100 Days of Joy!

It's time to party! We're 100 day smarties!

The 100th Day of school is a HUGE deal in Grade One! It is a key part of our Math curriculum, so celebrating 100 is a perfect opportunity to tie in several Math activities, as well as a few Language Arts tasks and even the perfect Religion lesson. 

We began preparing for the 100th day on . . . day 93!?!?! We certainly got a jump on celebrating a few days early! Come see our learning and fun!

We worked over several days to write a list of 100 words we know! Be proud of your long list, kiddos!

We made fabulous, runway-worthy party hats! Each hat had 10 strips of paper, and we counted out 10 polka dots on each strip. Boom, 100 dots!

HUGE thank you to the special parent who prepared our hats!

The children practiced and read a 100 word poem around the school:

We brought in collections of 100 items. Isn't it interesting how different 100 items can look?

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

We rocked a BINGO game! SO much excitement and joy as we crossed off our numbers!

We looked into the future and imagined ourselves at age 100! Aren't these wrinkly, grey haired geezers adorable?

To bring our special day to a close, we settled in and heard a special parable from the bible about lost sheep. We looked at 100 cotton balls and pretended they were 100 sheep. We wondered, would God worry if one little sheep went missing? Wouldn't having 99 sheep be enough for God? No. If we stray from God, He worries. He searches for us. He always welcomes His lost sheep home. 

Happy 100 Days, kiddos! I'm so proud of you and your hard work!

Party hat labels from Cara Carroll at First Grade Parade. Door decor inspired by Sara Ann Culberson. 

Lent: A Change of Mind & Heart

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

This was our prayer table earlier this week:

This is our prayer table now:

Why the change? Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten season. Lent is a time when we look at ourselves and try and see what can change and improve so that we can be more like Jesus. 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)? As we journey through Lent, we will add more symbols to help us better understand this liturgical season. 

Today we reflected on Ash Wednesday as a class and are coming home with these posters:

We participated virtually in Ash Wednesday mass with the support of OLPH Church and Father Mario. We all received ashes on our foreheads to remind us that we are sinners.

This week we were introduced to our school-wide Lenten initiative, food for those in need in our community. Our children can understand the discomfort that comes with being hungry and hopefully are able to connect to this simple way of sharing with others. Please be generous. 

Lent is a time of change; a change of mind and heart. May the 40 days of Lent help us prepare for the joy of Easter. 

God Loved Us First

As we stepped into a new week of learning, the focus of our week was "love". We had several meaningful conversations, and our big take aways were:

All love comes from God. 
He loved us first. 
God always loves us. 
God always forgives us. 

We had lots of conversations about love. How do we show it? How do we feel it? How do we experience it? How can we tell it's there? Our new Science unit, Senses, dovetailed perfectly with our exploration of love!

After a little sponge painting...

... we wrote how we experience love, using our 5 senses!

Look at our beautiful work!

Project inspired by Mrs. Mac's Kinders!