December Newsletter from Room 111

Clairlea’s Holiday Concert  will be held next Thursday, December the 15th at SATEC at 6:30 p.m. The invitation to the concert, containing driving directions to SATEC, was sent to you two weeks ago. Feel free to navigate to Clairlea’s blog for more information. Our class won’t be performing at the concert this time. We are planning to participate in Spring Concert after we master our Orff Music skills and prepare a performance involving singing, playing instruments, maybe, even dancing.  Please feel free to come and support  other Clairlea’s students on Thursday’s night.

December 22 – Classroom Holiday Party

We would like to celebrate the 4 month stay- together in our Grade 1. We all have become good friends, we have experienced our ‘ups and downs’ and we are real Grade 1 students now. We would like to congratulate each other on this occasion and wish so well deserved happy vacations.

The last day of school will be December 23rd.

Curriculum Focus

In November, we started our Shared Reading program. You might have already heard about big books that we read and ELMO that help us read smaller books all together in class every day. Students learn how to make predictions and connections about a book contents. Decoding and comprehending skills are also promoted through this program.

In Writing, we will continue mastering our sentence writing skills in “Je compose une belle phrase” booklets. Journal writing will focus on recounting events from a daily life.

Children enjoy participating in Share – a – Book program that embraces all language aspects: reading, writing and speaking. It will be running through December and the rest of Term 1. Thank you for your support of this program at home.

In Math, we will be investigating location aspects of Geometry. Number Sense and Numeration activities (counting, addition) will accompany all our Math work in December.

In Social Studies, we will continue working on My Community Unit.

In Health, we will be learning how to identify medicines and household products that are harmful to the body.

In case you have any questions about our end-of-the-year activities or learning program, feel free to contact me at school at 416 396 6165.

Sincerely,

Mme Volokhova (Room 111 Teacher)

Partage de livre starts Monday, November 21st

Starting next week, our ‘Montre et Raconte’ program will be followed with ‘Je partage mon livre’ (I share a book).

It means that your child will have to fill out a special report form on a book that s/he will be getting every week to read at home. Once a week (the day will be stated in agendas), your child will present the book to the class. Her/his presentation should be based on the filled-out report form.

The points on the report form are:

Here is the book that I want to share with my friends.

The title of my book is ……..

The author of my book is ………. .

The book is about………. . (briefly)

When I was reading the book, it made me think about ………. .

I liked the book because …/ I didn’t like the book because… (one of these)

The new words for me are …..

The sentence that I like the most is ……

There is also a spot where you child should illustrate his/her favorite page of the book.

After the presentation, your child will be asked some questions by other students from the class.

Questions might be:

How many pages are there in the book?

How long did it take you to read the book?

Why did you choose the book?

The day of your child’s presentation is stated in his/her agenda.

The new program will help to enhance the students’ interest in reading and writing and promote their literacy achievement. It will positively contribute to your and your child’s relationship when you snuggle up and read together.

Please do not forget to ask your little one about the presentation.

Good luck!

November Events

Thank you all for attending Teacher-Parent Interviews. I appreciated our sincere discussion about your child’s progress and hope that the dialog that we had will help us lead the children to the success that we all plan for them.
Also, I would like to thank all of you for supporting the programs that run in class.The Art Garage was a great success for grades 1. Children enjoyed and had fun working on the projects. The presenters were surprised how great students were in following all the instructions and managing to finish their projects on time. What a super way to wrap up a Science Unit!

Our Remembrance Day Assembly was a memorable event. A great way to commemorate those who fought for our freedom and happiness. Students were deeply engaged in watching slide shows and performances. I hope that the Assembly and class discussions contributed to their apprehending of the significance of this calendar date. We even listened to bag pipers playing! What a special day!

Data Management in Class

In this module, students are learning to:
- construct pictographs and concrete diagrams
- compare and/or classify objects in diagrams
- formulate questions, collect data and add it to a diagram
- read diagrams and formulate questions regarding their content

This is what we have done so far in class. Please feel free to discuss this with your little ones.

Procedural Writing in Room 111

During the month of November, we are learning the concept of : Procedure.

The purpose of a procedure is to list the actions and/or steps to follow in order to complete a specific task. The students are being exposed to different procedures - writing procedure, mathematical procedure, scientific procedure.

They are learning about instructions and are aware that an instructional sentence begins by an action word (a verb). This can be further explored at home playing games like "Simon says".

The students will soon begin writing their own instructions. Also, a project is coming up shortly - stay tuned!

Récit dans la classe

Apart from the Phonics, our Language program includes writing, reading, and speaking as you all know. At this stage, all the three aspects are inter-weaved and compliment each other. To be able to read and write, a child, at this age and stage of learning another language, needs a solid base of speaking skills that include knowledge of language structures and vocabulary. This is what we are busy with in our classroom right now.
In Writing, the students have been practising to recount some meaningful events from their lives. Our Science unit on Seasonal Changes also contributes to this language activity. They have been doing this orally, following the Curious Clown's questions and illustrating their stories. Last week, we started generating word lists that, eventually, are supposed to lead us to actual writing. In the picture. you can see one of them. Feel free to ask your child what it is about.

