May 1, 2013
Grade One


HAPPY SPRING!!! The snow is almost gone, the students are glad to shed their winter gear and with 39 school days left you will all be enjoying summer holidays. YES, I did say 39 days left. It's hard to believe our time together has flown by so fast.

Mrs. Shyian has completed her internship and will hopefully have her own classroom soon. We certainly wish her luck in her future endeavours. We all enjoyed her daily lessons, her knowledge and her funny stories. We thank her for all she has taught us in these past four months.

We have welcomed another addition to our classroom. I'm sure your child has mentioned it already. Our new young gal is a sweetheart. She is kind, helpful, very friendly and has plenty of friends already.

Math
We have started our new math unit on geometry today. We will also continue adding and subtracting to 20. We will work on mental math and problem solving skills. Math is so much fun! This is my first group of students that ask if we can do more math! Yaaaay! We certainly need to keep them interested and enjoying math at this young age.

Science
Our last science unit will be taught over the last two months. Our unit is Characteristics of living and non-living Things. We started it today and the students already seemed interested. Grade one science is so exciting!


Social Studies
Our last social studies unit is on mapping. This unit will span over May and June. It's a big unit and requires some homework. Thank you in advance for helping your child map out their bedroom and for part two they will be mapping their home. More info will follow through the agenda.

Religion
We continue to journey through the Easter season. On May 16, 10:00 am at Resurrection Church our grade one's along with our buddies will take part in the mass. You're welcome to attend if you have time.

Health
Our unit for May is a Safety unit. In this unit we will cover many safety issues such as computer safety, fire safety, when to use 911, home alone safety, dog/animal safety and how to answer a phone as well as other safety concerns. It's a very useful and important unit for the students to know.

Language Arts
We have completed our home reading program. We have read levels A, B, C, and D. Unfortunately we only have those levels in our buckets. The students were finding the books way too easy and were asking for harder books. If you want your child to read their level books please feel free to talk to Mrs. Scott and she can see that your child takes the appropriate level books home. You may also go to the RPL  and take out levelled books as well. We have a reading time set aside after lunch for A. R.. Your child reads levelled books silently and then has the opportunity to write an A. R.. test. We also continue to work on daily guided reading and do many activities throughout the day that involve reading skills.

Today we have started bell work. When the students enter the classroom from outside recesses they have an activity book they are required to work in so that we are not losing quality instructional time. They focus on their job and this also is less cause for behavioural issues that sometimes arise. I am always in the classroom to greet the students unless I'm on outdoor supervision. So far this year I haven't had any issues to deal with in our room.

We will continue to work through literacy stations. The students have been working on creating simple sentences at many stations. Our May focus is writing stations and high frequency word recognition. We will do this in a variety of fun and exciting ways.

We will continue to work on daily phonics, writing skills, daily journal, long and short vowels, and daily reading. It's a lot of fun and the students seem to enjoy the many ways we keep it interesting.


Tidbit
Grade one is my passion and I enjoy everyday that I teach it. I get so excited when they read their first word, when they read their first sentence and then an entire book. I love the sparkle in their eyes and I love watching their eagerness to want to learn everything that I have to offer. Thank you for entrusting me with the gift that God has blessed you with. My favourite quote is:

"I call my students, "my kids" because in our year together, they aren't just kids on my class list. They become a part of my heart!"

Happy Mother's Day. God bless and enjoy your day. You deserve the best for all you do for your kids and your family. For without you they wouldn't know happiness.

Mrs. Luce

March 2013

Dear Parents/Guardians,

 

It looks like another snow storm has come upon us. The great news is there are only 17 more days until the first day of Spring.

 

We have been working so hard in all areas of study this past month. We had our long/short vowel assessment, vowel digraphs assessment, blends assessment, writing assessment and our unit 7 math assessment. I know the grade one's work hard and learn a lot everyday but when I went through all their work this weekend I realize now why they are so tired. They have learned so much and have come so far. What an amazing job they've been doing. I am so excited to start testing for their sight word recognition as well as their reading levels.

 

LANGUAGE ARTS

This month we will continue with our new phonics lessons from February which is recognition of hard and soft c, hard and soft g, consonant digraphs ch, sh, th, and wh in the beginning, medial and final word positions. We will continue with guided reading, literacy stations, weekly journal, daily spelling, and word families. We will be working on choral reading, vocabulary development, word configuration, following directions, identifying sentences, nouns that name people, telling and asking sentences, verbs, and a continuation of printing practice. We will be starting author's chair. Your child may read a book of their choice and then they will read it to the class. Your child will be assessed using a rubric. I will be sending the rubric home next week. So in the meantime pick an exciting book to read to the class.

