It's the last day of 2014...

Today is New Year's Eve - the last day of 2014.  When we return in 2015, we will talk about New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, and different traditions we see on these days.  One of these traditions is the New Year's resolution.

A resolution is a promise you make to yourself to be better or help others.  Many people make resolutions on the first day of the new year, as it is a new start. 

Some examples of resolutions are:
- cleaning up more
- eat healthy foods
- be a better listener
- use more positive words
- be a better friend
- get more exercise

We will be learning more, and writing about, New Year's resolutions when we return to school on Monday. 

Winter Break Scavenger Hunt

Grab a piece of paper and a pencil.....ready, set, GO!

1.  How many letters are in your full name?

2.  Who has the longest name in your family?

3.  Find something that is 10 cm long.

4.  Find something that is red and white.

5.  Find something that is used to fix something.

6.  Find something with numbers on it.

7.  What day do we go back to school?

8.  What is your mother's favourite holiday memory?

9.  How many windows are in your home?

10.  How many light bulbs are in your home?

11.  What is your father's favourite holiday memory?

12.  How tall are you in cm's?

13.  What picture is on a quarter?

14.  What is the temperature outside today?

15.  What day was the first day of winter?

16.  How many pages does the longest book at your house have?

17.  Are there mostly plants, people, or pets in your house?

18.  Underline all the words with 3 or more syllables on this paper.

19.  Circle all the EVEN numbers on this paper. 

20.  Draw a snowman on the back of this paper. 

Bring this paper to school with you on our first day back.  I would love to see some of the answers you came up with!

I hope you are all having a great start to your winter holidays !

Happy Holdays

Happy Holidays to you and your families!  I wish you all the best this holiday season.  May you have a safe and fun-filled 2 weeks of winter vacation! 

I will be busy at home with my family over the holidays.  I will also be using a great deal of time preparing for our return to the classroom in January.  Over the next 2 weeks I plan to post some of what will be coming in January, so please check the site frequently. 

Some websites to check out...

Here are two fun websites you can visit over the holidays.

www.starfall.com

www.abcya.com

Both websites are free.  The Starfall website is free, but you have an option to pay extra to access more of the site.  There is no need to do this, as a good portion of the site is free.

A Response to our letters to Santa...

Boys and girls,

The letter from Santa arrived today.  It was in my mailbox when I got home from school.  I have attached it below.

A Few Pictures...

 

Our Classroom "Heads'....this month's written piece was a RETELL of the book, The Hat, by "Jan Brett". 

 

The Pronoun Song - a Song (to the tune of SpongeBob SquarePants) that helped us learn about Pronouns.

Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer - Our song for the Winter Assembly!

Our head pieces for the assembly. The Grade 1s wore Rudolph head pieces, and the Grade 2s wore Santa ones. 



Some more poems for December.

Our Winter Holiday Concert !

Our Grade 1/2 class will be performing in our school's Winter Concert.  The concert is on Thursday December 18th at 9:30am in the gymnasium.  Parents are welcome to attend! 

We look forward to seeing you there!

Important Dates

Friday December 19, 2014
- Pyjama Day
- Last day of school before Winter Break
- Indoor shoes being sent home.

Monday January 5, 2015
- First day back to school! 
**Please send indoor shoes that fit your child. 

**I will be sending home your child's indoor shoes on December 19th.  Please ensure they still fit your child, as many students are complaining of tight shoes.  Please return indoor shoes on January 5th, 2015.

Winter Break is Almost Here - A glance at December

With Progress Reports completed, we would like to take this time to thank all the families for coming in for student led conferences.  The students worked very hard planning and reflecting on their goals and we are very pleased with their success. The Grade Ones and Twos continue to work hard in all subject areas and are now undertaking many new and interesting units.

In Language Arts, they are reading various books and learning to make text to self (grade 1) and text to text (grade 2) connections.  In addition we are continuing to work hard learning new words in our spelling program, along with  reading just right books.  With our recent launch of Raz Kids, we are pleased to see many of our students diligently logging in and participating in various reading and comprehension activities. 

In Science we will be learning about ENERGY IN OUR LIVES (in Grade 1), and the Three States of Matter - Solids, Liquids, and Gasses (Grade 2). 

In Mathematics, we are almost finished our unit on Measurement.  Students have been working hard learning about non-standard units of measurement (grade 1), and standard units of measurement (grade 2).  In this unit, we will also work on area and perimeter.  We will start looking at Symmetry, and solving word problems using addition and subtraction to 18 (grade 2) before winter break.

 

 

Our School's Giving Tree

Food and Coat Drive
Our school will be having a food and coat drive this year.  They will take place from December 3rd - December 17th. 

We are asking students to bring in non-perishable canned goods that will be donated to Knights Table.  As well, students are encouraged to bring in gently used coats, hats, and mittens/gloves.

Items of high priority include cereal, ketchup, oil, peanut butter, jam, cookies, cracker, pasta sauce, Kraft dinner, gravy, cranberry, and Sidekicks. 

 

Toys for Tots Fundraiser
From Monday December 8th to Friday December 12th, we are asking students to donate $1.00 for Toys for Tots.  Our gym teachers will be organizing a Ball Hockey Fundraiser where the Peel Police will send a team of officers to play ball hockey against our students or teachers.  The students who pay $1.00 will get to attend this ball hockey game.  The class that raises the most money will have an opportunity to play against the police officers.

Parents - Thank you.  Thank you for all of your help in supporting our school's fundraisers.  Also, thank you for providing some of the things I have requested (Tissue boxes, hangers).  Everything you do is greatly appreciated by myself, and our school. 

Thank you.

 

 

Websites

Currently, these are the websites that we are using in our classroom:

www.raz-kids.com

www.prodigygame.com

www.spellingcity.com/ponderdonk/

Login information can be found in your child's agenda. 

Notes:
I will update Raz-kids each time your child's reading level is assessed.  Reading on Raz-Kids is not to be considered a race to move to the next level.  Instead, please ensure your child is not only reading the words, but practicing their fluency and understanding of the text.   

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

 

To begin the month of December, we focused on the book, "How the Grinch Stole Chistmas", by Dr. Seuss.  Some of the many activities we worked on included:
- text to self comparisons
- text to text comparisons (between the text & video)
- retells
- understanding the author's message
- grammar, including NOUNS, PROPER NOUNS, ADJECTIVES
- measurement (our current focus in mathematics for both grades) using non-standard (grade 1) and standard (grade 2) units of measurement
- number sense (working with numbers 1to100 and recognizing them)

Our Snowmen at Night

To end the month of November, we focused on the book Snowmen at Night, by Caralyn Buehner.  Some of the many activities we worked on included:
- text to self comparisons
- text to text comparisons
- written pieces, including "If I were a snowman at night..."
- acrostic poems (grade 2)|

Below are some of the pictures of artwork we created, using elements of design (texture and space)

Grade 2 artwork (including acrostic poems)

Grade 1 artwork (including written piece)