Happy New Year! Coming back from winter break, I usually find the children calm, focused and ready to learn. It is an exceptional month for learning.
Program Information We are moving into a social studies theme that will focus on storytelling, personal and family history and traditions with the k’s. The grade ones will extend this by also recognizing diverse cultures, backgrounds and perspectives in our local Gabriola community. We will kick this theme off with our walking trip to the Gabriola Museum tomorrow (Tuesday, Jan. 10th) REMEMBER TO SEND YOUR CHILD WITH A SMALL FAMILY ARTIFACT. We will be sharing stories at the museum. Theme Digest January’s and February’s overall learning will focus on activities related to our social studies and science themes with an overall concentration on friendship and caring for others, for creatures and for the earth. Our play kitchen will be transformed into an animal hospital. We will also begin our mystery bag show and tell activity. Each child will have a chance to bring home a mystery bag.Language ArtsK focus : structure of a story, reading like behaviour, asking questions, difference between a letter and a word, writing and drawing skills including letter sounds and formations. Grade one focus: Elements of a story, literary elements and devices, reading skills, writing processes, sentence structure, conversations, beginning spelling and letter formation. Mathematics Our learning in math continues to build on repeating patterns and designs and we will start to look very closely at specific number patterns as well as the process of addition and subtraction. Social Skills Synopsis This month and next, our social skills focus will be on following directions and problem solving we will also continue developing our good sportsmanship skills Students will be encouraged to try the first 3 problem solving steps before seeking help from an adult. Please help your child gain more independence by reinforcing these steps at home while your child interacts with you and others. Problem Solving
Parent Volunteers Thank you to the parents who came to help us with gingerbread houses and for all your support with other activities. Thanks so much for being so dependable. Snow Remember if it snows and school is still in session, we will want to go out and play and learn in the snow. Please be sure to send your child to school on such days in boots, splash/snow pants, a hat and mitts or gloves. Birthday Broadcast We have four birthdays to celebrate this month. Show and Tell Bulletin As we continue our study of the alphabet and phonetic sounds (K’s) and reading and writing simple sentences (1’s). Your child will be bringing home a mystery bag (brown paper bag with a letter sound on it). You will need to help them find something at home that starts with the same sound as the letter on the mystery bag, put it in the bag. Then with your child, write three clues as to what is in the bag. The bag comes back to school. We read the 3 clues and try to guess what is inside the bag before we open it. Library Book Exchange Don’t forget that our school library day is every Tuesday. The children are not able to take out a new book until they return the old one. They are very sad when this happens. Field Trip Quarter Our walking field is on Tuesday, January 10, from 9:30 to 11:00 am we will be taking part in a program at the Gabriola Museum (leaving the school at 9:00 am). Joan Merrifield will teach the Stories of Our Community program. The children will be asked to bring their own small family artifact as a prop to tell a story about how their family came to live on Gabriola. Joan will share 3 or 4 stories and artifacts from Gabriola of long ago (farmers, boaters, indigenous peoples, brick workers) and there will be some hands-on activities as well. We will need 3 or 4 parent volunteers to come with us (sorry, no toddlers please).We will be back at the school by 11:30 am. Guest Speaker In keeping with our learning theme, we will be welcoming a special guest speaker from GROWLS on Thursday, January 12 from 12:50 to 1:30 pm. Reports Report cards will be coming home on February 10th. Celebration of Learning Later this year in mid-March, we will be having a learning celebration. This is a chance for all parents/guardians to come to the classroom to have your child show you what they have been learning. You will also get a chance to help set some learning goals and meet with me to discuss your child’s progress. More information will be coming home following the report card in February. Learning support at Home In preparation for lifelong learning, please set a regular daily reading time with your child, if you have not done so already (just before bed is often a great time for this). Reading together and discussing things as you read is a fantastic way to support our overall learning at school. In math we continue to focus on patterns, sorting, puzzling, counting, predicting, number knowledge and formation. We will soon begin looking at addition and subtraction. Any such activity and play at home will support our learning at school. I enjoy working with you and your child. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or leave me a note in the back and forth folder or planner. Sincerely yours, Mrs. Kathy L. Gurr EXTRA! EXTRA! . . . DATES TO MARK ON YOUR CALENDAR Jan. 10 - Walking trip to Gabriola Museum Jan. 12 - GROWLS visit Jan 18 – Hot lunch Jan 26 – Bus safety lessons
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AuthorI am a teacher with over 25 years of teaching experience including all grades from kindergarten to grade seven. I am a Primary Specialist with a diverse educational background in Individualization, Learning Support, Behaviour Support and Home-Learning Support. Archives
May 2017
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