Welcome to Our Grade One Community!

Hi Everyone,

Welcome here! This space is a place we will return to many times throughout the year to celebrate your child’s learning, growth, achievements and adorableness (who are we kidding?). It is with great anticipation that I look forward to our first day of school and the many more days that we will have ahead together.

WARNING! This year is going to fly by and it will be packed with fun and new experiences for your child. One of the reasons why I have this space online is to bridge the home school connection. Often, our littles aren’t very good at telling us “what they learned in school today”. Take an opportunity on the weekends to sit down and scroll through the photos and have a meaningful conversation about their learning. Take the opportunity to ask less questions and see what kind of things they’d like to tell you. I will update the blog with mainly photos every Friday afternoon.

Another reason this space exists is to help keep you in the know. You will notice a green agenda in your child’s backpack which they are responsible for writing in. Sometimes the information we need to share is longer than they are able to write out in their agenda, so an earth-friendly way to share information has become the blog (bye, bye papers) – I know I have enough loose papers in my life!

Lastly, feel free to share this link with Grandmas or Grandpas or faraway loved ones who would like to be connected to your child’s life! Over the years I have received many messages from far away loved ones who enjoyed being able to stay connected to their family’s daily story.

I can’t wait to get to know you this year!

With love,

Mrs. Harris

The Start of April

Hi Everyone!

 

It is hard to believe we are entering into the last three months of Grade 1! Time sure flies when you are having fun.

The photos below are of some of our highlights from the past few weeks. We did our gymnastics unit, had a STEM challenge (build the a maze with Lego that took the longest time to solve), some outdoor school adventures, Purple Day celebrations, saying goodbye to our ED2500 student Mr. Diaz and trying out Kevin’s VR goggles!

Students are placed into new reading groups this month and their growth has been incredible! It is such an exciting time of the year and watching them grow and bloom never grows old.

We have a packed three months ahead and a lot of special events coming up. Please check out the monthly calendars in the agenda for opportunities to join us!

This coming week on Tuesday we will be going to see our Gr. 5 buddies in the Willy Wonka play at Wilson.

We will also be getting our groups for “Stores”. You might have heard rumors about our store project at home by now but what it is, is a partner project where the students will get a chance to design, create, market and build their own store. They will put together a physical location (usually made out of boxes) and have to hand-make products to sell (we like to narrow it down to one to two products). They can’t use anything already assembled and are encouraged to use found objects, recycling, natural objects and art supplies to create a product to sell (feel free to send things our way). They will go through everything from signage and marketing to pricing their products with the goal of making the most money on the official “STORE DAY”. Their products must be priced less than $1.00. On STORE DAY they will bring $5.00 change (in coins) and will have a chance to shop at each others stores. The store which makes the most money will be the most successful store, although the real success is the process (like most things). All of the money will be sent to a predetermined charity or cause (which the Gr. 1 students decide). This project exposes the students to a wide variety of skills including skip counting, numbers to 100, counting, money skills, partnership, cooperation, literacy, economics, marketing, communication, strategy, innovation, critical thinking, product design, applying multiple literacies and applying career and life skills. This is hands down one of my favorite things we will do this year. As the STORE DAY draws near, we will send out an invitation to invite you. At the moment it is looking like it will be sometime in early May. Feel free to begin to point out things at the stores you may visit with your little and start looking at money together!

How is the One School One Book project going? Any feedback so far?

Keep in touch,

Mrs. Harris

February – March 15!

Hi Families!

 

It was so wonderful to have you and your little ones come to our celebration of learning last night! It always amazes me how those little pockets of time can be so investing into them as individuals! Thank you for making room for that in your schedule.

You’ll see below some highlights from the past few weeks. From visiting hamsters, to toilet paper tube roller coasters, to floor hockey tournaments, to bum-tobogganing at outdoor school and field trips to the nature center we have had a wonderful winter together. This class is packed full of creativity and big personalities; they are so much fun!

It’s hard to believe we are looking ahead into the last three and a half months of school. We have some wonderful things coming up so please keep your eye on our monthly class calendar in the agendas.

