Monday 29 April 2019

April Update

The children are beyond excited about our Duck Eggs. We created a 'Know Wonder Learn' chart together to share our initial thoughts and some of our beginning learning after doing a bit of research the first few days. They are amazed to see that when we candle the eggs we can see the actual fetus inside each egg even in such a short period. I'll try to get a pic of that online next time.

We continue to flip back to our Energy unit in science as well, and here are some still images from some videos we took of the children designing and building a challenge to explore wind energy.

 Last week many children noticed as they arrived at school that we had both a grown male and female duck awaiting them at school. We wondered if they wanted to be the duck eggs mama and papa, or perhaps they had their own real nest nearby.
Egg Mania!! We dyed eggs (& a few kids, sorry!) for Easter as well. The kids have also noticed that our duck eggs are also different colours (some whitish and some blue). They're wondering why the difference? Are some boy ducks and some girl? Are they from different types of ducks? Time will tell.

We celebrated this sweet girl and her birthday!
The grade ones will be leading the liturgy next week, so we all met in the Learning Commons to do some practicing.

Curriculum Updates:
Writing: The children are doing a 'light study' on poetry as well as continuing recount writing and descriptive writing using multiple super sentences.
Reading: We continue to read a variety of materials and for a variety of reasons. We're doing shared & choral reading and independent reading at our own reading levels, trying to improve. By the end of grade one the children are expected to be reading at approximately level 14. Please ensure that you are having your child practice each day. (FUN TIP: My own boys are emerging readers and have been asking for 'Mystery Messages' on their play easel (for them to decode using a variety of known sight words and easier to decode words...ie. The little cat likes to sleep on the bed. I change the message each morning while prepping the caffeine for the day! )😉
Math: We finished up our unit on money. Please ensure you continue to practicing counting by 5s and 10s with your child. Those who don't have this skill down yet had significant difficulty applying that knowledge to the symbols on the coins & combining the coin values to $0.20.
We are currently doing a unit on 'Time' (measurement-to the hour/half hour) and will soon be linear measurement, mass, capacity and area.

Looking ahead...
Friday May 3 is the school raffle. Our class is signed up to participate in the morning after French. Raffle tix were sent home last week for purchase. If your child would still like to buy some, please send in the tix with their money. Thanks.

Next week, May 6-May 10 is Education Week. There are a number of activities the school will be participating in to celebrate our learning.
There will be a field trip for all grade ones-grade sixes to St. Patrick Fallowfield Church Monday morning for a Liturgy. Field trip forms will be sent home shortly. We will not require volunteers for this trip and the church will be at max capacity with the student population.
The Scholastic Book Fair will also be next week. Our class is scheduled to visit the sale on Monday May 6th in the afternoon. Please consider sending in some money for your child to purchase a book or two.
More information on Education Week will be posted soon.

Thank you!

Monday 8 April 2019

April Showers...

This past week we've begun some Reader's Theatre groups to build fluency and expression in our reading.


We were also pleased to participate in a Pedestrian Safety Presentation with our very own Lily's aunt, including skits on how to cross safely and in showing others what NOT to do.



Our Lenten spirit week was a big success. The children enjoyed the different themed days and we collected both monetary donations and pyjamas. Thank you!


We will soon be welcoming some real life eggs in our classroom, participating in their care and learning about the development of...(insert drumroll please)...DUCKS!! I've told the children that we will be getting eggs this week. They spent last week brainstorming and determining what THEY think will be growing in our eggs. I plan on keeping the suspense going for a few more days as we learn a bit more, so please don't spoil the surprise, but I thought you'd enjoy the list we finalized on Friday of their top picks!

Looking ahead to this week:

  • We are still immersed in our unit on MONEY MONEY MONEY. The children need to continue to practice skip counting by 5's and 10's for a better understanding of adding up nickels and dimes. 
  • We are invited to a BAKE SALE Tuesday April 9th. Items will be priced at a max of $1.00 and in order to ensure everyone can participate, children are limited to one purchase so please do not send in more than $1.00. Thank you.
  • Please ensure you have paid your Activity Fee on school cash online.
Thank you & have a great week!




Tuesday 2 April 2019

School Activity Fee

Just a friendly reminder that if you have not paid your child's School Activity Fee to please do so as soon as possible. The fees can be paid on School Cash online. These fees cover our field trip, agendas, presentations, and help to supplement our classroom activities.

Thank you for your continued support,
Erin Riley

Monday 1 April 2019

Spring Arrival

The days are seemingly longer and a tad bit warmer with the arrival of spring. The children keep remarking how great it feels to not have to bundle up quite so much. I do implore you to send them in with splash pants and rubber boots when you do retire their snowsuits completely as our school yard is quite messy come the full melt and the gravel that was spread throughout winter to help with the ice is still all over and can really hurt when the children inevitable wipe out on the pavement.

While the buds are yet to appear outside, our Tower Garden was amass with greenery waiting to be harvested. As you know, we opened a day long 'Veggie Market' as a provocation to our Math unit on money. First, the children voted (using tally marks) on the name of our class store, calling it 'Produce for Pets'. In literacy, the children worked on creating a variety of signage, from a store name, to Open/Closed Signs, Hours of Operation, and in creating Shopping Lists. They then took turns working with a partner in our actual 'Market'. With support, one would be the store clerk and the other the customer and they would shop, using real coins, for their preferred produce to take home. Using ten frames to help them calculate, they would total their spending amount and change to be received, and then switch places to repeat the process. We tried to ensure fresh, 'organic' produce came home, though to be honest it was a bit wilted by the end of the day. The money raised went toward a small donation for our Lenten initiative of supporting the Ottawa Humane Society. 
Check out some pictures below.




