Since coming back from the break, students have been learning loads! In literacy, students have been working on writing in addition to reviewing letters and sounds. Every Monday, students will be writing about their weekend. We want the students to become more confident in using sentence frames, sounding out words and fine tune their fine motor skills. In math, students are working on counting and recognizing numbers to 50. In science, students have been working on a Spiders unit. The children have learned the differences between insects and spiders, different types of webs and are beginning a scientific definition booklet. Today we learned what 'carnivore' means. Miss. Hansen and I encourage you to ask your child about their learning, as they are really excited about their learning!
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Principals Message:
On October 31st we will have a brief safety assembly in the afternoon and we will acknowledge students who choose to wear costumes. Costumes are only to be worn in the afternoons. Fake weapons are not encouraged and face paint instead of masks are requested. We do try to teach a regular curriculum on the 31st although some teachers may use pumpkins in math or science activities. Donations of pumpkins would be a lovely addition to any classroom activity. We are not asking for snacks, however if snacks are sent we encourage snacks that follow the Choose Most Often, not the Choose Sometimes, or Choose Least Often according to the Alberta Nutrition Guidelines https://open.alberta.ca/publications/5906406 . Please confer with the classroom teacher before any snacks are sent to school. This week the students have been learning about gratitude. We have had several conversations, stories and videos on what gratitude is and how we, in grade 1 can show gratitude. The students were shown a short video on Monday and many of them said that it made them feel calm, happy and relaxed. I encourage you to take a few minutes and watch the video as well. Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I hope that the students in Room 2 & 4 can share with a family member something that they are thankful for.
On Friday, we had Constable Don have a safety chat with all the students at Valley View. After Constable Don talked to the students, we had our first practice lock down. The students knew that we were having a lock down and were prepared. It is important to talk to your children about the importance of a lock down. At Valley View we stress the importance of the 3 'S' during our safety drills. Students are to be silent, safe and serious.
Important Upcoming Dates: Fall Break - October 7 to October 16. Classes resume on Tuesday, October 17. Picture Day - Monday, October 23. Valley View has had some exciting changes this week. Due to lower numbers in our science program, we had say goodbye to Miss. Mac Neill and hello to Miss. Hansen. Miss. Hansen will be teaching Grade 1 in room 2 now. Both Miss. Vass and Miss. Hansen are excited for the year ahead of us and to be teaching grade 1.
This week, the students have been working on identifying the letters of the alphabet and letter sounds. We are noticing how students are using their letter and sound knowledge to sound out words when reading and trying to writing independently! In math, the students are learning how to count by 10s and represent numbers with base 10 blocks. This afternoon is our Terry Fox run and we are so grateful for the lovely weather! This week the students have been learning about tint and shade. Tint is when we make a colour lighter by adding white. Shade is when we add black to a colour make it darker. Below are a few pictures of the student's work demonstrating their knowledge of tint and shade. We also talked about Terry Fox today. We talked about what "Courage" means and how Terry Fox showed courage. We also talked about how he is a hero and then the children had time to draw a picture of their hero.
On September 28th, students will be participating in a short assembly at 1:30 pm and then will run a short distance course out in the field. Parents are welcome to join for the assembly and the run. Valley View is also fundraising for the Terry Fox run. We are calling it Toonies for Terry, but any amount is appreciated! Dear Parents & Guardians,
Today in the blue folders, a small bundle of forms and notices went home. Please take some time to go through the forms and return them as soon as possible. Please make sure that blue folders are being returned to school, so that important notices can be stored safely in there. Thank you so much! Principals Message
Science Program numbers These numbers are lower than projected 300 students and much lower than the number of families who expressed an interest during the accommodation meetings and the weeks / months after. At this time we are around 76 students short of our projected enrollment numbers in the science program. This means that during this week, we will be re-organizing classrooms to reflect the lower enrollment numbers. It has been necessary to reduce our total staff numbers by three. As soon as we have worked out the details of our new classroom structures, we will inform parents. After Tuesday September 12, only a few science program classrooms will be accepting students. No new science program students will be accepted after September 30 until the Lottery Process is in place in the early Spring. At that time available spaces in classrooms that have not reached the capped number of 25 will accept new registrations. School Council Meeting Please remember the first School Council / Parent Society meeting will be held on September 19, 2017 beginning at 6:00 in the Learning Commons. A new council will be elected. Thank you to all of the parents and families that were able to come to the BBQ. It was so wonderful to meet all of the families!
This week in literacy the children have continued to work on learning letters and sounds. They are doing a wonderful job sounding out words! They are even beginning to hear a small sentence, hold it in their minds and then write it! I'm so proud of them!! In math, the children are working with ten frames. They are able to look at a set of objects and represent that number on a ten frame. They are also learning that there are several ways to make a number. |