Superman Came to Grade 1!

Today Superman came to Grade 1!

Today was the kick off of our Lenten initiative and it was Pajama Day!

The boys and girls (and teachers!) had a really cozy, fun pajama day, and the very best part was we have officially begun our collection for the Holy Childhood Association!

One highlight was Mr. Marshall reading us a really hilarious book about "the perfect pajamas" ... and he read it in his pajamas!  

"He smelled the pyjamas, and they smelled OK.
He tasted the pyjamas, and they tasted OK."

Our next opportunity to break the rules is this coming Tuesday ... grab a hat and bring in your toonies!

Lent: Prayer, Alms and Kindness

In the center of our classroom stands a special table. It is our prayer table. As the liturgical year changes, the table changes. 

This was our prayer table last week:

This is our prayer table now:

Why the change? Ash Wednesday marked the beginning of the Lenten season. Lent is a time when we look at ourselves and try and see what we want to change. We take more time to pray, to ask forgiveness of our sins, and to share with others. For forty days we prepare for the new life of Easter. 

Our Lenten wreath is brown and bare, symbolizing the desert where Jesus prayed for 40 days and also the crown of thorns. Can your child explain the symbols pictured on our wreath (purple ribbon, burlap cloth with a cross)? Today we added pennies and a cross with a heart. Can your child share what these mean?

Each student is making their own paper Lenten wreath.
As we add a symbol to our class wreath,
the students add to their personal wreaths.

Throughout Lent, we try harder to be more like Jesus. We have a vase filled with random acts of kindness. Each morning we pull a good deed and we challenge ourselves not only to carry it out, but to do so quietly, without seeking recognition. 

Today we led a school-wide Lenten assembly. Here we introduced our Lenten initiative. Did you read this important purple note detailing our initiative? Holy Redeemer has chosen to support the Holy Childhood Association (HCA). 

With the Holy Childhood Association, 100% of all donations go to children in the developing world. Every. Last. Penny. Our money will fund projects such as literacy, health care, nutrition, schooling, meal programs, libraries, care for children with AIDS, and orphan care. 

One of the countries supported through the Holy Childhood Association is Zambia. Today we watched a clip showing how the HCA is making a difference in Zambia:



Here are some powerful and very devastating facts we learned about Zambia:

• life expectancy is 38 years (4th lowest rate in the world)
• 14.5% of the Zambian population is living with HIV/AIDS
• 1.1 million children are orphans

So how will we help the HCA support countries such as Zambia? At today's assembly, students enjoyed this short video (featuring Mrs. Haston, Mrs. Lemire and Mrs. Beliveau!) outlining our Lenten initiative!

Please be generous with your donations. Please talk with your child about perhaps reaching into his or her piggy bank for that toonie. Throughout Lent, let's work together to teach our children to be generous and share what God has blessed us with. 

100 Day Smarties!

It's time to party!

We're 100 school day smarties!

100 days of school is a big deal in Grade 1. Huge! EPIC! 

A big part of our Math curriculum focuses on working with numbers to 100, so celebrating 100 is an opportunity to tie in several Math activities, as well as many Language Arts tasks and even the perfect Religion lesson.

So, we began preparing for the 100th day ... on day 96?!?!?! Yup, its possible Mrs. Beliveau planned 100+ activities for our celebration, and we needed to get a jump start on the fun and learning!

Here is a look at day 96, 97, 98, 99, and of course, day 100!!!

We worked over several days to write 100 words! Be proud of that amazing long list, kiddos!

We made fabulous runway-worthy party hats! There were 10 strips of paper, and we counted 10 polka dots on each. Boom, 100 dots!

The boys and girls practiced and read a 100 word poem to several classes:

We brought in collections of one hundred items:

Isn't it interesting how different 100 items can look?
Some bags are so full, and others have much less.

We reflected on all of the things we learned in the past 100 days:

100 days ago I didn't know how to...
"skate"
"do gymnastics"

Hidden around the room were many numbers. The students were challenged to find them and colour them in on a 100's chart to find a secret message:

The students worked in teams to make two special paper chains. One chain is blue and yellow and shows skip counting by 5's to 100, and the other chain is red and purple and shows skip counting by 10's to 100. 

This was a very challenging task that demanded LOADS of patience and careful counting. Both chains are hanging in our room, and they are proving very helpful already!

Using an app called Oldify, we were able to take pictures of our students and make them look as if they were 100 years old! Wrinkles, liver spots, saggy eyes and all! What!?!? Then the kids did some writing to accompany their geezer pic, and it's posted in our hall. (Parents, please email me if you want a copy of your child's Oldify shot ... no, I will not email you MY Oldify shot ... nope, nope, NOPE).

Counting by 10's, the students assembled trail mix. 10 of each snack item made 100 tasty treats!

