Happy Halloween!

Students with their ghosts.

And a silly picture!

Today was a busy but fun day!  We did regular work this morning but had some fun this afternoon:  making a craft, playing Halloween bingo, reading Halloween books with partners, watching the video "The Pumpkin Circle" (which goes with our current Science unit on Living Things) and having a snack.  Thanks to those parents who sent delicious treats!

In Math, we have been focussing on the "teen" numbers this week:  showing numbers on a two part mat, counting on from 10, saying the number as ten and ____ (sixteen is ten and six), writing numbers and reading the number words to twenty.  Some students need extra practice with counting backwards from 20 as well as identifying the numbers.  (A frequent error when reading these numbers is thinking that 14 is 41 or 40!)

I apologize for the lack of posts these past two weeks.  We've been very busy doing lots of assessments.  Report cards go home in a little over a week (November 9) and teachers need to have all their marks submitted by Monday.  Lots of students have been absent, so it's been a little hectic - trying to make sure that everyone has everything completed.  Hopefully things can return to normal next week!

Starlight Pumpkins and Number Dice Toss

Our pumpkins are done!  This afternoon we cut them out, mounted them on black construction paper, and added vines and stars.  We have received lots of compliments on how beautiful they are!  I think you'll agree! (Remember that you can click on the picture to enlarge.)

In Math we played Number Dice Toss.  I have been noticing that many students need practice in correct number formation (with no reversals!) so students worked with a partner to play this game.  They took turns rolling one or two dice, counting how many and then writing the number carefully in the box above the number.  This also provided good counting practice.  You could play this at home too! 

Pumpkins (Part One) and Living Things

Our Art lesson this afternoon was all about colour! Students learned how to make secondary colours (orange and green) by mixing primary colours and then used their knowledge to paint beautiful pumpkins! First, they drew large pumpkin shapes. Then they painted with yellow, then red to make orange. They mixed yellow and blue to make green for the leaves. It was fun to see their faces when the new colour appeared! Next art day, we will finish our projects. Stay tuned!

 

Mixing yellow and red to make orange!

Mixing yellow and blue to make green.

We are learning about Living Things in Science.  Our activity this afternoon was to see how we could sort living things according to a certain characteristic.  Students were put into groups of three or four, given some pictures of different kinds of animals, and then had to come up with a way to sort their pictures.  Here are some of our sorting rules:  animals that have feathers and animals that don't, animals that can fly and animals that can't, animals that live in the water and those that don't and animals that have wings and animals that don't.

SCES Workshops

Last Wednesday and Thursday we were fortunate to have several guests in our school from the Saskatchewan Cultural Exchange Society to give Arts Ed Workshops.  Students from our class participated in music, dance, visual arts and drama workshops.

Visual Arts workshop - the leader played a variety of drums to represent different animals while students were painting their rocks.  

Each student painted two rocks.

Students were told to "put a wish" into their rocks.

During our Music workshop, the leader sang songs and helped the students compose their own song about their pets.

Zero the Hero Leaves Treats for Grade Ones!

30 Fruit Loops on a 30 chart

This morning students were surprised to see a blue bag on my chair in the meeting area.  Zero the Hero had come during the night and left a special treat:  30 Fruit Loops for each child to count (and eat!)  

Every 10th day of school, Zero the Hero leaves a special treat for us.  We've also received Honey Nut Cheerios (on the 10th day) and marshmallows (on the 20th day).  (If we're really lucky, Zero the Hero makes a personal appearance on the 100th day of school!)  Students practiced counting forwards and backwards with their treats, showing different ways to make numbers and then we ate them all up!

We are also learning about more and less in Math.  One of our Math Outcomes in Grade One is to be able to show one more, two more, one less and two less of a number up to 10.  We have been using our ten frames and cubes (and our number lines) to help us learn how to show more and less.  See if your child can tell you what 2 more than 7 is, 1 less than 10, 2 less than 9, etc.  Some students will need to use some kind of manipulative to help them (coins, buttons, toys), and others will be able to do it in their head.  

Ten Frames

In Math, we have been working on recognizing familiar arrangements of 1 to 10 objects, dots and pictures.  Students need to be able to look briefly at an arrangement and identify the number represented without counting.  To practice this skill, we use ten frames and dot cards.  Today we played several games with ten frames.  We played "Snap" where the each person said the number represented on their ten frame.  The person who had more said "9 is more than 5" and got to keep the pair of cards.  We also played a game where students had to say how many they had on their ten frame (after rolling a die), then say how many more they need to make 10.  "Making 10" is an important strategy for future work with adding and subtracting.  Students used math talk cards to remind them of the correct words to use as they played the game.  ("I have _____.  I  need _____more to get to 10.")  Your child is bringing home the worksheet from this game today.  Ask him/her how to play!

Here is a link I found where you can print your own ten frame cards to play a variety of games (Memory, Snap - who more more/less, etc.).

http://thelintonacademy.blogspot.ca/2012/06/printable-ten-frame-cards.html

I couldn't find a website where you can print out a free set of dot cards to ten, but if you google "Dot cards" under Images, you can find some pictures to give you ideas how  you can make your own at home using stickers!

Seniors' Appreciation Program

Our school had their annual Seniors Appreciation Program this afternoon.  Each grade performed a few selections (poems and songs) for the appreciative audience!
Here are a few pictures of the grade ones performing their poem "Grandmas and Grandpas" and "Albuquerque Turkey" (maybe you've heard your child singing this catchy tune at home??)
Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

Making Sentences and Thanksgiving Turkeys

Today we worked on making sentences using our popcorn words!  Students worked with a partner to make several sentences using all of the sight words we've learned from Lessons 1 and 2.  The words are:  I, am, my, play, park, is, here, yes, no, like, am, a, the, red, blue, yellow, house, park, school, store, go, going and at.  They wrote down their sentences and illustrated them.  Their work came home today.  You can have your child print the words on pieces of paper and see how many sentences they can make at home.

These boys are practicing reading the sentence they made with our popcorn word cards.

Students showing off their sentences they made!

We had Art this afternoon. We made cute Thanksgiving turkeys by listening and following step-by-step instructions.  They will come home on Friday so you can use them to decorate your house for the holiday!  (You can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them.)

**Remember to tell your child to let me know if you read this blog article.