Thanks so much for being a part of your child’s reading at home. Our class has been collecting MANY paper clips! If you have things you are noticing or any feedback from reading at home with your son/daughter please let me know!

We are looking to collect newspaper this week in our class. If you have any around the house please send it in!

Thanks again for all you do! Let’s keep in touch!

Mrs. Harris

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Peek at January

Hi Families!

 

This month we have been working on numbers to 100, skip counting, lots and lots of reading, looking at how animals survive the winter and doing lots and lots of reading work. Some students are still struggling with skip counting this year, so feel free to practice at home too! In Grade 1 we practice 2’s to 20, 5’s to 100 and 10’s to 100. You’d be surprised home many times a day you can practice counting (up and down while brushing teeth, waiting for the toaster to pop, etc).

Our beans were ready for us after we came back from Christmas, which was a really fun surprise. Everyone in the class tried at least one bite (which was very humorous in some cases). See pictures below for more cuteness!

 

Right now we are working hard in our reading groups and we have a variety of different types of reading taking place in our class. Some are working with partners independently with teacher check-ins, others are almost entirely independently doing novel studies and some work daily in small groups with teachers. It has been amazing to see such growth already this year. Expect to see something about home reading in the next two weeks. We are getting the students ready (both academically but also organizationally and responsibly) for home reading.

Tomorrow is our ‘Freezer STEM Challenge”. The class has been divided into partner groups to build a freezer that can insulate an ice cube for as long as possible. We have been studying ways that animals stay insulated in the wild and survive winter. Feel free to send in any recycling materials you have that we could use for tomorrow. I am really looking forward to watching them build their very own freezers.

 

A class supply we use frequently for word work is our individual play-doh sets. At this time of the year (every year) we ask for families to volunteer to make a few new batches for us, because our original sets have dried out. We need 19 personal can sized balls of play-doh to refill what we currently have. If your family could contribute in this way it would be much appreciated. Some have family loved recipes, but I tend to just have a quick browse online if you don’t have one on hand. Email me and let me know if this is something you would like to help out with.

Lastly, this week we enter into a new month. That means that some of the topics we are studying will shift, as well as we will have new events in our agenda calendar. We will be making our new calendars tomorrow, so please take time tomorrow after school to check out the new events. We will have quite a few special events this February. Valentine’s day does fall mid-week this year, so if your child would like to hand out invitations to their classmates we simply ask that they make one for everyone :). We will be having another special event that morning (see new calendar and then your own personal invite coming in the agenda this week) for more details.

Valentine’s Day Card Class List:

Girls:

Delina, Elisheva, Chloe, Faith, Isabella, Addison, Kimberly, Brooklyn and Hannah

Boys:

Oliver, Ben, Theodore, Owen, Mason, Zachary, Aaron, Kevin, Lucas and Nate

 

Talk soon!

Mrs. Harris

 

December FUN!

Hello Families,

 

I just wanted to share a little bit of the fun we have been having this month. There has been so many exciting events (daily) so it has been hard to capture it all, but here is a snap shot into our classroom.

We have moved word wall words so that we do our spelling sheet Wednesday morning and get our new words Wednesday afternoon. This gives you the weekend to work on reading and writing and playing with these words!

 

Here is a list of our COMPLETE word wall for the year. We are current on week 9 (45 words in)! Some parents had been wanting to see the whole list… so here it is!

 

Grade 1 Word Wall Words (in order by week, there are 5 words/week)!

These are the most common 150 words in print!

 

Can go the I is

A little to you an

Up come look and in

We said has not my

Went like play did who

Down jump had run back

Make ate going no big

Funny see it let was

His or as want new

From must at right with

They us find will by

Saw over help please what

This pretty do would me

Ran too came them boy

Are take for girl old

Your he say after well

Soon house long other because

Under so get she that

When of good away use

How eat be very got

Off called may round out

Only have am could but

Open if every been write

Were stop about on know

Ride put now ask there

Live yes walk think looked

First just her people where

All again our here many

Some him into their these

Once its then which before

 

This week we also said goodbye to our ED2500 practicum student Miss Haskins. She was such a gift to our classroom. Our Monday and Wednesday mornings will feel so strange without her!

