Subject by subject

Dear Parents,

We didn't manage to get our weekly writing done to talk about our week in class this week, so I thought I'd give you a few snapshots to start your conversations.

First, here's our Jump Math book. We're working on number sense and numeration and comparing numbers to 5 and 10. The numbers are being shown in a 10 frame, which makes it easier to see. This has been very tricky for some, and very easy for others.

One student said, "I just looked at it and didn't even have to count! " but another told me, "I can only start counting from one, otherwise I don't know what comes next."

Students chose names for their reading groups this week. 

My Chocolate Chips are reading A level books right now, my Candy Canes are reading B level books, Skittles are C through F, Gummy Bears are F through H, and Smarties are I or higher right now. I work with students in smaller groups in order to teach skills relevant to their reading needs.  Each week students will spend some time reading to self, reading with a partner, doing word work (spelling, phonics, patterning), and writing a journal entry.  We've just started our Ipad rotations so I'm hoping to get students on RazKids during reading time as well. 

This chart shows some of the big ideas from our energy unit. We're beginning to talk about energy conservation, which a big concept for many students, who are having some trouble understanding that some of the energy lighting up their classroom or powering vehicles comes from long dead dinosaurs and why it might be important to use less of it. 

The Story of Stuff video might be on deck in our next Science class.

Next up is art. We're focusing on the fundamentals of art and design, like line, shape, colour, space, and texture. These are experiments with line.

 We're building vocabulary to talk about different kinds of lines.

 And experimenting with the effects they make.

We're also learning about how to talk about our work in a critical way in order to improve it.

By giving you these examples, I'm hoping to show you a little bit of what we're doing in each subject area, but also give you a framework to understand how to place your own child's strengths and needs in a broader context. To a large extent, students in Grade 1 are figuring out what it means to be a student, and you're figuring out how to support their learning in this new context as well. 

Sincerely, 

Ms. Goegan

A quick Friday night post

Dear Parents,

I sat down to write a quick post and ended up writing a manifesto on reporting, which I'll have to tweak and post another time. For now, programming notes for next week:

--Tuesday afternoon, our Mad Science (like Scientists in Schools) is happening. We have Grade 1 students from Room 104 joining us. I have a couple of parents on deck for this, but would be happy to have more.

--Friday afternoon, our school's costume parade is happening. Students are encouraged to come in costume and stay for the parent council fundraiser party after school.

--Friday will also be the first official day for our new student teacher, Mr. Elio. Welcome to him! He'll be with us through most of November.

--Friday is also Pizza Day

--Because Friday is Pizza Day, we'll have a number of parent volunteers staying on. I'm hoping to use them to do a Halloween themed reader's passport afternoon, which I'm still fine-tuning the logistics of. I know Jackson D.'s mom and Oscar's dad will be there: please confirm if you would also like to spend the afternoon being read to.

--I've sent home trip forms for the Primary trip. Many thanks are due to Ms. Turna for doing the leg work on this one. We'll be going to see a Dr. Suess themed stage production. Forms and money are also due next Friday.

And I'll leave you with some photos of students making switches to turn lightbulb circuits on and off.

Sincerely,

Ms. Goegan

A circuit moves in a circle

Dear Parents,

Today, as part of our energy unit, we tested electrical circuits using batteries and other materials.

These are the materials we used

You might like to see if your child can identify the parts needed for a circuit, and which materials worked to make the circuit connect. 

Unfortunately, I forgot to get the camera out while the students were experimenting, but there were a lot of interesting points in the discussion, particularly about why the painted wire worked for some people, but not for all of them.

Avery: The metal worked, but not the painted wire.

Jackson D.: It worked for me.

Oscar: Because Electricity only goes one way, maybe it would work if they put the wire backwards?

:I demonstrate it connecting and not connecting and ask the difference:

Joel: Oh, I get it! You're touching the white part, not the red part.

Me: Yes. I'm touching the metal and not the paint. The paint protects the metal, like the plastic cover on the copper wire.

This was a busy lesson with lots of materials management. Students are still learning to work as a team, share materials and return them to where they got them, but everyone respected the safety rules we'd set out beforehand and most people seemed to have a lot of fun making the lightbulb go on. Many many thanks are due to Maggie, who helped check work and lead students back on track. 

Some students were also excited about making their own experiments (Jackson B. suggested using a paper clip), so that may be our next step, bringing student led inquiry into the mix. 

On another note entirely, our Mad Science presentation for energy is happening on the afternoon of October 25th. Volunteers are not required, but I'm happy to have them. Please let me know if you are available to support us.

