I have a 10 minutes maximum homework rule! If homework takes longer than 10 minutes, please put it away even if it is not finished. After 10 minutes, your child will be tired and probably frustrated.
Tuesday October 13
Bonjour!
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend! It's always good to spend time with family and recharge.
A few things to mention:
We will be walking to Cotton Park on Friday. If you have yet to send in the permission form please do to ASAP. Please send your child to school ready for the weather (rain jacket, splash pants, rubber boots, hat/mitts) on Friday because even if it's sprinkling we will still walk over.
I have added a few pictures of activities we have been doing to our Classroom Tour page. Take a look by visiting the Classroom Tour tab or simply click here
Library books are due Friday.
We are still working on controlling the volume in the classroom. Some are using almost outdoor voices in the classroom and trying to yell across the class at their friend in the middle of doing our work. We are also working on concentrating on our own work and not worrying about what others are doing. Many get distracted by others instead of doing their work and then run out of time to finish the task.
This week in the following subjects:
Reading: This week we will move on to practicing our new yellow list of sight words. I have noticed that practicing these words is helping them with some reading. They are recognizing them in their books which is great. We have also been "reading" each day where students look at their books, read words they know and maybe try to figure out other words based on the first sound and pictures. Right now they are "reading" for 8 minutes, we will build on that time and hoping to eventually get their stamina to 15 minutes (that could take awhile).
Sounds of the week:
x (as in extérieur)
w (as in wow)
y (as in yoga)
z (as in zigzag)
Word Study words of the week: * we practice writing them every day
voici, avec, à, belle
Writing: This week we will do a little descriptive writing. We will be writing about monsters. I will be giving students a modeled sentence and they simply have to fill it in. They will have to descrbe what their monster looks like (how many eyes, ears, arms and what color they are). This may be a little scary at first because they will not be copying Madame this time but we will do some practice together orally and some shared writing to help us out.
Math: This week we will continue representing numbers. We will focus more on representing numbers with tens and ones (10 ones is the same as 1 ten). This can be hard to comprehend at first becasue there's a lot of manipulating with materials and sometimes it's hard for students to visualize what is happening.
Integrated Studies: This week we continue to talk about how things change. Our focus will be on what is changing outside with the seasons. I love using fall as an examples because so many things are changing.
Homework: I have added a new homework sheet to the back of the purple duotang. I have also added an orange sheet that has our next sight words and senteces. Please take a look at what I have added. Please remember to return the purple duotang to school each day in the homework bag.
Dates to remember:
October 16th - Cotton Park
October 19th - Orwell Corner
October 30th - Halloween (kids can dress up)
November 5th - PEITF Convention (No School)
November 6th - PEITF Convention (No School)
November 11th - Remembrance Day (No School)
November 16th - Teacher's Report Card Day (No School)
November 26th - Parent Teacher Interviews (Evening)
November 27th - Parent Teacher Interviews (No School)
I hope everyone has a great week!
Mme Melissa
Monday October 5th
Bonjour!
I hope you all had a great weekend!
A few things to mention:
Picture day will be happening this week. Ours will be Friday October 9th.
You will find two permission forms and information in your child's purple homework duotang this week. We will be going on two field trips in the month of October. Please send in permission forms signed for BOTH field trips. Also send along the $2 for our Orwell Corner trip.
Library books are due Thursday.
There are still some arriving in the mornnings without their homework "pochette". Please make sure that it goes to school every single day with both the purple duotang and ziplock bags of books.
This week in the following subjects:
Reading: This week we continue to listen to the first sound of a word. We are also going to work on on our sight words when reading. We have been practicing them in class each day (they are the red ones I sent home last week). These words are words that when seen in reading books students should start to recognize immediate and not have to decode them each time.
Sounds of the week:
g (as in gorgée)
v (as in voler)
q (as in pique)
h (as in huitre)
Word Study words of the week: * we practice writing them every day
bonjour, j'aime, aime, j'ai, elle
Writing: This week we will continue working on our printing of lowercase letters. Many are really not catching on to when to use upper and lower case letters. We will also do some writing about Thanksgiving. We will talk about what we are grateful for and use those ideas to create a turkey with what we are grateful for. It's a bit of writing and art mixed together.