 

Math

 

Our unit for March and April is Numbers to 100 . Mrs. Shyian is teaching math full time for an hour a day and will continue to do so until the end of April. She enjoys the students and they respond to her very well. Our unit will consist of reciting forward by 1s the number sequence between two whole numbers (0 to 100). Reciting backward by 1s the number sequence between two whole numbers. Record a numeral (0 to 100) symbolically when it is presented orally. Read a numeral (0 to 100) when it is presented symbolically. Skip count by 2s to 20 starting at 0. Skip count by 5s to 100 starting at 0. Skip count forward by 10s to 100 starting at 0. It's a very heavy unit and take a full two months to complete. We will be sending skip counting sheets home with your child and we would appreciate if you took a few minutes in the evening to practice. Thank you in advance.

 

Social Studies

 

We are learning about heritage and family traditions. We will discuss how people are unique and how they are different and the same. Families celebrate special occasions and practice traditions. People have basic needs and these are different than wants. Students will learn about change and diversity comparing other countries to our country. Students will explore how family rules and responsibilities ensure families live and work together safely and effectively.

 

Today we are reading a story called "Keeping Quilt" For the first part of our heritage unit we are sending home an 8x8 square coloured paper today. We are making a class quilt made up of family heritage memories that  represent your family.

 

Your country flag, heritage flag, family photographs, simple graphs, diagrams, illustrations or anything else that will tell your family story. You may decorate your square however you want. Please return it by Thursday March 7 as I would like to assemble the quilt on the weekend. Thank you so much.

 Health

Our health unit this month will be Healthy Relationships. In this unit we will be covering the use of common and respectful language to talk about and use common and respectful language to talk about feelings (e.g., happy, angry, scared), actions (e.g., smiling, crying, crossing arms), and relationships (e.g., friendships, cooperation, communication). Illustrate what particular feelings sound like, feel like, and look like. Recognize that individuals make choices about how to express feelings (e.g., anger - raise voice level and/or take time out, happiness - smile and/or hug). Recognize that people have numerous kinds of relationships (e.g., family, friends, trusted adults, neighbours, teammates). Illustrate what being a good friend looks like, sounds like, and feels like (e.g., sharing, caring, cooperating, listening, supporting). Identify healthy ways to respond to someone who is not yet a friend. Identify and discuss helpful/hurtful words and behaviours in relationships (e.g., not/saying thank you, not/taking turns).

Represent a basic understanding of own “needs” and those of others (e.g., right to privacy). Recognize and role play healthy ways to express feelings (e.g., using “I” messages, naming the feeling, illustrations, dance, movement). Investigate the relationship skills that make the classroom a healthy place for learning (e.g., cooperation, participation, paying attention, sharing). It is a very big unit and we will be carrying over into April. Mrs. Shyian will be teaching this unit full time. She will do a great job.

 

Science

Our science unit will be Physical Science ---- The Senses. The students will learn about the five senses. They will investigate characteristics of the five traditional senses in humans and animals. It sounds like Mrs. Shyian has a wonderful well planned unit to teach the grade ones.

 

Religion

The grade one's along with our big buddies in grade 6 have signed up for lent liturgies each Monday in March. We will say a short prayer, sing a song or do a skit. The short liturgy will be at the Monday morning assembly. Our religion consists of daily lessons of the gospel as well as Lent filled content. Mrs. Shyian is teaching religion full time.

 

Dates to remember:

 March 8 no school

March 15 no school

March 20 Report cards go home

March 29 no school Good Friday

March 7, 18, 25 Day 5 Book exchange

March 28 12:45-2:15 Parents are invited to come in for tea danties and Ukrainian Easter egg decorating with your child. Note will be coming home. Please keep this date open.

March 19 baking Ukrainian Easter bread 

 

 

Mrs. Luce

Mrs. Shyian

Aboriginal Story Teller

February 6, 2013

We welcomed a special guest to our school this morning. Carol Daniels is a storyteller, painter, and singer from Regina. She sang songs, played the drums, and of course told stories that she told her own children when they were young. The students were engaged and had a wonderful time. Thank you to Mrs. Scott and Joanna Landry for inviting Carol to St. Gabriel. Listed are pictures from this mornings presentation.

February Blog

FEBRUARY BLOG     

Dear Parents/Guardians,

It's February already! We are half way through the school year! It's amazing how time is flying and how your little gal/guy is growing and learning.

