Mystery Readers

Thank you to all those who have signed up to come to our classroom and volunteer their time to read a Christmas story to the children. We have had a lot of fun, excitement, curious thinkers and learning opportunities about our parents.

Here are some pictures:

Home Completion

Our homes have been completed. We tested and tried all kinds of materials. We sprayed water, we blew, we shook. Here are the pictures of homes built by our genius home builders!

St. Emile House

 The Reindeer House

 Lightening Thunder

The Monster House

The Wonder House

Santa Clause House

The Brick House

Let the homes commence!

Home building has officially started and boy, is it ever hard to begin the process of building. First we had to discuss the types of homes, windows, doors and roofs there were. Then we had to plan the different materials we were going to use. After discussing with the groups and negotiating what was the best material to use, we collected to planned it out on paper.

Requirements for the homes are:

1. waterproof
2. windproof
3. has to have at least 2 window or more + a door
4. has a roof
5. must show group effort

We hope to construct for at least 2 weeks. Keep your eyes open for the finished product!

Here's a sneak peak of our hard construction workers:

Math Homework

Good Evening parents!

I will be sending home the October Math Package tomorrow. This package has been reviewed and marked, please go through the package with your child on things they need to correct, or complete.

The marking scheme looks like:
If the page has a big ''C'', then the page is correct and complete without any errors.
If there are circles on the page, then there needs to be correction (backward numbers, or incorrect answer)
If the front page still needs to be coloured, please complete that as well


October Math package must come back by November 20.

Thank You!

Mom's and Dad's,

Thank you for all your support on your child's celebration of learning. We've all had the opportunity to meet and have great conversations of your child. We couldn't do it without you guys.

Please remember that 2 Stars and a Wish is due on Tuesday.

I also forgot to put weekend webs into your child's mail box on Thursday. There will be no homework for the weekend!!!!

Student Led Conferences

Please Note:

There will be no school on Friday November 8 all day unless you have a student led appointment booked with me!


For families who may not know, but student led conferences will be run by your child. They will go through their portfolio with you, and show you their work. Please ask questions and compliment your child on their hard work. Although we work together on a lot of things, every child learns different. What may be easy for one student, may be hard for another. We learn at our own paces, and we strive to challenge ourselves. I will be rotating around each table to come chat with you and your child. During this time, please do not hesitate to ask me questions. I will talk to you about your child's progress, what we can do to make their learning more successful and take upon any requests you may have. Each appointment that I sit down with you may range between 5-10 minutes. Should we have more concerns, we may need to set up a separate appointment.

Please also take note that there will be a few other families at the same time slot.


Enjoy the EXTRA long weekend :)

Pumpkin Investigation

Take a look at our fun pumpkin investigation! We looked at so many things, boy oh boy was it fun!

We had some pretty good predictions of why pumpkins float or sink. Take a look at our thinking:

Tyson- Because the pumpkin is round
Manjit- The pumpkin is gooey and slimey
Ryan- The seeds make the pumpkin float
Taylor- The skin makes the pumpin float
Madison L. - Because its a pumpkin!
Evey- The inside of the pumpkin is light
Noah F- Because its big
Alexa -The outside of the pumpkin is slippery outside
Grayson- It's the top is open

We tested three pumpkins and all three pumpkins floated! I wonder why...

Math Apps

I did promise to provide you some great apps for math besides IXL. (I still recommend IXL as it covers all the outcomes from the curriculum.) These apps are specific to the topic, mostly addition. We will be covering addition more in January.

Todo Math
Moose: Free
Ice Math Ninja
Fetch! Lunch Rush
Teachley:Addimal Adventure

Another great site for reading, and phonics is: www.starfall.com

Social Studies and Science Inquiry: Homes

Based on the interest of the children, we have decided to expand our thinking and learning on homes! This month and November, we will be learning about the types of homes, the key features of homes, and who lives in homes. The best part about this is a building home challenge!

Students will need to build a home out of recycled materials of their choice. The requirements of the homes are: waterproof and windproof. I'm so excited by just the thought of it! I cannot wait until we actually start the building process... but wait! We have to do the planning job first. Please keep on checking our class blog for our future builders and their pictures. 

We do need some help though. We need to collect these following items to help us build:

1. scrap fabric (unwanted fabric that you may have)
2.  plastic (anything that is see-through and recyclable) 

Hot Lunch Day: Hot Dog Form

Our very first hot dog day is on Tuesday October 22. Grade 1 students will be coming home with an order form (not all classes do this!) tomorrow. Please fill out and return before/on hot dog day. 

