I'm stuuuck!

"Mrs. Beliveau, I'm stuck on this word!"

Boy, learning to read is challenging! A huge part of Grade One is arming the students with strategies they can apply when faced with a tricky word. 

We have a special bulletin board in our room that helps us remember useful reading strategies. There are many more strategies not posted on our board that can help a reader, but the ones we focus on are the ones that will help our beginning readers get "unstuck" most often. 

If you ever want to hear a funny story, ask Mrs. Beliveau about how her husband ended up buying all of these Beanie Babies!

We have not yet introduced all of the strategies posted, but have worked with several so far. Mrs. Beliveau frequently meets with small groups of kids who have similar needs to practice applying reading strategies.

Can you see the strategies posted behind our reading table?

Knowing the strategies your child is familiar with, as well as the vocabulary we use in class when discussing strategies, can be helpful when reading together at home. Here are the strategies we have worked with so far:

• Stretch out the sounds in the word slowly. (Stretchy Snake)
• Look at the first letter of a word. Get your lips ready to say the first sound. (Lips the Fish)
• Look at the pictures for clues. (Owl Eyes)
• Find a chunk/part of the word you know. (Chunky Monkey) 

Above all, always encourage your child to ask "Is what I'm reading making sense?". 

Watch for a strategy bookmark to come home with your child soon!

Reading strategy posters from Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten. 

Braille and a Black Lab

Our Five Senses Unit is coming to a close, and we have learned so much! This past Friday, we had an opportunity to learn more about what people do when their senses are impaired. Several special guests visited!

Braille

Our first special guests were from down the hall! Mrs. Cooper is an incredibly talented Educational Assistant who has become very skilled at Braille. Joining her was a student with a visual impairment who was learning to read Braille. 

Braille is a set of raised bumps that you run your fingertips over. The bumps stand for letters, punctuation, or even whole words. A person would learn to read Braille if they their sense of sight was impaired or if they were blind. 

We were amazed that our special guests could read with their fingertips! We were treated to a story, read entirely in Braille!

What an amazing way to read! Many thanks to Mrs. Cooper, who also Brailled our names!

Dogs With Wings

Mrs. Montgomery, a former Holy Redeemer teacher and close friend of Mrs. Beliveau's,  generously set up a special visit from Dogs With Wings. Dogs With Wings is an assistance dog training organization that supports individuals with various disabilities, from visual impairments to mobility challenges. Mrs. Montgomery used to train puppies and still volunteers with the organization!

We welcomed in Susan and a 2 and a half year old black lab, Oakley! 

We saw several of Oakley's special skills that can help people be more independent and capable.

Here is Oakley helping Susan take off her shoes, coat and hat:

Oakley knows how to help someone cross a street or navigate a busy mall. Here is Oakley getting ready to help Susan cross a pretend street:

Labs are an especially focused breed of dog. One of our students was asked to distract Oakley by stepping over her several times. Do you think Oakley payed any attention to this little girl?

Look at how Oakley's attention remains on Susan

We learned that when we see a service dog out in public, we are not to pet it, talk to it, or distract it. We can identify a service dog because it wears a vest. 

Can we pet this dog? NO WAY, JOSE!

Can we pet this dog? YES!

Once a service dog's vest is removed she can be treated like any other dog. We all jumped at the chance to get in some puppy cuddles, too!

There are many ways to support Dogs With Wings. Susan said the organization is always looking for foster families to train the puppies. Of course, donations are always appreciated, as clients are only charged $1 when they receive their service dog. Susan even invited us to visit the dog training facility with our families so that we can play with the puppies!

Susan left our library with a new book, A Dog For Uncle Peter, written specifically for Dogs With Wings. Thank you, Susan, Oakley, and Mrs. Montgomery! Dogs With Wings is truly a blessing for so many!

There are so many ways that people with sensory impairments can be independent and successful. What an amazing day filled with learning!

It Didn't Frighten Me!

Halloween was SPECTACULAR! Last Friday was a ball! We had loads of fun busting a move at the dance, reading spooky stories, making a Halloween wind sock, and playing all sorts of active games, like Goalie Ghost!

But our Halloween fun began well before October 31st! For the past few weeks, the boys and girls have enjoyed the book It Didn't Frighten Me, by Goss and Harste. 

It is a pattern book about all of the things that didn't frighten a child late at night ... until a little brown owl shows up to do some scaring! Eeek!

We read the book several times, and then worked for days creating our own versions of the story! 

The boys and girls were introduced to the word criteria. We had two very simple criteria that the students were challenged to meet for this project: 

(1) print neatly with finger spaces

(2) draw neat pictures that fill the space

Ta da! Here are a few completed pages!

On Halloween, we shared our work with our Grade 5 buddies, and also snuck opportunities to read to anyone who was brave enough to hear a scary story!

Yesterday we reflected on our great work! We thought carefully about the criteria for the project. Then the students chose a colour they thought would best match their effort for the given criterion; green (excellent), yellow (proficient), or red (basic). 

We often use these monkeys when we self-assess and are reflecting upon where we are at on our learning journey. Can your child describe what these monkeys and their corresponding colours mean?

Watch for these amazing, scary stories in your child's Evidence of Learning binder, coming home after the November break!

Connecting to What We Read

Reading can become so much more meaningful when we are able to personally connect with the text! This past week 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. 

