From A to Z: A Joyful Year-End Journey!

Our ABC Countdown is off and running, and we’re adding a splash of fun and a sprinkle of sparkle to each day with exciting activities for every letter! Let the alphabet adventures begin! 

A - Awesome Authors and Animals

With a stuffed animal under one arm, we enjoyed several stories for the letter A!

B - BINGO!

We played our favourite BINGO game, Rhyming Word JINGO!

C - Chalk and Cup Stacking

We enjoyed sharpening our hand-eye coordination as we stacked cups. Our patterning, sequencing, and perseverance were all strengthened!

Chalk in the sunshine with friends? Yes, please!

D - Dice and Dinosaur Hill

We tackled a partner adding game using dice IN dice! We each rolled a double die, added our total, and whoever had more took a counter. Gather 10 counters to win!

The sun was shining and a walk to Dinosaur Hill was in order. Can't hustle up a hill and not roll down!

E - Explore the Tipi

Together with Mrs. Spooner's Grade 3's, we deepened our knowledge and respect for indigenous tipi teachings. 

F - Frisbees and Freeze Dance with Friends

Freeze Dance challenged us and we had a blast tossing frisbees to our friends!

G - Games (and Giggles!)

What a great opportunity to play fairly, take turns, and be gracious winners and losers!

As we step into the last weeks of Grade 1, one thing is certain ... we're squeezing in all of the joy we possibly can! 

 

Rooted in Gratitude & Love

As the end of a joyful school year approaches, we wish to express our deepest gratitude to the incredible support our families all have offered to our Grade 1 classroom. Your generous gifts of time, presence, and love have truly been a reflection of Christ’s service and compassion. Whether you were helping prep materials or joining us on field trips or special events, your dedication has made a lasting impact. Thank you for being instruments of God’s love and for helping us create a classroom community rooted in faith, kindness, and learning. 

This past week, our St. Nicholas Community opened our gym to our volunteers. To show our gratitude, we prepared some spring art to decorate our gym. We drew, coloured with pastels, and painted, creating stunning flower art. 

We put our art together to create beautiful blooms, and proudly displayed these flowers as decorations in our gym!

Thank you for all you've done to help our child bloom. May God continue to bless you for all that you’ve shared with us this year!

We LOVE Trees!

Today we spent the afternoon at Strathcona County's Arbor Day Celebration!

Trees have birthdays too! We learned to count the rings on a tree "cookie" and learned how drought and the seasons affect the rings. We even got to practice on our own little "tree cookie":

Our hearts were pumping at the "Nature-cize" obstacle course:

We planted our very own seedling in biodegradable cups, so that the cup can be planted along with the tree. Trees will come home next week.

We headed towards a treed area to hear a story and build "fairy houses" with dead material (e.g. sticks on the ground, fallen pine cones). What a collaborative, creative activity!

We learned about the importance of fire safety. We were strongly cautioned that fires are dangerous and never to be played with. We were, however, surprised to learn that forest fires are a natural part of the forest ecosystem and can play a role in maintaining a healthy forest. 

We were in awe of the arborists! We learned that they are "tree doctors". We saw several of their special tools, including the chain saws! We met two amazing arborists who gave us an amazing demonstration!

All of this fun had us hungry, so a quick tree cookie hit the spot!

We each received reusable lunch bags filled with snacks and we settled in for an interactive performance by environmental activist and Juno-award winning Canadian artist Peter Puffin!

Strathcona County put on another fabulous Arbor Day for us and we had so much fun learning about trees! We are called to care for all God created and learned more about being stewards for our big, beautiful earth!

Duckling Joy!

Over the past few days, we've been blessed with the presence of seven adorable ducklings. Caring for them has been a delightful experience, filled with moments of wonder and gratitude.

Witnessing their rapid growth and observing their curious nature has been a testament to the beauty of new life. These little ducklings have taught us invaluable lessons in patience, compassion, and God's awe-inspiring work of creation!

We are thankful for this joyful experience and the cherished memories it has brought into our lives. Indeed, God's creations are truly marvellous.

Farewell, ducklings! 

Reading, Creating, Discovering and Hatching!

We've begun exploring the parts of a story and together we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle:

After enjoying the book, we closely examined Mr. Carle's illustrations. He has a unique method for making designed paper and then cutting it into the pieces for his pictures. 

We followed Mr. Carle's paper-making technique. First, we painted our paper. We added drips, drops, stripes and spots in every colour!

No shortage of creativity in our class!

Once our paint dried, we cut shapes to make butterflies!

Our week ended with tremendous joy and wonder as new life filled our incubator! We were thrilled to welcome several ducklings into the world. Once they’re fully dry, they’ll move into a cozy little “barn” right in our classroom. What a beautiful reminder of God’s goodness!

Christ is Risen: Celebrating the Resurrection

Today we celebrated the risen Lord! Alleluia!

Resurrection Rolls

We made a special little treat together called Resurrection Rolls. 

We wrapped marshmallows in crescent roll dough. The students were careful not to leave any holes! Then, the rolls were dipped in butter and sprinkled cinnamon and sugar. Off to the ovens!

Look at how our rolls turned out!  But wait! Did you notice the roll is empty? We sure did! 

Not only did the rolls taste warm and sweet, they had a deeper meaning. Can your child explain how the Resurrection Rolls retell the Easter story? To make these simple treats, follow the Empty Tomb Marshmallow Delights recipe. 

Resurrection Gardens

During Lent, the students decorated pots and planted grass seeds, creating their own little gardens. 

Upon arrival back at school this week, we were thrilled to see our pots bursting with new life! These little "resurrection gardens" are a visual reminder of the journey from death to new life. Our pots will be sent home in the coming days so your family can enjoy the new life of the resurrection!

Christ is Risen! Alleluia, alleluia!

EGG-citement in Grade 1!

Our week was filled with EGG-cellent learning!

Today Mrs. Junck visited us. We compared the eggs and feathers of a turkey and a duck, learned how an egg forms inside a mama, and examined the development of ducklings inside the egg. 

Today marks day 14 in our incubation journey. We are halfway through incubating our duck eggs, and in two weeks our ducklings should be hatching. We were able to candle a few eggs and saw the growth of the ducklings inside. We could even see movement!

Eggs are a symbol of new life, which is why eggs are a symbol at Easter. We spent the afternoon making Pysanky, traditional Ukrainian Easter eggs. This took lots of patience and creativity, and we did have lots of fun! We kept reminding each other that "everything new is hard at first". 

So much EGG-citement this past week! Have a blessed Easter!