I wanted to thank you all for the way you have supported our advent this year. So many of you reached out and wanted to offer your time or items towards our fun! Thanks again for being such a wonderful community!

 

We just wrapped up our first writing unit “Small Moment Stories”, so you will find your child’s writing work in their backpack! Enjoy reading their incredible work!

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Love,

Mrs. Harris

 

November 13-23!

Three Week Recap and HELLO NOVEMBER!

Hello Parents,

First of all, I am so sorry to be behind on our blog! I really can’t express how busy I have been over these past three weeks! My husband and I opened a new business, one of my close friends had surgery and her family has needed lots of support and teachers have been working on assessments and report cards! It’s been very full, but life seems to be finding a new rhythm now (phew)!

Life in Grade 1 has been wonderful! It seems like we have all settled into routines and it’s a time where relationships really start to deepen. I am really enjoying this group of students.

We’ve started our adding and subtracting unit in Math, which is so much fun! We’ve done mini reading assessments to see what “good fit books” should be in our book boxes. We won’t start home reading yet, but we are going to be working on shared reading, guided reading and reading strategies at school. This group has really impressed me with their enthusiasm for reading and writing so far this year. I am so thrilled about that!

Our last STEM challenge was very fun! We read the Three Billy Goats Gruff and the students had to make a bridge strong enough to hold three goats and long enough to span 30 cm. I have never seen a group with such a high success rate. They also made their bridges in record time! They are so creative!

I am really looking forward to our chance to sit down together over parent teacher interviews on November 23rd! Please call the office and book your appointments. It is such a valuable time to meet and discuss your child.

Also, I only have 5 parent volunteer forms back (Oliver, Faith, Theo, Isabella and Zach). So if you are hoping to join us this year, you will need to have that filled out. Need a new form? Stop in to see Mrs. Harmon at the office.

As for this week, we are off to Outdoor School on Tuesday (feel free to join us), we will be starting our class garden (shhhhh, the students don’t know yet) :), and we have crazy hair day as a school on Friday!

I hope your long weekend is full of rest and fun! Let’s keep in touch!

With love,

Mrs. Harris

A Short Week in October

This week at the wetlands the highlight was definitely seeing our local Blackfoot (and youtuber) elder Ryan Heavyhead! We had just watched his recent video on a sick coyote that was at the wetlands. We were eager to see if the coyote was still there! Instead we found Ryan, also there checking on the coyote! Unfortunately a select few of Ryan’s videos do have swear words, so if your child is hoping to look them up make sure you screen them before hand (I didn’t realize that until I watched a lot of them the other night – it was pretty disappointing). 
Have a wonderful long weekend and see you Monday!

Love,

Mrs. Harris

October 2 – 13

Hi Everyone,

We have had a lot of packed full days here in Grade 1! We have been working on digraphs this week (two letters together that make one sound). We looked at “sh”, “th”, “ch”. See if you can find some things around the house that make that sound!

As you know there was no spelling sheet this Friday. We do a big 15 word spelling sheet next Wednesday. Keep practicing these words at home over the weekend and next week!

The belonging artifacts have been wonderful! Thank you for having your child prepared for their sharing day.

Next week we have:

Monday: Isabella (artifact show and share) Oliver’s school birthday!

Tuesday: Owen (artifact show and share), picture day and Outdoor School at the wetlands! If your child’s picture day clothes are not Outdoor School appropriate please send a change of play clothes and we will make sure they switch out their clothes before recess!

Wednesday: Mason and Zachary (artifact show and shares)

NO SCHOOL – Thursday and Friday!

Thank you all for your support and communication over the past weeks (and for being patient with me)! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns and feel free to join in on our field trip next week! Let me know by email if you can make it!

Mrs. Harris

 

End of September!

Hi Parents!

