Pattern Portraits

This week, we blended math and art to create Pattern Portraits! In art, we’ve been practicing how to draw people using shapes and adding details that bring them to life. Putting those skills to work, each student drew a self-portrait. No stick people, here!

Next, we created colorful backgrounds by gluing strips of paper into repeating designs. A pattern means something happens again and again…and again! Students loved seeing how their choices of colors and arrangements made each piece unique.

The final posters turned out amazing! Like I told the kids, “I don’t just like them, I LOVE them!”

Take a look at our wonderful Pattern Portrait creations below!

100 Days of Learning!

We have been waaaaaiting for the 100th Day of School since the very first day, when Mrs. Beliveau promised a mind blowing party! 

Each morning we count another school day. We've had lots of practice regrouping, skip counting, and counting on. 

We made fashion forward hats to celebrate! Each hat had 10 strips of paper. We used bingo dabbers to put 10 dots on each strip, making 100 dots in all! 

A school wide challenge was issued! 100 pictures of Mrs. Comartin and 100 pictures of Mr. Kucy were hidden all over the school. Could we work as a St. Nick's community to find them all? Donning our hats, we hunted high and low for pictures, singing our 100 Days of School song along the way! Ask your child how the hunt went!

We worked together to compile a list of 100 words we know! Aren't we smart cookies?

We each counted out 100 items. Isn't it funny how different 100 items can look? Some baggies look so empty, while others look so full.

All this hard work can make a kid hungry! Never fear! We counted out 10 of each snack to make a delicious 100 item trail mix!

Mrs. Dubuc showed up in our room with a delivery! She had a box. A very, very LOCKED box. And a few clues. Our Grade 1 Breakout Box challenge was about to begin! The goal? Break into the box!

A Breakout Box is similar to a breakout room, but students use curricular skills to break into a box instead of breaking out of a room. Using teamwork and our knowledge of the 100-chart, we were able to open a number lock, word lock, and directional lock to open the box! 

We heard a 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. 

What a blessing the first 100 days have been! It was absolutely a day to remember! 

Door decor inspired by Sara Ann Culbertson. 

Snack placemat from Kristen Smith. 

Hundred word list from Kinder Craze Blog. 

We're Coding Kids!

This past week, we embarked on a coding adventure! Simply put, coding is writing instructions. A fleet of little TaleBot robots joined our class and we learned how to have them follow our directions. 

We met the TaleBots and worked in pairs to learn how to use the command buttons. The commands allow the TaleBots to move forward and back, turn left and right, and even dance! 

Our first challenge was to have the TaleBot move around a piece of lego. There was lots of trial and error (and squeals of joy!) as we problem solved, discussed, and corrected our code. 

We tried the same challenge on a coding mat, and it became easier, as we were able to use the spaces on the mat to help us count out our commands. 

We examined a zoo mat and were challenged to write a story all about the zoo! The stories are about TaleBots who visit the zoo. Where do they travel to first? Next? Last? 

Once our zoo stories were written, we got back into teams. Using our story, we coded the TaleBot to retell our very own stories!

Next week we are excited to teach our big Grade 4 buddies how to code with the TaleBots. What a spectacular week of learning!

Making 10 Card Game

We are working on addition to 10, and today we learned the card game Make 10!

Mrs. Beliveau modified the rules from the original game posted here. 

A game board will go home with each student, but more can be printed here. Have a deck of cards? Then you can play at home!

Take out the face cards. This game uses Ace through 10. We treat the Ace as a 1. Using the game board, put out four cards on the spaces 1, 2, 3, and 4. Turn the rest of the deck over on the space marked "deck". 

Can you make ten using up to 4 cards?

Look, she found an easy 10! Set the 10 aside, and put out another card from the deck. 

Replenish any empty spaces with cards from the deck. 

Here's another 10!

Can't make 10? Choose one card to put on the bottom of the deck, and take the top card. 

There are lots of ways they made 10!

The kids have played today and should be able to explain the rules and play independently at home. Happy counting!

Numeracy Games

We're building our numeracy skills with numbers up to 20, and have two awesome games that we've learned that can also be played at home!

Friends of 10

Friends of 10 is a game that builds understanding of 10. Using a paper clip, spin a number. Work out how many more you would need to make 10 (you can use the 10 frame to do this). Cover your answer with a counter. The aim is to cover all of the numbers. 

For example, if you spin 3, figure out how many more it takes to get to 10. We know it takes 7 more, as 3 and 7 are friends of 10. Cover the 7 and spin again. 

A copy of the game board will be coming home with your child. 

Junk It

Junk It is a fast-paced card game that 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 picks up a card from the center pile, and places it in its numerical spot. She picked up a 3 ... 

... so she put it down where the 3 goes. 

When she placed her card in the 3 spot, she picked up a 4 (formerly face down in the 3rd place). Off the 4 goes to spot 4!

Notice how when she put her 4 down, she picked up the card in that spot? It is a 3! She already has a 3, 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 3, so he chose to pick it up. 

The goal is to get all 10 of your cards in order, before your opponent!

We loved this numeracy challenge!

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

Friends of 10 is from Rainbow Sky Creations. 

I don't like them ...

 ... I LOVE THEM!

This week we combined math and art to make Pattern People Posters!

We've been working hard to learn how to draw people using shapes and details. Using the skills that we've learned, we drew ourselves with sharpies. No stick people, here!

We created a background with paper strips, and made sure we glued our coloured papers down to make a pattern. A pattern is the same thing, over & over & over!

Look at our beautiful pattern people posters! Like I told the kiddos, "I don't like them, I LOVE THEM!"

100 Days of Learning!

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. 

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:

We squeezed in several little numeracy games!

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. 

Make 10 Challenge!

We are working hard on addition and subtraction to 20, and our favourite game this week is Make 10!

Mrs. Beliveau modified the rules from the original game posted here. 

A game board will go home with each student, but more can be printed here. Have a deck of cards? Then you can play at home!

Take out the face cards. This game uses Ace through 10. We treat the Ace as a 1. Using the game board, put out four cards on the spaces 1, 2, 3, and 4. Turn the rest of the deck over on the space marked "deck". 

Here is the challenge! Can you make ten using up to 4 cards?

Look, he made 10! Set the group of 10 aside, and put out more cards from the deck. 

Replenish the empty spaces with cards from the deck. 

There are lots of ways they made 10!

Can't make 10?

Choose one card to put back on the bottom of the deck, and take the top card. 

The kids have played several times and should be able to explain the rules and play independently at home. Happy counting!