Category: Uncategorized

It’s June!

My apologies for not posting an update last week. I will fill you in on all the details for the past 2 weeks in this post.

You will probably hear from your child that we have been having some exciting “plumbing” issues in our classroom. It seems the pipes are backing up so we spent part of the morning in another classroom so that the plumbers could fix the issue in our classroom today. Phew-glad that’s fixed!

Bridge Building

We were fortuante to have a lesson from Mr. Carinha (a previous Brantford parent) who introduced “bridge design” to us today. Over the next few weeks, we will work on building a popsicle bridge and then test it’s strength on June 26! Here is a photo of 2 volunteers testing strength of a beam bridge.

Sierra Club Visit

Last week, Melissa from Sierra Club visited us to talk about life cycles and place based learning. We released our butterflies that day too! What an amazing moment it was to watch our butterflies fly away. The students were so excited to see that our little caterpillars had moved through their stages to become actual butterflies!

Sports Day on June 16

Sports Day will be on Friday June 16. Your child will be able to tell you what colour house they belong to. They are encouraged to wear clothing of their house colour. Dismissal will be around 1pm on that day. Parents are welcome to watch the events on the back field.

Pro-D Day on Jun 5

There will be no school for students on Monday June 5.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Happy Long Weekend!

Foxy and Friends Story Workshop

The class has been very busy writing stories with the characters from the Foxy and Friends books. This week, the stories needed to include a problem and a solution. We “built” the story then wrote the story using words.

Symmety and Butterfly

We have learned all about symmetry this week and then created these beautiful “symmetrical butterflies”.

A reminder that May 22 is Victoria Day so schools will be closed.

The PAC Carnival committee could really use the support of parent volunteers so please sign up to help if you can.!

Have lovely weekend!

Our caterpillars arrived!

Our tiny caterpillars arrived earlier this week. We have enjoyed watching them grow every day. Only a few more days until they turn into chrysalises!

Hungry Caterpillars

We created caterpillars in the style of Eric Carle from his book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”.

Outdoor Learning

We went to the park for “Outdoor Learning” today. The class was amazing at listening and being safe at the park. We read the story “Not a Stick” and used our imaginations to think of different ways that sticks can be used.

Now that the weather will be improving please sned your child with a hat and appropriate clothing to enjoy the outdoors. Many kids were wearing sweatshirts and sweaters today-they seemed to hot to enjoy the outdoors.

Badminton

For our P.E. lessons this week, we have been learning how to use a badminton raquet and birdie. If you have this equipment at home, it would be great to practice at home too!

Story Workshop

The students did an amazing job writing butterfly stories this week.  Keep up the great writing!

Special Helper book

For our next round of special helper, the students will share their special talent. Thh talent can be as simple as telling a joke or doing a cartwheel. They will write about their talent in a special book the night before it is their turn to share.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Reminder that Monday May 22 is a holiday so school will be closed.

Geometric Solids, Butterfly Life Cycle, and Bike Safety

We have started exploring with geometric solids (3 dimensional objects). Students have been learning the names of the shapes and comparing the number of faces, edges, and vertices. The students brought home a little book that they can share with you about 3D Shapes.

Butterfly Life Cycle

As we wait for the arrival of our caterpillars next week, we have been leanring about the stages of the life cycle. The students should know the following vocabulary: chrysalis, molting, probiscus, metamorphosis.

Here is a song we have been learning this week (to the tune of Itsy Bitsy Spider):

Bike Safety

Constable Fraser and Constable Wong visited our school today to teach us about bike safety. Ask you child more about the presentation.

Have a lovely weekend!

Hello families!

Thank you very much for joining us for Student Led Conferences. The students were so excited to share their learning with all of you! It was wonderful to have families join us IN the school this year after a three year break!

New student

Please join us in welcoming a new friend to our classroom named Sejune. He will be starting school on Monday.

May calendars were sent home today so have a look at the events happening in May.

Please make a note that school will be closed on Monday May 22 for Victoria Day.

Enjoy the beautiful weather on the weekend!

April Showers bring May flowers? Let’s hope so!

Thank you for sending your children prepared for the weather. The forecast looks like we can look forward to warmer temperatures next week so we can get outside and begin some outdoor learning lessons!

Student Led Conferences

Thank you to everyone who returned your yellow slip requesting your conference time.

Please see the groupings listed below. You will notice that we will have a large group at the 2:00 to 2:30 slot. If you would like to join one of the later groups instead of the 2pm group please feel free to do so.

Your child will be sharing their portfolio and other learning documents with you. They will guide you through a list.

2:00 – 2:30: Jessie, Hailey M., Keidi, Michaela, Justin, Milania, Henry

2:30 – 3:00: Miranda, Rihaan, Lucas, Zoe

3:00 – 3:30: Selihom

3:30 – 4:00: Anni, Helena

4:00 – 4:30: Psalms

4:30 – 5:00: Eloise

Looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday! Please remember that we will have a Scholastic Book Fair in the library for you to visit before/after your student led conference time.

Whale Study

We have been learning about whales in our classroom. When you visit you will see some of the activities that we have been working on.

Did you know that a blue whale is 22 kids long? We measured the length of a blue whale by lying down in our hallway!

