UNSCARY Stories!

We began our week enjoying The UnScary Book, a story by Nick Bland about a little boy who wants to write a very scary, spooky, terrifying book. 

It all goes sideways when lovely, nice things show up in the book instead! Rainbows, ice cream, bunnies, and even Grandma all arrive in this very UNSCARY book!

We decided to create our own unscary stories! Students were introduced to a Colouring Rubric last week and were challenged to follow the rubric when creating their illustrations.

We had a blast being creative and writing our own "unscary" pages and enjoyed reading one another's work! 

Our colouring rubric is now an expectation whenever we tackle a project with any colouring. It will help us to our best! These stories will be coming home in the next few days for you to enjoy. 

Making Connections: Deepening our Comprehension

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!

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 sharing what we do when we're scared:

When I'm scared ... (a) I jump! (b) I go to mom and dad
(c) I hide. (d) I scream!

Crankenstein features an ordinary kid who can become very cranky! What makes us cranky? Look at our cranky faces!

The Littlest Pumpkin is about a teeny tiny pumpkin that nobody picks from the pumpkin patch.  The students will be challenged to think of a time they felt disappointed! 

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.  

Wiggle Monsters

We are the wiggle experts of St. Nicholas, so it only made sense that we read Lines that Wiggle!

Here is a reading of our wonderful, wiggly story:

In this book, silly monsters show many different lines. Throughout this story is a raised, sparkly blue line that we all loved to touch! 

We got to work practicing our lines and drew 5 or 6 across a white page. 

Then we painted ....

... and added details, like eyeballs and a mouth!

Here are our fantastic, colourful, wiggly, squiggly masterpieces! Our hallway is Halloween ready!

Making Connections When We Read

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 meet 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!

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:

"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. 

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

Watch for these activities to come home soon and 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 from Deanna Jump's unit. 
The Littlest Pumpkin activity from Cara Carroll. 
Crankenstein activity from Falling Into First. 
Creepy Carrots inspired by Anita Bremmer. 

Harnessing the Halloween Energy!

Between the full moon and Halloween approaching, boy has there been energy in Grade 1!

Rather than let that energy get out of control, the boys and girls got to work on several creative Halloween projects! Here is a peek at our week!

Making Connections

We were introduced to the reading comprehension strategy called "making text to self connections". Simply put, students are encouraged to connect a personal experience they have had with something in the story. This helps children better understand the story.

This past week, we practiced making personal connections using several Halloween books!

 

• The Littlest Pumpkin is about a teeny tiny pumpkin that nobody picks from a pumpkin patch. We thought of a time we felt disappointed. 

• Where's My Mummy is about a little mummy who is lost and can't find his mama. What a scary feeling! 

• Creepy Carrots is about a rabbit who fears his favourite snack, carrots!

• Crankenstein is about all the things that can make a kid cranky!

Here are some of the personal connections the children made:

It Didn't Frighten Me Pattern Stories

After hearing the story It Didn't Frighten Me, the boys and girls got to work creating their own spooky pattern stories! 

Here is the criteria they followed:

The boys and girls worked over several days to complete their stories. 

Here are a few pages from these amazing books!

These spooky stories will come home today! Have a safe and spooky Halloween weekend!

Where's My Mummy activity from Deanna Jump's unit. 
The Littlest Pumpkin activity 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.  

Pattern Stories: It Didn't Frighten Me!

With Halloween on the brain last week, we really enjoyed the pattern story It Didn't Frighten Me! The students enjoyed this story so much that we got right to work creating our own spooky pattern stories! 

Here is the criteria we followed for our illustrations:

The boys and girls worked over several days to complete their pattern stories. They are very creative authors!

Here are a few pages from these amazing books!

These spooky books will come home today! Enjoy!

'Twas the Day of Halloween

'Twas the day of Halloween
And all through the halls
The children were vibrating
They were bouncing off the walls!

We were surprised by a visit
From our grandma we adore
We enjoyed spooky stories
We begged her to read more!

Grandma Theresa from Linking Generations

Then a Locked Box arrived
And we puzzled over each clue
We opened three locks
These kids knew what to do!

After lunch we got dressed
And enjoyed the parade
We strutted our stuff
And cheered as we waved!

Then we moved through the stations
Crafts, challenges, and games
We were all so grateful
To the volunteers who came!

We're headed home for more fun
Think of what we learned with Safety Bear
Make smart and safe choices
Have fun and take care!

Thank you Constable Kelly!

I'll see you all tomorrow
November 1st is All Saints Day
More learning awaits
Don't forgot to wear your PJs!


Happy Halloween, friends!

Making Connections When We Read

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!

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:

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!

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

We tried to pose with our crankiest faces, but it turned into giggles!

Watch for these activities to come home next week and 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.  

You Can't Frighten Us!

We loved reading the pattern story It Didn't Frighten Me! The boys and girls were very excited to get to work creating their very own spooky stories! 

Here is the criteria they followed:

The students worked over several days to complete their stories.

The were sure to check our colouring criteria to ensure their illustrations were amazing!

Here are a few pages from these amazing books!

Students in Pre-K enjoyed hearing our stories, too! We were so excited to share our writing with them!

These spooky pattern books will be coming home with an assessment page tucked in the back. Happy reading!