Mrs. Beliveau is grateful 100x over for her very special friend and colleague, Mrs. Haston! Don't you love our matching 100 Eyed Monster Shirts? 

Our school is absolutely amazing! It's safe, caring, vibrant, and so, so much more! Children from Grade 1, Grade 2, and Grade 5 put together this dazzling display sharing "100 Things We Love About Holy Redeemer"! You can't miss out on seeing this!

(a) how people care for each other   (b) doing the Terry Fox Run   (c) Running Club

To bring our special day to a close, we settled ourselves and heard the story from the bible about the lost sheep. We looked at 100 cotton balls, thinking of them as 100 little sheep, and wondered Would God worry if one little sheep went missing? Wouldn't having 99 sheep be enough? No! If we stray from God, He worries and looks for us. He always welcomes the lost little sheep back. 

Happy 100 Day, boys and girls! Be proud of your hard work!

Party hat labels from Cara Carroll at First Grade Parade. Door decor inspired by Sara Ann Culberson. 100's snack placemat from Kristen Smith. 

Valentines Day: Friends and Fun!

Valentine's Day is an excellent reason to celebrate our friendships, as well as sneak in some curriculum, too! 


We all love Splat the Cat. He is such a goofball and it seems he is always into some kind of trouble! This week we read Love, Splat. 

After reading (and really enjoying) the book, we made text-to-self connections. In the book, Splat felt loved when (spoiler alert! eeek!) Kitty gave him a special Valentine. The boys and girls connected the story to a time in their lives when they felt loved. 

The next part of the "craftivity" was to make Splat! This was a super activity that took several steps, loads of patience, and lots of teamwork. This was a challenge!

All the hard work and patience paid off! 

"I felt loved when my cat cuddled me."

"I felt loved when my dad took me to the dog park."

Not only did Valentine's Day give us a chance to sneak in some writing, but it was also a chance to sharpen our Math skills, too! We played a BINGO game that gave us practice identifying and naming numbers to 100! Perfect fit with our curriculum!

Having TOO much fun playing Heart Bingo!

We were thrilled to spend time with our Grade 5 buddies making Love Monster mailbags! Aren't they creative?

Then we delivered our Valentine cards to each other! 

Organized chaos ... or maybe just chaos?

We finished off the day enjoying the friendships we have made in our class by playing Valentine's Minute To Win It! Mrs. Beliveau loves competition and fun, so the students had several crazy challenges to complete in a minute!

The first challenge was Heart Stack. How many candy conversation hearts can you stack in a minute?

The next challenge? Lava Heart! Using only two hearts to stand on, can you make it across the room? Don't fall in the lava!

The final challenge was Broken Hearts. Students passed a tissue paper heart using clothespins! Careful, don't tear it!

Our Valentine's Day was filled with learning and friendship and fun! Happy Valentine's Day!

Love Monster Mailbags are from The Teacher Wife. Splat the Cat activities are from Cara Carroll's mini-unit Love, Splat. Our Valentine's Minute To Win It was inspired by Mrs. Schmelzer's First Grade. 

Awesome Day, Awesome Learning!

Today was one of those rare days; one of those days that appears ordinary at first glance. No special guests, no crazy activities, not even a library period or a Music class. Just 14 students and their teacher, working hard, learning and encouraging each other. 

But as we gathered for prayer at the end of the day and took a moment to reflect, it was clear; awesome day, awesome learning! 

To begin to document a day in grade 1 would take paragraph upon paragraph, so I'll offer just a few peeks into our "average" little Wednesday. 

We have been working with numbers up to 100, and today we were reviewing skip counting by 10's. Here is the Math Journal problem the students tackled (and conquered!)

Students were encouraged to show their thinking in whatever way suited them, and they rose to the challenge! 

Please look for opportunities to practice skip counting:

• by 10's to 100
• by 2's to 20
• by 5's to 100

We have continued to practice applying reading comprehension strategies in our language lessons. Remember when we first started making text-to-self connections? 

Last week we focused on making predictions. It is important to make predictions before and during reading. It helps students monitor their understanding of a story, while encouraging them to think ahead. 

We've read several stories, making predictions before and during reading, however today we shook up our prediction mini-lesson! We watched a fun little clip about a pig who sees a cookie jar sitting high on top of the fridge. The cookies are just out of reach! The boys and girls LOVED making predictions about how he might get the cookies!

"I predict he is going to kick it." (the fridge)

"I predict he gets a ladder to get the cookies."

We watched this clip, pausing it to make frequent predictions:

Thank you for sharing your children with me each day. We'll see what tomorrow brings ... never the same day twice!

Prediction poster from the Comprehension Strategy Poster collection made by A Year of Many Firsts.  Prediction mini-page from Kindergarten Boom Boom.