Introducing Subtraction

Yesterday we introduced the concept of 'subtraction' in math class. We explored important math vocabulary (minus, take away, equals, difference, left over) and the symbols (-, =) related to subtration.  We explored the concept that in subtraction questions you start with a WHOLE (the largest number in the equation).  Then you subtract a PART.  What remains or is left over, is the other PART. So......WHOLE - PART - PART. (unlike addition which is PART-PART-WHOLE).  See the link above to the fun subtration song video that we are singing in class!

Reindeer Portraits!

As part of our reindeer unit, students painted beautiful portraits of reindeer! 

Twas the Week Before Christmas.....

And all through Grade 1......


Students learned all about reindeer, where they live, what they look like, what they eat, and what adaptations they make. They then built reindeer stables with our reading buddies from Mrs. Costello's Grade 4 class. They also made reindeer out of clay. The students then made a reindeer glyph. A glyph is like a code, if your child brought home a reindeer on blue paper, that means they want a reindeer as a pet. If they coloured the antlers yellow, that means they have seen a reindeer in real life. If they coloured the nose red, that means they like snowy weather more than sunny, hot weather.  We also played a fun relay race of decorating a Christmas tree with gym equipment, with a student acting as a tree, just like in the story we read last week,  "Moostletoe".

A snapshot of our week: 

IMPORTANT DATES:

1. Advent Mass. Tuesday, December 19th. 9:30-10:30. All welcome.

2. Christmas sing-along. Friday, December 22nd 1-2pm.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Fun Exploring in the Makerspace!

As part of the Hour of Code and Computer Science Education Week, we visited the Makerspace in the Learning Commons today with Mrs. Hewitt's grade 1 class.  We were introduced to the Ozobots and the Bee Bots (some of us had previous experience exploring with the Bee Bots in Kindergarten).  Using the Bee Bots we practiced travelling from destination to destination on a world map. We also practiced moving from colour to colour on the large circular carpet in the learning commons. We coded the Ozobots to move through a sequence of numbers on a 100's chart.

We are honing our coding skills in other ways as well! Each day we solve a mystery message using our classroom alphabet-symbol code.  We also use our special number-letter code to add up the first names of students in the class, word wall words, themed words, etc. Next, we are going to try and write out our own messages and math equations (using our two classroom codes) for others to solve!

Grade 1 Updates

IMPORTANT DATES:

1) WHITE ELEPHANT SALE is THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7th.  Items usually range from 25c to $5.00. This is a very popular day in our school that gives children the chance to buy gently used items for their families.

2) FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT CELEBRATION: MONDAY, DECEMBER 4th at 1pm.

LAST WEEK:

THINK IT THROUGH THURSDAY MATH PROBLEM: Students used strategies such as tracing the shapes and counting, adding numbers, adding numbers in steps by making a 10 and then adding on to solve the following open-ended problem:

I have four 2-D shapes. How many sides might there be all together?

There were many possible answers. Students were expected to be able to prove how they got their totals which depended upon which 2D shapes they selected from the bin (circles, ovals, squares, pentagons, rectangles, diamonds, hexagons, triangles).

'Matthew's Dream' Art Activity

Advent is around the corner....

Sunday, December 3rd to Sunday, December 24th

Our favourite time of year is fast approaching. We are looking forward to preparing for the birth of Jesus by learning about what Advent means, doing Advent and Christmas crafts, and singing Christmas songs of course!!

Here are a couple of reminders from our school:


1) WHITE ELEPHANT SALE is THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7th. This is a very popular day in our school that gives children the chance to buy gently used items for their families.

2) LOOKING FOR: gently used items that can be sold for the White Elephant Sale.

3) WINTER CLOTHING DRIVE:   It's that time of year again...as the cold weather
approaches there are many in our community in need of warm outer clothing. As you organize your winter clothes please feel free to send in any snowsuits, jackets, mitts, hats or boots that you no longer need (for adults and children). Georges Vanier will be collecting these clothing items and then distributing to members within our community and to other schools in need within the greater Ottawa area.

MATH:
We are finishing up our unit on 2D shapes this week and moving on to Data Management: Graphing. We will be tallying results of our Christmas-themed surveys and learning how to graph them like mathematicians. Here are a few snapshots of students making tangram puzzles.

LANGUAGE:
We have just started our Writers' Workshop program. Students brainstormed things they knew a lot about (i.e. Mom, Dad, brothers, sisters, grandparents, pets, toys, sports, activities). They stretched and spelled, and looked up words in picture dictionaries and classroom picture-vocabulary lists. They put their ideas into a HEART MAP which will live in their writing folders. Then they wrote one to several sentences about an item of their choice.

This week we learned a new reading strategy: CHUNKY MONKEY: 
We also learned about the AR sound, otherwise known as "bossy R"!


Here we are reading our postcards from a class in California for our Global Read Aloud:

Doubles Facts Song

Friendly Numbers for 10

We have been doing a lot of single digit addition in math class.  The students have been practicing their addition math facts with sums up to 18 through math games, calendar math activities, number talks, etc.  One of the strategies we have been applying to help us to solve larger multi-step addition questions (e.g. 3+7+1+6) or  addition questions with sums that are over 10 (e.g. 9+6) is to look for the 'Friendly Numbers for 10' in addition questions.  These are the number pairs that add up to 10 (9 & 1, 2 & 8, 3 & 7, 4 & 6, 5 & 5).  Learning to identify 'Friendly Numbers for 10' in math equations can help us to solve larger multi-step addition questions (e.g. 3+7+1+6) or  addition questions with sums that are over 10 (e.g. 9+6).  Each day we do activities that reinforce the 'Friendly Numbers' concept. Here is an example of a question we did together:  3+7+1+6  

There is 1 friendly number set in this equation (3+7) so we rewrote the equation as 10+1+6.  The students were able to tell me that 1+6 is 7 so we rewrote the equation a second time as 10+7 and very quickly they were able to figure out that the sum of that equation is 17.  We invite you to practice this strategy at home with your child! 

   

Special Visitors!

Yesterday we had two special visitors in our grade one class: Mrs. Fields and her baby boy Thomas! 

The students were very respectful, calm and quiet when they came into the class! Mrs. Fields told us all about baby Thomas and how he has grown and changed over the past four months. Through our discussions and questions we learned that babies need three basic things: food, love and care.  These are some of the insightful questions that the students asked during the visit: 

"Can he walk yet?" 

"Does he have any teeth?" 

"What does he eat?"

"What toys does he like to play with?"

"Where does he sleep?"

"Does he listen to music?"

"Can he talk yet?"

Practicing our reading

Here we are practising our reading strategies!

Fields of Poppies

Here is the final product created by our Grade 1 artists: