Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Hands-On Addition

Before the holiday break, we began exploring addition.  To help students better understand how numbers combine and grow, they worked at various math centres.  Instead of completing worksheets or drills, they worked with a partner to use various materials and explore addition hands-on. 

You may have some or all of these materials in your home.  If not, most are available at a dollar store.  Why not try one of these activities with your child today?

Domino Addition

Students took turns choosing a domino.  They drew the dots, and then worked together to create the addition sentence, and solve it.  

(Materials:  dominoes, paper and pencil to record results)



Roll the Dice

Students worked with a partner and a pair of dice.  Each partner rolled one die.  They recorded and solved  the addition sentences that they rolled. 

(Materials:  pair of dice, paper and pencil to record results)






Spinner Addition

Working with a partner, one student picked a number card - this was the first number (addend) in their addition sentence.  The other student used a simple spinner to spin for the second number (addend) of their number sentence.  They worked together to create and solve their addition sentence.  

(Materials:  simple spinner - on a piece of paper, draw four sections, put one number in each section, use a paper clip as the spinner, a pencil holds it in place)





Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Turning Trash Into Treasure

How can you turn trash into treasure?  In an effort to reduce, reuse and recycle, please take a look at what you may be throwing out or recycling this holiday.  If you come across any of the following items, please send them into school.  We would be glad to use them in our literacy and math centres, during Art or even at our Imagination Station.

*  coffee cans with lids
*  cardboard tubes from wrapping paper rolls
*  wine bottle corks
*  pictures from old calendars
*  the front of old greeting cards
*  used bows or ribbon
*  lids from water/pop/juice/milk bottles
*  lids from any small to medium container (icing container lids, etc.)


Thank you so much for supporting our program!


Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Winter Concert and Family Celebration

Yesterday was a very exciting day!  For several weeks, the students had been practicing two songs and a poem to share with the school, and their families during the Primary Winter Concert.  All their hard work paid off - they did a great job!  

Snowflakes, We're A Bunch of Jolly Snowman and Snowball (by Shel Silverstein) were a big hit.






After the concert, family members were able to join us for a celebration in our classroom.  After enjoying some refreshments, it was so much fun to see the children being the "teachers".  Children and their families or a partner chose a math or literacy centre and spent some time learning together.  The smiles in these pictures say it all.  Thank you to all the family members who were able to join us.  What a memorable day!
















After some snacks and visiting, everyone went to work...






Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Our First Field Trip - Forster High School

On Monday, December 13, 2010 we went on our first field trip.  Our destination was nearby Forster High School.  We spent the morning at Forster with some high school students and teachers who organized a holiday gathering for Grade One classes from Forster feeder schools.  The students had a lot of fun.  The ride on the bus was very exciting...

Thanks for joining us Mrs. Papak!





Our first stop at Forster was to decorate cupcakes and have a tasty snack.  Check out some of the tasty creations...







Next we joined with the students in 1R to work off our cupcakes in a game of balloon Keep It Up. Everyone had a lot of fun!



The students also enjoyed making holiday cards for someone special...



The end of our morning brought a fun sing-along, and - SURPRISE - some gifts from Santa!









We had such a fun day!  Thank you to all the students and staff at Forster High School who hosted us. Thank you to a great group of parents who volunteered on the trip.  

THANK YOU Mr. Woodrow, Mrs. Squire, Ms. Pierce and Mrs. Pardalis -- we couldn't have done it with out you!