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!