Oh What Fun It Is to Learn in a Grade One Class Today! Hey!

Each teacher was asked to decorate their classroom door

for the season.  Here's ours...

Since we can't move about the school to use different classrooms,

and we were painting a special Christmas picture, which was

drying on our desks, we got to do some work on the floor!

That doesn't happen very often!

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Our science unit is about Building Things and we worked in pairs

to plan and then build one of the Three Little Pigs houses BUT we

have the challenge to make our houses better than the pigs' houses were.

Tomorrow the Big Bad Blowdryer is coming into class and he

will try to blow our houses away!

We are hearing many, many versions of the 

Gingerbread Man story.  Did you know that in one

version, the Gingerbread Man is not eaten by the fox?

We got to eat a Gingerbread Man today but we had

to keep track of which part of the cooky we ate

first, second, third and fourth.

We are using that information to make a graph,

and create a book.

We all agreed that the cookies were delicious!

Really...they are enjoying this activity!

For the first time, the students got to use a set of headphones

and listen to a Christmas story.  The students went to our Google Classroom

and chose the topic NEONS.  The books on the shelves in the picture

were all wonderful and each student could choose which story or two they wanted

to hear.

Thank you parents for helping your kiddos find something to share that showed our classmates

some group that the child belongs to.  The kiddos loved the activity and were proud to answer questions.

The 50th day of school!

Okay, I admit it...this one day of the school year, I was quite lax on

the protocols surrounding 2 metres apart, mask wearing and such,

but with fingers crossed, I just wanted us to have a little fun!

It's been a tough 49 days until now and kids just need something

to remember like:

being such 'cool' cats, that they all needed to slick back their

hair for this photo,

and just looking their very best in their twirly skirts, and pony tails

(and even lipstick!)

Sometimes the best learning happens, when you don't even know 

you are learning!  That's why teachers add this element of 'fun'

into the long school year.  They are going to remember this

day more than most others!

Who could forget the day the teacher made

root beer floats for each child?

Little did they know that there was a science

lesson, some math and writing involved with

those delicious slurps!

It was good to the last drop!

I never even got to hand out the spoons!

Look at the famous 'twist'

and we all learned how to 'hand jive' too!

Each student got to invite a friend to go for a ride in a pink Cadillac!

Bubblegum in school?

Yep...if it means we learn how to follow the

steps to make it work!

We also learned that it is true that

'practice makes perfect'!

Here's the proof to all we learned!

The students wrote out the three steps to how to make 

root beer floats, and the three steps to blowing a bubble.

No complaints either...all the learning that happened

makes me extra happy!

The learning continues!

In the Spring, when schools weren't open, I spent more time than I wanted to on

Google Meets and Zoom calls.  They have followed me into this school year!

Here is how the students were presented with their virtual field trip on Monday.

The man in the corner of the SMARTBoard was our presenter and he was

explaining how bees work and live together.  The connection was to how people 

sometimes live together in apartment buildings.  

Here are the diligent busy little beavers (yep, we talked about their homes too!)

trying to put together the little wooden houses.  They look easy enough,

but little students cannot always find which way is up!

Just when the sides are connected to the foundation,

the students are then to add the fronts and backs.

It was an exercise in patience and 'try, try again'

or 'wait, I'll be right there'

In the end, all the houses were constructed!

The little architects drew up a plan (blueprint) on how they wanted

their yard to look.  Once the plan was finished, the students (OOPS! architects)

became  builders and they added those details onto the box bottom which

became the yard.  They added colour, along with the smaller crafted items

which included 2 bushes, a teeter tooter, a picnic bench and 6 walkway stones.

Each one was the students' own creation.

In the end, each and every one was well done

and the students were very proud!

The students are working very hard on being able to 'stretch the sounds'

in words.  In table pairs, the students were playing a game to work on

CVC words (that stands for consonant-vowel-consonant)

Examples would be: pot, put, hat, bit and cut

I try to get the students to work on some type of 'Hands on' activity every

3 or 4 days.  If I can't sanitize the items (I can spray the dice and markers),

then I have to let them sit for 72 hours before they can be used again.

If you would have told me that I would have Grade One students logging 

into Chrome books and finding Google Classroom independently in November,

I would NEVER have believed you.  Thank you for assisting your

child with knowing how to find the letters and numbers on the keyboards.

It's not without hassle and I will need to colour the grey again in December (ha! ha!)

but they are quite proficient with the process.  Everyone can log in and almost all

can get to our Google Classroom.  Four students now have a computer mouse (purchased

through PowerSchool) and I think they liked using them today for the first time.

Right now, I am dedicating 4 class periods a week to using the Chrome books.

You know what they say "Practice makes perfect!"

Guess what tomorrow is!

A Colourful Time in Grade One

When students are learning about patterns, it is much, much

 moreimportant than just knowing the colours that they see.

Patterns are everywhere in our world.

This is the beginning of the opportunity to explore, but 

not the end of the learning.

That learning will continue to be part of our lessons

until the end of June.  By starting with 'hands-on' visual

lessons and activities, the students are preparing for

the more difficult 'think in your head' activities that are to come.

What patterns can be found in the way letters are made?

What patterns can be found in the way numbers are sequenced?

Can you count in a way other than 'one, two, three?'

How do you know what comes next if you count 'four, eight, twelve'?

Usually I have many, many pumpkins in the classroom to 

share and explore.  With our situation, I still wanted the

students to explore how pumpkins grow, what they look like,

how they feel and all the other cool activities that help us understand

plant life cycles.

With a very clean pumpkin and sanitized hands, the students

were able to try out a few opportunities to explore.

Many were so surprised to find out that heavy pumpkins float!

Do you know why?

In our 'Exploring Colour' science unit, it has been very challenging

to do the various paint activities with 19 students and only one

teacher in the classroom.  Slowly, and with one step at a time,

the students still got the hands-on experience of seeing how the 

'tints' and 'shades' or colours are created.

Why don't you ask your little scientists what they learned?

Halloween will be celebrated at school on Friday.

Students can come to school all dressed in their costumes for the day.

Remember that weapons are not allowed, that the students will still

be working, so hands should be out and able to hold school items,

and that we will be going outside for our play breaks, so dress to the weather.

We are discussing how to become a Saint, because Halloween (All Hallow's EVE) is

the night before our wonderful Catholic celebration, All Saints Day.