April 15 Daily Activities

1. Listen to the book “The Best Part of Me” by Wendy Ewald

2. When you are finished listening to the story, discuss what you noticed about the book. After discussing what you noticed, think about some of your favourite parts of you. Pick your favourite things about yourself and take a photo of it just like in the book. Write a description to go with your picture about why you like that part about yourself. You can use descriptive words, you can write using rhyme and your writing can use imagery which is using words to make the reader picture what you are talking about in their heads. Please post to Fresh Grade.

3. Think about the 2D shapes you looked for from your shape hunt. Below are templates of 3 shapes we were looking for. Create as many things you can that using the shape and give it colour. For example one square can be turned into a dice and another can become a picture frame. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. Please post to Freshgrade when completed.

Link for activity or printable templates or click on the pictures above.

April 14 Daily Activities

1. Loose Part Hunt

Three mornings a week in our class we would start our day by using loose parts or what we call “STEM bins” to create something that the students are interested in, enjoy creating, or is curious about. STEM stands for “Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.” This activity allows the students to settle in, get engaged, creative and be hands on when we start our days. We will do this once or twice a week from our homes depending on the weekly activities.

For today’s activity I would like students to go around the house, in the backyard or neighbourhood and look for loose parts that they can use to create something. Loose parts can be almost anything and there are almost no limitations except for respecting others belongings or nature. For example, LEGO, bottle caps, beads, rocks, buttons, popsicle sticks, leaves, twigs etc. The students know what loose parts are and are familiar creating with them outside, during stem activities and story workshop. If it is okay with your parents you can talk about finding a special place to store these items at home for when you want to play with them and when we need them for more activities. When we are finished with the loose parts collection remember to return the objects where we found them like we do in Outdoor Classroom.

For more loose part ideas check out  How We Learn

Here are some examples from our learning this year to help get some ideas:

2. Loose Part Creation

Create something using the loose parts you collected. When you are finished making your creation or image, please take a picture and upload it to Fresh Grade. I look forward to seeing everyone’s creativity!

3. Reading Stamina for 15-20 minutes

Every day we will continue reading for 15-20 minutes even though we are not altogether. Get into your cozy spot and read to self for 15-20 minutes. Remember if one book is not enough during that time grab a couple to sit with. If you are using Epic! or Raz-Kids pick out your books in advance, so you are able to read the entire time during stamina, instead of searching for a book. Similar to what we do in class, book exchange or search prior to our reading time is important for stamina.

April 9 Daily Activities

This term we will be focusing on personal writing. This will include letter writing, journaling, making connections and some story writing. Yes! Comic strip stories too like promised!

1. Read my letter and discuss with your families some of the activities and family time you have had over the last few weeks together. Make a brain storm web with your family and write down on the outside of the web a list of things you’ve done or accomplished together. This will help you generate ideas prior to writing, similar to what we discuss as a class prior to beginning to write.

2. Write a letter to back to me.

After discussing with your families and making a brainstorm web with ideas write a letter to Ms. Toor. Here are some ideas to add in your letter…

• Start your letter with Dear Ms. Toor
• Write sentences with a capital letter at the beginning (names have capital letters) punctuation at the end of your sentence, spaces in between words and full ideas.
• Answer some questions I asked in my letter
• Ask Ms. Toor a question or two
• Sign your name

Attached is a picture of my letter to all of you. I will write a comment back (in letter form) after reading a picture of your letter in Fresh grade. Feel free to use the templates below or your own paper.

Remember to use our tools for spelling. Slowly sound out words you are unsure about, write down the letter sounds you hear. Try first before you ask for help or look up the word in a dictionary.

https://www.design-your-homeschool.com/support-files/k-1-dotted-lined-printable.pdf

3. “Think outside the box Thursday”

This is going to be a regular activity because it sparks creative thinking. Take a look at the picture below. Print or copy down what you see on your own paper. Finish the picture, be creative and colourful. It is not a donut. What did you create? Remember everyone’s will look different and that is the exciting part. This is what I created! Post what you created on Fresh Grade.

April 8 Daily Activities

April 7 Daily Activities

1. Watch the link and listen to the story “Scribble Stones”

Go into your backyard or go for a walk around your neighbourhood with your parents and collect a rock. With that rock if you have paint, materials or chalk at home, decorate your rock or write a positive message with any material you have at home. You can turn it into something, create your rock a home, give it a name. The possibilities are endless. Post what you turned your rock into on Fresh Grade.

*Optional* if you write a positive message on your rock and your family go for walks you could bring the rock and leave it somewhere for somebody else to find and hopefully that will make their day a little bit better

2.  Find your cozy spot and “Read to Self” for 15 minutes and then “Read to Someone.” (Similar to our Daily 5 program in the classroom)

*Remember Division 11 to ask someone to read with you like we would in the classroom when asking a peer or myself

3. Body Break. Participate in the Just Dance Handclap with your family and have some fun like we would in the classroom. This is our favourite one in the classroom. Lets move around! (The link is embedded in the title of the song)

April 6 Daily Activities

1. Create a poster with your family that shares a positive message with people in our community. It can say something happy or can be a thank you to our essential service workers who are out in the community working hard. Once you have created the poster you can display it in your window/door or in the hallway of your building. Make sure your writing/drawing is big and clear so your neighbours and friends can see it if they are out walking. Once it is finished you can share your pictures on Fresh Grade.

2. Find a cozy spot to read with a sibling, parent, or your favourite stuffed animal.This week I will be adding more resources/activities each morning and extra resources and handouts on the blog. Please feel free to send me an email if you have any questions.

April 3 Optional Activity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvG6uBq-dV0

Talk to your child about the importance of washing their hands after watching this video.

Question 1: What did you notice during the video?

Question 2: Why is this video an important tool to share with children their age?

• Asking open- ended questions like “What did you notice?” or “What did you see?” Allow you to get their take on the experience and will offer you more insight into what they know, observed and still wondering about.
• You can even do this activity at home, please share videos or pictures on the post it on FreshGrade if you did this activity

April 3 Daily Task #1- Becoming Familiar with the Blog and Fresh Grade