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Mrs. Beausoleil´s Class
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LANGUAGE ARTS Many of the children are well on their way to becoming independent readers! Yet it is important to remember that they still need stories read to them, and still will for many years. This acts as a model for good expression and fluency. It also builds an appreciation for reading, and will help your child become a lifelong reader. For those children who are not yet at this level, please continue to work with them at their level, gently nudging them onto the next. Don’t forget - all children need encouragement to think about the stories they read in order to increase their comprehension levels, as reading without understanding is meaningless. When your child is reading a story, encourage them to listen to what they read to make sure it makes sense. Continue to stress the importance of all “reading strategies” (ziploc bag and duotang) with your child and encourage him or her to use them, as well as the development of thinking skills and opinions. With spring and daylight-saving time comes longer and warmer days, a welcome addition to the season. At this time of year it’s very important to keep up the routine of daily reading practice so your child can strengthen his or her reading skills. This final term is very important for your child, determining placement for September. As a class, we have talked about how reading is important in our lives and how it is important for all people to read daily (even if no “homework” is sent home). Some of the children have asked why they take their red duotang home every night. It is so they can read familiar materials and review pages. Children actually learn more about reading when they read materials considered “easy” than with materials difficult for them. We continue to study the short vowel sounds o (as in on, off) and u (up), as well as the L and R blends (bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl and br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr). The children should be able to “blend” or “sound out” simple short vowel words, as well as be able to spell them. Emphasis this term will also be on printing complete sentences, especially in their story writing. It is expected that the children know to begin a sentence with a capital letter and end it with a period. They also are expected to know that names begin with a capital letter. Discussing this as they read or write stories will help them to see that this is a part of our English language, not just something that is taught at school. MATH Please keep presenting your child with situations that they have to solve with mathematical thinking. Group pennies, noodles, crayons, etc. by tens to help them visualize why we have two-digit numbers (ex. 29, 64). Count by the various patterns (1’s, 2’s, 5’s, 10’s) during the commercials to see how high they can get (past 100 may need your help!). Have your child do the first cut of pies, cakes, donuts, sandwiches, etc. to show 1/2 and then 1/4. They think 1/4 is bigger because 4 is a bigger number! Your help with this is most appreciated! We are working on three-dimensional shapes. Understanding the difference between 3-D and 2-D can be very confusing.Count by various patterns (1’s, 2’s, 5’s, 10’s) to see how high they can get. CLASSROOM NEWS The grade one classes are planning our year-end field trip for Wednesday June 6. We will be travelling by bus to Point Pelee for the day. Details will follow as they are finalized. Parents are welcome to join us! Just a few more thoughts - a) Please continue to check your child’s hair on a regular basis for nits and head lice, and let the school know if you find anything. Early detection alleviates many problems. b) MANY children are in need of pencils, erasers and colouring tools. Please check with your child. c) Some of the children need their ziploc bags taped across the bottom, or you may replace them with new ziploc bags. Thank you for your continued support! LANGUAGE ARTS We continue to work on building reading skills. It is important that the children not only concentrate on individual words and sounds, but also to listen to the context of the whole sentence and story. They need to understand that all that they read should make sense! At various rates, most of the children are building a sight word reading vocabulary. These are our word wall words and any words that they can read from memory. Discussing and retelling stories (with the book closed) they read at home helps to develop thinking and comprehension skills. You may find that on your child’s report card there is a reference to your child using reading strategies to help him/her figure out unknown words. These reading strategies are listed on the first page of your child’s reading duotang. In writing class, the students are learning how to write narrative stories - make-believe stories with a problem and a solution. In Phonics, we are studying the short vowel “i” (it, is, ing), and are continuing with the digraphs “ch, th, sh, wh.” MATH We continue to follow the Nelson Math program and will continue to study numbers to 100, with emphasis on realizing that a two-digit number is a code that means there are enough things to make groups of ten with extra ones left over. For example, 74 means there would be enough things to make 7 groups or bundles of ten