'Twas The Week Before Christmas: JV Edition!

'Twas the week before Christmas,
And all through the halls,
The students (and their teacher),
Were bouncing off the walls!

To keep the kids focused, 
To keep them engaged, 
Loads of fun things were planned,
For the last 5 days!

As our week began, 
The third candle was lit,
The pink candle of JOY,
Oh, what a perfect fit!

We did an art project,
Built a stable of wood,
Added our Holy Family,
Beneath a star they stood.

We rehearsed for the concert,
Sang of the holy night,
We practiced and practiced,
No sign of stage fright!

While the gym was so busy, 
We moved by stacking cups!
Dexterity and patterning
Made our cup stacks go up!

We made words and were reading,
For math we had time,
These kids do love writing,
A favourite pastime!

We worked in small teams,
Made a zipline to save
Poor Elmer the Elf,
We're creative and brave!

Cozy in jammies
We gathered to see
The movie The Star
Told by a special donkey!

The week reached it's end,
And the holiday drew near,
Merry Christmas to all!
See you in the New Year!

Love and blessings, 

Mrs. Beliveau

Heaps of Snow!

Our playground and field are covered in snow, so it was fitting this week to read Eric Carle's book Dream Snow!

In the story, a farmer falls asleep and dreams that snow covers his farm animals. This book is very clever! Clear plastic sheets, with "snow" on them, can be lifted to reveal the animal underneath! The students loved this!

Inspired by a similar project on Mrs. Bainbridge's blog, we began creating our own version of Mr. Carle's book, but with a twist! Students were each going to write several clues about an animal of their choosing. An illustration of the animal would accompany the clues. Just like in Mr. Carle's book, a clear page with painted "snow" would cover the animal, so it would be lifted up to reveal the animal hidden under the snowbank!

Here is the criteria the students followed for the project:

Children got right to work writing clues for an animal of their choosing. They were very secretive about their animal, and worked nearly silently on their clues.

Students were challenged to write four clues, each beginning with a capital letter and ending with a period. As well, students were challenged to spell Word Wall Words correctly (weekly spelling words posted on the wall).

Once we completed our clues, we moved on to our illustrations. Students drew their animal, as secretly as possible, on a snowy landscape.

The very best part of the project was adding "snow" to a transparency placed over each student's illustration.

These amazing writing projects are on display in our hallway, and everyone is enjoying peeking under the snowbanks to see the animal hidden underneath! Can you guess the animal by reading the clues?

It's a fox!

Because of their fantastic work, the hallway near our classroom has been packed with curious students, reading the clues and peeking under the snowbanks! Well done, Grade One!

Advent: Joyful Waiting!

This past Sunday marked the first Sunday of Advent. 

We have been learning about the liturgical calendar. Can your child point out Advent?

Advent is a time of hope and anticipation. We are waiting for the birth of Christ! 



We changed our prayer table cloth from green, when it was Ordinary Time, to purple for Advent. Can you see our wreath? We light one candle for each of the four Sundays in Advent. This week we lit the first candle. As we light more candles each week, our world becomes brighter, symbolizing our growing anticipation of Jesus, who is the light of our world. 

At mass, the priest now wears purple vestments, the altar has a purple table cloth, and the advent wreath is displayed. 

Each morning, we will have a little Advent celebration during our daily Connection Time. 

Throughout Advent we reflect on the birth of Christ by adding to our Advent lapbook! These will come home prior to Christmas break. 

As we journey towards Christmas, may we prepare our hearts with kindness as we joyfully wait for the coming of Jesus!