In the Spirit of Reconciliation

You can click on the play button to watch the video that was

shown to our students at our assembly.  It helped all of us

understand the importance of Orange Shirt Day.

This was a WIN-WIN for the students in our Grade One class

and the students who are in one of our Grade Three classes.  The 

two classes will 'buddy' up about once every 4 to 6 weeks,

with the older students helping our littles to learn how to be

great students.

The Grade Three students helped the students in my classroom

write a sentence about why they matter.

It was an opportunity for all the students to recognize that

they have the spirit of Reconciliation within them.

Our school was a sea of orange.  We all look forward our Treaty

Six mural that will be featured prominently near our front school

entrance later this school year.  We KNOW that every child matters!

When the students were in Kindergarten, making letters

of the alphabet was new and many made the letters any way

that they could.

Now that the students are in Grade One, the focus is on

making the letters in a correct efficient manner.

All printed letters, both upper and lower case start at the top 

and go down.

As well letters are not all the same size.  Some are tall and

fill the whole space between the two dark lines.  Some are small

and are only 1/2 line tall, or fill the space from the dotted line

to the dark bottom line.  Some letters fill that same space,

but have a tail that goes below the bottom dark line.

Letters follow a pattern in being made.  The students

are using a variety of materials to assist them understand

how letters are properly made.  One of the tools we are

using is play dough.  They are seeing how making the 

lowercase /c/, is the basis for making the letters /o/,

/a/, /d/, /g/ and /q/.  They all start the same way.

In their printing duo tang, the students start by using a highlighter to trace

over the letter, using the proper motions, and then use a pencil to

make the letter in the spaces in between.

Please, if your child is making the letters starting at the bottom, stop them, and remind them

that though it may be a little difficult, the letters are to be made the 'grade one' way.

This is a BIG deal!  The students have learnt how to

put a sheet of paper into a duo tang!  That means I don't have 

to do it for every child!  Hooray for progress!

In mathematics the students are working on patterns.

I have a set of six Math Centre boxes and the students

work with different manipulative to practise

their new learning.

You can see that they love it!

They are so happy to show what they know!