Friday, December 1st, 2023

Some highlights from this week and last week include:

• In Science, we are exploring what objects are, as well as, how to describe and compare objects.  We have been sorting objects by weight, height and texture.
• Continuing our exploration of number sense and playing new games in math like Snakes.  We are subitizing while we are counting the dots on a dice.
• We have been singing up a storm! Practicing for our Winter Celebration has been lots of fun this week.
• In gym, we are starting to learn volleyball skills as well as fun cooperative games like Hospital Tag.

Some books we have enjoyed this week are:

Looking ahead:

• Our Winter Solstice evening is December 21st. Mark it on your calendar!! Details will be coming home soon.
• Next week the Show and Tell subject is “something with stripes” 
• Please pay for the Leighton Art Centre if you have not done so already.
• We would love donations of kleenex!  Thank you!!
• Please return Home Reading Folders each Tuesday.
• We are looking for volunteers to read with our kiddos as well as to do a few jobs around the classroom. If you have an updated police clearance and you would like to help out in the classroom, please contact your child’s teacher by email. Thanks!!

Friday, November 17, 2023

Some highlights from this week and last week include:

• Remembrance Day Assembly and discussions about what peace means to us
• Walking field trip to Fish Creek Park with our buddies. We learned about “Sit Spots” while using our senses to make observations about nature.

Some books we have enjoyed this week:

Looking ahead:

• Don’t forget to book a conference with us for Thursday evening or Friday morning (November 23 or 24). The purpose of these conferences is for us to share information with you about how your child is doing. We would love to meet with you to talk about your child!

Friday, November 3rd, 2023

Dear Grade One Families,

Here are a few reminders and some informational items:

• Please leave all Halloween candy at home. We are reinforcing healthy eating at school and these little sweet snacks are hard to resist.  
• Please label absolutely everything that your child comes to school with. We already have a huge pile of hats, gloves, mittens and more at the lost and found. It really helps to have all clothing, water bottles and lunch kits labelled so that it gets back to your family safely.
• We would like to organize another field trip soon but there are many families who have not paid for the Leighton Centre. Please log in to your powerschool account to do this immediately. If you are having trouble paying for the field trip, please contact the office and a waiver may be applied.
• Next week is our "fall break". There will be no classes on Thursday, November 9th and we will be returning to school on Wednesday, November 15th.
• Please look at our class blog weekly. We try to update it on Fridays. If you need help finding the blog, please let me know and I would be happy to help you.
• After the break, we will be starting our home reading program. We will be sending home a duotang each week with a story for your child to practice reading and an activity to work on. If you wish for your child to participate in the home reading program please send me an email. More information will be coming home soon. This is an optional program.
• Picture retakes are on Monday, November 6th. Please send me an email if your child requires a retake. Thank you!

Friday, October 27, 2023

Leighton Centre Field Trip Fees are now due.

• Please log into your My CBE account to pay the field trip fee ASAP. If you have questions on how to do this please contact the office.

Some highlights from this week include:

• Show and Tell this week has been extra special as students shared their favourite book. We had a variety of fiction as well as non-fiction books shared.
• In Social, we focused on belonging and the groups that we are a part of. 
• Please remember that Halloween is this coming Tuesday. If your child would like to dress up, please send them dressed in a costume appropriate for school. Keep in mind, students will be wearing their costumes all day long. Please do not send masks, weapons or scary accessories.  Students are welcome to bring a treat for themselves to eat in the afternoon.

Here is a link to one of our favourite read aloud books by Julia Donaldson, A Room on the Broom.

Friday, October 20th, 2023

Some highlights from this week include:

• We continue to practice our handwriting skills each day. Starting our letters at the top and remembering to use the lines has been part of our routine.
• Captain Seasalt videos are always a favourite with grade one students. Captain Seasalt visits a new letter island each episode. We enjoy these during our morning snack time. 
• Thank you to those families that sent in a family photo. We still have a few more we are waiting for. Our bulletin board is starting to take shape. The kiddos love looking at the photos of their classmates’ families.
• Halloween is on Tuesday Oct. 31st. If your child would like to dress up, please send them dressed in a costume appropriate for school. Keep in mind, students will be wearing their costume all day long. Please do not send masks, weapons or scary accessories.  Students are welcome to bring a treat to eat in the afternoon.

23 - 24 Grade One Blog

Friday, October 13th, 2023

The events in Israel, the Gaza Strip and other parts of the Middle East are cause for concern around the world and impact many people in our own community. We recognize that for CBE’s Jewish, Israeli, and Palestinian families, the impact is deeply personal and devastating.

Our focus is on the safety and well-being of our students. For some, this conflict may be particularly triggering due to personal experiences, or they may have strong reactions due to personal or family ties to Israel or Palestine. Many of our community members are concerned about what the future holds in the days and weeks ahead for the citizens of both countries and the world.

As a learning community it is our duty to uphold human rights and to protect the well-being of every individual so that they feel a sense of belonging at school and work. We will not tolerate hate in any form in our schools and at Woodbine School.

We understand that with the significant media coverage of these events, children of all ages will have questions or concerns and will reach out to adults, both teachers and parents, to help them make sense of the issue. Having the ability to engage in these conversations is important and requires the ability to listen, provide information, and engage in honest dialogue with children. We recognize children may have questions and we encourage families to answer these questions according to their own family beliefs and values. It is when children can engage in thoughtful conversations with a caring adult that they are able to build resilience for themselves and compassion for others. 