Procedure for hot dog day will be different from Kindergarten. Staff will not be giving students their hot dogs/juice/baked goods. They will be given tickets for hot dog and juice, and money for their baked goods. The students are expected to exchange their ticket for a hot dog and a juice.

There is an option to purchase baked goods, but the students will be in charge of picking their own baking and holding their money at the time of selecting. Some products DO NOT guarantee peanut-free, especially if they are store bought. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I want to send out a grateful message to all our Grade 1 families! Thank you for the support you have given your child, the love for our staff and all the help you've provided us. 

I am not grateful for the bronchitis that I have, but I am grateful for all the love your children have given me while I was away. I hope to be back in normal mode after the long weekend. (fingers crossed!)

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Science: The Season of Fall

In science we have been working on what the season of fall is all about. We got to go on a leaf hunt, sort through our leaves, learn about why leaves lose their colour and make colourful fall leaves in art!



This is what Fall reminds us of:

• leaves fall
• close to winter
• leaves change colours
• starts to get gold
• Halloween
• Birthday
• flowers die
• rake leaves/ have fun in leaves
• drink hot drinks

We did an experiment on why leaves change colour where we took 2 foam cups filled with soil. We poked a few holes in the bottom and we put one cup in the freezer and the other cup in room temperature. The next day, we added a few drops of blue food colouring to water and poured water through both cups. What do you think happened to the water in the frozen cup? What about the room temperature cup?

• Manjit: Leaves can't be cold
• Tyson: different seasons, leaves change
• Alexa: leaves need healthy roots to live. In the fall, the temperatures become cold and the roots die
• Madison L/ Noah F.: Water, food, temperature needed for the leaf live
• Evey L: Health soil, healthy tree

We know that leaves lose their moisture and eventually they die off!

Well... after a few comments and some ideas stirring in the pot, here were our conclusions to why leaves change colours and eventually lose their colours.

Look at our fun jobs for the Season of Fall:

Spelling Begins!

Starting September 30, your child will be coming home with spelling words to practice. I will be sending home a homework checklist (found at the beginning of your purple spelling folder) of when to practice your spelling words. Words will be distributed on Monday's (or Tuesday if there is no school on Monday). Every Friday, the children will be doing spelling tests. Please prepare your child ahead of time for the test. Your child will get a reward sticker if they get 8/10 or more. It is expected that they complete their homework every week. All spelling booklets must stay in the purple folder.

Below is an attached picture of how Rainbow Spelling works:

1) Selected spelling word goes under "word"

2) Practice writing the "word" in pencil

3) Practice writing the "word" in any colour marker

4) Practice writing the "word" in pen

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please make sure all homework is done in pencil except Rainbow Spelling

Terry Fox Walk

On September 26, our school took part in the Terry Fox walk in remembrance of Terry Fox and to help raise awareness for cancer. All  money proceeds that we collected went to the Terry Fox Foundation and food proceeds went towards the food bank. Here is a picture of our fun adventure:

Science Homework/ IXL

Hi Parents,

I am sending home a sheet of paper that has to do with home schedule. We had some trouble figuring out what time we wake up and what time we go to bed. Please help us fill it in and return to school by Wednesday September 25.


IXL note with username and password will be going home today. Please find it in your child's black bag. Because they request the new teacher of each grade to change the password, do not use your password that Mrs. Patek provided you.

Feel free to email me should you have any questions.

ATTENTION At-home Volunteers

Thank you so much for being able to do some volunteer hours at home. This is what the final product should look like for the flash card sight words.

Mid-Autumn Festival

Yesterday we celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival (also known as moon festival) for the Chinese culture. As part of our Social Studies curriculum, we will be celebrating different cultural festivities. The children learned about moon cakes, different legends of the moon and made lanterns. Here is a few pictures of our fish lantern that we made.

Volunteer Forms

Volunteer forms are slowly trickling in to me! I will take a glance at them over the weekend. When I have received most of the forms, I will email you to let you know about your volunteer days! I hope to begin having helpers by October!

Ipad/Android Apps for ELA

Here is a list of good ELA apps that I have used with my previous students to work on spelling, sight words, phonics and alphabets. All my suggested apps are free, but there may be some apps that are available to purchase for the full edition.