things, with 4 things left over. We will also be finding number patterns in a numbers to 100 chart (ex. 10, 20, 30, 40,…). Information is placed in your child’s Math duotang at the beginning of each unit of study. CLASSROOM NEWS It’s hard to believe that the March Break has come and gone, and we are now into our final stretch of grade one. Your children continue to amaze me as they mature academically and socially! We have a wonderful class!Now that spring is here, you may wish to send your child with splash pants to school. They are a great way to keep your child’s school clothes clean, as well as they provide some warmth on those muddy but cool early spring days. Please don’t forget to check your child’s hair for nits and lice on a regular basis. Many children have run out of pencils, erasers, colouring pencils, wax crayons, and glue. Please send a fresh supply of any of these items if your child needs them. We also could use more boxes of Kleenex as we are running low on our supply. Thanks for helping your child to participate in all of our School Spirit days. Happy Spring to all! “100 DAY” Monday, February 13 is the 100th day that the children will have attended school this school year. We will be celebrating “100 Day” with various activities about the number concept of 100. I am asking that each child bring in a set of 100 small objects (buttons, toothpicks, dry beans, dry noodles, etc.) so that we can investigate these sets of 100 by grouping them into tens, then fives, counting them, and discovering much about what makes 100! For this activity it would be best if the objects will NOT roll or break apart into smaller pieces (ex. NOT marbles, beads, crackers, cereal). VALENTINE’S DAY Our class will be exchanging our valentines on Tuesday, February 14 in the afternoon. This is an optional activity. I have sent a list of names home with the children for them to complete their own valentines. If it has been misplaced, please let me know. If possible, please have your child wear red, white or pink for this day! If you choose to send treats, they must be pre-packaged with a manufacturer’s “peanut free” symbol on them, in respect of our “nut-safe” policy at our school. Any treats without the peanut free symbol will be sent home, according to school policy. Also, for this reason, homemade treats will be sent back home. LANGUAGE ARTS The children are developing their reading skills by using phonics, picture clues and words that make sense, when decoding unfamiliar words. Please DO NOT stress sounding out the word - it is not the best reading strategy. When reading stories with your child, you may wish to look for: endings (s, ed, ing), compound words (snowman), root words (sing-ing), and some contractions (’s, n’t). Discuss stories they read to you, and ask many types of questions including ones where your child will have to gather the information from the story and formulate an answer or opinion. It is wise to encourage this deeper level of thinking, even at this young age! It is also very important to have your child retell the story (with the book closed). All of the events, important details, and characters should be included in the retell. Some children are able to read stories very well, but have difficulty retelling the story with the book closed. “Remembering and gaining information is the very reason for reading.” We have quite a few students reading regularly at home, with these books and stories being recorded on their home reading program book lists. Many children are close to or over 100 books, with a few students over 200! Keep reading at home, and don’t forget to record the titles on the book list! All of the children’s writing skills are improving. Keep encouraging them to write messages, notes, lists, stories, cards, etc. at home. Have them read what they have written so they realize the importance of legibility and spacing of words. Our focus in February and March will be on writing narrative stories. In Phonics, we will continue to study consonants, as well as the short vowel i (as in - it, is, in). We will then learn about the consonant blends “bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl”, short vowel o (as in - on, off), and the blends “br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr.” Phonetic reading pages will be added to your child’s phonics/word study duotang, as they will continue learning to “blend” sounds to help them spell and read chunks of words phonetically. Just remember that this approach only works for a limited number of English words, but is an important skill to learn. MATH We continue to follow the Nelson Math program. Please read the letters sent home at the beginning of most of the study units in order that you may be able to focus on what we are studying as you help your child at home. At home please challenge your child with stories involving numbers, and have him or her determine if it is a situation involving addition or subtraction, and what the answer is. Please also continue practising addition and subtraction facts with your child. We will also be studying two dimensional shapes. Finding and identifying 2-D shapes in the environment is a challenging activity, both at school and at home. Remember, 2-D shapes are flat! We continue to study the number system to 100 and counting patterns by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s to 100. Emphasis will be placed on