SENSORY TABLE!!! and an update

Hi parents!

Lots of exciting things have been happening in our Grade 1 classroom lately! I was so thrilled to get to update many of you in person at Parent-Teacher interviews and fill you in on all of the fabulous learning endeavors we have been embarking on in the past few weeks.

This week, we are wrapping up our ‘Hibernation et migration’ Unit on hibernating, adapting and migrating animals in winter. We have read many books together, done research about various animals and their winter habits, and we have even created a shared book as a class about the animals we have been learning about, written and illustrated entirely by the students.

We have also introduced a “SENSORY TABLE” (like a sand table you would see in a Kindergarten classroom only the materials in the table change on a weekly basis and there will always be literacy or numeracy learning games involved). I have sent home a letter with a request for parents who are willing to volunteer to make play doh to be used in various literacy and numeracy activities. Please see the right side bar on the blog with a poll for parents who are going to make play doh to indicate that they will be making some and what colour they will be making. This will show me (and fellow parents) how much of each colour is being made.

Also, please check your child’s note tote for a note about a class phone book. I usually like to make up a little class list with phone numbers so that parents may arrange play dates, etc. Please return the form and indicate whether or not you would like me to share your information with the class. I will them send home the list only to those parents who wish to participate.

Lastly, I have included ANOTHER POLL (I know, enough already with the polls! But honestly it is a really great way to get parent feedback without too much tree killing J ) about what holidays your family celebrates at home during the winter season. I would like to have a very inclusive and welcoming festive season and would like to teach about and celebrate several different holidays. Thanks for your input and continuing support!

Xo Mme Byrd

New Additions to Our Blog!

Hi parents!

Please check out some new additions to the blog:

1. A link list in the right side bar that will contain a growing list of neat French websites  that you can check out with your child and will help practice skills we are working on in class.

2. Volunteer schedule calendars found in the "Home Connections" tab above. There are currently schedules for parent volunteers for November and December and there will soon be calendars for the following months.

Thanks!

Xo Mme Byrd

Back on Track for November

Hello Firstie Parents!!

It’s the beginning of November now and it’s time for me to get back on track with our classroom blog. My apologies for the blog hiatus. My husband and I have just moved and completed major renovations of our new home and my personal (and school) life has been very busy as of late.
 Enough about me... Let’s get on with the exciting things that we have been doing for the last month in Room 7. October was a fun filled month. We learned a lot about fall and the change of seasons, learned new reading strategies, explored math concepts like basic shapes, patterning, sorting various objects and even measurement using non-standard measuring items. On October 15^th, we had a very exciting trip to the Canadian Agricultural Museum (more commonly referred to as the Experimental Farm) and we learned a lot about corn, apples, pumpkins and saw lots of cute animals. Thank you to all our amazing volunteers and thank you to those parents who took pictures so we will be able to share those memories with parents who were not able to attend.

Other exciting things that happened in October were::
-picture day!! (Look for your child’s class picture in their note tote today)
-True Sport Assembly (medals handed out to runners)
-Halloween!! (All of the Grade 1 classes participated in a fun afternoon of Halloween activities and the classes were divided into groups and rotated through various Halloween craft, story and activity centres in the Grade 1 classrooms. We finished our day by watching a short film of Charlie Brown’s Halloween.)

Upcoming events:

-         November 12: Primary Choir trip to Hillel Lodge (to sing for Senior Citizens)

-         November 15: Interviews in the evening (Please see small slip of paper in your child’s note tote with your scheduled interview time. Please note that due to a large number of requests for specific times and due to challenges coordinating sibling interviews, it is possible that your interview time does not suit. Please contact me by email if this is the case and I will try to make other arrangements.)

-         November 16: PD DAY!!! No school for students and interviews scheduled for morning for some parents

-         November 23 : Broadview Dance-a-thon!! (Please see the pledge envelope that went home in your child’s note tote. The money raised will be used to fund many exciting projects here at Broadview)

  

**Please note that LIBRARY DAY always falls on a DAY 5 of our schedule. It is not scheduled by day of the week, therefore, due to this week’s PD DAY, library books will now be due back on Fridays as this will now be a Day 5.

Things to Look out For:

I will hopefully be adding a few new items to the blog (and getting back to weekly posts about what we are doing at school) in the coming weeks. Check back soon for these items:

-links to great French websites for your child
-November and December calendars/volunteer schedules
-information about “Math Bags” a new ‘homework’ system coming soon

xo Mme Byrd