Math: This week we will be working on recognizing different arrangements of numbers (dice, ten frame...). We will also continue our work on representing numbers. This can be a big concept as it covers many different ways to represent numbers.
Integrated Studies: This week we start to talk about how things change. Our focus will be on what is changing outside with the seasons.
Homework:I have added a new homework sheet to the back of the purple duotang. Please take a look at what I have added. Please remember to return the purple duotang to school each day in the homework bag.
Dates to remember:
October 9th - Picture Day for Grade 1 French Immersion kids
October 12th - Thanksgiving (No School)
October ??? - Cotton Park (have to finalize the details on this one)
October 19th - Orwell Corner
October 30th - Halloween (kids can't dress up)
November 5th - PEITF Convention (No School)
November 6th - PEITF Convention (No School)
November 11th - Remembrance Day (No School)
November 16th - Teacher's Report Card Day (No School)
November 26th - Parent Teacher Interviews (Evening)
November 27th - Parent Teacher Interviews (No School)
I hope everyone has a great week!
Mme Melissa
Monday September 28th
Bonjour!
I hope you all enjoyed the beautiful fall weekend! We got our first full month in the books and now things will really start to roll.
A few things to mention:
Reminder that there will be no school Wednesday September 30th for Truth and Reconciliation Day.
I will be out of the classroom Friday afternoon as I have an appointment. If you have any after school changes for that day please call the office as I will not be able to get the message to my substitute.
Library books are due Tuesday.
Reminder of the Scholastic flyer that I sent home at meet the teacher night. I have received a few orders from some of you but I will give until the end of next week before I send in the class order. If there is something you would like to order, please remember to use our class code written at the top.
Please, if you have not already, send in a pair of headphones by Friday for your child to use when we use the computers. With no headphones all the sounds can be heard from computers and it can get kind of loud in the classroom. Preferably headphones and NOT earbuds.
Students are starting to settle into classroom routines and expectations. One thing that I have noticed is that some students like to simply blurt out answers instead of raising their hand and not sharing the answer with the whole class. This is something that we will continue to focus on a lot this week.
A reminder to check the homework bag each night and to send it into school each day! Please remember to keep the purple duotang AND ziplock bag of paper books IN your childs homework bag. This is where I add sheets for home and I place new books in the ziplock bag each week. I try to check for them each morning.
Utensils - When packing your child’s lunch, please make sure to include any utensils necessary.
Clothes- with the weather now a little cooler, please make sure your child is dressed accordingly. I know it can be cooler in the morning and warm in the afternoon. Also, please make sure your child has a change of clothes in their school bag or in the classroom. You never know when they might need something.
A reminder that if your childs after school plans change and you plan on picking up your child to please let me know. I have had it happen twice now where a student ran to their parent and I didn't know the parent was picking up their child. I also need the students to let me know that they see their parent before running off.
This week in the following subjects:
Reading: This week we are really focusing on listening to the first sound of a word. We are also doing some blends of random sounds to help us with our reading. Students will also receive books for the class this week. As I told them, Madame is not looking for you to be able to read the books right now but able to simply look at the books, find sounds and find words.
Sounds of the week:
p (as in pluie)
s (as in serpent)
j (as in jongleur)
f (as in froid)
b (as in bébé)
r (as in renard)
Word Study words of the week: * we practice writing them every day
des, ses, mes, tes, sur
Writing: This week we continue to make our way through printing our lowercase letters. We will also talk about different ways to start our sentences (Regarde......., J'ai......., Voici....., Il/Elle....., etc.)
Math: This week we will continue with our counting but also start representing numbers, whether it be with a drawing, just the number or ten frames. As for counting, we're kind of stuck on numbers 11-20 because students are forgetting those very easily or when I say a number they don't know which one I'm saying. So we will continue to work on those every day now that they each have a white board in their desk.
Integrated Studies: This week we will continue to talk about how everyone is different, unique and have different interests.
Homework: I have added a new homework sheet to the back of the purple duotang. This week I have also added a red sheet that has sight words and senteces. Please take a look at what I have added. Please remember to return the purple duotang & ziplock bag of books to school each day in the homework bag.