what each two-digit number means, grouping tens and ones, and being able to print single two-digit numbers from memory. COMMUNICATION CALENDARS Our Communication calendars seem to be working well. The children are learning self-discipline which is crucial if your child is to progress to his/her academic potential. It’s wonderful to be able to reward them for such hard work. Please check the calendar and their duotang (for correspondence) on a daily basis. The children need to realize that the home-school connection is very important and that we are working together for their benefit. At school I stress that the children are ultimately responsible for everything they do, and therefore they need to make good decisions before they act. CLASSROOM NEWS * Please continue to check with your child to see if he or she needs any pencils, erasers, glue or colouring tools. * Please continue to check your child’s hair for head lice and nits. Happy Valentine’s Day! HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! I hope all of you had an enjoyable holiday season! We seem to have settled back into our routines, and the next six months will be full of wonderful changes for your child. You will be amazed in June at how much your child has learned in one year! LANGUAGE ARTS / MATH As the children advance in their reading, they should be using more sounds to read, as well as the other reading strategies listed in the front of their Reading duotang and Ziploc bags. When reading a story at home, have your child retell it in his/her own words afterward with the book closed. This is an excellent way of knowing whether or not your child understands the story. Try to have your child relate the story to something in their own life, another story, or the world around them. By asking higher level thinking questions, you are helping to develop your child’s thinking skills and to go beyond just knowing the basic facts. I am sending you a page with ideas for these types of questions. It is also important to have your child reread the pages in his/her Reading duotang more than once. Through drill and repetition, skills will develop. Review reading older pages as well. In Phonics, we continue to study consonant sounds. The short vowel e (as in - bed, egg) has been introduced, and we will soon study the short vowel i (as in - it, in). Beginning and final sounds are stressed when spelling. Most children are able to independently hear and record middle consonant sounds also. We have studied the endings s, ed and ing. Looking for these in stories is a reinforcing activity. You may wish to discuss the root word before the ending was added and find compound words made from two words (ex. snowman). We continue to follow the Nelson Math program, with a letter sent home at the beginning of each unit. We will study subtraction next, which is a very difficult concept for the children to grasp. Also, many of them continue to need extra practice with reading and writing individual two-digit numbers, ex. 37, 21, 15. CLASSROOM NEWS Thanks to all of the parents, and friends who helped out with the crafts we made for Christmas. Hopefully you were pleased when you opened your present Christmas morning! A reminder to sign the back of the last page in all duotangs ONLY if your child has read pages from their Reading or Word Study duotang, or if you have discussed their work/topic with them for all other duotangs. Thank you for replenishing your child’s school supplies. Please continue to regularly check with your child to see if they need any pencils, erasers, glue, etc. They do use them up rather quickly. We continue to stress proper nutrition during our Nutrition Breaks. Thank you for ensuring that your child has many healthy foods to choose from. It is very important to continue to check your child’s hair for nits and/or lice. Please remember to keep an extra pair of mittens and socks in your child’s school bag at this time of year! Also, please remember to have your child’s name or initials on all of their winter wear. We have already had mix-ups with boots and snowpants, and having names/initials in them helps us to solve the problem quickly, as many pair look very similar! Thank you for your continued support! LANGUAGE ARTS / MATH Our daily study of reading, phonics and word study has had quite an effect on the children. We have many budding readers and writers! Your help in reading with them at home has been invaluable. Remember - keep it enjoyable and never frustrating! Work at your child’s level! Make reading Christmas stories a part of your family traditions - what wonderful memories your child will have! We will be reading and singing Christmas poems and songs during our Shared Reading time. They will be in the children’s reading duotangs to share at night. Many are beyond your child’s independent reading vocabulary - just keep it fun and festive! In our phonics program, we continue to study consonant sounds, and are studying the short e (as in red, egg) sound. Please continue to have your child practice the newest word wall list each night until your child knows all the words perfectly, and can read them with ease out of order. I often make reference to the many reading strategies necessary for independent reading. These strategies are listed on the front pages of your child’s reading duotang as well as in the pages in her/her ziploc bag. I also may have made reference to