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