Buddy Letters

Now that we have finished learning and reviewing all the names and sounds of the letters, we are starting to figure out different sounds that letters can make in combination with other letters!  Our phonics lessons this week have focused on consonant digraphs (or, as we like to call them in Grade One: buddy letters!)  These sounds are /sh/, /ch/, /th/, and /wh/. 

Here is an interactive website that your child can work on at home to practice working with words that have buddy letters:

http://rbeaudoin333.homestead.com/initialcondigraphs_1.html

Click on practice activities.

Box Cars and One Eyed Jacks

This afternoon we were very fortunate to have Mr. John Felling (from Box Cars and One Eyed Jacks in Edmonton) do a math workshop with Grade One students.  He showed us how to play some different games and activities with different kinds of dice:  regular six-sided dice, twelve-sided dice (with dots) and "Belly Button Dice" (a small inside die enclosed in an outside clear die).  The games that were taught helped to reinforce different math concepts that we have learned at school, such as:  more and less, counting on and back, and reading number words.

I would strongly encourage any parents that are available to come to school this evening at 7:00 to attend the parent workshop that Mr. Felling will be doing.

Mr.  Felling modelling how to "count on" using two dice.

Using two dice to find the total, then record the number beside the number word.

Using the "Belly Button" dice to figure out which is bigger - the inside or outside die.

All About Families

In Social Studies, we have been learning about families.  Today, students created pictographs to show the composition of their families.  They glued pictures to show how many people were in their family (adults and children).  See the pictures below! (The largest family in our class has 18 members!)

Just a reminder to help your child prepare for their "family talks".  We had four talks this morning and each student did an excellent job.  Students spoke loudly, clearly, in good sentences and told about all the people in their family and what they like to do together.

I look forward to meeting you tomorrow and the next day to discuss your child's progress at Tri-conferences!

November News

My apologies for the lack of news last week!  We were very busy doing lots of tests and assessments.  This week, however, we are back to learning new things!  Today we began a new unit in Social Studies on Families.  We will be learning how families are the same and different, as well as the different roles and responsibilities that family members have.

Tomorrow all the Grade Ones are walking to Luther Place to sing a couple of songs for the residents.  (Perhaps you have heard your child singing "Tony Chestnut"??  I can't seem to get the tune out of my head either!)

In Math we are working on numbers from eleven to twenty.  Today we worked on showing these larger numbers in 2 groups on our two-part mats.  We also practiced counting on from the larger number.  For example, 15 can be 8 and 7.  We say "8", then count on by touching each counter in the other group:  9, 10, 11, 12, etc.  Future lessons include describing the "teen" numbers as ten and _______.  (17 is ten and 7).

Our new reading strategy is "Asking Questions".  Today we started talking about how good readers ask questions before, during and after listening or reading a story.  It is great to see Grade One students making connections and wondering about what they are reading.  Read the yellow note that was sent home today about how you can help at home with this strategy.

In Writing we are focussing on choosing topics for our stories and using good details to tell about our topic.  It is amazing to see how students' writing has improved in the last two months.

I look forward to sharing samples of your child's work with you next week during tri-conferences.