Chart inspired by Cara Carroll at First Grade Parade

We enjoyed reading two books appropriate for the Halloween season, The Littlest Pumpkin and Where's My Mummy?. The Littlest Pumpkin is about a teeny tiny pumpkin that nobody picks from the pumpkin patch. Where's My Mummy? is about a little mummy who is lost and can't find his mommy!

Then boys and girls made meaningful text-to-self connections!

The little pumpkin was disappointed nobody picked her at the pumpkin patch. The boys and girls thought of a time they felt disappointed:

'I felt disappointed when mom made me nap."

"I felt disappointed when I didn't get to my aunty's house"

"I felt disappointed when Baba and Gigi went to Mexico without me"

We also 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:

"When I'm scared a snack makes me feel better"

"When I'm scared I scream"

"When I'm scared I jump and close my eyes"

Continue to reinforce those personal connections to what your child reads. Connecting to the text is an excellent way to increase and develop your child's comprehension!

Welcome back, Brother Joe!

The students are always really excited when Brother Joe visits our classroom, and today was no exception! 

As we were wrapping up a Word Wall activity, we were thrilled to see Brother Joe at our door! He spent time helping us complete our word tasks and then we gathered on the mat for a visit. 

One little guy noticed a unique book Brother Joe was carrying. 

Student: Hey Brother Joe, is that a superhero book? 

Br. Joe: Well ... actually ... it's the ultimate superhero book! But this superhero didn't wear a cape. He couldn't shoot webs from his hands. There was no "S" on his belly. The super hero in this book is Jesus, and this is my Action Bible!

Brother Joe proceeded to read to us from his Action Bible, and we heard this weekend's gospel story. This story reminded us to love God with our whole heart and love our neighbour as ourself. Everyone is our neighbour, and Brother Joe challenged us to care for others. 

A visit from Brother Joe is never complete without a sing-along! And can you believe it? The students were disappointed when the recess bell rang and they had to end the visit and head outside!

Brother Joe, you're welcome in Grade One anytime! Thank you for your visit. Please come back soon!

Scuba Diving with Scuba Charlotte

It seems like every day there is something fantastic and exciting happening in Grade One!

Last Friday we kicked off our newest Science Unit, Senses! To get the kids thinking, students were challenged to use their senses to figure out what was in the microwave . . . 

One POP and they had it figured out! We used our senses to make observations together:

Then, ready with scissors and magazines, the boys and girls hunted for pictures to add to our Senses bulletin board. Isn't it amazing? 

Senses with Scuba Charlotte

Today we added to our Senses knowledge as we went on an underwater journey with Scuba Charlotte!

Hearing

We used our sense of hearing and had to identify sounds from several sea animals, including dolphins and whales. The next challenge was to wear blackout goggles and follow a specific sound (e.g. bells, castanets) as we crab-walked around the room, following our sound! Then we took a minute and reflected on what could hurt/help our senses: 

Sight

Our eyes played tricks on us! On one side of a stick we glued a fish, and on the other a tank. When we spun the stick back a forth, it looked like the fish was in the tank! We also really enjoyed a What is it? game and a few other optical illusions. 

Taste and Smell

We learned that our sense of taste and smell work together, and we use our noses help us taste! We ate a cracker with our noses plugged, and then tried again without our noses unplugged. What a difference! 

We also challenged our sense of smell with little scented vials. Black licorice stumped most of us!

Animals taste and smell a little differently than we do. Did you know that a catfish has taste buds all over its body? Or that a shark has an excellent sense of smell and can smell blood from miles away? 

Mystery Tastes

We tried a few different mystery tastes, but were encouraged to smell the samples first. We tried salt water, lime KoolAid, and sugar water. Scuba Charlotte thankfully didn't ask us to taste spinach or coffee, which are both bitter tastes! (Mrs. Beliveau would have gladly had any coffee samples)

Touch

We were able to touch many textures from the ocean, including real coral that was once alive! We identified bumpy, sharp, squishy, smooth and rough textures. 

We had so much fun wearing black out shades and exploring sand and water pails, identifying different items!

Sea Lions and Their Senses

No trip with Scuba Charlotte is complete without meeting a few sea lions! 

We learned that when a baby is born, the mama and baby sea lions bark back and forth for about 20 minutes to learn to identify each other's bark! If a mama is ever confused about who her baby is, she uses her sense of smell to identify it. 

Where is my baby sea lion?

Sea lions have an excellent sense of smell, which they use to find their baby, locate a mate, or identify a dangerous human. But sea lions do not have a very developed sense of taste! 

Sea lions rely on their whiskers as their sense of touch! Their whiskers tell them how the water is moving and can signal to them if food swims by. 

We learned loads about our senses with Scuba Charlotte today! Hopefully you were able to review your child's booklet and learn something new yourself! Thank you to the parent volunteers who were so patient, energetic and willing to participate!

Problems with our Veggies!

We continue to explore numbers to 20 and we were presented with a challenge today!

Why are dads always so tricky?


The students got to work! Some grabbed a pile of counters, some chose coloured construction paper, and others began drawing pictures. This group doesn't back down from a challenge!

There is no right way to arrive at the answer, nor is there a single correct answer. Here are a few responses:

As we continue to work with numbers to 20 and then move on to addition and subtraction, the children will be encouraged to choose how they will solve a problem, whether it be with a picture, manipulatives, or other strategy. 

Way to count carefully, boys and girls!