February Dates

Feb. 1st - PD day (no school for children)
Feb. 14th - Valentine's Day party
Feb. 15 - 100th day of school
Feb. 21st - Islander Day (no school)

It's February!

Welcome to February! The children are enjoying all of the snow on the playground, and we are busy at work in our class during this productive time of the year.

We have finished sight word testing and we are continuing to do reading records with students. You may have noticed that your child has moved up to more challenging books for their nightly reading. Some of these books may also be a bit lengthier and more detailed than the books they were bringing home previously. Try to spend a few minutes with your child after he or she has read to ask some general questions about the book. This may require that your child has to refer back to the book, or may have to re-read the book in order to answer your questions. This is fine, as often your child is concentrating on fluency during the first read through and may need another chance to read the book to focus on comprehending the material.

We have also been working on several strategies for solving unknown words in reading. Your child should not simply try to sound out every unknown word. We have been focusing on using meaning (what makes sense) and structure (what sounds right) along with visual information (what looks right). Students have been using lots of strategies along with sounds, such as using the picture for support; skipping the unknown word to read to the end of the sentence, then re-reading the sentence to try to solve the word;  and thinking about what makes sense within the context of the story. This does not mean that sound/letter relationships should not be used, but  sounding out is often a time consuming task that makes the children lose the meaning of what they are reading.  As well, if your child makes a mistake when reading please give him or her  the opportunity to notice the error and correct it on his or her own. If your child does not notice the mistake, tell him or her that he or she made a mistake on that page and ask him or her to re-read it to see if he or she can notice the error.

In math, a baggie has gone home along with +0 and +1 math fact flash cards. The cards should be cut and kept in the baggie. We are currently working on our double facts (e.g 2+2, 3+3, 4+4) and a sheet of these will go home when I finish introducing these in class. As each new set  of math facts comes home, please cut out the flash cards and add them to the baggies. Please take a few minutes each weeknight to practice some of the math facts. When subtraction is introduced, flashcards will also be sent home.

We are also working on numbers to 100 in math. Later this month, a hundred chart will go home with your child along with some sample ideas to try with your child.

This month is a busy one in grade one! On February 14 we will be having our Valentine’s Day party in the afternoon. I have included a class list of all students in the class. Students do not have to make Valentine cards, but we ask that if they do that one is made for each child in the class. On February 15 (unless we have a storm day before then) we will be celebrating the 100^th day of school. A note will go home a little closer to that date asking children to bring a collection of 100 items to school. You may want to start thinking about some things your child might want to bring in. Some examples are 100 paper clips, 100 pennies, 100 cotton balls, 100 Q-tips, etc.  I will be talking in class to the children about how 100 is made up of 10 groups of 10, so you may want to have that same discussion at home with your child as they are counting their 100 items to bring to school.

We have almost finished our sound study for the year. Your child’s sound scribbler is being sent home as we have started a new scribbler to work on the remaining sounds. You can use this scribbler to review the sounds with your child. We rely heavily on our sounds when writing unknown words.

Thank you so much to Deb Gallant, who along with her children Jazmyn and Gideon did a presentation for the class about Chinese New Year. We will be celebrating the end of Chinese New Year on February 7 with a lantern parade. We love having visitors to our class and if any parents would like to come in to share expertise in a certain area or to read a favorite story we would be more than happy to have you. The children feel so proud when they see their parents visiting the school!

As always, please feel free to contact us with any concerns or questions you may have. Thanks for your continued support,

Mrs. C and Mrs. Newson

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2012! I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday and a restful break. This time of year is usually very productive at school (if we don't have too many storms!) and you will really began to see some amazing growth in your child over the next few months.

We are back to work right away learning more sight words and reading our poems and books. We would like for you to take some extra time this week reviewing all of the sight words, especially if you took a break from this over the holidays. We will be testing your child's sight words again after we finish week 12 and will send the results home to you. We will also be working on reading records this month, and you may find that you child will be taking more difficult books home to read. Please let us know if her or she is having any difficulty with these.