Speaking of Lent, here at St. Anne we are celebrating our Lenten Spirit Week. All children are invited to donate a toonie towards improvements of our Ottawa River through Ottawa River Keepers. 

April 1
April 2
April 3
April 4
April 5
Dress in the Colour Purple for Lent

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LENT
Wear blue for World Autism Day Awareness Day


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Image result for image blue shirt
Hat/Hair Day
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Jersey/Sport Day


Image result for ottawa 67'sImage result for kanata blazers
PJ day

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Optional - Bring in a donation of new PJ’s for the PJ patrol
We were also so fortunate to enjoy a show from Junkyard Symphony, who came to perform for all the primary classes on Friday. Mrs. Wong got in on some of the action.



Let's have a rocking week!



Sunday 3 March 2019

Last Week of February

Hard to believe it but we're already into March. Hopefully the next month will bring us some milder weather as I think even the children are ALL.DONE.WITH.WINTER!

Our grow tower is a mass of green and we've started our second cycle as some of our other plants are maturing. We even donated some to the fishes at the front office and their eco system.

I do not have a lot of photos from the last week, as my battery on my device just wasn't cooperating with my desire to document the children's learning.
Below are a few snippets from the past week. We spent a large portion of the week working on collaboration and friendly debate when our ideas were different from our peers.


Higher order thinking for sure. Not only were these young minds having to step away from their own egocentric mindframes to practice politely considering other viewpoints, we threw in open-ended math problems into the equation...(see what I did there)...It's hard work!

The children are continuing to work on numeracy skills, addition, number sentences/equations.

The children are also still enjoying taking turns after self-selected reading/guided reading time to read to the class.
The second half of the school year is often an exciting time for the children when it comes to their reading, as many beginning readers start to see great improvement in their reading skills. I am hoping to be able to complete some more reading assessments this week and 'reward' their efforts by assigning them a different reading level...a nice boost to their self-image and esteem.





This week we're heading into a larger focus on descriptive writing and non-fiction materials. The children began an inquiry last Friday on Space, and we've discovered many wonderings, including but not limited to:
  • Why is the sun hot?
  • How hot is it?
  • Why is their no oxygen in outer space?
  • How/why does the Earth turn hot and cold? (We'll revisit that tidbit from a previous science unit)
  • Why does space have rocks? 
  • Why does most stuff live on Earth?
  • ...learn all about all the planets
  • Can people live on Mars?
  • Will the Earth survive?
  • How many years old was Pluto before it went extinct?
I think we'll delve into the Solar System a bit before March Break to answer some of these questions...and maybe discover some new ones along the way. After all, "Inquiry is at the heart of learning in all subject areas". (p. 29 Ontario Language Arts Curriculum)

On a heavier note, there was lots of chatter (not actually amongst the children in the class as far as I was able to determine) re: the MOMO Challenges surfacing online. I wanted to reiterate with all of you that all OCSB children learn digital literacy through an age-appropriate curriculum called Samaritans on the Digital Road. Here are some strategies you can suggest to your child if he/she sees online content that worries or frightens them:
  • talk to a trusted adult
  • stop watching the video/reading the message
  • remember to never share any personal info (name, address, school, photos, email, etc.)
  • avoid participating in anything that makes them uncomfortable or that they wouldn't want their parents to know
  • use their critical thinking skills...think smart & think safe.
In other news and events, given the high interest in Beyblades many of the children have, Justin's Dad shared this with me, thinking it may interest some of the children in the class, and so I pass along the info...A local Barrhaven toy store has been hosting Beyblade Burst Tournaments most weekends for a minimal fee of $6 to participate. The next event is Sunday March 10th and does require registration in advance.





Tuesday 26 February 2019

Pink T-Shirt Day...Stand Up To Bullying

Tomorrow, February 27th, is Pink Shirt Day!

Wearing pink, "symbolizes that we as a society will not tolerate bullying anywhere".

Hope to see you in pink tomorrow!



For more information please check out the initiative that started when two young teenage boys took a stand against bullying, and with their actions declared that colours are for everyone.

Saturday 23 February 2019

February 23

Lumberjack Day


100's Day...look closer!! We used technology to turn ourselves into 100 year olds. (These are some of my favourite pics. Too funny!)

We used both Lumberjack Day and our 100's Day pics to spark some writing as we practice editing and revising and making our writing more detailed.

The children are always asking, "Can it be MY turn to read to the class today?! Please?!" I love seeing how proud they are of their growing skills and confidence.

 We did some shared reading of a Valentine Poem and then the children took turns unscrambling and reconfiguring the poem again.

We've been taking a few moments to recenter ourselves with some Mindfulness Moments, Deep Breathing and Calming Strategies.

The children are working on Numeracy Skills right now, particularly the 'part, part, whole' strategy of recognizing two parts can be combined to create a whole. They've been engaged in some deep learning, and collaboration using sentence stems, "I agree with you because..." & "I disagree because..." & "I think...because..." in creating number sentences and addition problems.

We had a beautiful day for our Winter Carnaval and we even got to welcome Bonhomme to St. Anne! The children had a blast engaging in more than 12 different physical challenges outside in the deep snow, including snow soccer, ball hockey, frisbee golf, freeze tag, and more. There was friendly competition and lots of collaboration. We won some, we lost some (we learned that Mrs. Wong's grade one class is super strong, as they repeated beat us in tug of war with ease!) and we had so much fun. I bet the children slept really well last night.


Enjoy a beautiful weekend!!
Mrs. Riley