October 25

Dear Parents and Guardians,

  We have had a very busy week of learning so far. On Monday morning, we started our day by writing in our journals. The students were challenged to write about one event from their weekend with lots of detail. They were also asked to create more than one sentence. Ms. Moore and I are VERY IMPRESSED with the progress we have seen in our student's journal writing over the past month.

Here are a few examples from September:

Here are some examples from this week:

Here are all of the sight words we have learned so far this year. At this point in time, your child should be able to quickly read and correctly spell each of the words. When working on the words at home, please ensure you practice them in a different order each day:)

                            1. the                  11. he                       21. at                      31. but

                            2. of                   12. was                     22. be                     32. not

                            3. and                 13. for                      23. this

                            4. a                     14. on                       24. have

                            5. to                    15. are                      25. from

                            6. in                    16. as                        26. or

                            7. is                     17. with                    27. one

                            8. you                  18. his                      28. had

                            9. that                  19. they                    29. by

                            10. it                    20. I                         30. words

During math we completed a patterning assessment. Please look for it in your child's purple folder today. After completing their assessment, the students were provided with time to create patterns using a variety of manipulatives. Here is an example of a V-E-R-Y long pattern that was created!

 We are now starting to focus on developing number sense in math. Today, we focussed on representing the numbers one and two in a variety of ways.

 We also started new literacy centres. Ask your child which centres they went to. Some children only went to one centre today, because they guided read with Ms. Moore or I during one of the rotations.

In science, we investigated and observed what happens to a pumpkin when it starts to decompose. We also discussed what can go into Calgary's green bins and learned what happens to the products in the bins once they are picked up from our house.

As we inquired further into our colour unit, we found out that sometimes colour can be extracted from one material and applied to another. Ask your child to tell you about the experiment they watched today!

We also practiced mixing colours to match a given colour. Your child can practice this at home on the following website: http://www.peepandthebigwideworld.com/en/kids/games/10/paint-splat/

Reminders

• Popcorn day tomorrow. The parent fundraising association will be selling bags of popcorn for $2 each.

Halloween 🎃

• If your child wishes to dress up for Halloween on Tuesday, they are asked to bring their costume to school. They will be provided with time to change into it after lunch. We request that they are able to put their costume on independently. Please ensure your child's costume does not include the following: masks (safety hazard), makeup (too complex for school), weapons, or violent/scary/inappropriate costumes.

• If you wish, you may send an extra snack that is healthy for your child to eat during the afternoon. Please DO NOT send snacks/treats for the whole class.

• You can choose to send a decorated/carved/painted pumpkin with your child to school on the 31st for them to display in our classroom during the costume parade. Please see the flyer that was sent via e-mail yesterday for more information.

October 19, 2017

Dear parents and guardians,

Today we had our very first lockdown practice of the year. We explained the meaning of a lockdown to the students yesterday, as well as reviewed procedures. The majority of students did a wonderful job and stayed silent through to the end of the lockdown. Ask your child how they did, and chat with them about the severity of talking during a lockdown.

Please continue to practice our 26 sight words, as well as home reading, with your child. You will notice a new fall themed poem in your child's poetry folder tomorrow. It is one of the most challenging ones they have learned yet, and they are working hard to master it!

While working on our writing this week, the students have been adding new describing words to their vocabularies. Please ask your child how they would describe the following pumpkins:

We worked on some pumpkin writing today.

Over the past week, we completed writing and illustrating our  "Hello Fall, Goodbye Summer" books, which should have come home with your child yesterday.  The students were given lots of time in class to finish their book, so if your child's book is incomplete please have them finish it at home.

In social studies, we have been presenting our "All About Me" bags a few students at a time. It has been a great opportunity for students to share some information about themselves, and to ask questions about their fellow students! 

In math, we have continued our work on patterning. Please continue to work with you child on translating (i.e. ABAB or 1212), creating, copying and extending various patterns. We finished our last round of sorting and patterning centres today.

Reminders:

- There is an assembly tomorrow at 10:45. All parents are welcome to attend.

Message from the office:

Hello Parents & Guardians,

Our fees have been loaded for all students in your MY CBE Account.  All fees can be payed online using your My CBE Account https://webapps.cbe.ab.ca/MyAccount/Account/LogOn?ReturnUrl=%2fMyAccount%2f

It is important to notice that we have bundled the lower costs fees as we are unable to collect an online payment for less than $10.00.  You will find the breakdown of the bundled fees in the description.  Please note that you can pay for these fees either all at once, or pay them in installments.  Ken Taylor School Fees Grade 1 2017-2018.pdf 

Please see the attached document for a detailed description of the of these fees.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions or require assistance if online payment.