Burnaby Art Gallery Workshop: Forest for the Trees

Julia, from the Burnaby Art Gallery, visited our classroom and shared various artists’ representations of trees. We then participated in an art activity where we created a tree silhouette against the sky.

Earth Day

We have been learning about ways that we can take care of the Earth (including reducing, reusing, and recycling) as we lead up to Earth Day on April 22.

Reminder: School is closed for students on Monday April 24 for a Pro-D Day.

Have a lovely weekend!

Let’s look at our week:

Bhangra

Today we had our first dance lesson. We will have 3 more lessons and then have a school wide performance next Friday afternoon. They did such a great job!

Literacy Week Activities

This week we particiapted in some literacy activities including “swapping teachers” to read us stories, cozy reading with stuffies, wearing “words” and the book swap. Keep up the amazing reading!

Summer Session

Summer session in Burnaby provides learning opportunities for students during the first 3 weeks of July. Many of the courses are completely free for Burnaby students. For those of you wanting to register your child for Summer Session in July, registration begins on April 11. Check out the SD41 homepage for links to more information.

Money in Math

We are learning about different coins and learning how to add small amounts of money. I encourage you to work with your child counting nickels (by 5’s), and dimes (by 10’s) to add a small sum of coins.

A reminder that school is closed on Friday April 7 and Monday April 10.  Wishing you a peaceful long weekend! Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate!

Welcome back to school after Spring Break!

With this week’s warm temperatures we were able have fun playing outdoors and notice the changes in nature.

Mammal Study

We have started to learn about animal classification and learn more about “mammals” in particular. This will lead us into a deeper study of “whales” later in April.

Artist of the month: Monet

We learned about Monet and explored the concepts of warm/cool colours by looking at his art.

Check out these beautiful watercolour paintings inspired by Monet.

Literacy Week

Starting on April 3 we will be celebrating Literacy at Brantford.

Students are welcome to donate any books that they no longer want at home to our Book Swap on Monday. They will then get to choose new books to take home. Donations accepted on Monday!

Wednesday – students are welcome to wear clothing with “words” on them

Thursday – Pj’s and stuffie day for cozy reading

Bhangra Dance Lessons

Next Thursday, we will begin a series of dance lessons in the style of Bhangra leading up to Vaisakhi celebration on April 13.

Good-bye to Adyan

Our newest classmate, Adyan, has moved to Vancouver.  We enjoyed his friendship and company in the classroom even though he was only here for a short time. We wish him all the best at his new school!

Dates to remember:

Friday April 7- School closed for Good Friday

Monday April 10 – School closed for Easter Monday

Monday April 24 – School closed for students, Pro-D Day

Have a lovely weekend!

Happy Spring Break!

Gymnastics

During the month of March, we are lucky to have the gymnastics equipment during our gym periods. The students have worked on using their strength and balance to maneuver the equipment.

Potato Planting

Our seed potatoes are planted and ready to grow. We cannot wait to see what happens during Spring Break!

Graphing

We learned how to organize information into bar graphs and venn diagrams.

Sorting animals based on their habitat

Comparing objects: Does it roll, stack or do both?

Literacy Week / Book Swap

During the week of April 3 to 6 we will be celebrating “literacy week”. One of the events during this week will be a “Book Swap”. Over Spring Break, please have a look for books that your family is willing to donate to the book swap. The books will be displayed and students can then choose “new” books to take home when they have donated books that they no longer read at home.

Report Card Envelopes

Please sign and return report card envelopes as soon as you can after Spring Break. You can keep all the papers inside. I only require the envelope for next term’s report card.

Spring Break Memory

When school re-opens on Monday March 27, we will be sharing a “memory” from Spring Break. Please help your child come up with ideas that they can use as a “memory”. Examples could include playing at a playground with a special friends, getting a new toy, going to a special place like the aquarium or Science World, visiting a beach, going to a movie, visiting a relative, or eating at a restaurant.

Dates to remember:

Monday March 27 – school re-opens after the break

Wednesday March 29 – Class Photos

Friday April 7 – School Closed for Good Friday

Monday April 10 – School Closed for Easter Monday

Monday April 24 – School CLsoed for students – Pro-D Day

Wednesday April 26 – Early dismissal at 1:55, Student Led Conferences 2 – 5pm

I hope you all have a lovely Spring Break with your families!

Hello families!

In Math, this week we have been focusing on place value and greater than/less than. We have been using the analogy of the “chomping alligator” because the alligator’s open mouth always wants to eat more (similar to the greater than symbol <).

Screen Time

I understand that students are using screens more at home than in years past but a lot of the language from video games and apps is making it’s way into the classsroom.  I have heard a lot of language from tiktok which is not an age appropriate app for Gr. 1 students to be familiar with.

For more age appropriate apps, I recommend using their RAZ Kids app so they can build on their skills. Perhaps you can find other math or reading apps that can be more interactive to reinforce concepts instead of apps like tiktok.

Home Reading

Thank you for reading with your children at home. We are seeing great progress in reading levels! Keep it up!

Hot lunch ordering

Just a reminder from the PAC that hot lunch ordering is now open for the Spring term on Munch a lunch if you would like to order for your child.

Have a lovely weekend!