Technology learning can be beneficial for some children, especially for those who find it hard to work with paper/ pencil. It does not however mean that I heavily focus on technology in the classroom, but it is an asset to a child's learning from home. Use learning on hand-held devices as an incentive, or as an alternative to engaging your child into learning. Even though we live in a fast paced world, we still rely on the beauty of using our hands to write. Enjoy! (Math apps to come soon)

Phonics:
Louie's Letter Challenge
Cimo Can Spell (lite)

Spelling:
Alphabet Car
Little Speller
Spelling Magic
Word Magic Lite
Magic Spell

Sight Words:
Read on Sight
Cimo Spelling Sight
Fry Words (Dolch Word List available for purchase)


Printing:
ABC Tracing
Kids Academy: ABC Alphabet
Pocket Phonics/ ABC lite
Alphabet Tracing

Scholastic Book Order

 

Dear Parent,

The best gift any parent can give a child is the love of good books and the joy and benefits of good reading. Children who read at home, or are read to, have a head start on reading success in school.

Our class is participating in Scholastic Book Club this year. Each month during the school year I will send home a Club flyer with a different selection of books offered. You’ll find award-winning books, as well as old and new favourites. I recommend them because the books span a wide range of children’s reading levels and interests and because they are inexpensive (some books cost $1.99).

It is easy to order. This month’s flyer is being sent home tomorrow. Just look over the flyer with your child, select the books you want, mark them on the order form on the back of the flyer, and return the order form to me with payment in cash or a cheque payable to Scholastic Canada Ltd. by September 23 . The books will arrive in about two weeks after I send the class order to Scholastic.

Owning your own books is something special! I hope that you will encourage your child to order books this year. Each order helps earn free books and teaching materials for our classroom, however there is never any obligation to order. I know of no better way to encourage reading than to allow children to choose the books they want to read.

Sincerely,

Ms. Liu

PS: For more information about the books in this offer, you can visit the Scholastic Book Clubs Web site at http://www.scholastic.ca/clubs. You will also find great activities and resources for you and your child.

Homework Reminder

Just a friendly reminder that Weekend Web's have been distributed for homework and are to be due every Monday. If you forgot to bring one home or lost it, here is a picture of what it looks like:

Welcome to Grade 1 (2013-2014)

Am I ever excited to work with this new group of kiddos! I can almost imagine how many fun things we'll do, the adventures we'll go on and the cool things we'll get to try out. 

Mom's and dads, please fill out the student information sheet and return to school as soon as possible. 

It's good to be back into routine and learning lots! 

2013-2014 Supply List

Grade 1 Supply List

Items that need labelling:

1 pair of indoor/gym shoes

1 paint smock

2 boxes of Kleenex

1 backpack (large enough to hold binders)

1 set of extra clothes: underwear, pants, t-shirt, and socks

1 bag with drawstring closure to hold extra clothes (to be left at school)

Items that DO NOT need labelling:

1 large Ziploc box

1 medium Ziploc box

1 small/sandwich Ziploc box

2 large bottles of white liquid glue

5 glue sticks

Please send $50.00 cash or cheque (made payable to St. Emile School) to cover agenda, art supplies, binders, pencils, scissors, markers, crayons, photo processing (and you name it!) that we will require throughout the school year. This money should be brought the first day of school and given to Ms. Liu.

Teacher: Ms. Priscilla Liu 

Canola Farm Field Trip/ Year End

How fun was the Canola Farm? Take a look at the pictures!

Welcome to Kelburn Farm!

 Getting a good feel of what Canola seeds are like

Crushing canola seeds to make oil

 Phew, after a long day of learning inside, we finally get to go outside.

 At the wetlands enjoying a floating dock... or Ms. Liu getting sick from motion sickness!

We had a blast! Thanks to all the parent volunteers. This field trip couldn't happen without you guys!

Year End Happenings

• I will be packing up the classroom very soon. You will notice that your child will be coming home with some things like: Term 2 work, Term 3 portfolio, remaining supplies that you purchased for your child, Journal, Phonics book, and a few duotangs. 
• Last day of school: School bag is to be brought to school in case your child has forgotten to bring something home. We will also be doing a farewell/ birthday party for the students who are leaving St. Emile School, and for the summer birthday kids. I kindly ask that parents don't bring anything that day. I will have treats provided for the students. 

Field Day

What a blast we had with Field Day today! We had lots of fun stations and a few great games of Tug-o-War. Without the help of the older grades, we wouldn't have made it so successful!

Just a reminder to all families. School is coming to an end soon, and its so bittersweet. Next week (June 10-15) will be the last week for spelling test and weekend writes. We'll be packing up and do some really fun activities and crafts to wind down.

June 18 is the class pizza party. Your child got to make their own pizza order. Do no bring a lunch that day! We will also be putting on a movie as that was their prize from me.

There was a change in a field trip. Grade 1s will not be participating in the "We Day" at West St. Paul. Unfortunately, the program is just not age appropriate. Instead of going, we will be watching Charlotte's Web in the morning and we'll go on a mini-field trip to get slurpees. I will send out more information closer to the date.