Some highlights from this week include:

• We managed to escape the rain (mostly) on our Leighton Centre field trip. The students created a landscape in their sketchbooks and made a clay ornament showing varying landforms that they could see outside of the studio. We had a nature hike and learned about how some animals are getting ready for winter. Ask your child about Echo Hill where we heard our echoes over the valley. Visiting Barbara Leighton’s house (which is now an art museum) was a highlight as we looked at her beautiful painting, batik and linocut prints.  Thank you so much to our volunteers for accompanying us on the field trip. We couldn’t have gone without you.  
• We learned how to play a new Math game called Ghost Bump. We are learning to recognize numbers on a dice without counting and then counting up from the bigger number. We ordered spiders showing that we could recognize different ways to show numbers.
• Creating a burrow for a groundhog was lots of fun this week. The students used classroom objects to make a cozy burrow for their groundhog. 
• We will be starting our literacy groups next week. The students will get to know the other grade one teachers as we have grouped the students based on their literacy needs.  For twenty minutes each day, the children will travel to their assigned teacher’s group. We look forward to getting to know all of our grade one kiddos.

Books we have read this week:

Looking forward:

• Please send or email a photo of your family to your child’s teacher by Friday, October 20th. We are happy to print the photos here. Next week we will be starting our new Social Studies unit entitled We Belong. We would like to keep the photos up on our family bulletin board for a few months.
• The payment for our field trip will be “live” on MyCbe account soon. Please remember to send the payment when you see it on your account. 
• Show and Tell next week is “wear or bring your favourite shirt”.  
• Home reading will be starting the first week of November. This is an optional program for you to support your child’s reading skills at home. More details will be forthcoming.
• PD day next Friday, October 20th
• Please remember, our grade one classrooms are Nut Free. We have children with severe nut allergies. Please do not send any form of nuts for snack including Nutella. There is a separate “Nut Table” in the lunchroom that your child can go to sit at to eat foods that have nuts. 

Have a lovely weekend,

Debra, Michelle and Hayley

Friday, October 6th, 2023

Some highlights from this week include:

• We have been reading picture books by Julia Donaldson. She is an author from England who has written many books and plays. You might know her from her famous book The Gruffalo. Storytime is a favourite part of grade one. 
• We have continued to learn about the seasons and are talking about the many changes a new season brings. Sorting animals into groups like those who hibernate, migrate and adapt was a fun activity and encouraged a lot of discussion. Did you know that some animals wake up during hibernation to have a snack and then go back to sleep? 
• In Math, we have been counting every day and learning to subitize - that means for example looking at dots on a dice and being able to recognize the number of dots right away. We are playing Math games to build our numeracy foundation as well.
• Each day we have been focusing on letter sounds by singing songs, reading books and working through our phonics lessons. Ask your child if they can sing the “Picky Eater” song for you.

Some books we have read week this week:  

Looking forward:

• Please return the field trip forms for the Leighton Art Centre. The field trip is on Wednesday, October 11th. We are very excited to get out of the city to see the fall colours,  do a special Art project and learn more about nature. We will be sure to send home additional information just prior to leaving next week.
• There is no school on Monday, October 9th due to Thanksgiving. Have a lovely weekend with your family!
• Photo Day is on Tuesday!!

The Calgary Board of Education is inviting all families and caregivers to join in an online series focusing on child and youth well-being. These sessions are hosted in partnership with Alberta Health Services and will explore topics such as vaping, brain development, mental health, and sexual health. LINK: https://insite.cbe.ab.ca/healt...

Tuesday, October 3, 2023

Please no dogs on school property:

A dog is a person's best friend, however, we need you to know that they are not allowed on school property, even if you have them on a leash.  A number of children are uncomfortable with dogs and not all dogs are as well behaved as yours.

We thank you for your support.

Friday, September 15, 2023

Some highlights from this week include:

• Conversations about Terry Fox and the impact he’s made to Canadians
• In math, we’ve been working to sort objects and shapes into different groups. We also extended our sorting experience by looking at foods that are processed versus unprocessed. We had a really good conversation about what these words mean and how we would know if a food was processed or not. 
• We reviewed two letters and their sounds this week. Please ask us to share our letters and sounds with you.
• We went on a nature walk through the field to observe seasonal changes. Ask us what season starts next Friday.

Some books we have enjoyed this week:

Looking ahead:

• Terry Fox Run is on September 20th. We will be running (walking) the shorter 1.2km route. If you’d like to walk with us please email your child’s teacher so we know to watch for you. Please see map for more information.
• Terry Fox Donations. If you would like to support our school with fundraising please use the attached link. https://schools.terryfox.ca/Woodbine
• Leighton Centre Field Trip on October 11th from 9am - 2:00pm. We still need several parent volunteers to make this trip possible. If you have a current police clearance with the CBE and are available, please email your child’s teacher. If you are interested in volunteering with us in the future, please initiate the process at the office. 
• Library. We will be visiting the library every Tuesday. Please return books that day so your child can get a new one. Mrs. Geldreich’s class will be visiting the library every Thursday.
• Next week we start Show and Tell. Our topic of the week is: Something with Wheels. Rules we discussed are it must fit in your backpack, stay there until show and tell time and not be valuable.
• Please bring headphones that are labeled if you haven't done so already.

Friday, September 8, 2023

Hi Everybody,

THINGS WE HAVE DONE

What a wonderful start to the school year.  We have been very busy learning how to be full – time students and to follow the routines of school. The students have been writing in their journals, starting to learn about how the seasons affect our class tree and reviewing sorting in math.  Of course, we are enjoying our gym time, recess time and having lunch with all of our friends.

UPCOMING ADVENTURES

-       Open House evening on Thursday, Sept. 21. 

-       Interviews by request only on Friday, Sept 22

-       Field trip to the Leighton Center – October 11. 

-       We will need a minimum of 4 grade one volunteer parents. Please check your schedule and email your child’s teacher if you can help. If you would like to volunteer this school year please make sure that your police clearance with the CBE is up to date.  See Mrs. Brown in the office for more information on how to volunteer with us. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Grade One Team