Dates to remember:
September 29th - Orange Shirt day
Septembre 30th - National Day of Truth and Reconciliation (No School)
October 9th - Picture Day for Grade 1 French Immersion kids
October 12th - Thanksgiving (No School)
I hope everyone has a great week!
Mme Melissa
Monday September 21st
Bonjour!
Happy Fall!! I hope you all enjoyed your weekend and embraced the lovely fall days! I hate to see summer go but do I love sweater weather.
A few things to mention:
Thank you to those who were able to come to meet the teacher last week. It's good to finally put a name to the face. Those who were unable to attend, I placed some sheets in your child's purple duotang (in homework bag). Please look over them and email if you have any questions.
Terry Fox walk will be happening Friday. We are asking that, if possible, each studen bring in either a toonie or loonie to raise money for the Terry Fox Foundation. You can send it in any day this week. Please place it in a ziplock bag and label your childs name and what it's for.
We have library on Monday.
Reminder that there will be no school next Wednesday September 30th for Truth and Reconciliation.
Students are still trying to settle into classroom routines and expectations and many are having a hard time with it. We had A LOT of chats last week about expectations in a grade 1 classroom and some are simply not getting it. It's getting a little frustrating because I'll tell them something and some will turn around and do the exact thing we just talked about. They simply don't listen when I tell them something. Another thing that I am noticing is that a lot of students like to simply blurt out answers instead of raising their hand and not sharing the answer with the whole class. We have a lot to work on moving forward. If you could also chat to your child about this that would greatly be appreciated.
Please, if you have not already, send in a pair of headphones for your child to use when we use the computers (we'll start in mid-october). With no headphones all the sounds can be heard from computers and it can get kind of loud in the classroom. Preferably headphones and NOT earbuds.
A reminder to check homework bag each night and please return EACH DAY! The purple homework duotang was sent home last week to have students practice taking it to and from school. Please remember to keep the purple duotang IN your childs homework bag. This is where I add sheets for home and where I will add each weeks homework (starts this week). I check for them each morning.
Utensils - When packing your child’s lunch, please make sure to include any utensils necessary. I have some disposable utensils but they get used pretty quickly. If you would like to donate a bag of forks/spoons to the classroom, you are more then welcome.
Change of clothes- please feel free to send in a change of clothes (in a bag). It's always handy to have a spare pair of pants, socks, shirt and undies. We can keep the clothes in the class. Also a reminder to label your kids clothing.
A reminder that if you pick up your child at the end of the day to wait in the parent pick up area. Now that students are familiar with end of the day preparation we will be leaving the classroom around 2:25. So we might be one of the last classes to get through the bus loop (as we have music or physical education at the end of each day) but we will get there. Also, I have told students to say bye to me before leaving that way I know they have located whoever is picking them up. If you are picking up your child please send me an email and not just show up.
This week in the following subjects:
Reading: This week we will continue to review letters and sounds of the alphabet. We will continue working on putting consonants and vowels together to make blends. This is to help us recognize parts of words. Right now I'm not asking that students read words that they don't know. I want them to simply look at the word and maybe there's a part of the word that they can say.
Sounds of the week: *we work on 2 sounds a day
e (as in je)
k (as in koala)
c (as in corbeau)
p (as in pluie)
s (as in serpent)
j (as in jongleur)
Word Study words of the week: * we practice writing them every day
un, une, est, c'est, les
Writing: This week we will continue working on our printing of lowercase letters. Some are catching on and not using uppercase all the time, which is great to see. We will also do a small writing piece about what is in our school bags (Dans mon sac d'école, il y a...). At the beginning of the year it's a lot of modelled writing. We talk about our sentences and what we want to write. We find the words needed and use those in our sentences. We also do a lot of repeat writing (same sentence 3 times) and simply changing the last part of the sentence.
Math: This week we will continue to practice counting. We will practice counting forward and backwards between 1-15. Numbers from 11-20 are really tricky for some kids. They are getting lost when we reach those numbers and are not really paying attention to how to say them, lots of guessing is happening with those numbers.
Integrated Studies: This week we will continue to talk about how everyone is different, unique and have different interests.