retelling. This comprehension skill is where after a story is read, the book is closed and the child retells the story in as much detail as possible. Also, discuss who was in the story, where it took place, and the events that happened. Ask for their opinion and give reasons for things in the story. All of these comprehension skills are important to develop so that in the future your child will have the skills necessary to retain information read in textbooks, etc. At home, remember to include Math concepts into questions you ask your child as you are busy preparing for Christmas together. At the current time, stories involving measurement, and addition and subtraction would be great! CLASSROOM NEWS Our class is getting very excited that Christmas is coming soon! I am amazed at how much your children have progressed since September. Grade One is such a special year and we have a wonderful class which makes it even more special! With the arrival of cold snowy weather it is always a good idea for the children to have an extra pair of mittens and socks tucked away in their school bags. Please put their name or initials on all belongings they bring or wear to school, including boots. We already have had a mix-up due to a pair of snow pants not being labeled. With winter hat weather comes the ongoing concern with head lice. Please check your child’s hair regularly for lice and/or nits. On Monday, December 19 we will be having a “Christmas Craft Morning” starting after Christmas Carolling at approximately 10-10:15. I will need several adults to help make Christmas decorations with the children as we will be working with glue guns, metal cutters, etc. Please send a note as soon as possible if you are able to come and help. We will be making crafts with small groups of about 4 children. I plan to be finished by 12:30 at the latest. On Tuesday, December 20, please send an empty shoe box, cereal box, or something similar, so that your child can bring his or her Christmas ornaments home without them becoming broken. Tissue paper for inside the box would help lessen the chance of breakage during the transport home. Please send tape and a piece of Christmas wrapping paper (pre-cut for the box would help a lot) to wrap up the box. We will be wrapping our “gift” with the help of older students. We will be singing a Christmas song with Mrs. Marshall’s class during our Christmas Carolling on Friday December 23 at 9:25. Any parents able to come are welcome. Please come for 9:20 to the new gym. On Friday, December 23, the last day before Christmas holidays, I will send home the children’s indoor/gym shoes. Please check them for size and quality, and send them back on Monday, January 9. If you need to purchase a new pair, please keep in mind our school’s light-soles policy. Also, Velcro, zipper or pull-on shoes are recommended until your child is able to tie shoes independently and tightly. Most grade one children have a hard time lacing shoes three times each day, and it ends up a safety issue for that child. Many children continue to run out of pencils, erasers, and colouring tools. I will send home their pencil cases on December 23 so you can check with your child to see what he or she may need. Please replenish and send back on January 9. Christmas ideas may be: pencil crayons (Laurentian, not any made in China), wax crayons (24 maximum), white liquid school glue, erasers, pencils (again, not any made in Thank you, and MERRY CHRISTMAS! LANGUAGE ARTS / MATH We are continuing to work on tracking skills and getting a feel of the “rhythm” of the English language. Both are extremely important in setting a firm foundation for success and future enjoyment of reading. Important points to stress with your child should include: 1. Reading has to make sense. 2. We read to get information. As your child’s sight word vocabulary continues to expand, emphasize that they check to make sure that they are pointing to the correct word as it is being said. When a page has been read, ask them to point out specific words or sounds. Ask them questions about the stories they read. Retelling a story (with the book closed) is an especially important skill for your child to learn. Our main focus in word study continues to be consonant sounds along with the short vowel “a”, as in “a” or “an”. Most children are trying to use the sounds they know when spelling words as they write stories. They are beginning to place periods at the end of sentences and learning that sentences start with capital letters. We are also stressing the use of lower case letters! We continue to work on our school board’s focus on the forms of writing. We have completed Recount Writing and will begin Persuasive Writing soon. The children will be writing make-believe stories with problems and solutions. We already have some budding readers in our class, and many have already received their first certificate for reading 25 stories or more at home! The sheet for recording stories read at home continues to be in your child’s Ziploc bag (which goes home every few days), and any story read at home in order to develop your child’s reading skills may be recorded. You can keep track of stories you read at home to add to the list when it comes home. A certificate is awarded for every 25 stories read, and your child’s name is added to our “25 Story Reading Club Bookworm” in the hallway. Hopefully, this month all the children will reach