Information Wednesday (Oct. 26th)

Some Information for the week(s) ahead:

• Pumpkin Carving Night tomorrow from 6:00-7:30
• Frozen Treat Friday loonies are due tomorrow for Friday
• Halloween: costumes after lunch (12:45), costume parade 1:15 (Monday, Oct. 31st)
• No School Tuesday, Nov. 1
• Early Dismissal Wednesday, Nov. 2
• Willow Wear Orders due Wednesday, Nov. 2
• Picture Retakes Friday, Nov. 4
• Hot Lunch:
• The next hot lunch will be Dairy Queen on Friday, November.4  2016!!!
• All orders must be paid at the time of placing the order and are due by October.28 @ 3:00pm!  
• ORDERS NOT PAID BY October.28@ 3:00pm WILL BE CANCELLED!! NO LATE ORDERS OR PAYMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED!

A Peek at the Week: Oct. 24-28

-at Family Word Work
The students continue to work on the -at family for this week, mostly writing with the words and reading stories that have -at words in them. Their final spelling test will be on Friday- it will be the same format as the pre-test that was sent home on Friday. 

Photo Orders Due Tuesday, October 25th

Frozen Treat Friday
Frozen treat money is due on Thursday for this month's Frozen Treat Friday, which is on October 28th.

ATB Junior Bank Tuesdays
Last week was our ATB Junior Bank Grand Opening. If you missed the grand opening but would still like your child to have an account, please send the registration form in any Tuesday, along with an initial deposit (students must have an initial deposit to open an account). If you require a registration form please let me know and I will do my best to locate one for you ASAP!

Pumpkin Carving Night
This Thursday at 6:00 is Pumpkin Carving Night at Willow Park! Families are invited to bring along their pumpkins and carving utensils, and avoid the mess of carving a pumpkin at home by coming to the gym and visiting with other families from Willow Park School while you work on your pumpkin(s) as a family. If you have any further questions about this event please let me know!

Halloween on Monday:

Students are encouraged to bring Halloween costumes along in their backpacks and will be given time after lunch to change into their costumes. You are welcome to come by to assist your child if you feel that they will need it- otherwise, please practice with your child how to get into their costumes independently!

We have been discussing Halloween safety during assemblies and in class. 

TD Grade One Book Giveaway

Since 2000, in cooperation with ministries of education, school boards and library organizations across Canada — the CCBC has given every Grade One child a free Canadian children’s book.

The book is to be taken home by each child to keep and to read with their parents. This far-reaching annual book giveaway program, which provides over 500,000 books to Grade One children across Canada, is fully funded by TD Bank Group. The program is intended to encourage literacy and reading for young children and supports the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s mandate of bringing great Canadian books to Canadian children and to promote a love of reading and a passion for books.

This fall, Grade One children nation-wide will take home Small Saul (Petit Paul), written  and illustrated by Ashley Spires and published, in English,  by Kids Can Press and in French, by Éditions Scholastic.

Enjoy reading this book with your child! 

Information Wednesday

Class Photos

• Order online at www.SmartOrders.ca
• If you place your order before Proff Due, FREE SHIPPING to school
• Proof packages sent home are due back on Tuesday, October 25th

Willow Wear
It’s that time of year again - Willow Wear clothing order time! 

A variety of clothing items for students and adults - all with the Willow Park school logo - are available for purchase.  New this year - Willow Park practice jerseys and full zip hoodie!

Show your Willow Park Pride with your Willow wear!

Two Ways to Order:

1. Access your PowerSchool/Acorn account and make your clothing purchase selection.  You can view available items and place your order using Visa, Visa Debit, MasterCard, Interac Online Debit and Visa Prepaid - easy and convenient!  All prices include GST.

OR

2. Complete the attached order form and return it to the school with payment by cheque payable to Willow Park School or cash (exact change, please). 
Orders can be given to classroom teachers or to the school office.

Order Deadline:  Wednesday, November 2nd

Anticipated Order Delivery:  end of November

***I will be sending home orders tomorrow!***

Words Their Way

Students should be completing at least one practice activity from the information letter I sent home, or on Spelling City, per evening in preparation for Friday's pre-test. Next Friday will be the final test, but their mark this Friday does go towards their effort grade. 

The Alphabetic level we are at currently only has one word family- eventually there will be more than one sound or word family to sort. For now, focus on students matching the word to the picture. Students should be able to read the words and spell the words. 

Here are some other fun ideas for practicing Words Their Way words at home: 

http://www.momto2poshlildivas.com/2012/10/75-fun-ways-to-practice-and-learn.html

If you have any further questions or require additional information about this new program, please let me know!