In our integrated theme, we will be working on the new year ( in relation to the calendar) and daily and seasonal changes. We integrate this work into our language arts reading and writing time, as opposed to having a separate time designated for science, social studies or health.

In math, we have started our next unit on addition and subtraction. In a few weeks your child will be taking home a baggie with math facts to practice. As we introduce new facts, a sheet of flash cards will go home to add to the baggie ( similar to the sight word flashcards that come home).  This will be an addition to the homework your child should do each week night, but it should not take more than a few minutes each night.

Please continue to keep us informed if you have any questions or concerns.

Mrs. Connolly and Mrs. Newson

December Note

We are well into the month of December and all of the excitement that goes with it!

The children had a lot of fun during our "All About Bears" theme, and we all really enjoyed the end of the theme celebration with our teddy bear picnic this past Friday.  We will not be starting a new theme until after Christmas, and will instead focus on seasonal crafts and writing until the break for the holidays.

We have or are sending home the results from the sight word testing for weeks 1 to 6. Please continue to review all sight words occasionally, but please focus on any words that your child had difficulty with on the sight word test. We also ask you to continue to review the sight words over the Christmas break.

In math, we are continuing to work on the concepts of quantity, more and less and numbers to 20. After the break, we will be starting a unit on addition.

We will have our class Christmas party on December 20. I have volunteers who have signed up to bring in treats, and we will send home a reminder to them next week. Please don't send in extra treats if you haven't signed up as we find we end up with too many treats and not enough time to enjoy them!

We will continue to do homework up to December 15. We know nights this time of year are especially busy, but the children will have a long break from homework during Christmas holidays and we don't want them to lose any of the skills they have worked so hard to gain over these past  four months!

Thanks for your continued support,

Mrs. Connolly and Mrs. Newson

December Dates

December 9th  - Christmas concert (10:00 a.m. performance is for those with last names starting from L-Z and the 1:15 p.m. performance is for those with last names starting from A-K.)
December 15 - Last day for homework
December 20 - Last day of school for 2011
                        Class Christmas Party

It's November!

Dear Family,


November has arrived and there is a new crispness in the air! The weather is getting cooler, so we ask that you please send your child to school with warmer clothing. We do go outside most days, and your child will be much more comfortable and will have lots more fun when dressed for the weather. We also want to ask parents to please make sure that there is an extra change of clothes stashed in your son or daughter's backpack (including socks and underwear) as accidents do sometimes happen!


We have been working hard in grade one and your children are certainly making a great deal of progress. Thanks so much to all parents who are focusing on practicing sight words at home - it is certainly making a difference in your child's reading skills. Over the next few weeks we will be testing your child's reading level and sight words, and you may see a change in the level of books your child is taking home for nightly reading. Please let us know if your child is having any difficulty with the books he or she is taking home to read with you. Once a week your child will take home an extra book that we did in class for guided reading; this book may be slightly more difficult but we have read it together in class.


In math, we have finished the unit on patterning and we are working on identifying and quantifying numbers to 20, and the concepts of more and less.  A new math game will go home later this month to practice some of these skills.


We have been covering the concepts of responsibility, good choices, friendship, and feelings in health, and have integrated most of this work into our literacy block. We will start a unit in mid-November called "All About Bears", which will be integrated into our literacy block, but will cover some of the concepts in our science curriculum.


We look forward to meeting with all of you to discuss your child's progress at parent-teacher interviews next week.


Mrs. Connolly and Mrs. Newson

November Dates

Nov. 8th - Parent Teacher interviews (evening)
Nov. 9th - Parent Teacher interviews (no school)
Nov. 8th-10th - Scholastic Book Fair in the Library
Nov. 8th-9th - Bake Sale in the lobby
Nov. 8th  -Remembrance Day ceremony at school
Nov. 10th - Provincial PD Day (no school)
Nov. 11th - Remembrance Day (no school)
Nov. 24th - Report cards go home
Nov. 25th - School PD Day (no school)