 How might the students know how they are doing? In class, we have a special display board that helps answer that question. First, they need to answer all Clown's questions. Second, there is supposed to be a picture with labels. Finally, when they write a sentence, they need to remember to make space between words, start each sentence with a capital letter, etc. The yellow poster helps verify if their job is well done.

La promenade d'automne

Lundi, le 31 octobre, we went for a seasonal walk. Our goal was to get some fresh fall air after a hard work in class and observe the changes that happen in the nature in the fall.
We saw leaves/les feuilles of different colours tomber jusqu'au sol. On a ramassé les feuilles rouges, vertes, brunes et jaunes. Also, we felt that it was chilly that is why we all were wearing les chandails et les manteaux. À la fin, we acted out our jolie comptine des feuilles:
Les feuilles jaunes tombent, tombent, tombent.
Les feuilles jaunes tombent jusqu'au sol.
Les feuilles rouges bougent, bougent, bougent.
Les feuilles rouges bougent dans le vent.
Les feuilles brunes volent, volent, volent.
Les feuilles brunes volent jusqu'au ciel.
We decided that on aime l'automne!

Math Homework

The Homework question was: How are the numbers 10 and 15 alike? How are they different?
This is what the students came up with today:
How are they alike?/Comment sont les nombres les même?
- Both are 2-digit numbers/ Tous les deux ont deux chiffres.
- Both have one tens/Chaque nombre a une dizaine.
- One can count by 5 up to ten and fifteen/ On peut compter par 5 jusqu'à 10 et 15.
How are they different?/Comment sont les nombres
différents?
- The numbers have different ones./Les unités sont différentes.
- One can count by 2 up to 10, but not up to 15./On peut compter par 2 jusqu'à 10, pas jusqu'à 15.
- One can count by 3 up to 15, but not up to 10./On peut compter par 3 jusqu'à 15, pas jusqu'à 10.
- 15 is greater than 10./15 est plus que 10.
Wow! We have real mathematicians in class!

On apprend en jouant!

Our class likes to play math games. They are a great warm-up before our math activities. I put some of them on the Math page of this blog. Pleas feel free to have a look and ... play. It will also be a good practice of French for your child.
Here's an example of a math game that we play in class this week;
QUI SUIS - JE?
Je suis un nombre.
J'ai des dizaines(D) et des unités(U).
D < U D > U
Qui suis - je?
When your child gives you an answer, ask him/her to give you his/her reasoning. Have fun!

NOVEMBER NEWS LETTER IS OUT!

Please check  November newsletter from  Room 111 at the Newsletters Page on the right side bar of this blog.

HALLOWEEN HOWL

It is happenning tomorrow from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Numerous games, creative activities for kids, dinner, draw and what not will be provided by Clairlea's School Council. Feel free to join even if you didn't buy your passes beforehand. You'll be able to get them at the entrance. Have fun!

Parade des costumes

On Monday, October 31, Clairlea is stepping out into our community. Classes will be walking through the neighbourhood in the morning. Students are encouraged to dress up in costumes as it is supposed to a Masquerade Parade. In case parents wouldn't like their children to wear costumes, the latter can come for the Parade anyway as Staff and students will be collecting food donations for the Food Bank during the walk.
This is Violette la sorciere gentille that students and I created for the Clairlea contest of Jack-o-lanterns. Wish us luck!

Orff Program in Room 111

This year, we are lucky to welcome Orff teacher Mme Schmid into our classroom. Every Friday's afternoon, she comes to teach students music. During her lessons, children do not just sing songs in French. They explore rhythm, musical patterns, terms. They also dance and have a chance to play instruments as well. So far, they have learned how to play drums, triangles, cabooses, sticks, maracas, etc. All students are actively engaged making music and building their musical knowledge through creative Orff activities.
Our last song that we sang, played and danced today is Bouillon des sorcieres.

Please feel free to ask your child what they learn in music on Friday (e.g., what is piano and what is  forte?).

OCTOBER 24 IS PURPLE DAY!

ON PORTE VIOLET!!!

Dans la classe, on chante..

Classroom Books Go Home

Starting Monday, October the 17th, your child will be bringing home a book a day  from the classroom library. S/he needs to read those books every night. The books are leveled which will allow me and you alike to control the reading skills progress of your child.There will be a chart attached, that your child needs to fill out on a nightly basis. It includes the book's title, new words, whether s/he likes the book.
In class, we learn and discuss strategies and techniques that help to decode words as well as comprehend the read. I am putting them up on the right side panel of this blog. If your child has a difficulty to decipher a word, please refer him/her to those "reminders". Also, kindly  remind your child to treat classroom books nicely putting them into the plastic bags provided by me. They will be serving other First Graders in the years to come.
Apart from daily check of the homework reading part, I'll be controlling your child's reading on a weekly basis.
I will greatly appreciate your support in this matter.

