A Peek at the Week: Feb. 20-24

Wednesday, Feb. 22nd is PINK SHIRT DAY. Students are encouraged to wear Pink Shirts to support this anti-bullying campaign.

Frozen Treat Friday orders are due this Thursday.

School Spirit Dress-up Day: this Friday is GLOW DAY. Wear your glow in the dark or neon items! 

Family Dance is Friday, 6:00-8:00. Tickets are available for $2.00 and in the office. All children must be accompanied by a parent to attend. 

Hot Dog Order Forms were sent home today for next Wednesday's Hot Dog Day

We have enough volunteers for our class popcorn day, Thursday March 2nd!

On Wednesday, March 8th, PAWS (Parent Association of Willow Park School) will be holding their AGM @ 6:00. All positions are open and all parents are invited to attend. The meeting is held in the staff room.  

Please return Family Day Unplugged Forms ASAP!

Weekly picture sorts and spelling words were sent home on Friday for extra practice since this is a short week. The spelling and sorting test is this Friday. 

Information Update: Popcorn and Pancake Volunteers Needed!

Thank you to everyone who came out to Student Led Conferences last night. It was fun for me to observe your child having the opportunity to 'be the teacher'. They were so proud to show you what we've been up to in class! 

We have two upcoming volunteer opportunities! Please let me know if you are available to help out on either of these dates.

• Pancake Day is February 28th. We will need a few volunteers at 8:30 as well as some at 10:00 am. Please let me know if you are interested and available and I will pass your information along to Mrs. Mitchell and Mrs. Elgert to provide more information!

• 1H's turn to host Popcorn Day is Thursday, March 2nd. We will need 2 volunteers to begin at 8:30. Duties include popping the popcorn and delivering the popcorn to the classes. This usually takes about 1-1.5 hours. Please let me know if you are available to help in this way!

There is NO SCHOOL Monday, Feb. 20th. Enjoy the Family Day Long Weekend!

Family Dance

Willow Park will be hosting a Spring Dance on February 24th from 6-8 pm. Tickets are $2 and can be purchased in the office. Come and join us for an evening of guaranteed fun!

Frozen Treat Friday is Friday, Feb. 24th. Please bring your loonie by Thursday, Feb. 23rd.

A Peek at the Week- Feb. 13-17

I hope that you had a nice long weekend! Here is a peek at the week ahead: 

Tuesday:

• Wear red and pink for Valentine's Day!
• AM: 100 Day Celebration. Bring 100 items in a ziploc bag.
• PM: Valentine's Day Celebration. Please see class list sent home last Wednesday for class list!

Wednesday:

• light blue bubblegum word day!

Thursday:

• Student Led Conferences
• Drop in between 4:00-7:00 and your child will have the chance to show you what they've been learning about in grade 1! It will be up to your child to lead this time. Plan for about 15-20 minutes of activities. 

Friday:

• Spelling test and picture sort
• Note that this week we are spelling words that have the sounds of the week at the beginning and end of the word. These may require extra practice. 
• Subway Hot Lunch

A Peek at the Week: Feb. 6-10

Hi everyone! 

There is no school this Thursday, Feb. 9th or Friday, Feb. 10th due to Teacher's Convention. 

As it is such a short week, we will not have a spelling test/sort this week. I'm using this time to review the concept of digraphs and blends, which are when two letters 'stick together like glue' to make one sound. In class, I call them 'word keys'.

Some examples of blends and digraphs

In math we continue to learn about strategies for solving addition and subtraction problems and basic facts. Some fun games on ABCya! include: Balloon Pop Subtraction, Marble Math, and Sum of All Dice http://www.abcya.com/first_grade_computers.htm


Tuesday, Feb. 7th is Banking Day and Grade 1 Sledding Day

Wednesday, Feb. 8th is Pizza by the Slice Lunch
Next Tuesday, Feb. 14th is the 100th Day of School and Valentine's Day. 

• For 100 Day, students are asked to bring a collection of 100 items (please send in a plastic sandwich-sized ziploc-style) that you have counted out together. Past examples have included marbles, cheerios, and paper clips. 
• Class lists with first names will be sent home on Wednesday. If your child chooses to hand out valentines to the class, they must be given to every student in the class. It is encouraged that your child fill out the valentines for printing practice! 

February Calendar and a Peek at the Week: Jan. 30 - Feb. 3rd

Above you will see the spelling words and picture sorts that were sent home on Friday so that students could have extra practice during a short week! With a PD Day this week and Early Dismissal tomorrow that leaves us with less in-class practice time. Bubblegum day(s) will take place this Wednesday and Thursday. Please practice those yellow words and spelling words!

We continue adding and subtracting to 12 and have been diving in to story and word problems. The students are practicing reading simple word problems, looking for words and phrases like "how many more?" or "how many are left?", and then deciding if the question wants them to add or subtract. A good way to practice this at home is to tell simple word stories to your child, even using objects around the house, and have them tell you if it is addition or subtraction. 

For example: 

"I have four grapes and you have six grapes. How many grapes are there all together?" 

"Dad has 4 cookies and then he ate two. How many cookies are left?"

Incorporating this language not only helps your child become more familiar with problem solving vocabulary, but also helps them recognize that addition and subtraction are important skills to master!

We are also working on counting to 100, skip counting (by 2s) and counting by 5s and 10s. On February 14th we will be celebrating the 100th Day of school in the morning and Valentine's Day in the afternoon. 

Here is a look at the busy month of February:

Words Their Way: Blends Unit

Spelling Words:

sh: shot, shut, ship

s: sun, sip, set

h: hot, hut, hat

Marks for spelling and reading

Picture Sort:

Marks for sorting into correct beginning sound categories

A Note About Words Their Way Word Sorts

Sort 12 test was sent home today.

This week, students were told that they would be getting 1/2 a point taken away for every backwards letter. We have spent a great deal of time going through letter formation during the first half of the school year and we have come to the point where a letter reversal will no longer be considered the correct letter. From this point forward, students will also be responsible for indicating the sorting rule of the week at the top of their pages during a spelling test and for all spelling related activities. The boxes at the top will no longer be filled in with the sorting rule.

We will be starting our next unit of word sorts beginning next week. More information will be sent home about the unit and the week's word sorts and a homework menu on Monday.

Have a nice weekend!