Scuba Senses!

It seems like every day there is something fantastic and exciting happening in Grade One!

Last Wednesday we kicked off our newest Science Unit, Senses! To get the kids thinking, students were challenged to use their senses to make observations together!

Senses with Scuba Charlotte

On Friday, we added to our Senses knowledge as we went on an underwater senses journey with "Scuba Charlotte"!

Hearing

We used our sense of hearing and had to identify sounds from several sea animals, including dolphins and whales. The next challenge was to wear blackout goggles and follow a specific sound (e.g. bells, castanets) as we crab-walked around the room, following our sound! Then we took a minute and reflected on what could hurt/help our senses: 

Sight

Our eyes played tricks on us! On one side of a stick we glued a fish, and on the other a tank. When we spun the stick back a forth, it looked like the fish was in the tank! We also really enjoyed a What is it? game and a few other optical illusions. 

Taste and Smell

We learned that our sense of taste and smell work together, and we use our noses help us taste! We ate a cracker with our noses plugged, and then tried again without our noses unplugged. What a difference! 

We also challenged our sense of smell with little scented vials. Black licorice was a toughie!

Animals taste and smell a little differently than we do. Did you know that a catfish has taste buds all over its body? Or that a shark has an excellent sense of smell and can smell blood from miles away? 

Mystery Tastes

We tried a few different mystery tastes, but were encouraged to smell the samples first. We tried salt water, lemon juice, and sugar water. Scuba Charlotte thankfully didn't ask us to taste spinach or coffee, which are both bitter tastes! (Mrs. Beliveau would have gladly had any coffee samples)

Touch

We were able to touch many textures from the ocean, including real coral that was once alive! We identified bumpy, sharp, squishy, smooth and rough textures. 

We had so much fun wearing black out shades and exploring sand and water pails, identifying different items!

Sea Lions and Their Senses

No trip with Scuba Charlotte is complete without meeting a few sea lions! 

We learned that when a baby is born, the mama and baby sea lions bark back and forth for about 20 minutes to learn to identify each other's bark! If a mama is ever confused about who her baby is, she uses her sense of smell to identify it. 

Sea lions have an excellent sense of smell, which they use to find their baby, locate a mate, or identify a dangerous human. But sea lions do not have a very developed sense of taste! 

Sea lions rely on their whiskers as their sense of touch! Their whiskers tell them how the water is moving and can signal to them if food swims by. 

We learned loads about our senses with Scuba Charlotte today! Hopefully you were able to review your child's booklet and learn something new yourself! Thank you to the parent volunteers who were so patient, energetic and willing to participate!

Senses presentation was made through Teacher's Pet

Praying the Holy Rosary

October is the month of the rosary. To make this form of meditative prayer accessible for us little ones in Grade 1, we prayed one decade each day for five days.

To prepare for our Decade-a-Day prayer journey, we made single-decade rosaries. Our Grade 3 buddies came to lend a hand. The decade of 10 beads can be moved around as each prayer is shared.

To connect our daily decade to the full rosary, we coloured in the 10 beads we prayed each day. 

 

Learning the Hail Mary prayer has been central to our exploration of the rosary. A "puzzle-piece" prayer came home yesterday. Consider praying this prayer as a family. 

Today we gathered with our Grade 3 buddies to pray a full rosary ... outside! For each of the 5 decades, we walked to a new location! We prayed in the forest, on the playground, on the soccer field, on top of Dinosaur Hill, and even by the new olive tree in front of the school! It was a beautiful, meaningful way to finish off our week! Thank you, Mrs. Rockwell, for leading us.

If you are interested in learning more about how to pray the rosary, this How to Pray the Rosary infographic is spectacular as well as the free app Laudate. 

Connecting: Developing our Comprehension Skills

Reading becomes so much more meaningful when we are able to personally connect with the text! This past few days we have been focusing on making a personal connection with what we are reading. This means the children have been challenged to connect the story to their own life, own experiences, and own feelings. 

