies: Students are learning about rules in the classroom, at home, and at school. Why are they important? Why do we need them? Students are also asked to practice writing their last name. They should know their address, phone number, and birthday.


Language Arts: During our language, students are reading and writing everyday. They are encouraged to write words they don't know by listening to the letters they hear in a word. They are reminded to leave spaces between their words and to draw a picture, showing detail. We practice neat printing of lower and upper case letters. We do daily word work practicing rhyming, phonemic awareness, and our sight words.

During shared reading lessons or when I read a book to the class, students are encouraged to be active listeners. Good readers are always thinking. I encourage students to make a text-to-self connection. This is when a child makes a connection to a part of a book based on personal experiences.




If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to ask.

Sight Words - List 1

By now you have seen the children bringing home their yellow duotangs with sight words and poems. We have put a new sight word list and the accompanying poem to review and practice at home. Please take time to read these poems and practice these sight words by reading and writing them. Sight word lists will change every 2 weeks.

This weeks sight words:

the

red

like

orange

blue

green

yellow

black

purple

Phonemic awareness - We are working on the short /a/ sound - like in "apple"

Ideas for home:

1. Review sounds of letters at the BEGINNING, at the END, in the MIDDLE.

2. Practice sights words and poems. Make word cards and play games.

3. Read books, newspapers - Find words that you know

4. Practice rhyming words.

5. Find pictures and label.

8. Have child tell you a story in their own words using the pictures.

Daily Home Reading Program

Dear Parents,

The children are beginning to settle in are learning new Grade 1 routines and expectations. Next week will be starting our HOME READING program. In your child's home reading bag there will be 3 things:

1. A book that is approximately at your child's reading level.

2. Reading record.

3. Sight Word/Song/Poems Duo tang

What is HOME READING?

Helping your child to learn to read is very important. Students are asked to choose a book every day which is approximately at their reading level. They are to read at home (preferably they read to you) and you can help them along the way if they need help. Once your child has read to you, you should record the TITLE of the book read, DATE, and sign your INITIALS to show that time was taken to read at home. You may record this in the reading record every night. Your child must return their reading bag and book back to school everyday in order to receive another book.

Included in your child's reading bag will also be a SIGHT WORD/POEM duotang. Included in this duotang will be our sight words that we are studying for the week, and poems that we have practiced in the class, or songs we have learned. Please feel free to include this in your bedtime reading activities.

What is Sight Word Practice?

The most commonly used words in the English language follow few spelling or pronunciation rules and cause children great difficulty when they are beginning to read. If you help your child master these words and know them by "sight" then he/she will be able to focus on the more important content words. Reading will be more interesting and more enjoyable as a result.

Each student will bring home his/her sigh words and/or homework to practice at home every day. They will get a new sight word list every 2 weeks. At the end of the 2 weeks, they will be tested to assess their knowledge of those sight words. Have fun practicing the sight words and reading through the songs or poems with your child.

Please be on the look out for the Home Reading bags to come home in the next week.

Thank you so much for your support and cooperation. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

Grade One News

Dear Parents,

Welcome to a new school year at BPS. We hope you had a relaxing and enjoyable summer, and we are looking forward to an exciting school year with your children. During the first 2 weeks of school the children will be doing a variety of activities that will allow us to get to know them, to establish routines, and to assess your child's abilities and needs.

Throughout the year we will be sending home an AGENDA when we have information regarding milk/pizza orders, field trips, and any school related information to share with you. We would like to use this forum to communicate any news related to Grade 1 and the classroom. Using this BLOG we will send you homework ideas, our monthly newsletters, etc. Communication between home and school is very important, so please feel free to contact us via email, phone, or come in and see us after school is you have any questions.Please note that the AGENDA will NOT be going home everyday with your child. It will come home to you when there is something important to share at home. Otherwise please check the BLOG frequently about class news.

CLOTHING/SHOES

Children should be dressed appropriately for the weather, as they are expected to go outside for recess. The children will need indoor running shoes to wear in the classroom and gym, and outdoor shoes/boots (depending on the weather) to wear for recess breaks and for walking to and from school. PLEASE DO NOT BUY LACE UP RUNNERS AS MOST HAVE DIFFICULTY KEEPING THEM TIED. VELCRO running shoes are best. Teachers do not have time to tie laces and we want children focusing on their lessons, not on tying their shoes.

MONEY

A $15 annual levy is due in September to support the purchase of school agendas and consumable materials for the arts and science/social studies programs. (Please see PINK newsletter regarding fees that went home).

You will sometimes need to send money to school (school levy, field trips, hot lunch). It is very easy for money to go missing, so please ensure that the money or cheque is in an envelope or plastic baggie and that it is clearly LABELED with your child's name. You must send the EXACT amount of money as we do not keep change at school. Put the money in your child's agenda pocket, so that it will not get lost. Please do not hand money to us on the playground, as it can easily be misplaced.

SCHEDULE/NUTRITION

As you are aware, the school timetable allows for 2 nutrition breaks during the day. Please talk to your child about separating his/her food for the 2 breaks. If your child eats all his lunch at the first break, he will not have anything for the second break in the afternoon. The teacher on duty will during the nutrition break will not have time to help each child choose appropriate food for each meal, as they have 2 classes to supervise. We are encouraging the students to only bring nutritious food to school. Also we are practicing a NUT FREE classroom as there are students who have SEVERE food allergies in our classes. Please read package labels carefully if you are unsure. Many granola bars do contain nuts.

We look forward to meeting each of you. It 's going to be a wonderful year!

Welcome to Grade One!

We would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to our Grade 1 blog, where we will communicate frequently with you about things going on in the classroom and the school. We hope through this method we could save some paper and allow you to communicate back to us via this source. If there is anything you would like to add or see in this blog, please don’t hesitate to contact us. This is our first year doing this so please bear with us.

Sincerely,

The Grade 1 Teachers

Please also visit our school website: www.bayshoreps.ocdsb.ca