Homework: Homework starts this week! Everything that is needed for homework, I have added to the purple homework duotang. There is a sheet specifying each nights activity. I have also added sheets that will be needed for home (ex: alphabet, numbers, words for each number etc.). They will be taking two paper books home this week that we have been practicing in class. These should be the focus for each night but I have put other things to review as well. It's up to you what you want to do in the 10 minutes. Please return the purple duotang to school each day in the homework bag. If I ever forget something for homework I need the duotang to add it instead of sending it home in your childs school bag where it most likely will get bent.
Dates to remember:
September 25th - Terry Fox Run
September 29th - Orange Shirt day
Septembre 30th - National Day of Truth and Reconciliation (No School)
October 9th - Picture Day for Grade 1 French Immersion kids
October 12th - Thanksgiving (No School)
I hope everyone has a great week!
Mme Melissa
Monday September 14th
Bonjour!
Welcome to our first update of the 2026/2027 school year! I am so excited to have your child in my class! Each week there will be three sections to my updates.
A few things to mention:
I'm looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible and finally putting a name to the face at our Meet the Teacher this Wednesday September 16th. My classroom is room 107C. When you enter through the main doors, head down the stairs and turn left at the Winnie the Pooh wall. My room is the first door on your left, you go down a little hallway to get to my little door at the back. There are three sessions. This gives parents time to get to different sessions if they have more than one child in the school. The times are as follows:
6:00-6:15 - Kindergarten
6:20-6:35 - Grade 1 (that's us!)
6:40-6:55 - Grade 1
Terry Fox walk will be happening next Friday.
A quick blurb about a big part of our day and that's our phonics based program (Traitement Alphabétique). I have seen how much this program helps students achieve goals and really learn how to read. It focuses on breaking down words into sounds and being able to hear all sounds in words as well as write them. It is all phonics based. We actually started the first part of it last week and will continue for the next 5ish weeks. Right now it is a review of letters and sounds and learning how to write the alphabet in lowercase. We don't write in uppercase in grade 1 unless it's at the beginning of a sentence and the first letter in our name.
There has been a little confusion on which door we use when entering the building in the mornings (off the bus or being dropped off). Our class is to use the doors down the hill. They are to go past the main doors and enter the next door that they see. NOT their kindergarten door from last year, they have gone too far if they get to that door.
This week we will continue to work on our routines sush as lining up, walking in the halls, raising our hands, waiting our turn and controlling classroom volume.
I also try to have my Google site updated by Sunday evening (Monday after school by the latest) and I'll send out an email usually Sunday evening to let you know.
My email address is mabutler@edu.pe.ca and I check it as often as I can. If you have any questions or concerns please send me a message!
This week in the following subjects:
Reading: This week we will continue to review letters and sounds of the alphabet. We will also start putting consonants and vowels together to make blends. This will get us going in the right direction to help us read some books.
Sounds of the week: *we work on 2 sounds a day
a (as in acrobat)
t (as in Tu pues LuLu)
n (as in nez)
u (as in Tu pues LuLu)
m (as in macaroni)
d (as in descendre)
Writing: This week we will start our writing block by practicing our printing of lowercase letters. We will talk about letter formation, lowercase letters and when to use them. Many have been rushing and simply not following direction, which leads to a lot of letters being erased and having to start over. We will also work on creating sentences. We use modeled sentences, find the words needed to make the sentence and put it together by adding a vocabulary word at the end. It's called our "Fantastic Sentences".
Math: This week we will be doing some counting. Right now we are counting forward from 1-10 but this week we'll add in counting backwards from 10-1. We have to make sure we know these numbers the best as they help us with bigger numbers to 100. We're going to also look at certain numbers, how to properly write them and how to say them correctly in French. We will also work on finding mistakes in a number line and fill in the missing numbers.
Integrated Studies: Our science, social studies, technology and art curriculums have been integrated into units. One of our units talks about how everyone is different, unique and have different interest. It fits really well with many back to school activities that can be used to create a positive and good working classroom.
Homework: There will be no homework this week. Once I have a good review of where students are with letters and sounds, I'll start to send home some activities (I'm thinking next week).
Dates to remember:
Septembre 16th - Meet the Teacher (6:20-6:35 is our time)
September 25th - Terry Fox Run
September 29th - Orange Shirt day
Septembre 30th - National Day of Truth and Reconciliation (No School)
I hope everyone has a great week!
Mme Melissa