What's New in One and Two? Sept. 28 - Oct. 2, 2015

REMINDERS -
Make sure your child brings back their Math Game Bag and homework sheet, every FRIDAY.  There is only one copy of each game and the next student will need that game for the next week.

I would like the water bottles to go home every Friday (at least) to be washed.  Hopefully if I remind them and the parents remind them, the children will be more likely to remember.  Thanks.

AIR and WATER
We are continuing our study about air and water for science.  We have been learning a couple of songs about the water cycle and the children really enjoy the one from the internet.  If would like to share this song with your child, you can listen and sing along by finding the site on your computer.  It is called the "Water Cycle Song by Mr. Davies".

We did our first science experiment last week about evaporation.  We made a puddle on a paper plate and then observed what happened throughout the day.  The paper plates came home with the shrinking puddle shapes coloured in to show evaporation.

 

We had a guest reader last week - Mrs. McCrea read a story about a cow who wanted to be a race horse.



 

 

We also started Big Reading Buddies.  Once a week on Wednesday's at 11:40, the grades 5 and 6 class meet us in the chapel area.  We read to them and they read to us.

 

 

 

What's New in Grade One and Two? September 21 - 25, 2015

HOMEWORK
I am sending home some homework with the students today.  The grade twos have some spelling words with practice sheets.  Just as last year, they will be coming home on Monday and are due on Friday.  Their spelling tests will be on Friday.  Please help your child practice their words and please let me know if they are having a lot of difficulty.
Grade Ones - they will be bringing home a math game in a Ziplock bag to play with an adult at home.  They will be getting a new game every Monday and the games, along with the answer sheets, are due back by Friday each week.  You may want to play the game more than once.  There is a list of the contents of each bag on the front.  Please try to collect all of the pieces before it is returned as another child will be using the game the next week.  There is also a book in each bag for the parents to read to the children. 
Let me know if you have any questions.

LAST WEEK - we read the Bible story about "The Garden of Eden" and made a curly snake.

 

The Lego portraits are posted on the hallway bulletin board.  You need to read the clues and try to figure out which Lego person is which.

 

 

We practiced reading books with partners and by ourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SCIENCE

We have started our first science unit about "Air and Water".  We made a painting by blowing air through a straw into a container full of black paint and dish soap and then made prints of the bubbles as they popped.

 

 

 

 

 

What's New in One and Two? September 9 - 11, 2015

Hello and welcome back.  We have had a busy and productive first 3 days of school.  Our class has 16 students, 8 grade ones and 8 grade twos.  There are a few more boys than girls (13 and 3) and everyone seemed happy to see their friends from last year and meet some new ones.

My name is Mrs. Tara Petkau (I tell the kids you pronounce it like PETting a COW but spelled differently).  Mrs. Jen Penner is also in our classroom as an E.A. 

Most of the school supplies came back to school nicely labelled - thank you so much! 

The children had some "homework" over the weekend.  They should have brought home a paper bag and a letter explaining our "All About Me" project.  They needed to find 4 or 5 small items to put into their bags that will help illustrate something about themselves.  (examples - family photo, baseball card from a collection, Scout badge, rock from the cottage, ...).  We will be sharing their bags, a few each day.

I also sent home a copy of our weekly schedule for the year as well as a Scholastic Book order which is due this coming Friday, September 18.

Our class has a pet guinea pig named Muffin.  The children take turns holding her and are welcome to share a small snack with her at snack time, if they wish.  She eats almost any raw fruit or vegetable.  So if they would like to share a mini carrot, one grape or a slice of apple, she would be a very happy guinea pig.  When we say a prayer for snack each day, she knows that food is coming and she squeaks!

 

 

Some of the activities that we worked on last week -

- sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Jake who had a summer birthday on August 2.

- played Name Bingo with rocket candies.

- made our own Lego portraits that are also glyphs (secret codes)

- painted pictures that tell the story of creation.

- sorted and matched number cards with the numeral, the word and ten-frame dots for math.

 

 

We have started a new chapel theme for this year.  It is called "Journey With Jesus".  We started the year talking about what they might pack in their backpacks if they were going on a long hike.  Each month Pastor will talk about the object they find in the backpack and how these objects are like taking Jesus along on their "Life Journey".  The first object was a compass that points to the "True North" and leads you in the right direction.  The children were very excited to share their own thoughts and ideas.  Pastor and Mr. B even wrote a theme song for the school to use this year.

 

 

Finally, we took photos at recess during our first few days at school to share and use for our portfolios.