We had such fun this week creating our bird's eye view snowmen! However, the project started in a boring manner. Very.
Very. Boring. Mrs. Beliveau asked everyone to draw white snowflakes on white paper. Ummm ... not exactly exciting, now is it?
However, soon the boys and girls were "ooooohhhh-ing" and "aaaahhhhh-ing"! Using watercolours, we were able to make our snowflakes appear, as if by magic!
As our watercolours dried, we set to work on our snowmen. Using pastels, we traced the three balls of the snowman's body and used our fingers to smudge the pastels inward.
After Mrs. Beliveau hot-glued the three snowballs together, including a little stack of cardboard in between to make each ball "pop" out, we were ready for the next step ... details! Noses, arms, buttons, scarves, eyes, eyelashes, and even a few pairs of mittens were added to give our snowmen personality!
Look how charming!
Well, our snowmen aren't exactly famous ... yet! But we're pretty certain they will be soon! For the month of February, our bird's eye view snowmen will be featured on a special bulletin board at the Strathcona County Library! They'll be there all February!
Today our students led our assembly! Our theme was the Feast of the Epiphany, and our focus centered around the Wise Men following the star to our King. The Wise Men brought Jesus the precious gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. What gifts can we give to Jesus?
The boys and girls in our class, many of whom are emerging readers, worked very hard to read their parts confidently. It's not easy being in front of the whole school, but we put on our brave faces and did our best!
Out toes were tapping as we sang together! Have a listen, it's catchy! We gathered, we sang, we danced, we prayed. We were all so proud of the beautiful prayer assembly we led today. Leaders come in many sizes, and today our leaders were little!
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!
As a treat for the audience We coloured programs bright Focusing on the true meaning Of that wondrous night!
While the gym was very busy, We moved by stacking cups! Dexterity and patterning Made our cup stacks go up!
Each day we kept reading, For math we had time, These kids do love writing, A favourite pastime!
We heard Axios mens choir And a bandura was played They sang Ukrainian carols We wished they could stay!
Grandma Theresa shared games She played as a child Then we played our own games And things got really wild!
We each had a friend's name And wrapped socks for their feet We unwrapped our surprise To find our own cozy treat!
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!
Our Winter unit in Science has been lots of fun! We explored how plants and trees change. We have also learned how animals migrate, hibernate, and adapt. But what do people do? We got our creative juices flowing when Mrs. Beliveau read Snow Day. In the book, a "snow day" is declared and kids must stay home from school! The children in the book do loads of fun seasonal activities, which became an excellent conversation starter for our class!
We brainstormed some of our favourite winter activities!
Then, Mrs. Beliveau promised we could do those Winter activities we just read about! Ski, sled, build a snowman, skate ... but how? The boys and girls dressed in their warm woollies and posed as if they were doing a snowy activity. Can you guess what winter activity these kids are acting out?
Then students focused their efforts on writing a complete sentence about their activity,
chose a whimsical Winter background,
and glued their cutout with a few details to complete the picture!
This activity was so rich! We were able to focus on writing a complete sentence, paying careful attention to beginning with a capital letter and ending with a period, all while exploring seasonal changes in winter! Can you guess what each student is doing? Visit our hallway bulletin board and flip the picture over to read the sentence on the back!
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!
When we started Grade 1 together, we knew the sounds the letters make and a few words, too (thank you Mrs. Sombyk & Mrs. Nestorowich!). You'll never believe it, but we are now working on writing FULL SENTENCES! We really began examining what a sentence was this past Monday. We learned three things every sentence has:
Then Mrs. Beliveau revealed her hidden talent ... rapping!
We sorted letters, words and sentences as a class ...
... and then continued our sorting independently!
During our writing blocks, we are practicing writing our own complete sentences.
Look at some of our hard work!
Writing strong sentences is a skill we will work on throughout the year. Support your child by finding sentences in the books you read, by identifying components of a sentence in our daily agenda message, and by writing sentences together ... the sillier the better! "Is It a Sentence" poster was from here. Pete the Cat Letter, Word and Sentence sort was from here.
Today we celebrated our 50th day of learning together with a little fun ... we made Friendship Fruit Salad! We all brought fruit to share, and together it made an amazing snack, much like how we make an amazing classroom family when we are all together!
We are so blessed and have so much to be thankful for; the friendships we have made, the learning and growth we have experienced, and the kindness we show one another. 50th Day Friendship Fruit Salad was a meaningful (and delicious) way to connect with each other!
Looking forward to the adventures that await! The first 50 days have been fantastic!