and surpass the 25 story mark. If your child’s bag has been damaged or misplaced, please replace it for him/her. Please continue to have your child read a few pages from his/her reading duotang each night. Regular practice of the word wall page is important until your child knows the words perfectly and can read them with ease. You can make “flash cards” of these words, along with some with pictures. With these cards, your child can manipulate them to make sentences. (ex. The big is yellow.) In Math I will continue to place a letter in your child’s Math duotang at the beginning of each new unit describing what we will be studying and giving suggestions for you to use at home. CLASSROOM NEWS * Some of the children have been bringing in toys from home. As I mentioned in September, I am requesting that toys be left at home, since many problems arise from toys being at school. We have had toys misplaced, taken, played with in class, etc. - all of which take away from the children’s learning time. Sports equipment for outside play is welcome. * Soon it will be cold weather. Please make sure your child’s name or initials are inside boots, coats, etc. * Please continue to check your child’s hair for head lice and nits. * Each morning at the first nutrition break, the children choose snacks that come from the food groups. The provincial curriculum for Healthy Living states that in grade one and two the children should be able to identify and give examples of foods from the four food groups, as well as be able to choose healthy snacks. We are using Canada’s Food Guide as a guideline in which dessert type treats (cookies, cake, pie, brownies, etc.), candy and “junk food” are not considered part of any food group. We save these treats for dessert at lunch break (when their blood sugar levels are lower!). * Please check with your child to see if he/she has enough pencils, erasers, and a full set of wax/pencil crayons at school, and send what they need. Many children are in need of these things. We are busily working towards the end of the first term of Grade One. I am amazed at how much the children have progressed since September! We have a wonderful group of children, and as parents you should be very proud of them! If at any time you would like to discuss their child’s progress, please contact me by note or phone and we can set up an interview. It’s always best to address concerns as they arise. I truly appreciate all the support and guidance you have given your child in helping them with their homework each night. Your child will truly benefit from this commitment. It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving has already come and gone! The children are settling nicely into our classroom routines, and we are all working hard. They are so anxious to learn. Each child in our class is a unique and special person and I am enjoying getting to know each of them! LANGUAGE ARTS In September, we concentrated on these three rules for reading: 1. Look at the words. 2. Stay still. 3. Think about what you are reading. We also concentrated on the left to right direction of words and sentences, and that reading has to make sense. The children are being exposed to many basic words through meaningful stories with much repetition. Finger tracking word for word of familiar songs and poems is important in the beginning reading process. We are beginning the Guided Reading component of our language program. Children will be divided into flexible groups where they will be reading stories at an appropriate level for them to best learn and practise reading strategies and retelling skills (comprehension). Their Ziploc reading bags will be sent home most every night. The reading bags may contain a book from the guided reading lesson or a book they have chosen during independent reading. Therefore they are books that should be easier for them to read - 85% of what a child learns about reading is from books that are “easy” books for them to read! It is a good idea to discuss your child’s reading homework with them before you have them read it to you (or with you). This helps them to have an idea of what the story, song, or poem is about, and it will be easier to decode all those new words. Doing a “picture walk” before a story is read, where you discuss all the pictures using special vocabulary words from the story and build a story from the pictures, is very helpful. Once read, retelling a story with the book closed is a very important skill that could be practiced with stories that your child has read, as well as with “read together / read to child” stories. Please record the homework books on your child’s reading log in their Ziploc reading bag. You may also include other books from home on this log, AS LONG AS you have used the story to help your child develop any reading skills. Keep track at home of these stories so that you may add the titles to your child’s list when the Ziploc bag does come home every few nights. The book, list, and bag need to be returned each day. We already have a few children who have read or helped read 25, 50 and even 100 stories! Each time your child reads 25 stories, your child gets a certificate and their name is added to our “Bookworm” display in the hallway. In our word study lessons, we have reviewed rhyming words and are now studying beginning sounds. Encourage your child to listen for beginning sounds (the “popper”) and have