As February ends.....

My camera is not the greatest, but the pictures do give you the

idea of how much the students like Flashlight Friday.

It's like they are getting away with something....

Do you remember taking a flashlight and hiding under the covers

so that your parents wouldn't know that you were reading?

That's what it is like in the classroom....

It's so lovely to watch the kiddos fully immersed in their books!

An even more engaging activity was taking Fruit Loop cereal

and laying out enough to cover 100 circles,

then stringing those cereal circles onto a ribbon,

to make a necklace.

They were so happy to do this (and there was the added

bonus of having to count to 100 AND work those little fine 

motor muscles at the same time!)

Outside in our hallway over the coat cubbies, are the students'

writing about what they could not do on the first day of school

that they can now do on the 100th day of school.

HOORAY!

We are really focusing on putting small groups together,

or taking a large group and making it into two smaller groups.

These plastic plates are helping the students think of those numbers 

as part-part-whole.

They worked on telling stories about the numbers on their own first,

and then sharing their stories with another student in the room.

It might have sounded like this:

I have seven Santas.  My mom has three Santas. 

(there would be 3 and 7 in the smaller compartments of the plate)

When you put seven and three together, there are 10 Santas.

(the two groups would be moved into the larger compartment,

to show the whole number)

Shrove Tuesday!

Thanks to the wonderful mommy who came in and made these delicious

pancakes for us.  (AND AN EXTRA BIG  THANK YOU TO THE

PARENTS WHO OWN HEADQUARTERS RESTAURANT FOR  

MIXING UP AND DONATING THE BATTER TO OUR SCHOOL!

Here's what 100 little pancakes look like!

Our question to answer was 

"Can a Grade One class eat 100 pancakes?"

The answer was "Absolutely!!"

We asked that question because the wolf tries to fatten up the 

chicken for his stew by leaving her 100 pancakes, 100 donuts, 

and a 100 lb. cake on her porch.

The students paired up and read this shortened 'rebus' version

of the story.

After recess, the students went on a hunt to find the 100 chicks from the

story that were hiding around the classroom.  The real challenge was to

put those little chicks onto the 100 board when there were no numbers on the board.

I was really impressed with their thinking.  I heard these great conversations:

I put the 45 there because I saw 40 at the end, and then I counted these empty boxes

41, 42, 43, 44 so I knew that the 45 needed to go here.

I put 67 here because I know you count like this:  65, 66 and next would be 67.

I put 21 here because you count down like this:  1, then 11 and then it would be 21.

All those mornings at Calendar work is paying off!!

100th Day of School

We started our day with a fashion show.

We used our hallway stools to create a runway and

talked about how to walk with confidence.

At the end, each student got to pose for a picture.

What a wonderful shirt!  I loved the tally marks on the hockey sticks.

I can't remember exactly what it said on front but it might have been something like

" I crushed the first 100 days of school!"

Too cool!

I don't know how this little girl got one hundred photos

of herself onto this shirt, but I was super impressed with

the creativity.

I knew what this little guy was going to wear before I

saw him.  His sister was so proud of her brother that

she came and told me all about it before school started.

He is a 'bright' little boy!

Look at this confidence!  She is so proud of her pom pom shirt.

She told me that she chose where mama was going to glue each

one on.  I hope that you all enjoyed working with your child

 to make this memory!

 Here's the kings and queens of the day!  They have learned so much.  As them how to count to 100 in a different way than by 1's!

Challenging activities included writing one hundred words....

doing a scavenger hunt around the room and by highlighting 

the numbers that were found, in the colours of purple and pink 

(you can see them in the background), the students found the

surprise....the correct answers create the number 100...

and writing their name over and over again in 100 squares, colouring

each letter a different colour to create a special name pattern.

Look at this proud little one.....she can write (and read) 100 words!

Busy little hands!

The thing about Grade One is that almost everything is new learning.

It seems like the students are always learning....new ideas, new ways to accomplish

things, new words....

The word that they learned last week was OPINION.

Each student got to have a Hersey Kiss and a Hersey Hug.

We thought about the five senses (another tie in to science)

and wrote what we could see, smell, taste, and feel.

Each student used a graphic organizer and wrote an opening sentence

that shared their opinion, wrote three reasons for that opinion, and

ended with a conclusion.

It was all very 'one step at a time' with lots and lots of help,

but they worked through the process and had a lovely finished

piece of writing.

Sometimes the 'added extra' seems like child's play

BUT really...

it is a way for the students to work (very hard in some cases)

on their fine motor skills.

The students were given a piece of aluminum foil and

then asked to cover their cardboard cut out so that it looked

like a Hersey Kiss.

For us as adults, sometimes we just want to do it for the kiddos.

It's easier, it's quicker and it's often less messy.

Truth is, we don't need the practice or the experience.

Their little hands do!  Think of the things that they might

be able to do for you at home that work those fingers and wrists.

It pays off in the end!

The games that the students do in the morning again, looks like a 

lot of fun!  They are but they are always given to help the students 

practice their new learning.

They were using these cool dice (one inside another).

They rolled it and added the pips on the two dice and then

coloured the matching number on the page.  Looks like a game,

but they are really practicing their addition skills (Shh! Don't tell

them....they just think they are having fun!!)

This activity was today.  I could have made it easier, and the final

product would have looked a whole lot neater, but at this time of

year, I like to be a bit less prescriptive.  I wonder who is able to

handle the 'hard work'!

The students cut out two card stock mittens.  They were to put 

one on top of the other and then, using a hole punch, put holes

around the mitten shape.  The bottom needed to stay open.

Once done, I tied on a piece of yarn and then the students were to go

up and over, pushing the string through the top to the bottom,

then continuing, so that the sides of the mittens were 'sewn' up.

It showed me a whole lot:

-able to make the holes match in both mittens (some did one mitten at a time- OOPS)

-able to go from the first hole to the second to the third

-able to go to the top and down

-able to persevere

There were a few who just wanted to give up, telling me "This is too hard!"

My answer of "Oh well, keep trying" might sound like I am not willing to help,

but really, it's their opportunity to be proud of being able to do their best.

It may not look as neat and nice as if I had helped, but I could not take away

their pride when they finally finished and exclaimed "I DID IT!"

It's like that little train going up the hill....."I think I can, I think I can!"

(and me thinking "I know you can...I know you can!)

The students are really working on absolutely knowing the double facts.

Lots of games to play and practise, because they are going to be working

on another math strategy soon.

That is "doubles plus one or doubles minus one"

It goes like this:  3+4.....I know 3+3 is 6 so 4 is one more, that means it will be 7!

Students are using those strategies to KNOW their facts, which is a requirement of 

the Grade One curriculum.  Knowing the facts will really pay off in the end!

They work so well together!