Sincerely, 

Ms. Goegan

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dear Parents, 

For this week's letter home, students wrote out 4 reasons they were thankful. Some of the answers were sweet, some were thoughtful, and some were actually hilarious. 

I was off to an appointment this afternoon, so I hope they all made it home! Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy the long weekend!

Sincerely,

Ms. Goegan

Math Homework

Dear Parents,

I sent home two math things this weekend. One was our monthly graph of the weather, which I sent home in place of our weekly letter. I hope that you'll discuss their graph with your student and talk about why they've come to the conclusions they have. Creating and interpreting graphs are part of the Data Management strand of the Ontario math curriculum. Friday was also our Terry Fox walk, so a busy day in the classroom.

The other sheet is meant to be finished up at home. Some students managed to finish their graph quickly and others took a much longer time, so the worksheet follows up on some of the concepts we've been looking at this past 2 weeks in the Number Sense and Numeration strand of the JUMP math workbook. Because I've already received one questioning email, I thought there might be more questions.

The first side of the sheet asks students to count the letters in the words. The boxes are meant to help them show that they are counting on. So, after each word they place the number they've counted to and begin counting again from that number.

E. g. The (3) cat (6) is (8) black (13).

This is a very helpful strategy when beginning to add. Starting at the higher number and "counting on" means that when students are adding 3+3, they can start at 3 and count up ("4, 5, 6") rather than needing to start again at 0 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).  The answer is the same, but when we start running out of fingers, counting on helps immensely.

On the other side of the page, students are asked to read 2 digital numbers and say which team is winning (i.e. Which number is greater?). Some students are still reversing numbers, so 2 and 5 can be easy to mix up on a calculator.

We're working on using vocabulary like greater, more, less,  and fewer instead of just bigger and smaller, when comparing numbers.

Then, students can reverse their counting on strategy to find the difference (e.g. 9 is winning against 5. Show 9 fingers, count off 5. 4 are left over, so 4 is the difference).

Even if you don't finish, I would very much like to see where students are with the JUMP math worksheet. Please return it on Monday, so we can look at it as a class.

Sincerely,

Ms. Goegan

I promised you pictures...

Dear Parents,

I spoke to many of you last night for curriculum night and you got a chance to see the surprises we baked up for you. There were mysterious mustachioed photos and self portraits for art, lots of writing samples and a chance to look through students' reading folders for language, Calendar math (all five strands are represented!) and a peek at the JUMP math workbooks for mathematics, plus a button spinner to help us start to think about energy.

Some mysterious characters

I also put out a sign up sheet for volunteers. I'd love to have parents come in and read with students. If you're able to come in, but didn't get a chance to hear from me, do ping my email and we'll figure it out.

Using writing to help us delve into the people behind the mustaches

A lot of parents wanted to know how their child was doing. A couple overarching trends appeared in all my talking:

Students are served well by reading daily with parents. If there's one thing you can do to help your child, this is it.

Students in Grade 1 are building stamina for focused work. This will be easier for some than others, but everyone will get better as they practice.

Students in Grade 1 are building their toolkits. They need lots of ideas for what to do when they don't know what to do. Coaching them through challenges to help them build resilience is probably more important than any content I teach.

Another way to look at the same kids

A class set, being cheered on by Rosie

Ultimately, we're a team. I'll communicate with you if there are bumps along the way. Please do the same for me.

Thanks for a great start to a new year!

Sincerely,

Ms. Goegan

Beginning Math (Looking at Clocks and the JUMP program)

Dear Parents,

Over the past week, we've been working on time so that students can read the classroom clock and our class schedule. This is a component of measurement, but it's also a challenging concept for students this age because many of them don't have a sense of the times that matter in their daily life.

Many knew their bedtimes, for instance, but not what time they might eat breakfast or dinner. I sent the worksheet we had done together home on Monday, with the hope that you can see where your child's sense of time is. For many students, this was very challenging work.

The passage of time is a concept we'll revisit over the course of the year and a good one to reinforce with students --having routines and schedules lowers student stress by allowing them to predict what might happen. I also like the idea that instilling these routines and expectations early will help students internalize how to organize their time more independently as they grow older.

Today we started our JUMP math program. Each student in Grade 1 at IRC has a workbook that we'll work on together as a class. I'll supplement our math program with lessons to deepen and enrich their understanding of the 5 strands as we go, but I love the JUMP math program because it's based on the idea of "micro-inquiry"--allowing students to explore concepts and then build on them. If you want to learn more about JUMP math, here's their website.

I took a lot of photos today, but they are for parent night next week. Mustaches may be involved. Mystery must be maintained. I promise a more photo heavy post for next week.

Sincerely,

Ms. Goegan