Turkeys all around

In this week's Take Home folder, is the collaborative books that

the students made for each child who presented their poster and

ME bag since September.  I so enjoyed being able to chose a

drawing that matched the actual child.  Thanks to Lori Kaus for

sharing her original idea with me.

In mathematics, our focus is on patterns.  They happen all around us!

Here are some words from our curriculum:

Students must learn to recognize, extend, create and use mathematical patterns. Patterns allow students to make predictions and justify their reasoning when solving routine and nonroutine problems.
Learning to work with patterns in the early grades helps students develop algebraic thinking, which is foundational for working with more abstract mathematics in higher grades.

Specifically in Grade One, the students are to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of repeating patterns (two to four elements) by:• describing
   • reproducing• extending• creating
   patterns using manipulatives, diagrams, sounds and actions

I've included a variety of examples.

The criteria was to chose a pattern, create it and then extend it so that

it repeats three times, and label it.

In the scarecrow's garden, there was to be three different patterns.

The criteria gives the students the 'what to do.'

It also sets the manner in which the work is assessed.

When the work of the student is looked at,

 you begin to get an understanding to whether or

not the student understand the different aspects of

patterning.

This assists the teacher in knowing whether more practise 

is needed, and what should be the next steps in teaching.

This was Read In Week, and the students had a number 

of visitors come and visit and read to them.  

From the local library, they heard that they can

get their own library card.  How exciting!

This is Mrs. Szott, one of our district trustees, who

shared her love of reading with my class.

Aren't these little Thankful Turkey books the cutest?

Ashlyn Ellsworth was so kind to share her idea with me.

The students were working on recognizing what they

were thankful for within different aspects of their life.

Here is another pattern that the students worked on,

this time learning a little bit of geometry as well.

They were given squares of paper and found out that

two triangles are hidden inside of the square!

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving at our school, without the Turkey Tango.

Our special, gifted music teacher gathered all the turkeys she could find...

and they gobbled into the main gathering area to sing

and dance!

It's just a few seconds long but enjoy the ending of the dance...cha! cha! cha!

Nope...no turkeys around here!

I know the saying is "...as proud as a peacock..."

but these kiddos were as proud as a turkey over their special disguises that they created so that the turkey would not end up as dinner on Thanksgiving.

Thank you parents for taking the time and effort to put these smiles on their faces.

They LOVED being able to fool their friends....and were just as happy when they were able to figure out what the turkey might be disguised as.

The variety was lovely and such imagination too!

Each and every child could share what part they had played in the creation of the disguise.

"This is the part that I coloured" or "My idea was to...."

Those turkeys took pride of place!    Thanks parents!

So much to be Thankful for...

Last week, it was Autumn.  Now it doesn't look like it outside, but we have our fingers crossed that we might be able to still enjoy this time of year.

The students made collages, using directed drawing to create the background,

colouring and shading with pencil crayons, pasting on a photo

and adding some little cut out leaves to show their love of the season!

Today, we started looking at the next big day in the life of all children...

by exploring one of the more famous characters associated with this time of year.

I love how the students chose how to orientate the shoes, so that each picture looked just a little bit different!

The students again used nouns to label the witch,

and then in a collaborative effort, they added adjectives to those nouns.

The students also completed a Thanksgiving prayer that they started before this past long weekend.

There's always something new to introduce.  The students are going to do a reflective self assessment using the following criteria on this piece.   They will be using the new assessment numbers that will be seen on the newest version of the report card that will be shared in January.

School photos were sent home today.

New spelling words are inside of the agenda.

Please send a clean ice cream bucket to hold your child's hat and mittens as soon as you can!

Gobble! Gobble!

Oh what fun!  The students loved their moment in the sun as they shared their writing about the characters that they brought in.  Once they finished reading, they could choose three classmates to guess how the turkey was disguised.  Whether the students guessed correctly or not, the fun was in the opportunity to work with their families on the disguise, and in getting to share.  Look at some of the wonderful ideas that were shared with us this year!

Not a turkey in the bunch!

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