It can’t believe we are at the end of September! Where has the time gone? We are wrapping up our patterning unit and we have started our word wall words. We’ve been doing lots of reading (and we’ve been working hard on our pre-reading skills). We have also had a practicum student join us starting this Monday from the University of Lethbridge. Her name is Miss. Haskins and she has been doing a wonderful job so far in our classrooms on Monday and Wednesday mornings! It was incredible to get out the coulees this week – what a gorgeous day we had for our hike! Thanks for those who made it out with us! Overall, this has been a fantastic week!

Next week:

We are starting our BELONGING ARTIFACT SHOW AND SHARE! Students will bring in an “artifact” (tangible item) that is important to them that shows the sense of belonging to a community.  It could  be a soccer jersey, dance costume, certificate for the completion of something, an item that represents their unique family or heritage OR something completely creative. The student sharing will be expected to give details and information to their peers about the artifact and how that artifact symbolizes their belonging.  They will have 5 minutes or less to share and they should be able to answer basic questions.  

As part of our Social Studies curriculum we look at belonging and areas that we belong. We specifically address in this unit:

Value self and others as unique individuals in relation to their world:

• Appreciate how belonging to groups and communities enriches an individual’s identity
• Appreciate multiple points of view, languages, cultures and experiences within their groups and communities
• Demonstrate respect for their individual rights and the rights of others
• Recognize and respect how the needs of others may be different from their own

Below you find your child’s day for their show and share. Thank you for helping them select something and preparing them to speak about that item.

Monday October 2nd: Oliver     Tuesday October 3rd: Ben

Wednesday October 4th: Adriena    Thursday October 5th: Delina

Friday October 6th: Elisheva       Wednesday October 11th: Chloe

Thursday October 12th: Faith     Friday October 13th: Theodore

Monday October 16th: Isabella   Tuesday October 17th: Owen

Wednesday October 18th: Mason    Thursday October 19th: Zach

Monday October 23rd: Addison and Kim    Tuesday October 24th: Kevin and Aaron

Wednesday October 25th: Lucas and Brooklyn

Thursday October 26th: Hannah and Nate

—————————————————————————————————————

***THANK YOU for sending agendas back and forth. If you lose yours and you really can’t find it again, please let me know. Also, these duo-tangs need to last the whole year so please help your child place it in their backpack in a manner that it doesn’t get wrecked (I am trying on my end :)) – some are already looking pretty rough.

MONDAY THIS WEEK: check agendas for the new (student made) October at a glance calendar and the 5 new spelling words. A word wall reading game (orange) will also be sent home Monday for you to enjoy at home!

TUESDAY THIS WEEK: We head to Outdoor School at Gyro park with the Gr. 1/2’s for a pattern leaf celebration from 10:40 – 12:00. Feel free to come and join us!

Content we start covering this week: Numbers 1-20, long vowel sounds, wrapping up ‘Kids in the Know’ program, God’s rescue of the Israelites and the start of our year long study of Yellowstone National Park through the seasons. We look at this place because it has a very similar landscape and geography to us and I have an awesome video series that leads to amazing discussions and critical thinking!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs. Harris

 

What is that, you are wondering? Just a grasshopper!

September 18 – 22

Check out some highlights of the week below! We have started reading buddies, reading to self (ask your child if they remember the three ways to read a book), and our book boxes! We also did our first STEM challenge and wow, did they ever do a great job! They learned about how to work well in a team and came up with some pretty impressive tinfoil tower designs!

These kiddos are growing in responsibility and are working super hard! We are still working through the routines but overall they are doing an AWESOME job in Gr. 1! Take some time this weekend to celebrate your little and tell them what a superstar they are! 

Next week:

Thank you for helping your child get organized with their agenda. I’ve noticed most are remembering.  It is important that they have their agenda each day, as we do our printing work in there! 

We are almost done our letter sound reviews (although we work on this all year). Next week on Monday we start our first word wall words. There will be 5 words a week that we will be practicing to read and write and then we have a spelling sheet on Friday. This is NOT a test but we work hard to take it seriously as a way to see what we know. Most children need to also practice these daily at home as well (3-5 min per day).  We will cover the most common 150 words in print this year and READING these words is actually the bigger priority! I will give you lots of ways and ideas for fun practice at home along the way!