HELP HAS ARRIVED!

Is your child in French Immersion Grade One?  And you don't speak French...
The Immersion Help Program has been created to provide assistance to someone like you.
It is a comprehensive online resource for students to use at home. The program is designed specifically to help anglophone parents with Early French Immersion children in Kindergarten and Grade One. It offers French audio and text but the English translation and instruction allow the parents to navigate the site and follow along. There you will also find songs and games and a 6,000-word dictionary with an audio to check pronunciation.
There is a membership to be paid but it is worth it. Have a try at www.immersionhelp.ca

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL MY STUDENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES!

                                             JOYEUX JOUR DE L'ACTION DE GRÂCE!

Recycling Team in Action

 As you know from Clairlea Newsletters, our school follows Echo Schools Program. Thanks to the tireless efforts, inspiration, and fierce commitment of Mrs Hawkins who came up with this initiative some years ago, we have become a Golden Eco School. Our next goal is Platinum Level.
In order to achieve this, Staff and Students participate in recycling program. This year, classes take turns to run it. This month, it is our and Grade 6's turn to collect recycling bins and empty them into the container outside the school. It is very exciting and  not at all hard because we are doing this with our Caretaker and "big kids" (Grade 6 students:)).
Our first shift was all success. Students did a great work! Tomorrow we will be back to our recycling duties!
Please, ask your little ones how it is going.

Numeric Patterns

Our final focus in exploring patterns will be on how number patterns grow. Answering questions "What comes next?" and "What is the rule?" helps students develop predictions skills. In later grades, students will be able to use what they know about patterns to help them solve more complex problems.

Try these activities with your child:

- As you take walks in your neighborhood, read house numbers together. Talk about why the numbers often increase by 2 and look for the odd and even number patterns. Ask your child why he or she thinks house and apartment numbers are organized that way.

- Make a collection of small items such as buttons, pennies, building blocks, or dried pasta. Use the items to make different patterns. Make patterns that repeat and patterns that grow(e.g., 1 piece, 3 pieces, 5 pieces). Take turns making patterns and guessing each other's patterning rules.

The problem of the week:

One owl has 2 eyes. How many eyes will 10 owls have? Solve the problem in two different ways.

Look at what we did on the Smart Board in class. Ask your child how we solved the problem. 

Other problems/open questions that we explore in class

There are numbers 10 and 12. Make three different patterns that will have the numbers. Identify the core and give a name to each pattern.

There is 5 on the 2nd place in the pattern. What is the pattern? (It is an open question. If your child comes up with several solutions, it's great!)

The rule for a pattern is 1223. Make three patterns.

The rule for a pattern is ABC. What might be the pattern?

The rule for a pattern is ABB. What will be in the 6th place in the pattern? In the 10th?

MONTRE et RACONTE

Please remind your child when it is her/his day for Show and Tell. Participating in this program will contribute to the mark for the oral component in the Report Card.
Every Friday students write down their day for Montre et raconte in their agendas. Please consult the agendas and sign on daily or at least weekly basis.
Thank you for your co-operation.

LE PROGRAMME DE LECTURE

We have started our Reading program with the students. Since the first day of school, we have been reading morning messages in class, which help us learn to decode and comprehend what we read. Students like this type of activity as we read the messages in a big group. The “big group” technique affords everyone to participate and take risks in articulating what is written in French. We also discuss the messages, look for certain information that we need for a day. This contributes to comprehending the read.  Starting from today, students will take turns to find syllables that they know and words that they understand in the message.

The homework exercises teach that letters actually make sounds which, in their turn, create syllables. Syllables create words. Your child needs to practise reading homework on a daily basis. It will help master his/her decoding skills and enlarge vocabulary.

Besides, I read aloud books to children on a daily basis as well. We learn to ask questions about what we have read. For example, after we read Une semaine avec Galette, students gave their opinions about why it is important to know the days of the week. By the way, they adore books from Galette series. Ask your child about them.

With the help of Elmo (the newest version of OHP:)), we started sessions of shared reading. It is when children help me read a book aloud by reading the words that they know how to read.

When the students get used to the reading routines that we are establishing these days, they will be bringing home leveled books for practicing at home. Stay tuned.

PROGRAMME D’ÉCRITURE

In Writing in Grade1, we start learning how to write short sentences. We started with two words sentences. These days, we write 3 -4 words in a sentence. Students know that a sentence starts with a capital letter and finishes with a punctuation mark: a period, question mark, or exclamation mark.

Also, I introduced dictionaries to my students. Each of them has a dictionary in their desks. I demonstrated how to find a word in the dictionary and copy it into a sentence. They are learning how to use this very important writing tool.

Please feel free to reinforce these writing routines at home.