Phonics with Mrs. Farrelly

 

The children have been learning the letter sounds (phonics) and letter names along with the American Sign Language (ASL) signs for the letters. Knowing letter-sound matching is extremely important for beginning reading and writing.

Here is a video of our principal, Mrs. Farrelly, demonstrating this information for you to practise with your child at home.

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is for children to complete the number sense math assignment and the science/language activity on the seasons. This homework is posted on our Google Classroom site and is due on Monday, October 12th.

Parent Notes:

1. Thank you everyone for completing your child's daily health screening. To keep everyone safe, including myself, it is important that sick children do not come to school.

2. Please practise with your child how to open his/her food containers independently. I can help your child, but please know, opening the containers requires me to touch the container. I do use hand sanitizer before and after I open the container, but it would be safer if your child does this him/herself.

3. Each week I send home some completed work with your child. Please talk to your child about these activities to reinforce her/his learning, especially the little photocopied reading books. Some work I keep in their portfolios to document his/her progress.

Important Dates:

October 8 - PHOTO DAY

October 12 - THANKSGIVING DAY - There is no school on this day.

October 31 - HALLOWEEN

News for October 2

This week the children finished learning the letter names and sounds for all the letters in the English alphabet. They painted, created little books, wrote simple sentences and even started a seed experiment!

Writing - The children have now reviewed how to write all the CAPITAL letters of the alphabet. The students practiced writing simple sentences with spaces between words and a period at the end of the sentence. The children are beginning to listen to the different sounds in one word (phonemic awareness). For example, the word "cat" is actually made up of 3 sounds (phonemes) "c - a - t".  The class is starting to use what they know about letter sounds to help them with the phonetic spelling of unfamiliar words. For example, in the word "bird" there are the sounds "b - r - d". Of course the correct spelling is "bird", but for beginning writers, "brd" is an acceptable phonetic spelling of the word.

The children showed what they know about "concepts of print" by creating little blue books, with the spine on the left and the title and author name on the front cover. These books had content of the child's choosing and they were encouraged to write words and draw pictures inside.

Reading - The class has now learned all the letter names and letter sounds. The letter-sound connections are critical to both reading and writing. Along with this the children have learned the American Sign Language (ASL) signs for each letter. Please find a video of Mrs. Farrelly, our school principal, signing the alphabet letters and saying the letter name and the letter sounds in a separate posting.

The class read the little book "Jack" chorally as a class and listened for the starting sound of the words with a common rhyme: Jack, pack, back, quack.

Word Wall - The word wall words this week were: is, and, said,(bonus - please). The children are now on our classroom "Word Wall" and they are expected to read, use and write these words. Through the week the children practised using these words in sentences orally and they practised writing the words on worksheets and on their personal chalkboards.

Math - This week the class continued to practise orally counting from 1 up to 50. The goal is to have each child do this without looking at a 100 chart. The students also learned how to count backwards from 20 down to 1. Counting forwards is basically adding  one (+1) each time and backwards is subtracting one (-1) each time. Being able to do this quickly and easily really helps with more formal adding and subtracting.

The children also learned the number words that go with numbers from one (1) to ten (10). In grade one, the students are required to be able to recognize and read these words.

The class learned how to represent numbers using "ten frames". A ten frame is a picture of ten squares arranged in two rows of five squares. They also used small, plastic cubes to show their understanding of a particular number. Using ten frames helps the beginning understanding of place value. For example, 14 can be seen as 4 more than ten, (which will later move to a place value understanding of 14 as one group of ten and 4 ones).

Oral Communication - The children are working on expressing themselves orally in group discussions. We had many great discussions this week. One discussion of note was when we talked about "left" and "right" and how to remember these concepts. We also did some action/dance work to help reinforce the ideas of left/right. We also had a wonderful class discussion around the four seasons of the year and how this pattern of fall/winter/spring/summer is repeated each year as the Earth makes its year-long trip around the sun.

The star students this week were: Barin, Cienna, Niall, Andy and Jaden.

Science - We had a great discussion of what the terms "living" and "non-living" mean. All things in our world can be sorted into these two groups. The children also talked about how living things can be sorted further into two groups, "plants" and "animals". Later in the week, the students looked at their watercolour paintings and sorted the images in their art into "living" and "non-living" things.

On Friday, the class talked about seeds. Seeds do not look like they are alive. The children looked closely at bean seeds and corn seeds (kernels). We created a chart to show what is the same and what is different about these two seeds. To prove that the seeds are actually alive, the students each set up an experiment to sprout the seeds. In a ziplock bag, each child put a piece of wet paper towel and the seeds. It will be interesting to see what happens!