We enjoyed reading several books appropriate for the Halloween season! The boys and girls made meaningful text-to-self connections using these texts!

In Creepy Carrots, we met Jasper Rabbit, who loves carrots, until they turn on him and become scary! We connected with the story by sharing our favourite food to snack on!

This is something I love to eat (1) muffin (2) watermelon (3) pancakes

Next we enjoyed the story "Where's My Mummy?"! Where is little mummy's mama? Little mummy felt scared without mama! Here are our personal connections of a time we felt scared:

When I'm scared I (1) hug my dog (2) I snuggle my stuffy (3) I hide under my blanket

The Littlest Pumpkin is about a teeny tiny pumpkin that nobody picks from the pumpkin patch.  The boys and girls thought of a time they felt disappointed, and also made matching mini-pumpkins!

I felt disappointed when (1) my fish died (2) I lost my stuffy
(3) I didn't get Tim Hortons (4) I had to do math

Crankenstein features an ordinary kid who can become very cranky! What makes us cranky?

Continue to reinforce those personal connections as your child reads. Connecting to the text is an excellent way to increase and develop your child's comprehension!


Where's My Mummy activity and craftivity from Deanna Jump's unit. 
The Littlest Pumpkin activity and craftivity from Cara Carroll. 
Crankenstein activity from Falling Into First. 
Creepy Carrots inspired by Anita Bremmer. 
Connections poster from the Comprehension Strategy Poster collection made by A Year of Many Firsts.  

Number Sense: Junk It!

In grade 1 we learn how our number system works by examining numbers up to 100. First, we went hunting for numbers! Where do we see numbers? When do we use numbers each day? 

For now, we will be working very closely with numbers to 20. 

• How are numbers related? 
• What are some different ways to make a number? 
• How can we take a number apart? 

Keep hunting for numbers with your child! Road signs, recipes, flyers ... they're everywhere and so important!

Junk It Game

In case you haven't heard, we were introduced to a fast-paced card game, Junk It! It helps us recognize numerals and order them to 10. 

Junk It is a 2-player game. Remove face cards, but keep Aces. 

Put 10 cards in two rows of 5 face down in front of each player. Place the remaining cards in the centre. 

The first player flips a card over, and places it in its numerical spot. She picked up a 6 ... 

... so she put it down where the 6 goes. 

When she placed her card in the 6 spot, she picked up a 2 (formerly face down in the 6th place). Off the 2 goes to spot 2!

Notice how when she put her 2 down, she picked up the card in that spot? It is also a 2! She already has a 2, so she gets to call JUNK IT and discard it in the middle. 

Her opponent can either pick up the card that was just discarded, or select a new card from the pile. He needed a 2, so he chose to pick it up. 

The first player to get all 10 cards flipped over in order wins! Isn't learning more fun when it's a game?

It is a little confusing to explain on our blog, but the kids are definitely the experts! Will you challenge your child to a game of Junk It?!?

Grateful Hearts

This week we spent a little extra time exploring how blessed we truly are. Our blessings so are abundant and we seized every opportunity we could to thank God! Gratitude breeds positivity!

With just the mention of the word "thankful", the students' hands were shooting up and ideas were overflowing. They were bursting with gratitude!

In the spirit of fostering a "growth mindset" and giving the students (and their teacher) the opportunity to practice perseverance and patience, we tackled a challenging Thanksgiving project, woven place mats!

We began by writing and colouring. 

Then the students helped each other weave paper strips over, under, over, and under. Fantastic teamwork! Many also showed off their patterning skills!

Amazing work! These will, without a doubt, be the center of the Thanksgiving tables this weekend!

We have been blessed beyond measure and it is so important to take time and give thanks. God is indeed SO GOOD! 

If you and your family are feeling energetic and grateful this long weekend, give this scavenger hunt from Natural Beach Living a try together!

Happy Thanksgiving!