Ms. Gardner's Grade 1 - 2023 2024

  For the last few weeks, students in grade one have been working on building their throwing, kicking, and fair play skills through target games.  During our phys. ed classes, students have had the opportunity to participate in different target activities such as kicking and throwing a ball into a net, aiming for bowling pins with a variety of materials, and participating in a variety of centers and games.  Throwing a ball or beanbag overhand and underhand along with kicking a ball are all skills that can be practiced at home.   Learning Intentions: I can move my body and be active in all areas of my life  I can move safely in my space during different activities.  I can play fairly and be engaged in different physical activities.

In our class, we continue to build our understanding of letters and the relationship they have to the sound they most often make. We have been working on our regular routines each day during word work to learn more about specific letters. Over the past few weeks we have focused on Aa, Mm, Ss, Tt, Pp, Ff and Ii. This coming week we will also be working on Nn and then doing some review practise with the vowels A and I. In a very short time of time each day, we are able to do a variety of skills that are building our understanding of how to break apart words and blend them back together to be able to read and spell. In the last few weeks we have also been able to start to use whiteboards to write these words and then change one letter of the word to make a different sound. Ex. mat changed to sat. This is very exciting for us and we build our skills and confidence with these letters and sounds. We have also been practising how to print each of these letters properly in lower case s...

  October 10-13 The last 2 weeks in math have found us exploring and learning about representing numbers.  We have looked at a variety of materials and ways to do this.  At the end of this week, we started to explore ‘teen’ numbers and build our understanding of these numbers.  Below you will find a summary of the key ideas your child has been learning in mathematics from the past 2 weeks. You can use this summary as background as you support your child’s work. Some suggestions for simple activities you can do with your child are also included. Learning Intentions: I can represent quantities using words, numerals, objects or pictures.   I can begin to visualize quantities between 10 and 20 as groups or 10 and another quantity (ex. 13 is 10 and 3 more)  Representing Numbers With Materials Numbers can be shown in many ways. Each way usually shows something about the number. These linking cubes show that 7 is made up of 5 and 2. The counters on this 10-fr...

  For the last two weeks we have been learning about residential schools, the importance of Orange Shirt Day and recognizing the importance of Truth and Reconciliation.  We had the opportunity to participate virtually in an author's reading by David Robertson of “When We Were Alone”.  David spoke about his grandma's experience when she attended residential school and how when she arrived at school the things that made her special were taken from her.  Our students learned how children in residential schools wore uniforms, had their hair cut and were not allowed to speak their language or spend time with their families.  We also looked at the important work of Phyllis Wedstad, the author of Phyllis' Orange Shirt and the founder of Orange Shirt Day in Canada.  The actions of Phyllis, her courage and leadership further built our understanding of the Power of One individual to make and create change. Through reading books and discussions, students built their u...

In our school community we have been learning about Terry Fox, a Canadian Hero.  Our grade one community began this work by first looking at fictional superheroes, what defines a superhero, and what super powers each student would like to have.  We connected the idea of a superhero by learning about Terry’s life growing up as an average child in Canada and his ability to do great things.  Through stories and video, students learned about Terry’s life as a child, the discovery and his battle with cancer, and his goal to raise $1 for every Canadian to fund cancer research.  Students in our classroom community then focused on the contributions of Terry Fox and the power that one individual has to make a difference and create change for others. We identified hero characteristics that Terry Fox demonstrated and reflected on these in our writing journals as well as a visual journal page to document our understandings. We concluded our work by completing the Terry Fox run...

  In math this week, we continued to build on our counting skills. This week, we began looking at skip counting by 2s and 5s, and recognizing the patterns that are connected to this skill.  We listened to some math songs as well as read some books.  We also talked about different things that come in sets of 2s and 5s, like our eyes and feet and fingers.  We then used a 100s chart to notice the different counting patterns and practised counting with a friend.  These counting skills are something that we build and continue to work on throughout the first term and school year, but is an excellent skill that you can practise a few minutes each day or even in the car.   Learning Intentions:   I can count within 100, forward by 1s, starting at any number I can skip count to 100 by 5s and 10s, starting at 0 I can skip count to 20, forward by 2s, starting at 0  Upcoming this week: Tuesday - Terry Fox at 1:30  Thursday - Orange Shirt Day Fri...

This week in our grade one community we went out into our space of nature and used natural materials found on the land to create images connected to letters of the alphabet.  This will be added to our learning space for us to use as a reference for the rest of the year.  The next day, we went out to our outdoor learning space again, and looked for a tree that we would take on as our Class Pet.  This will be a tree that we will visit throughout the seasons, and watch as it changes.  We were able to come together to make a decision of one tree that will be our tree to watch.  On Wednesday we visited our tree again, and made observations and were word collectors, to describe what we noticed, using our senses.  We then shared and recorded these words together.  We completed our work near the end of the week by having a picture of our tree and adding some words to describe it, as well as colouring the picture to match what it looks like at the end of the su...