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!

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!

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

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 LENT	Wear blue for World Autism Day Awareness Day	Hat/Hair Day	Jersey/Sport Day	PJ day 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!