your child point out and find sounds at the beginning of words. Sounding out words is NOT an efficient reading strategy for beginning readers. It is better to look at just the first sound (the “popper”) and incorporate other reading strategies, at the same time. These are listed in the reading duotang and Ziploc bag. The children are also learning actions to go along with each letter sound we study. This kinesthetic learning approach will help them not only in their reading but also in their spelling. It is a good idea for parents to learn these actions also, as you will be able to use them when helping your child. For example, when your child is stuck while reading, you can point to the first letter and make the action. Chances are your child will then know the beginning sound. Also, when your child wants to know how to spell a word, you can break it down into sounds and make the actions at the same time, which helps your child to better recall the proper letter for the sound. This phonemic awareness is a crucial step to good reading and good spelling - being able to break down a word into its sounds. Knowing the SOUNDS of the letters is more important for reading and spelling than knowing the names of the letters. In writing, we are now beginning to write “Recount Stories”. Children will get a chance to write a story about something that they have done. We continue to work on developing our stories with a beginning, middle and end. Children are encouraged to think about or plan their stories first and then write one sentence at a time first using one “magic line” to represent each word. (ex. ____ ______ ______. ) This helps beginning writers to put spaces between words. We then encourage the children to correctly spell words that they can copy from the “Word Wall” or that are on charts around the room. They are then encouraged to use their phonetic spelling (we call it grade one spelling) to put the sounds they hear in the other words. (ex. I lv you . ) MATH In Math, we have learned to identify, create and extend patterns. We are learning about the concept of more, less and equal sets. We are now studying numbers to 30 - reading, writing, and understanding what each means (tens and ones). The Nelson Math program is used in our school board from Kindergarten to Grade 8. I will be sending a letter home in the Math duotang at the beginning of every new unit, discussing the topic as well as how you can help your child at home to better understand the math concepts for the unit. CLASSROOM NEWS Our three rules for attentive listening are: 1. Look at the person. 2. Stay still. 3. Think about what you hear. You may wish to use these at home! ***** I remind the children daily that it is their responsibility and part of their homework to make sure that they have their PARENTS SIGN THE BACK OF THE LAST PAGE OF EVERY HOMEWORK DUOTANG. This is the easiest way you can communicate to me that you have reviewed new and old material with your child each day. Babysitters, grandparents, or much older siblings could also sign the homework books if they did the homework with your child. If there is no new work in a duotang (especially reading), just re-initial the back of the last page indicating that you have reviewed a few of the pages. At times you may notice comments such as “with teacher’s help” or “with assistance” on your child’s work. This is to indicate to you that your child is experiencing difficulty in this area and that extra help at home would be beneficial. We continue to be a “nut-aware” school and require peanut/nut-free lunches and snacks, which includes foods which state “may contain traces of nuts.” Please check the list of ingredients before sending any food. Thank you to all for respecting this most important practice. Please also ensure that your child has at least two nutritious snacks for morning snack time at 11:15, as lunch time is not until 1:35. Two drinks or one large re-closable drink should be sent to cover the two eating breaks. Oranges need to be peeled or sliced at home. Please continue to check your child’s hair for head lice and nits. Questions have been raised as to what is appropriate to send for prizes for our “Class Store.” Here are some ideas - jewelry, barrettes, wrapped candy, pencils, erasers, sticker sets, prizes from restaurants (ex. McDonalds), little toys your child is no longer interested in, prizes from cereal boxes, etc. The “store” is usually operated in the first week of the month, and you should expect a note in your child’s note pocket about it being store day. Thanks to Mrs. Corrigan for volunteering to be the “storekeeper.” We will be traveling by bus to the Chatham-Kent Safety Village on Tuesday, November 1. A note was sent home, and I still am waiting for a few to come back with $2 to help cover the cost. Parents who volunteered will all be able to come along, and a note will be sent home a few days beforehand with final instructions for the volunteers. Information about special activities for Hallowe’en will be sent home towards the end of the month. Please keep in mind, that only prepackaged manufactured food treats with a peanut-free symbol will be accepted to be passed out for Hallowe’en. Homemade treats are not accepted at our school due to deadly allergies of some of the children. Non-food treats are most welcome! Thank you for working with your child each night. Your continued support will certainly