April 25-29

Read-a-Thon

We are starting our two-week read-a-thon Monday, April 25th. Please encourage your child to read each night. You only need to initial or sign each book or chapter and then your child will get a white sticky bubble to add to the fish they coloured last week. Our hope is that the bubbles will reach to the top of the majestic blue ocean we created on two of our hallway walls. Happy Reading!!

Lotto Calendars

Lotto calendars were due on Friday. If you still need to hand in money, forms or calendars please do so on Monday.

In Language, we continue to write a variety of poems. We will also start persuasive writing this week as well.

Here are this week’s word wall words.

1. fun

2. good

3. she

4. me

5. cat

6. animal

 

In Math, we will be learning about measurement and area. Students will learn how to measure using non-standard units of measurement and describe the area of different things using square units.

Important Dates:

Wednesday, April 27th - Library book exchange

May 2nd-6th - Education Week

Thursday, May 7th - Education Week Open House 8:00am-9:00am (More information to follow)

Nanny Sue is also looking for soup cans for our final craft of the year. We are asking each student to bring in one medium sized soup can if possible. Thank You very much in advance!

If you have any questions or concerns, please write me a note in your child’s agenda.

Have a fabulous week!

Tiffany Lawless

April 18-22

Hello everyone. This week is Earth Week! Please refer to the calendar for various activities going on this week.

Lotto Calendars

Please send in your payment if you choose to buy or sell the two calendars assigned to your child. Return sold and unsold calendars by Friday, April 22nd. Since it is a lottery, Parent Council is tracking all the forms. Thanks

In Language, we have been writing poems. The class enjoyed writing a rainbow poem. This week we will write some acrostic poems.

Here are this week’s word wall words.

1. as

2. him

3. her

4. every

5. use

 

In Math, we are starting our unit on linear measurement. The children will estimate then measure various things using non-standard units such as unifix cubes, blocks, markers and popsicle sticks to name a few. They will get better at estimating with continued practise.

Important Dates:

Thursday, April 21st - Saidat Hip Hop workshop - Gr. 1 from 1:00-1:30pm

Wednesday, April 27th - Library book exchange

If you have any questions or concerns, please write me a note in your child’s agenda.

Have a wonderful week!

Tiffany Lawless

April 11-14

Hello everyone! 

Mother Nature is starting to look like she can't tell that it is Spring!

A Little note about last week:

As I am sure you have heard from your child, the students might not have had a very "fun" Friday. Unfortunately with all the wonky weeks we have had the students have been out of routine which in return has had some affect on their behaviour of late. Listening and following instructions have been two of the big self regulation tasks the students have been having problems with. On Friday, we lost the privilege of creating our class store to wrap up our money unit as well as workstations. We had a LONG serious talk about self-regulation which is one of our learning skills that will be evaluated on our final report card. The students came up with a class list of self-regulation choices they need to work on and also wrote up mini "contracts". They wrote down 2 tasks they are going to work on for the rest of the year. Hopefully we will be back on track this week and we don't have to miss out on fun learning tasks!!!

The month of April is a month to really focus on learning about the environment. Friday, April 22nd is Earth Day! April 18th-22nd is Earth Week and we have all kinds of activities planned for that week! See the chart below. Take some time to talk about ways you and your family can help the environment at home.

Here are the new word wall words for this week:

1. if

2. best

3. favourite

4. friend

5. quit

In Language, students will become poets as they learn to write poems. With poetry comes a lot of creativity in using language. The children will enjoy this form of writing! All of their poems will be shared with you during Education Week. More information to come! Stay tuned!

In Math, we finished up our unit on money. This week we will explore symmetry and then learn about linear measurement using non-standard items. Children will learn to estimate then measure the length of a variety of objects and distances using items such as paper clips, blocks, markers, hands, feet, etc.

In Science, we will finish up our discussion about objects and materials. Then students will do their first construction challenge where they have to build a chair for a stuffed bear. The chair has to be off the ground and has to be able to hold the weight of the bear for at least 10 seconds! Students will have tape, small paper plates and newspaper. That’s it! I can’t wait to see how the collaborate to complete this task!

Waste-Free Wednesdays

Waste-Free Wednesdays are going pretty good. We consistently have about 8 waste-free lunches out of 20. I know we can BUMP THIS UP. It would be super if we could increase the number of waste-free lunches each Wednesday. This initiative helps our children understand the importance of pitching in to help reduce waste in our environment. We talk about where items get put into each day (e.g. paper towel, straws, yogurt containers, plastic wrap, food scraps etc.) I monitor the garbage container daily to ensure our children know where their items go. They are incredible at doing this! I am so proud of our class for their efforts!

Growth Mindset

We have had discussions about growth mindset and what that looks like and sounds like and feels like. Students know that if they have a growth mindset they don’t give up when things are challenging. They learn to persevere at tasks. Students know that everyone for example, reads at different levels and that they might not be at grade level YET  but that will happen with hard work and practise! You can youtube a Sesame Street video called “The Power of Yet”. It is a great way to see what growth mindset is all about.

Important Dates:

Wednesday, April 13th - Library Exchange/Nanny Sue craft 3rd block

Friday, April 15th - PD DAY - NO SCHOOL

April 18th-22nd - Earth Week Activities all week

Friday, April 22nd - Earth Day

RECYCLE YOUR BATTERIES!

Don’t forget that you can bring in your old batteries to St. Cecilia for recycling. We get paid for the amount of weight we collect. That is good for the environment and good for our school!

If you have any questions or concerns, please write me a note in your child’s agenda.

Have a fabulous week!

Tiffany Lawless

April 4-8

Hello everyone.

Lotto Calendars

Order forms for the Lotto calendars were sent home last week. Please send in your payment if you choose to buy one. Send the forms back if you decide not to buy and please return unsold calendars as well. Parent Council is tracking all the forms. All the forms are due on April 22, 2016. Thanks

Here are this week’s word wall words.

1. does

2. because

3. an

4. fell

5. that

We will still review the first 23 weeks to see which words your child still needs to master. It is important that your child can read every word wall word up to now. Please take time during the week to practise these words.

 

In Math, we will continue to learn to identify a variety of coins and make coin amounts up to 20 cents. Last week, we played “Show Me The Money” to practise making money amounts to 20 cents. This week we will open up a store for the children so that they can practice using money amounts to buy small items from our treasure box.

In Science, we will continue our exploration of various objects and the materials that they are made of (e.g. a pencil is made out of wood from trees, our chairs are made out of plastic, our school is made out of bricks etc.). We will follow this with making structures out of various materials to test their strength and durability. After reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears, students will have a construction challenge to build a chair for baby bear that can hold his weight for 10 seconds using newspaper, paper plates and tape. More construction challenges will follow and children will explore and learn the characteristics of what makes a good structure.

Important Dates:

Tuesday, April 5th - Easter Mass 1:30-2:30pm

Tuesday, April 5th - School Council meeting 6:30-8:30pm

Wednesday, April 6th - Gr.1-6 Drumming Workshops (throughout the day)

Wednesday, April 13th - Library book exchange

If you have any questions or concerns, please write me a note in your child’s agenda.

Tiffany Lawless