Art - The children learned how to use a black "Sharpie" marker to define the images and designs in  their drawings. They also learned the proper care and use of a permanent marker. The students were challenged to create an artwork that had both living and non-living things in it (as a connection to our science unit). The children also learn how to use watercolour paints to complete their art. This art along with the chart showing the sorting the words of their living and non-living images, is now on display in the hallway outside of our classroom.

Finally... on Friday, the class walked over the the BIG trees at the edge of the field outside. We talked about how the leaves of the trees were changing colour. We talked about which trees looked older and why. (They are taller and the trunk is bigger.) We measured around the trunk of a few trees and figured out that one big tree was about 93 years old and another was 88 years old. (We used the general rule of one year for every 2.5 cm of circumference.) One of the smaller trees was 10 years old. SO...their hypothesis of using height and trunk size as a measure of age was correct!

Books read aloud this week:

Squirrelly Gray by James Kolchalka

The Big Honey Hunt by Stan and Jan Berenstain

What Pet Should I Get? by Dr. Seuss

Tree - A Book About Seasons by Britta Teckentrup

If You Hold A Seed by Elly MacKay

VIDEOS of our read aloud books:

Squirrelly Gray - read aloud video

The Big Honey Hunt - read aloud video

What Pet Should I Get? - read aloud video

Tree - read aloud video

If You Hold a Seed - read aloud video

Update from Ms. R

 

The homework for this week is for families to sign in to our Google Classroom and to complete and return the language and math activities. This homework is due on Sunday, October 5th.

The students are working hard at their schoolwork, but also on how to act in school, for example, remember to put up your hand to speak, write your name on all your school work, push your chair in when you get up from your desk and to wear a face mask properly (over the nose and under the chin).

Notes for parents:

1. Please send a full water bottle with your child each day. (Filling water bottles at school can happen, but can also be a sanitary issue.)

2. Please remember to SIGN and DATE your child's health screening app or sheet EACH DAY.

3. Please remember to send a book or quiet activity for your child to do after they eat lunch. We provide paper and crayons for them, but it's nice for them to have something else to do.

4. Please send a lunch container that your child can open INDEPENDENTLY. I can help your child, but each time I open a child's container, I have to wash my hands or apply hand sanitizer before AND after I open it.

5. If your child is away from school, the work that he or she missed will be sent home to be completed and returned to school.

6. If possible, please have a paper calendar at home that your child can easily see (possibly on your fridge). Calendars can be found at the dollar store. Time, as measured in days of the week and months of the year, is an abstract concept that is difficult for young children. The class is learning about the days of the week and the passage of time as measured in days and months. Having a calendar at home, is a great opportunity for your child to show what he/she knows.

7. Please ensure your child's backpack can hold your child's lunch bag and water bottle. This eliminates the carrying the lunch bag/water bottle separately.

News for September 25

 

The class was busy this first full week of school! They played math games, learned to read, understand and spell some word wall words, collected acorns, made art and much more!

Writing: The children glued photos of their Lego structures in their journals and wrote about what they made. We practised listening for the first sound in words (called the "onset" sound) and how to use this information to help read and write a word. 

Word Wall (spelling): Each day the children work on reading, understanding and spelling some high-frequency, irregular words. English has so many words that are not spelled as they are pronounced and the spelling of these words must be memorized. This week, the children practice reading, spelling and writing: the, saw, book and school (bonus). At the end of the week, these words go on the class WORD WALL, for the students to reference as needed.

Later in the week, the children counted how many acorns she/he used in his/her acorn art and then wrote about this in their journals.

Reading: The students now receive formal phonics instruction. Phonics is the matching of letters to the letter sounds. Phonics understanding is fundamental to reading and writing skills. The class is learning a program that uses American Sign Language (ASL) alphabet signs to match to the letter sounds. This week the children learned and practised the letters and sounds from A-O.

During our read aloud time, we talked about the ways to read a book. Children can "read" a book by looking at the pictures, by reading the words or by listening to books read aloud. Since this year, children cannot touch the books that I read aloud, I will list the books that I read aloud, along with videos of the books being read aloud at the end of these postings every week.

Printing: The students are practicing the correct formation and correct printing of capital letters, ("always start your letters at the top"). This instruction is integrated with the phonics lessons and the class reviewed the capital letters A-O.

