Hola!

The Grade Ones are on a great adventure around the world.  They will be answering the big question: How are our traditions the same and different than other families around the world?We began our trip by traveling south to Mexico on our Polar Express "sleigh."  While it was really hot in Mexico today and we really wished to hit the beach, we decided to read about the "Legend of the Poinsettia."  Though

there are different variations of this story, we read one by Tomi dePaola.  Students made a craft and retold the story in a mini book.  They also made beautiful poinsettias at the art center today.

Are there really crabs in Winter?

Are there really crabs in Winter? There sure are! (At least pet hermit crabs) One of our friends brought his hermit crabs to school and the Grade Ones were keen scientists, as they observed the crabs' habitat, how they move and how the play.  They also learned how to care for the crabs and know that crabs need water, food, space, care and little bits of water sprayed in their habitat throughout the day (even in winter!).  A big thank you to our friend who shared his pets with us!  *high five*

Marvelous Mathematicians

Grade Ones are becoming marvelous Mathematicians. After working with numbers and making number equations that equal to 23, they were engaged in a number of learning centers to practice their Math skills. Using the "Power of Ten" visual tools such as playing cards and place value cards, the students played games to learn and retain patterns. They played card games including: "Zap," and "The Squeeze," with the Power of Ten cards, subitized different objects on the smartboard and made puppet plays with frogs, titled "A Day at the Pond."

Weird-Bird by Shel Silverstein

Birds are flyin' south for winter.
Here's the Weird-Bird headin' north,
Wings a-flappin', beak a-chatterin',
Cold head bobbin' back 'n' forth.
He says, "It's not that I like ice
Or freezin' winds and snowy ground.
It's just sometimes it's kind of nice
To be the only bird in town."

The Seasons

We have been learning about the four seasons.  We  use our senses to describe Fall.  We can see that the trees have changed colour and are starting to lose their leaves.  Animals prepare for winter and some animals, including bats, will hibernate. While bats hibernate, some birds like geese are migrating south for the winter and will be back in spring.

Students are beginning to see that it gets darker sooner and it is still dark when they wake up, unlike summer when it seems bright when they fall asleep at night and when they wake up.

We also know that we need to dress warmer in the Fall since it feels cooler than it was in the summer. We wear jackets to play outside at recess and running shoes.  Some Fall days have been especially chilly and we needed to wear our toques and mitts!

I wonder what winter will look like?

Skip Counting

The Grade Ones have been using number lines, counters, cubes and money to learn how to skip count. They especially enjoy using dimes to count by 10s, nickels to count by 5s and pennies to count by ones.  Here Grade Ones, look closely at the coins and practice skip counting.

Task 1:

Task 2:

Task 3:

Practice Skip Counting on this this cool site!

Grade One Theatre

Last week we read a story called, "The Little Old Lady Who was not Afraid of Anything," by Linda Williams and the students found this story to be pretty funny. They were so into it, we decided to turn it into a play.  We performed our play to one Kindergarten class and we were a total hit!  To take their learning to a higher level each student will make their own puppet play, using a variety of puppets and will use very different characters than the ones in the book.  It will be really fun to see what they come up with!

We are also very excited to perform our poetry next week. We have been working hard with the other Grade One classes and we are almost ready for our big performance.

Echolocation and Cliffhangers

Echo, echo, echo....location!

This song has been in my head for the last hour or so.  The students loved this little video clip that we watched as we are getting into our mini unit on bats. (They actually started singing it when they began writing their own stories today!  They have broken out into different songs for a minute or two, a couple times already this month, which is kind of exciting because that tells me they are having fun, blossoming into a learning community and simply enjoying learning!)

Students have been learning about adaptations and are learning how to identify and describe animal changes that occur on a seasonal basis, especially since winter is approaching quickly. We are also learning about different groups of animals (bats are mammals) and the difference between a wild and a domesticated animal.

They also LOVE  video clips from "Between the Lions" that we use when learning new words and letter sounds.  So I thought I could put one on here for you all to enjoy! I can hear the Grade Ones telling you right now that this is the one they LOVE! This tune is especially catchy and I will often catch myself humming it throughout my day! But boy, do animations, video clips, the smartboard and other technologies provide a great addition to any lesson.  This one we used with the smartboard when learning about words with the sound 'sh' in it.



I can see the student's smiles now as they got to watch those ones again!

See you soon!

Zero the Hero dropped by today...

It was our 30th day of school today and the Grade Ones received a note from "Zero the Hero" and gave students "Timbits."  We think he gave timbits because they look like zeros!  Last time he visited he left life savers. "Zero the Hero" seems pretty cool.  The students then worked with lots of different Math manipulatives including base ten blocks, ten frames, pennies, dimes and nickels and worked through an interactive smartboard lesson designed by the mysterious heroic Zero.  After shaking "virtual" dice and counting to 30 in a number of ways, students had to prove which number is greater: 19 or 30?  They had to decide how they would prove which one they thought was the greater number and explain their thinking.  One student commented that they would much rather eat 30 Timbits, instead of 19.  Unfortunately, Zero the Hero only bought a box of 15 so the students had to show me their reasoning with counters. I wonder when Zero comes next?

Welcome to our blog!

What is a blog and why are we here?

Our world has certainly changed since we went to school, hasn't it?  We never had cell phones, DS's, texting, the internet, etc.  Our children are growing up in a different world and are "digital natives."  A "digital native is a person for whom digital technologies already existed when they were born, and hence have grown up with digital technology" (wikipedia). Since they are the digital natives, what are we?  We are digital immigrants, which means we need to adapt to our new place: a world where we are connected with just one click.  

What is a blog?

So, here we are on a blog.  A blog is just another type of website, like the wiki that we have as our class webpage.  With this website, I will communicate with you and your child and you can send comments back through the blog.  (To always respect privacy and identity of each individual no names will be used in this blog).


Why a blog?

This is another way to teach students how to use the internet and read information in this digital landscape.  Grade Ones learn quickly about fiction and non-fiction books and know that authors write books.  But what about all of the different websites online?  What is fiction and non-fiction online? Who are the authors?


I will try to update this blog as much as possible. I am hoping to update daily, but this is my first time blogging, so I am not too sure how much time or energy I will have left in my day when I sit down to blog.  So, please be patient with me!

"See" you soon!