Word Sorts!

New for the week of September 24-28 are word sorts! The whole class will be starting with the same set of pictures/letter sounds for this first sort until everyone understands the routine and types of sorts that we will be doing each day.  Eventually the kids will be getting their own sorts based on the assessment that I've done so everyone will have specifically what they need!  My plan is to keep the same sort for 2 weeks with re-assessing done every second Friday.  Eventually I am hoping to move these sorts over to part of our Daily Five called Work on Words! Each little piece is starting to fall  into place!  I'm excited to see how the kids like their sorts and want to say a HUGE thank you to my home helpers who have been tirelessly cutting and cutting and cutting in preparation for this program!  I will keep you posted!

Our sight words for this week are red, yellow, blue, yes, no and letter sounds reviewed are m, d, g, f and if time short o/u.  The word family focus is {ap}.

Here is a quick glimpse of what's to come in science.  We are learning to extract natural colour from flower petals and then use the colour to paint a drawing of a favourite place.

In Social we have our FNMI liason Candace Bradford coming in to teach the kids about the history and meaning of the colours in the Metis sash that was worn long ago.  This ties both Science and Social curriculum together!

In Math, we continue with Number Sense and will be adding these concepts to our morning desk work books. We are learning what number comes one more or one less than a given number, how to recognize and print number words to 10, and counting and making tallies to 15.

Also, a special thanks to all those who volunteered to walk with us on the Terry Fox Walk on Friday!  The kids were soooo amazing! Everyone was full of energy and smiles, even at the very end!

Super Start-Up Week!

What an amazing first few weeks of grade one! The kids have really risen to the challenge of Daily Five and have blown me away with "Read To Self!"  They are using words and phrases like "independence", "read the whole time," and have learned 3 ways to read a book 1. read the pictures 2. read the words and 3. retell the story!  I LOVE THIS PROGRAM. What better way to become a great reader than to spend more time in the day practising!  Can't wait for the next lesson which is choosing a "Good Fit Book" using the IPICK system:

I-I choose a book
P-purpose-why do I want to read it
I-interest-does it interest me
C-comprehend-am I understanding what I read
K-know- I know most of the words

We are also diving into "Work on Writing" and the first thing the kids will learn is to focus on ideas and underline words they can't spell and keep going. (spelling will be prioritized once they've developed a base of word wall words and phonetic skills).

Amidst all of this, we are also reviewing letter sounds (ck, e, h, and r for this week), introducing 5 more sight words (play, my, here, is , the), and practising 2 word families (at) and (in). Whew!

In Science we are starting a colour unit and Math is number sense/printing 0-10 review.  Social Studies is all about friendships and rules this month and in Health we are learning about Terry Fox including the Terry Fox walk Friday September 21st.  If you would like to walk with the class, please email or send a note. A letter went home Friday with all the details of the walk. Our class buddies up with their Grade 3 (Mrs.Burke) book buddies for the hike to Nicholas Sheran!

That's about it for now! Thanks once more to all who volunteered for the many, many jobs available! You are appreciated!  Check out the pics for a sneak peak of the art project planned for September! Textured Pumpkins from the DeepSpace Sparkle site!