Barb Rocca
Administrative Assistant, Kenneth D. Taylor School

October 17- PICTURE DAY TOMORROW

Dear Parents and Guardians,

 We started our day by reviewing our sight words and sight word poems.  We added six new words to our sight word list, so now we have learned 26 words!

We will continue to practice our first 20 sight words every day as well as our new ones. The new words that we learned today are:

- at
- be
- this
- have
- from
- or

Ask your childif they know what these words say!

After we finished reviewing our sight words, we wrote a new journal entry about what we did on the weekend. Over the past few weeks, the students have been encouraged to stretch out their words so that they can hear each sound, and then try their best to spell the word. We have also been learning to stretch out our ideas too! 

Today we spent time talking about descriptive language. After writing, the students were encouraged to ask themselves, "Does this piece answer all the questions somebody might have about the specific event I wrote about?" The students have been working hard to write multiple sentences describing the events of their weekend. We had many students use more than one page for their writing today! WOW!

In math, we continued to work on extending, translating, and creating patterns. See if your child can create a pattern and translate it (using letters and/or numbers!). You can also create a pattern for your child and have them extend it.

Reminders:

- Tomorrow, October 18th, is picture day!
- There will be a lockdown drill on Thursday. We will go over expectations and procedures with students before the lockdown begins.
- There is an assembly on Friday morning from 8:30 - 9:15. Parents are welcome to attend!

October 13, 2017

Dear Parents and Guardians,

  Here are a few highlights from yesterday and today:

  After Ms. Moore cleaned up our pumpkin seeds (A great big Thank you to her!), the students were given the challenge of counting how many seeds were in our big pumpkin and small pumpkin. To complete the task, they had to group seeds into piles of 10. Once they had filled all 10 piles of 10 they then moved the seeds to a big pumpkin that said 100!

  

  After each group counted their seeds, we added them all together to find out how many total seeds were in each pumpkin. We discovered our large pumpkin had 535 seeds and our small pumpkin had 445 seeds. We then figured out that the difference was 90 seeds!

  The students continued to work on their "Hello Fall, Goodbye Summer!" books.

  The students also learned about the letter "m." We practiced printing it properly, learned words that start/end with it and made the sound that it makes.  Below are some links to help you practice at home!

•  www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiK7IL0kqd0
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFMI-cV9sq8

  In science, we reviewed the terms "natural" and "manufactured."  Ask your child to explain each term to you and challenge them to provide examples of different coloured objects that would fit into each category.

  In math, we completed a patterning sheet that included AB, AAB, ABB and ABC patterns. Have your child show you how to create and translate (name in different ways) the following patterns at home:

• AB
• ABB
• ABC
• ABCD
• ABBC
• AABCD
• ABAC

  The following video will provide you with a game that you can play with your child as they read their poetry books and home reading books to you this weekend.

Reminders:

• No school for students on Monday, October 16 due to a PD Day for teachers
• We are collecting gently used winter coats, hats, snow pants and hats until October 20
• Wednesday is picture day!
• Thursday we will be practicing a Lockdown
•  We will be having an Ambassador Assembly on Friday. The time will be announced next week. Parents are welcome to attend:)

Message from the office:

• A weekly dispatch was sent out today. Please review the traffic safety pictures with your child.

October 11, 2017

Dear Parents and Guardians,

  We started our short week yesterday by writing in our journals. Before writing, Ms. Moore and Mrs. Witczak showed the students how to stretch their ideas out and encouraged the children to try to write more within the allotted time.

We also continued our pumpkin investigation by measuring how many blocks tall each pumpkin is. Throughout the process, we discussed mathematical vocabulary, including:

• taller
• shorter
• higher
• lower
• bigger
• smaller
• different
• more
• less

  We learned that our big pumpkin is about 16 blocks tall and that our little pumpkin is about 11 blocks tall. The children were then asked the question, "How many blocks bigger is the large pumpkin?" Ask your child if they remember how to get the answer. 

  We then observed what the inside of a pumpkin looks like and feels like.  

 This morning we learned about the season of fall. Ask your child to tell you what the word migrate means.

  We also started our new wall story, called "Hello Fall, Goodbye Summer!" To complete the story, we wrote about saying hello to new events that happen in the fall and goodbye to things we do in the summer.

  After completing the first page of our wall story as a class, the children began to create their own version of the book.

 We also review the sound that the letter "n" makes and practiced printing it correctly. 