Math: The children practised counting orally from 1 to 50 each day following a 100 number chart, to increase fluency and the 1:1 matching of the number words said aloud to the written numbers. We played lots of games to help the children understand the concepts of "before", "after" and "in between".  For example, "What number comes before the number 24?". The class had a chance to create little math books where the children wrote and drew representations of the numbers 1 to 10. Each child now has his/her own grade one math workbook. The students learned how to find a particular page number in the workbook. The class learned the written number words that go with the written numbers from 1 to ten, for example, 3 = three.

Oral Communication: On Monday, I introduced the "star student" program in my class. Each day a child has the chance to be the "teacher" and lead the class through the 10 minute morning message routine. This week, students volunteered but eventually everyone will have a chance to do this job. Our stars this week were: Robert, Krishna, Monet, Bradley and Owen.

Science: As we continue our understanding of living things, the class took a nature walk around the field, looking at trees, tree stumps, grasses and flowers. We wrote a letter to Mrs. Farrelly for permission to go to the front of the school to collect acorns from the oak trees there.

Visual Art: The children each have an art journal that they can use during free time when their formal lesson work is finished. The students created art sculptures using the acorns they collected, white glue, black marker and recycled cardboard boxes. At the end of the week, the students created name art using white crayon on big, black paper. This name art is now on display on each of the children's desks.

Finally, our principal, Mrs. Farrelly visited our class this week to give us a small branch from an oak tree in her backyard that still had 6 of the acorn "caps" attached, as a connection to our science unit.

Books read aloud this week:

The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers

Do Not Open This Book by Michaela Muntean

I Wish That I Had Duck Feet by Dr. Suess

Life-Size Zoo by Teruyuki Komiya

A Fly Went By by Mike McClintock

Here are the links to the read aloud videos:

The Incredible Book Eating Boy

Do Not Open This Book!

I Wish That I Had Duck Feet

Life Size Zoo

A Fly Went By

News for September 18

 

Well, we had only two days together this week but the children were very busy!

On Thursday, we spent time learning the new routines of school and the steps we all have to take to stay healthy and safe. The children were very good about keeping their masks on, washing their hands, putting on hand sanitizer, keeping distanced away from others, not sharing materials and staying at their desks. These are not easy things to do for a group of five and six year-old children...

Reading : The children reviewed "concepts of print" which involves talking about what written language is and more specifically how to read (e.g., left to right, top to bottom, use letter sounds to help decode words). During our read aloud time, we talked about the parts of a book as I read aloud the book, The Secret Life of Squirrels - Back to School. The children were introduced to Frisko the squirrel puppet, a mascot for our class. (A video of this book being read aloud can be found at the end of this posting.)

If you and your child would like to learn more about this book and its author, Nancy Rose, here is a link to her website:

http://www.secretlifeofsquirrels.com/

Writing: The students reviewed the letters of the alphabet by tracing the forms of the letters. They wrote their first stories about the animal art they created.

Math: The class reviewed the ten digits that make numbers, 0 to 9. They traced the forms of these numbers. They were introduced to a 100 chart and practiced sequential counting by ones to 50. We played a math thinking game, where the students had to determine the number between two given numbers, for example, "What is the number between 23 and 25?"

Science: We started our first research project about squirrels! I recorded the questions that the children had about squirrels, like "What do they eat?" and "Where do they live in the winter?" (We will learn the answers to these questions next week.)

The children were also challenged to make a stable structure using Lego bricks. Each child had his/her own bag of Lego bricks and the students created wonderful structures. There are parks, castles, boats and even a chocolate factory!

Gym: This year the gym teacher for our class is Ms. Francesca. The children had two outdoor gym times this week.

Visual Art: Each student chose a card with an animal puzzle on it. After colouring the animal parts, each child cut out the parts with scissors and glued the parts on construction paper to create the finished animal. Many children chose to draw a background for their animal.

Books Read Aloud this week:

The Secret Life of Squirrels - Back to School by Nancy Rose

Here is a video of this book being read aloud:

Welcome to Room 222!

 

Hello and welcome to Room 222! This year we are a group of 17 grade 1 students learning and growing together.

This year will be very different from any other school year. The COVID-19 virus pandemic has required many changes to the way teachers teach and the way the school day is organized. However, I will do my best to get your child excited about learning as we learn new skills and new information about the world.

Every Sunday I will post news and photos on this blog to show and explain to you the activities that your child did the previous week. Please check here every week and start a conversation with your child about what the class was doing in the photos.

(In the photo above, I am pictured with our new class friend, Frisko the squirrel.)