I sure hope you are keeping warm in these frigid temperatures. We have had a lot of indoor recesses the past few weeks. Your child may pack a toy in his/her backpack and if it's indoor recess they may play with it then. Please no electronics! I do not want expensive items being broken. If your child brings a toy/game and it is broken it is not our responsibility. So keep in mind what you allow to come to school. Thank you for packing extra socks. We will try to remember to send the wet socks home, it gets awfully busy with 24 little ones.

Our grade one class has welcomed a new student on Wednesday. It's amazing how they opened their hearts to her right away. They made her feel at ease and a part of our group immediately. The grade one's played with her, showed her around the school and playground, they offered their help when needed. I feel so truly blessed to have such a wonderful group of disciples. What a great group God created for me!

LANGUAGE ARTS

In language arts in February we will continue with our author study Jan Brett. The books we will study as well as learn many new concepts with are The Mitten, The Hat and Snow Bears.

We have almost completed our lessons on consonant blends and long/short vowels. We will continue to work on word families, daily guided reading, working through literacy stations which consists of sentence building, vocabulary, writing activities, sight word recognition, word building, and various word families, we use the computers for Destination Reading as well we use the iPads for various word games, alphabet
learning, math games,  writing stories and so many fun interactive literacy games.

Our new phonics lessons for February will be recognition of hard and soft c, hard and soft g, consonant digraphs ch, sh, th, and wh in the beginning, medial and final word positions. We are starting our last unit in Jolly Phonics.

We will continue with our spelling lists weekly. Our spelling consists of one spelling activity a day and on Friday we have our spelling test. When the students bring their list words in their agenda please practice them out of order. I dictate the words out of order. The students have done wonderfully with their first three spelling tests. The test I send home you may keep as I have my own copy. Thank you for working so hard with your child. Your help is very much appreciated.

I have been assessing the students with their sight words and there has been significant improvement. I can hardly wait to benchmark their reading levels in a few weeks. I'm very excited with the overall improvement of language skills, reading, sight word recognition and math skills.

MATH

We have completed our addition and subtraction from 0-12 unit. Our unit and end assessment went well. The continuing unit will be addition and subtraction from 0-20. Here is a small list of fun math games you might be interested in:

http://www.coolmath-games.com/1-number-games-01.html

http://www.primarygames.com/math/dressupaddition/

http://www.free-training-tutorial.com/addition-games.html

In this unit we will continue to work on problem solving, mental math strategies, and number sentences.

Mrs. Shyian has taken over the math unit for this month with my guidance. We have planned plenty of math stations, math booklets and a lot of direct teaching to the students.

HEALTH

Our February and March unit will be Healthy Behaviours. The students will have the opportunity to learn about healthy food choices vs bad food choices. We will learn about taking care of our bodies and the importance of brushing our teeth, flossing and even bathing and washing hands. We will also be learning about the heart and lungs and examine behaviours that keep organs healthy.

On February 14 (Valentine's Day) we will be dissecting a cows heart. The students will wear rubber gloves and they will not be handling any knives. If you think your child won't want to take part we can simply send them to the office to read while we do this activity. Valentine's Day will be a heart smart day. We have plenty of healthy heart activities for that day. I am looking for 5 parents to send healthy food for the class that day. Thank you for those who have offered cookies and cake already but we will go heart healthy on this day. We will be going for a walk so please bundle your child up. I am also looking for as many grocery store flyers as possible. So if you have any please send them to school. Thank you.

RELIGION

Mrs. Shyian is doing a fabulous job teaching religion. She teaches the gospel reading for the week with a follow up activity each day. She teaches using various activities to involve the students with hands on learning. The students clap when we tell them it's religion. Our grade ones along with our grade 6 buddies are in charge of the entire Lenten season. We will be working with the church to plan short 10 minute prayers each of the 5 Mondays of lent. I will send further notice as we get closer to those dates in case you want to attend. They will take place in the gym. It looks like we will be extra busy for the next couple of months. I love it !!! 

SCIENCE

I am currently completing our Objects and Materials unit. It was such a huge unit and as I taught it I found so many new ideas so of course the unit has gone longer than expected. I expect to be done by end of February.

SOCIAL STUDIES

Our February unit is called My World. In this unit we will be discovering who we are, how are we the same/ different, family celebrations, needs and wants, and how does my neighbor grow and change? This unit explores a variety of ways and lends itself to many other subjects across the curriculums. We look forward to learning about ourselves and where we came from.

CONCERNS!

