Grade One Gazette : Sept 27th

Hello Grade 1 Families!

Monday, September 30th is Orange Shirt Day
Stonecrest supports Orange Shirt Day.

On Monday, we will be honouring ALL Indigenous children who survived in Residential Schools and we will be remembering those who did not.

Preserving rights, culture and language are important for ALL children.

Please wear something orange on Monday, September 30th.
Please see video below for more information:

Blue Language Duotang-
I hope that you are finding a few moments each day to review the French vowel and simple sounds with your child. I can tell that those vowels are really starting to 'stick'. Next week, you will notice the addition of a card of high frequency words. There are 9 different high frequency word cards in all that should be learned over the course of the year. High frequency words are words that will come up often in a French text. Memorizing these words will make the task of reading a text, faster and easier for the children to manage. I will try to check in on the children individually every week, and if a card has been mastered (no errors), I will send home the next card. Most children find the cards a fun challenge!
Please remember to send in the duotang every day, so that work can be added and cards are available for the children to practice at school as well.

Daily practice will be very important for building the foundation for reading. I will soon begin to assess children on basic letter names/sounds as well as simple syllable reading and writing. You can expect an assessment package to come home later in October.

Birthdays:
The Primary teachers respectfully request that no food (cupcakes, cookies, treats etc.) be sent in to school as a way of celebrating your child's birthday. With a growing number of allergies, as well as food sensitivities and dietary restrictions, it has become difficult to manage birthday treats at school. Birthdays are an important event in the life of a child and we will continue to sing "Happy Birthday" and celebrate your child throughout the day. You are also more than welcome to send in a non food item, such as special pencils, stickers or erasers to mark the day.

Now it's time to sneak a peek at what we have been

up to in grade 1 !

During our literacy centers students work with a small group to practice a variety of language skills. We like to work with themes, as it is a good way to introduce and reinforce French vocabulary. We began with the theme of 'back to school' and are nearly finished with our 'farm' theme. At the end of every month (roughly), you can expect a package of your child's work to come home along with a rubric indicating your child's learning skills and level of achievement. Some of the centers are pencil and paper, and some are hands-on activities and games.

We practised making syllables on mini chalkboards, stamps and magnets. We had fun watching the following videos about how to make some syllables together.

We played Boom Cards! I hope you have been able to access your child's account at home. I can see that many children have been practising. Remember that you may sign the reading tracking card after a 10 minute session. A few students have already visited the treasure chest for reading 10 times - Yay!

During carpet time, we played several games of vowel memory. This is a simple and easy one to do at home too! Simply write each vowel on two cards and then lay them all face down and try to find the matches.

We sorted farm words by number of syllables. Finding the syllables, or 'chunks' in words is an important skill for readers to develop.

We worked on farm vocabulary using fun dry erase markers. We also did mini-puzzles, using initial sound to help us match the word with the picture.

In Visual Arts, we created adorable pigs using oil pastel and watercolour paints.

We practiced using Farm vocabulary by labeling pictures and completing a mini-book. Each child then worked individually with Mme to read a page of their book. I was looking for children to track the text with their finger, use the repetitive structure of the book, and sound out simple words such as le and je.

Here are a couple of our read aloud stories for this theme. Ask your child to tell you what they were all about!

We also read the following book about having BIG feelings. We used this story to introduce a discussion about self-regulation and mindfulness. I have attached a couple of videos to share one of our 'calm down' strategies.