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!  

Learning, learning, learning

Poor Sneezy!  He is freezing, but every time he tries to get warm, he melts!

The different projects that we do are just plain fun and the students

love to make them, but they are always helping with learning.

This set of three circles placed one on top of the other, helped the students

experience 'perspective'.....they are looking down on Sneezy as he melts,

and he is looking up at them!

The projects are also allowing the students to work on their fine motor

skills.  This time, the students were asked to make small back and forth movements

with their crayons as they went around each circle.  From the three examples

that I am showing, you can see that this was not easily accomplished by all.

That just means that their little wrists are in need of more work to

strengthen them.  We will continue to find ways to work those muscles!

They loved the project!  They loved Sneezy!

Every morning since the students came back from Christmas holidays

they are met with a task at their tabletops.  This one was interesting

because it was meant to worked on as a small group.  Each table had a set of snowmen.

Each snowman had a word and when the words were moved about

they made a sentence.  It was a challenge for some.  Fun and learning

go hand in hand.  Challenges make little brains grow!

Another reading strategy was introduced this week.

The students are being introduced to the many ways that vowels

make the long sound (that is to say...they say their own name in the word)

The strategy is that if one vowel sound (usually the short one) does not

sound right, flip it to the other sound that the vowel can make.

Some of the practise that was done for the 'Magic' E!

Our last student sharing the 'group' he belongs to.

As each student shared, I took a picture of them and those

photos are now on a GROUPS bulletin board.

The majority of the students brought something that

showed that they belonged to a sports group, but

there were collector, music and Catholic groups as well.

We recognized that we all belong to a class in a school,

and that we all are born in Canada so we belong to a country group as well.

This ties in so well to our next unit of in Social Studies.

Thank you so much parents for helping your littles bring in something to share.

They were so proud!

Marble Run, Inside a Snowglobe, the Magic "E" and When We are 90 Years Old!

Here is definite proof that students can use their imagination and find 

satisfaction in activities that are hands-on and do not involve electronics!

These are KEVA blocks.

They are natural wood, light weight, flat blocks that the students

manipulated according to the instructions of our

presenter from Teacher's Pet, during Monday's

in-school field trip.

The students were learning how to manipulate the blocks and build

with them to create a 'marble run', which really was a ball

about the size of a ping pong ball.

They understood that there had to be elevation to get the ball

to roll, a track that the ball rolled on and a way to stop the ball once

it was at the end of the track.

They LOVED it and it was so interesting to see their thought process

and their problem solving skills.

If I was rich, I would buy a class set of these blocks because I

can imagine the excitement each time a new challenge was introduced.

In the end, the challenge was to create a track that was very high,

but the biggest challenge was the idea that for this activity,

the students had to work together as a team.

Not all the students have yet learned this concept

and to be truthful, there were tears because one

person thought they were not getting a fair deal in the

group.  School is about learning in many forms,

and knowing how to deal with issues of fairness, and 

emotions is still difficult for these little ones.

What's important, though, is not to step in too soon.

The way the kiddos learn is sometimes to be

frustrated and recognize that others might be feeling

that way too.

What a delightful afternoon and THANK YOU sincerely

to the dad, grandma, and moms who came to help!

Hope you had fun too!

Jane O'Connor wrote a delightful book about a family who lives inside

of a snow globe, in the house of another family just like them.

We worked with this story to see the similarities and differences between 

the two families and their stories.

Gosh, I spend a lot of time getting photos developed

but the students really enjoy seeing themselves in the activities

that we do.  For this activity, the students all were stuck in a 

snow globe, building a snowman.  All of their writing started with the

same sentence but they then were required to print two additional

sentences on their own.

Those two sentences were very telling on how their independent 

writing is developing.  Some are still struggling with recognizing 

that the words you want to say have to match the words you print 

on the paper.

It's a long process!

The students have also been working on adding long vowel sounds

to their bag of tricks for reading words.  Over the course of a few

weeks, they have learned that to make a long vowel sound ,

something almost always has to help that vowel say it's name.

In this case, it was the Magic 'e' (also known as the silent 'e', the 

sneaky 'e' and super 'e').  It appears at the end of a word,

jumps over one consonant, and hits the vowel on the head

so that it says it's name.

It's been a case of practice, practice, practice but

I think there is a light starting to shine!

This says /r/ /i/ /d/. (rid)

This says /r/ /I/ /d/ (ride)

Can't hear the 'e' can you?

Friday was the 90th day of school and 

Zero the Hero asked the students to show him what 

they thought they would look like when they were 90

years old.  Not many of the boys wanted to be bald!

Heads up!  It's Teacher's Convention on Thursday and Friday this week.

Enjoy your time with your family and I will be battling the parking situation

in downtown!