We are growing!

We've had some pretty interesting experiements in this growing classroom!

We took a mystery seed and planted them into a cup under different variables. Here are our varibles: no water, no air, no light and a controlled(gets water, sunlight and lots of love).

Which one do you think will grow faster?

 

 

 

We also planted some more mystery seeds in our own pots. We're testing to see which plant comes out first. The kids got to pick 1 out of 4 mystery seeds. The clues that I gave them to their seed was:

 

A: a plant that grows can be edible when it is fully grown

B: a totally random flower that I don't even know!

C: A pretty white flower

D: a plant that becomes a processed food product

 

Can you guess our plants?

 

 

Children's Museum

On Friday May 24, our class went on an adventurous excursion to the Children's Museum. We learned about what humans need and want to survive. We also got to find things that an owl ate by going through an owl pellet. Here is a sneak preview of our adventure:

What do we need to survive?

 Working together to build a bear's den

Group photo!

Future Spiderman?

Hmm... some really good construction workers

Self-Watering Pot

Self-watering Pot

Materials:

You will need 2 liter bottle, thick string or yarn (either cotton or poly seems to work), a screwdriver, hammer, and a sharp blade to cut the bottle.

 Cut the bottle in half

 Use a screwdriver and a hammer to punch a hole in the center of the bottle cap

Cut a length of yarn/string about 1'-1.5' long, double it over and tie a loop on one end.  

Thread the yarn/string through the hole in the bottle cap so that the knot is on the inside of the cap.  This will act as a wick, drawing water up from the basin below and into the soil.  The plant will take only what it needs, so the soil moisture will be perfectly regulated. 

Put the cap back on the bottle top and nest the top of the bottle in the base. As the plants grow and use up the water, you can just lift off the top to add more to the base instead of pouring it over the soil.  As the soil dries, water will be sucked up through the string into the pot. 

Please label your bottle with your name and bring it to class for May 21. We will plant the seed and put soil in when your bottle when it arrives to school!

Homework for Weekend

Each student will be going home with a Math Booklet 1 to complete on Friday May 10. I will be putting it in their blue homework folders. Please return homework for Monday May 13. Some will have a few pages to complete, some will have 1 page. We will be wrapping up single digit addition and move onto numbers that add up to 20 for the next 2 weeks.

Happy Mother's Day to all mom's, aunts and grandma's!!!

Book Report #2

This weeks book report is slightly different. The kids are fully in charge of knowing what to do and how to do it. They have to pick a hard book for mom and dad to read to them and they need to write down words they are unsure of.

Happy reading!!!

Due Date: May 10

Book Reports

We have officially launched off our book reports! Surprisingly, the kids were so excited to get more homework. Hmmm... they don't sound like kids!

Book reports are sent out every Monday and are to be returned on Friday. It is the students responsibilty to put them in the designated basket in the classroom. Students who bring book reports back to school the very next day completed will get a treat from me. We had 3 hardworkers complete it already! Good job Jack, Trisha and Joelle.

Learning Fair

Thank you to all the families who made it out to see the children's work. We worked hard at making our 3-D community map, podcast, and our class book happen. It was so exciting to see the unveiling this morning with all the work together. For those families who didn't get to make it out, here is a picture of our map:

Here is a link to our read aloud podcast:
https://soundcloud.com/pliu/abc-of-our-community


If you would like an actual digital copy of the read aloud, please email me at grade1@stemileschool.ca

Adventurous Virtual Field Trip

This week at school we have been preparing for Learning Fair. As a part our class contribution to the Learning Fair, we decided to go onto Google maps and find specific things in our community. We got to look at our school on an aerial view, and street view. I can't spill too many secrets, so that'll be it for now. You'll have to find out what else we're working on when you come to the Learning Fair on April 17 at 6:00-7:30 pm.

We also made a virtual field trip to Amaani's South Africa safari! Here's a sneak peek to what she was showing the class:

 

What do you see?

Artist in the School

Welcome back to an exciting last stretch of the school year.

We came back to school with a guest artist, Cameron Forbes. She taught the students how to prime a wood board, make a stencil, and make patterns with homemade stencils on the wood board. The students enjoyed the colour contrast of their painting, rolling paint and last but not least, getting to know the artist. Can you spot whose having fun?

Day 1:

 Day 3:

We all can't wait to see the final product! As a whole school, we will be adding our own special touches to them. The final product will be open to viewing on April 18 6:00 pm-7:00 pm during learning fair.