 Below are some links that you may want to watch with your child to review the letter "n."

•   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZx53RedAZ0
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCxv2ZPU3vg

  This afternoon we reviewed translating patterns to different forms.

Reminders:

• Fun lunch on Friday (Subway from Healthy Hunger that you needed to preorder)
• No School for students on Monday, October 16 due to staff PD

Message from the office:

Calgary Public Library Book Truck

• Interest to participate in the Book Truck was not as high as we would like thus we will not be partnering with them at this time.  We will look at a spring opportunity for students to tour the truck and learn more about their Summer Reading program.  New participation forms will be sent home at that time.  Thank you to all families who responded.
  
  
  Ken Taylor Staff

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Another week of amazing learning has come and gone! Please check your child's purple folder for some examples of the learning we have done thus far. In their purple folders, you will find your child's very own version of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?", which we have been writing and illustrating for two whole weeks! Have your child read through their book with you and see if it follows the pattern! The sight words were on the board, therefore they should have been spelled correctly.

We also spent a lot of time talking about friendship and positive interactions with peers this week. As a class, we read the book "The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Teasing." The children took some time to review the choices that they are making and reflect upon how teasing makes them feel. Ask your child how they will deal with teasing and what they can do to make it stop if it does occur.

We reviewed the letter sounds Q, S, and E this week and practiced printing the lowercase letters. Ask your child what sound each letter makes and have them name a word that starts with that letter.

We have also continued working on our previous sight words and added a few new words to the list! The sight words that we are currently learning are:

•  the
• of
• and
• a
• to
• in
•  is
• you
• that
•  it
•  he

Have your child recite these words to you. Here is a video of the students from our class and Ms. Moore's class reciting the words together!

We began the first part of our pumpkin investigation today by making some predictions. In order to complete this, students were asked to predict how many seeds are in the class pumpkin, as well as how many cubes we would need in order to match the height of the pumpkin.

With Thanksgiving around the corner, we continued to spend time discussing what we are thankful for and read numerous books on the topic of thankfulness. 

Here are some things we are thankful for!

Reminders:

- There is no school on Monday, October 9th or Monday, October 16th.

- An email regarding bussing changes was sent to parents today. Please make sure to check the email.

- See Fun Lunch notice below

Have a fabulous long weekend!

October 4, 2017

Dear Parents and Guardians,

  This morning we started a very exciting pumpkin and apple investigation! To start off, the students were provided with the opportunity to look at both a pumpkin and an apple. They then shared their prior knowledge (what they already know) about each item. As a class, we discussed the following vocabulary:

• similar
• same
• compare
• different
• contrast

  We then completed a Venn Diagram about what we think we know about pumpkins and apples.

  We then created a web of questions based on what we would like to learn about pumpkins and apples.

  We will be spending the next few weeks inquiring into the above questions. This fits into the following science topics:

• Needs of Plants and Animals
• Seasons
• Senses

  We will also be utilizing math (skip counting, measurement) and language arts skills (writing, reading, researching) throughout the unit.

  During math, we began our new patterning centres. Ask your child to tell you which centre they were at today.

   

  At our marshmallow stamping centre, the students were asked to create a pattern based on the letters they were given.

At the sorting centre, the students sorted hats based on different attributes.

  At our mixed pattern/sorting centre, the students were required to extend patterns. Once they had completed all of the cards they were they asked to sort erasers into different piles. Ask your child to tell you how the above pictures may have been sorted.

  

  At our pattern game centre, the students spun a spinner and then were required to create the pattern they spun.

  There was also a stamping centre that I did not take a picture of today. At this centre, the students were required to use stamps to create patterns.

  This afternoon, the students completed a drawing of either a blue lion or a pink horse.

 Reminders:

• There is NO SCHOOL on Monday, October 9 or Monday, October 16
• Please send your child's purple folder with them each day

Message from the office:

Jacket Racket is a volunteer organization with the goal of ensuring that every child from Kindergarten to Grade 12 has a warm winter coat to wear to school. 90% of donations come from schools. The jackets are then distributed to children in schools where there is a need. This year we are inviting our students and parents to participate in a coat drive for Jacket Racket.  They accept gently used warm winter coats, snow pants, hats and mittens for all ages. Often whole families are outfitted, so any size is welcome.

A box will be set up in the Embassy for collection from October 10, 2017 to October 24, 2017

We encourage you to generously support this worthy project.

It is a great opportunity to help students who may be less fortunate.

          www.jacketracketcalgary.com

Thank you for your support.

Student Leadership Group and Mrs. Fraser