Merry Christmas!

We have had some great times in 1T over the last month.  Seussical, a Storyteller and P.J. and Milk and Cookie Day.  I hope you all have a Wonderful Christmas and I look forward to seeing 1T students back in 2014!

A Christmas Sing Song with our whole RBES Family.

Power of Ten!

This Week

We continue to focus on academics as much as possible this week.  Friday is the day we will take a break from routine and join the rest of the school for Pajama Day.  Period 4 in the morning (10:30) we will have a Christmas Sing Song and then in the afternoon we will have our cookies and milk and join some school friends for a movie.  Our plan is to have the Grade One Classes in the Music room for this.  It is a cozier setting and more conducive to enjoying a movie.  We have not settled on a movie yet so if you have a suggestion I welcome it.
                                 

Math Centres

Learning really is this fun!

Please excuse the mess; My students are busy learning!

I LOVE times like this when everything we have been working on comes together and there is a busy, happy hum in the classroom.  I take a moment to watch my students actively engaged, applying skills learned and working cooperatively.  I see them growing and maturing before my eyes.  At these times I am thankful for my work as a teacher and that I get to spend my days with these awesome little people!

Happy Birthday Keanna!

Sweet Six

Mmmmmm! Warm Gingerbread!

What a great morning! Thank you Mrs. Toogood, Mrs. Rowland and Mrs. Sparrow for helping to make our Christmas baking an enjoyable experience.  Next week I am looking forward to routine for four days and then Seussical on Friday!

Christmas Concert

A Star, a star, dancing in the night

With a tail as big as a kite

With a tail as big as a kite!

Christmas Fun

We continue to work hard doing our Reading, Writing and Math right through to December 20th and for Social Studies we are learning about Christmas Traditions from around the world.  This includes the tradition many families have of hanging stockings in the hopes Santa will leave some small toys and treats.  It is said that St. Nicholas, then a kindly Greek Bishop, felt sorry for a poor man whose three daughters could not marry because he had no gold for the dowries.  By night the Bishop dropped a purse of gold for the dowries down the man's chimney.  It landed, by chance, in one of the girl's stockings.  In those days stockings were often hung by the fire to dry.  In time, because of this legend, children began hanging up their stockings at Christmas, hoping to find them filled with treats. 1T students are picking up needle and yarn to hand stitch their own little stocking at school.  It is gratifying to watch them gain confidence and hear expressions like; "I'm really sewing " and "This isn't as hard as I thought it would be!"

Christmas Things

Concert

I look forward to seeing you at the Christmas Concert Wednesday, December 4^th.  The Concert starts at 7:00.  Students should arrive in the classroom between 6:45 and 6:50.  We do not have costumes for our number so your child can wear whatever you feel he/she would like.  It tends to get quite warm in the gym so I suggest not wearing heavy sweaters.

Help Needed

I am looking for some help for the following:

- preparing materials for a few crafts during the week of Dec. 2 – 6.

- baking gingerbread cookies on Friday Dec. 6^th from 9:10 to about 11:30.  We bake before recess and decorate after.

Numbers are Fun!

Students are really catching on to representing a number (set) in a variety of ways and generating algebraic expressions.  You should try it with your child!  It's fun.  Choose a number between 10 and 20 and ask your child to show you a few ways he/she could represent that number  (Of course they should have counters to work with).  Today we did the number 12.  Students generated more possibilities than we had time to write, but here are a few:
6+6
10+2
1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1
2+2+2+2+2+2
12+0 
10+10+4-2
10+10+4-2
13-1
4+4+4
3+3+3+3
5+5+1+1
7+5+1-1+1-1+1-1
12+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0 ...
Well, you can imagine how carried away they get when I'm the one doing the recording!  They get much better at grouping when they have to write it down.  Numbers are fun!

Happy Birthday Jessie!

Thanks for bringing in the treats Jessie! Have a great weekend!

The Spirit of Giving!

Way to go 1T!  Two children will have their spirits lifted because we worked together to do something good. It wasn't hard to do. Mrs. Legault is a great packer.  Thank you to those who contributed.  There were a few items we couldn't fit in which we will put in the Christmas Elves box.

The Final Product

This is our display of the Watercolours we did over the last two weeks.  I think the result is beautiful!

Practice Please

Following please find the lyrics to a song we will be singing at our Christmas Concert on December 4th.  Please have your child practice.  Thanks in advance!

Said the night wind to the little lamb

Do you see what I see?

Way up in the sky little lamb

Do you see what I see?

A star, a star

Dancing in the night

With a tail as big as a kite.

With a tail as big as a kite.

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy

Do you hear what I hear?

Ringing through the sky shepherd boy

Do you hear what I hear?

A song, a song

High above the trees

With a voice as big as the sea.

With a voice as big as the sea.

Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king

Do you know what I know?

In your palace large mighty king

Do you know what I know?

A child, a child

Shivers in the cold

Let us bring him silver and gold.

Let us bring him silver and gold.

Said the king to the people everywhere

Listen to what I say

Pray for peace people everywhere

Listen to what I say

The child, the child

Sleeping in the night

He will bring us goodness and light.

He will bring us goodness and light.

The Wonder of Watercolours

Painting can be a very satisfying and even relaxing activity; which it was last Friday.

We finished this project today with trying to create tree branches on the foreground by dropping black paint onto the page with an eye dropper and blowing it across the page with a straw.  Not quite as relaxing as part one!  Mr. Hanley deserves a big THANK YOU for pitching in!  By the way, they turned out great!

Happy Birthday Matthew!

We celebrated Matthew's birthday with some sweet little cupcakes and his sweet little sister too!  A nice end to a short but very busy week.   

Operation Christmas Child

Dear Parents,

Students in 1T will be participating in the charitable project Operation Christmas Child.  We will be packing two shoe boxes, one each for a boy and girl, with gifts.  These boxes will be sent to a child in need in another country; from Nicaragua to Mongolia and beyond.  I find physically packing the boxes in the classroom makes this a tangible experience for the students.  We will watch a few clips of children receiving similar boxes so students can see the excitement and joy their gift will bring to another child.

If you would like to participate please read the following.

You and your child choose one or two items from the list below to contribute and have them in by Wednesday, November 20^th.   We must have the boxes ready for Thursday, November 21, so that gives me Wednesday night to purchase anything that is needed.  If you would like to send a loonie to help pay for shipping that would be appreciated.  It is $7.00 per box for shipping.

Items to include:

School Supplies:  Items such as pencils, crayons, small note pads and picture books.

Hygiene Items: toothbrush, soap.

Toys and Other Gifts: small stuffed animals, small musical instruments, hair clips, toy jewelry, t-shirts, socks and candy (individually wrapped hard candy in a sealable bag)

Do Not Include:

Decks of standard playing cards

Food and any crumbly, chewy, soft candy including chewing gum.

used items

toothpaste

liquids or items that could break (mirrors, glass)

War related toys (toy guns, knives etc..)

Thanks in advance,

Mrs. Towne