A Peek at the Week: October 17-21

First of all, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who came out to Parent Teacher Conferences this week. This was the first year since I have been teaching that at least one parent 'representative' has attended for every student! I am so glad that you took the time out of your schedule so that we could discuss what the past weeks have looked like for your child, and what the future weeks and months hold!

On Thursday we completed our beginning of the year letters of the alphabet review. Each day we reviewed how to print one letter and the sound each letter makes. At this point we will transition to our Daily 5 Program, which involves Word Work, Read to Self, Listen to Reading, Working on Writing, and Word Work.

I mentioned to you during our conference that we will be starting our spelling program, Words Their Way, this week. We have decided to begin this program with one sort every two weeks, and will eventually transition from one sort every two weeks to one sort per week. You will receive a Words Their Way information letter along with some ideas for evening activities you can take part in with your child so that they can learn to read and write their weekly words. 

As I am a member of a Professional Learning Community of teachers at Willow Park School who are collaborating on the launch of this program, we have received some funding for this program, and with that funding I have purchased the Spelling City program for our class. The Spelling City program is both a website and an app. I will be sending home your child's login information tomorrow, along with some assignments. You may choose to do 1-2 activities/night from Monday to Thursday. Students will also have time to complete their Spelling City activities with our Chromebooks on Wednesdays and Thursdays. 

In addition to Words Their Way, we will also begin learning how to login and use the program RAZ Kids, which is both a website and an app that provides access to many books that are at your child's reading level. We will be using this program in class but your child will also be able to access this program at home, once I send home their login information. Their login information will be sent home to you one evening this week, after their small group has completed their initial RAZ Kids login and assessment session with me. 

Frozen Treat Fridays

Frozen Treat Friday

The Grade six students are doing a fundraiser, so they can attend Camp Warwa in June.  They will be selling pre-packaged popsicles or ice cream for $1 each.  No order forms will be sent home.  Please send your money with your child to hand into your child's teacher.  There will be no option to pay online.  Our first Frozen Friday will be on Friday, October 28th.  The deadline for handing in money, will be Thursday, October 27th.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you have an excellent long weekend!

I have sent home a fun family activity to work on with your child over the weekend called Turkeys in Disguise. Please take a look, set aside some time to work on it with your child, and return on Tuesday! 

Just a reminder that Parent Teacher Interviews are on Wednesday, October 12th and Thursday, October 13th. Please follow the link to schedule a time if you haven't yet. https://calendar.google.com/calendar/selfsched?sstoken=UVA1WEhEM192SVd2fGRlZmF1bHR8Y2RkY2JlOWUwYzE2YWQ2NmQ0YTdkMTE1N2ZkNzMzNmM

The Book Fair will also be taking place next week. 

Book Fair Dates:  October 11^th- 14^th

Shopping Hours:  12:45 - 4:00 PM

Special Events: The Book Fair will be open during Parent/Teacher Interviews on October 12^th & 13^th from 3-7 PM. 

Payment options: Debit, Credit, Cash or Cheque 

I will be sending home confirmation of PTI times on Monday. I am looking forward to meeting with everyone!

Parent Teacher Interviews Booking

We are trying something new for PTIs next Wednesday and Thursday. Please follow the link to Google Calendars and then advance your calendar to next week in order to book an appointment slot. 

If you have any further questions or concerns, please let me know and I will be happy to help. Willow Park School is hoping to continue using this method in the future, so now is your chance to master a new tech skill! 

Wednesday October 12th & Thursday October 13th
https://calendar.google.com/calendar/selfsched?sstoken=UVA1WEhEM192SVd2fGRlZmF1bHR8Y2RkY2JlOWUwYzE2YWQ2NmQ0YTdkMTE1N2ZkNzMzNmM

October Calendar

A Peek at the Week

I can't believe September is over and we are heading in to October! I am so impressed with how quickly the students adjusted to Grade One life. It was a great first month of first grade! 

Last week, we reviewed bounce letters: r, n, m, h, b, p and moved on to mountain letters, which we will continue learning about this week. We continue to work on reading to self 'for as long as we can without stopping', and are continuing daily word work with familiar colour words, number words, and names of classmates. In about two weeks we will be ready to begin our official Words Their Way spelling program. I will provide more details about this program as we get closer to our start date! 

We will be concluding our patterning unit this week and moving on to learning all about numbers to 20 in math. 

Miss Knull will also be rejoining us this week, which we are all excited about!

Don't forget, Early Dismissal is this Wednesday! Students are dismissed at 2:15. 

Picture Day is Thursday October 6th

Food Bank donations may be handed in until Thursday October 6th as well