enhance their learning this year! mathville.com It is with great enthusiasm that I begin the 2011-2012 school year as your child’s grade one teacher! During our first few weeks I am looking forward to getting to know my new group of children. If I have not already done so, I hope to meet you soon! I would like to explain some of the routines and requirements for your child this year. * Library class will be every Day 4 (usually Thursday) with our new Vice Principal Mrs. Johnston. It is very important that the children learn to return their books on time so that they will have full Library privileges. * Physical Education will be taught in the gym on Days 2 and 5 (usually Tuesdays and Fridays) by Mr. Munroe. We will also have a 20 minute period of Daily Quality Physical Activity (DQPA) on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Your child will need a pair of light-soled or labelled non-marking soled gym shoes which will be worn at all times inside the school, as the children remove their outdoor shoes on entering the school building. VELCRO CLOSURE OR TIGHT FITTING ATHLETIC SLIP-ONS ARE RECOMMENDED FOR GRADE ONE. It has been my experience that most grade one children have great difficulty in properly tying laces independently each time they come inside! Often the laces end up knotted and/or untied and become a safety issue for the children. * French will be with Mme. Stennett. * Science will be with Mrs. Marshall. * Music will be with Mrs. Belicka. I am sending a reminder list of the supplies requested for our class. School supplies get used up or misplaced by the children throughout the year. I will stress with the children that they look after their supplies carefully, but they will frequently require additional supplies to replace old or misplaced ones (especially pencils and erasers). Please send only a few pencils and erasers at a time, keep a reserve at home for when your child runs out, and check with your child often to see if they need anything. All supplies and clothing (ex. running shoes, shoes, boots, hats, coats, etc.) should be permanently marked with your child’s name or initials. I have somewhat of a supply of “extra” size 6-6x clothes for accidents such as spills, mud, etc. If anyone has some pants, underwear or socks they’d like to donate to the classroom, please send them in with a note. If your child does not fit these sizes, it is recommended that they have a labelled change of clothes at school. Please put them in a labelled bag for easy storage. :( It is school policy that toys be left at home as they are easily misplaced or damaged when among so many children. :) If your child wishes to bring sports equipment to school (ex. skipping rope, ball, etc.) please make sure they are permanently marked with your child’s name or initials. Throughout the year as a part of our Healthy Living curriculum, I will be stressing proper nutrition as we learn about the four food groups. First Nutrition Break will be our “Healthy Snacks” time, and Second Break will be our “Lunch and Dessert” time (Pizza is second break on Fridays as well.) . I would appreciate it if you would keep this in mind when packing snacks and lunches. Glass containers are not recommended in lunches because of safety reasons. Please pre-peel or slice oranges. **** Please remember we are a nut-aware school, and snacks containing peanuts, nuts or “may contain traces of nuts/peanuts” will be sent back home. We have severe peanut allergies in our class/school, and staff and student monitors will be regularly checking snacks and lunches. Any food which has been manufactured in a factory that processes nuts will be sent home as well. Please check labels carefully, as we have student lives that depend upon it. I am encouraging any treats that are sent to school for birthdays, holidays, etc. be of the “non-food” variety. Children love to receive pencils, erasers, stickers, etc. Please note that no food items will be distributed among the class this year unless they are clearly marked with the “peanut-free” symbol. Please keep me advised of current, as well as any changes, in transportation arrangements, medical or personal needs. A note from a parent is appreciated whenever there is a change in the regular routine as well (ex. leaving early due to an appt.) I plan to include our class newsletters on our school website: www.tapsfalcons.com . It is a very user friendly site - please check it out! This year will be such a wonderful year of changes for your child. Please feel free to phone me about any concerns during the year, at school (519-682-2260) or home (519-682-0442). If we can work together with your child’s best interests at heart, your child will truly benefit. I look forward to working with you in helping your child have a successful and enjoyable grade one experience! I sincerely thank you in advance for your cooperation and support. Welcome to Tapsfalcons.com, and welcome to the wonderful world of grade one! Grade one is such a year of exciting changes for your child. We are going to have a great year - the children are so eager to learn! As we work together to help make all these changes happen, remember to celebrate the little moments - the first book your child can read all by him/herself, a first tooth lost, the first time your child ties his/her own shoes, the first note your child writes to you to remind you to buy milk (or cookies!), etc. etc! |