Life in Room 15

We are happy to announce that every student in grade 1 has now been set up with their very own Raz-Kids online reading account!!!! This collection of leveled stories and reading comprehension questions is completely online and can be accessed anywhere there is access to the internet. Each student can login and have access to their account which contains stories at their current reading level. Students will have access to Raz-Kids at school but they will also be able to access it on their own time when not at school! We are training students how to use the program over the next few weeks before the holidays but a letter will be coming home soon to explain Raz-Kids more and provide you with your child's login and password information. If you have any questions please write a note or give me a call at the school. Enjoy the online reading!

Mr. G

Hi everyone!

First off we would like to wish everyone a happy holidays! Time is flying by in our classrooms and it has been awesome to see every student continue their learning and having fun along the way. Please read the following points about what is happening in our classrooms and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to call us at the school.

• Homework Calendars – December is a very busy month, both in the classroom and at home. For this reason, there will be no homework calendar for the month of December (it will resume in January). Please use the time you do have to read together and to look around your house to find real world math problems (see below for suggestions).
• Home Reading books – We have been working really hard on our reading skills for the last 4 months and every student has advanced in their reading ability. To ensure that each student is working at a level that best supports their current needs, we will be completing leveled reading assessments one-on-one with each student to help us place them in new groups January 9^th. There will not be any leveled home reading books sent home starting next week until after the break to allow for proper organization of each group. Please continue to read with your child and remember that we are not only working on decoding and reading the words, but also on retelling the story, identifying the characters and setting and making connections. Also, please return any home reading bags and books to the classroom on Friday.
• Many families have asked for some ideas of things to do with their child over the holidays to encourage continued numeracy and literacy skills. Here are a few ideas. First and foremost please remember that your child has worked hard and deserves the break to have fun and be a kid, so please make that a priority!

Literacy 

• Continue to read together each and everyday, with a focus on comprehension and understanding. Remember that while there is a great excitement in allowing your new young reader to read to you, it is also important for your child to continue to hear stories read to them. Reading aloud to your child provides important exposure to vocabulary and complex language structures, which books at their independent reading level don’t.
• If you don’t already have a Puslinch library membership consider taking one out over the holidays. Allowing your child to regularly choose their own books and be responsible for knowing where they are kept and when they are due back helps to develop organization and independence.
• Allow your child to write thank-you notes to family and friends who have visited or given gifts during the holiday. Your child may be comfortable writing the whole letter independently. If not you can share the writing experience by writing words dictated by your child, and allowing them to fill in words they know how to spell.
• Continue to practice basic sight word recognition. Read them, hunt for them and write them!

Numeracy 

• Play games together to help your child develop confidence and familiarity with numbers. Many popular card games and board games involve recognizing numbers, counting spaces and other number related logic. Enjoy games night as a family!
• A great game to play home is called ‘Make 10.’ Make 10 is a variation of Go Fish. Instead of trying to get a pair, you need to get two (or three) cards which when combined make ten (e.g. 6 and 4 makes 10, 5 and 5 makes 10 or and extension would be 6 and 3 and 1 makes 10). Your child should be familiar with the rules of the game and can explain it to you and your family. You will need a deck of cards (Aces represent one, Jacks, Queen’s and Kings are removed from the deck) to play the game.
• Make everyday problem solving a part of your holiday routine. We use math, problem solving and logic on a daily basis, and including your child in this experience will help them gain confidence and mastery of this skill. Focus on the same skills that your child has seen regularly in class activities (e.g. What is the total? How many are there? How can we figure out which is the longest? What is the core of the pattern here? How can we sort these items?).
• Learning about money is an everyday activity in grade one. Allowing your child to help you sort, count and roll coins to deposit at the bank is an educational activity you can do at home. This is a great hands-on learning skill and can involve counting by 1’s, 5’s, 10’s and 25’s.

Important Dates 

Thursday Dec. 15 – Pizza Orders Due

Friday Dec. 16^th – Holiday Craft Extravaganza!

Monday Dec. 19^th to Thursday Dec. 22^nd – Food Bank Drive (please bring in non-perishables)

Wednesday Dec .21^st – Primary Holiday Talent Show

Thursday Dec. 22^nd – Colour Day Carol Sing

Friday Dec. 23^rd – 1A & 1B Holiday PARTY!

Monday Jan. 9^th – First day back at school

Have a happy and safe holiday season with your friends and family!

Mr. G