Feb 5 - 9, 2024

 

Hello, Grade 1 Families, 

Learning Intention: I can practice listening and speaking skills through sharing oral stories. I can contribute to discussions as a listener and speaker. 

This week, we had the amazing opportunity to listen to Canadian author Ginalina share her newest book: "The Blooming Mountain" with us and share her "why". Why does she write? Why does she write about our country? Why does she write kids books? Why does she write about animals? She is not only an author but also a three-time Juno nominee. During our session, she sang to us, taught us some French and shared about her family and her connection to the land. Afterwards, we reflected on our presentation, what we learned, and what we still had wondering about. Here are some examples from our students: 

Something I learned:

• The seeds in her books did not need water.
• She is an author. 
• She has pets. 
• She is a singer. 
• It takes a long time for authors to write a book. A whole year!
• She used to throw flat rocks across the lake to jump.
• About animals.
• You should walk on the path. 

Something I am wondering:

• Why do you have a bunny?
• Why didn't the seeds need water to grow? No one was watering them. 
• What is her favourite season?
• Why did you say that the bear did wake up but it didn't?
• How do you catch fish?
• Why did you want to do this?

Puppetry Residency 

We had our first session with Miss Wendy. We talked about conflict with our friends and how it was resolved. We read the book The Owl and The Woodpecker and discussed the problems the two birds had and how they solved the problem. Then we began making our puppets. Ask your child how we made the head and beak. Next session we will finish out puppets and begin talking about how to make our puppets move and speak. 

My favourite part:

• Putting the feathers on
• Making our puppets
• Making the beak - ask me how!!
• Was learning from Miss. Wendy
• My mom coming in!

The most challenging part:

• Making the head because we had to do the cutting halfway and making two folds. We learned the word radius!
• The beak because the first time I failed and the next time I got it. 
• The beak because I had to cut on the line and I didn't. 
• The head because I had to put a lot of little tiny details. 

I am looking forward to:

• Performing with our puppets
• Putting on eyes on my puppet
• Putting on the fabric to cover my hand
• I am excited to finish our puppets

Reading

This week in reading we are learning about digraphs - see if your child can tell you what a digraph is and provide some examples of it. Here is some at-home learning you could work on with your child. A parent guide was sent home on Thursday, Feb 8 in your child's folder.