Thank you for bundling your bundle of joy up for school. I make sure every recess they are bundle up so they don't catch sick or cold. I tell my students if mommy dressed you up in ski pants and all the other gear then that's how you're getting dressed for me. I have had students hide their ski pants in other students lockers, once in their desk and yes of course they say " My mommy didn't send ski pants". So away they go outside and when they come back in they are freezing. Their poor little fingers are frozen, their poor little ears and many many times their poor little legs. I have learned quickly to say to them that I will check their backpacks. I certainly don't want to nag the students, but I am concerned for them. Could you please have a chat with your child about dressing appropriately. I believe you're all wonderful parents that want their child to stay toasty warm.  Thank you in advance!

Lunch Room

We are having some difficulty with liquid/drink spillage. If possible could you send your childs’ lunch beverage in an enclosed container. The problem is stemming from beverages with lids and twist off caps. They remain open and get knocked over and spillage happens. A juice box or water bottle container might work better. Thank you!

100 Day Celebration

                                                              Our 100^th day of school is fast

approaching.  Our 100^th day will

   take place on February 15^th.  We will

   mark this milestone by participating in a

    variety of 100-themed activities throughout the day.  We will be counting to 100 in a variety of

ways (2’s, 5’s, and 10’s) and through a variety of activities.  We are asking for students in the primary classes to create and send in a collection or creation of 100 items.

In past years, students have created a Lego tower of 100 pieces, glued 100 pieces of candy/food onto a board that spells 100, 100 blinking lights on a stand, 100 pictures of anything, 100 playdough creatures, 100 fake flowers on a wreath,  100 used/old puzzle pieces in the shape of 100, 100 stickers, etc.  We’d like you to be as creative as you can.  The kids always like coming up with cool ideas that are unique. We would like them at school on Wednesday, February 13^th so we can set up the 100^th Day display prior to the big day! 

We would also like to make a snack in the classroom that afternoon based around the idea of 100.  I am asking each student to bring 100 edible items to add to our 100^th day munchie mix!  For example, you may choose to have your child count out 100 fruit loops or 100 smarties or 100 pretzels.  Please remember to keep the snacks nut free!

Thank you for your participation,

Mrs. K. Rieger

Mrs. Bernard

Mrs. Luce

Mrs. Durreault

HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

 

January 2, 2013

 

Hello Grade One Parents,

 

Happy New Year! I trust you've all had a wonderful Christmas holiday with loved ones. I'm sure you're all ready to get back to business.

 

A huge thank you to everyone that was able to come out and join us for the play and refreshments. The students practiced hard and did a superb job. I am very proud of them. If you have any photos you are willing to share please do so. Mrs. Bresciani's videotaping did not turn out. You may email your pictures to me at m.luce@rcsd.ca..

 

December came quickly and was over before we knew it. We worked hard but were unable to complete our health/social studies and science units. We will complete those this month and quickly move on.

 

MATH

Our new math unit will be addition and subtraction to 12 with a continuation in February of addition and subtraction to 20.

 

RELIGION

We will continue on with the Advent season in religion as it is not yet over. Michael Perras from the church will be in to visit with us on January 8, he will be reading the class a story.

 

LANGUAGE ARTS

 

Our language arts theme this month is Winter. We will be doing three book studies. They are The Hat and The Mitten by Jan Brett, and Mama, Do You Love Me?

 

We will continue on with literacy Stations, guided reading, journal writing, jolly phonics, and starting January 14 the grade ones will be starting a spelling program. The students will be bringing home a spelling list home weekly to practice. They will have a spelling test at the end of every week.

 

On December 21, I sent home an extensive package of per-primer, primer, and grade one sight word flash cards for your child to practice. I have started my assessment on Friday and will continue to assess for the next two weeks. Please take five minutes everyday to help your child study.

 

I am sure your child has come home excitedly talking about Mrs. Shyian. Mrs. Shyian is our intern from the university of Regina. She will be completing the last of her four year program with us in grade one. She will begin teaching math on January 14 and slowly taking over all subject areas. We will be collaborating at all times to ensure all academics are being taught and students are getting a quality education. If you have any questions or who like to pop in to meet Mrs. Shyian you're more than welcome.

 

On January 9, 10, and 11th Mrs. Shyian and I will be away at an internship seminar. We will return Monday January 14. If you have any concerns please email me at

m.luce@rcsd.ca. I check my email often now that I have it sent t my iPhone. I will however drop by the school in the evenings to check on things if you want to write a note that is fine as well.

 

 

SUPPLIES

 

We are running short of glue sticks, wax crayons and markers. Wax crayons have either gone missing or are broken into many pieces and markers are drying out and also gone missing. Thank you for your cooperation in sending the extra supplies.

 

 

 

Mrs. Luce