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.
Monday December 8th
Bonjour!
I hope you all have a great weekend! This week is going to be a busy but fun week with concert preparations, so a few things may simply not happen in the classroom.
A few things to mention:
I forgot to send out an email about different dress up and activity days happening this week. I have listed them at the bottom of this message for you.
Christmas Concert: Our concert will be taking place on December 9th at 1:00pm and 6:00pm. Each student received 2 tickets per show last week. If you have any extra tickets could you please send them in ASAP. We want to redistribute to those you may need them. If you do need extra tickets please reach out to our principal, Vanessa Dunn. Students are to come dressed in their best concert attire both in the morning and the evening. For the evening concert, I ask that students arrive by 5:30 and simply come down to the classroom (parents can head to the gym and find a seat for the concert).
Friday this week, we wil be having a board game afternoon. Please send in your childs favorite board game by Friday. You can send them in any day this week, as long as they are in the classroom by Friday.
Library - we have library on Friday December 12th. Please send in your child's books.
The cold weather has arrived. Please make sure to pack appropriate clothes for the cold weather (hat, mits, splash/snow pants, boots). Some have been saying they're cold when coming in. I always make sure they have everything they need on as well (weather depending). Some were missing snow pants last week, so I had to borrow from the office.
We continue to work on speaking French as much as we can. I'm now looking for students to be speaking a little French with their friends (saying numbers, colors, certain vocabulary words we've learned). This is all the process on working towards speaking French all the time.
This week in the following subjects:
Reading: This week we will continue to work on looking at all the letters in a word to help us figure out the word. We will continue to talk about our strategies we use when we get to a word that we don't know. One thing that I always tell them is that I'd rather you at least say the first syllable then simply guess the word.
Sounds of the week: *we now work on our double and more complex sounds
-e at the end of words (as in fée) - when -e is at the end of a word in French it's silent
-s at the end of words (as in gros) - when -s is at the end of a word in French it's silent
Word Study words of the week: * we practice writing them every day
lit, je cours, nous, tous, sous
Writing: This week we will start to talk about what Santa may have in his big red bag. We will use the structure "Dans le sac du Père Noël, il y a...". We will start by saying the sentence out loud by picking items out of a big red bag that I have in the classroom. We will then move on to writing about it.
Math: This week we will continue to work on our unit about 2D and 3D shapes. We will be comparing different shapes, talking about the different aspects of the shapes and a treasure hunts around the class to find these different shapes. We will also do some review of past concepts. This will be our unit until Christmas.
Integrated Studies: We will continue to talk about ways to stay healthy and what our body needs. We will talk about physical activites, what we eat and what we need to do to protect ourselves from sickness. This will be out unit until Christmas.
Homework: I have added this week's homework sheet to the purple duotang as well as the new sight words and sentences (purple). Please check it out!
Dates to remember:
December 9th - Concert Attire
December 9th - Christmas Concert 1:00pm & 6pm
December 11th - Whoville Day - come dressed in anything that has to do with the Grinch
December 13th - Board Games Day - please bring in your favorite board game
December 19th - Last day before the Holidays
I hope everyone has a great week!
Mme Melissa
Monday December 1st
Bonjour!
The excitement is about to begin this week! The Christmas activities around the class will start and preparations for the concert next week will be in full swing!
A few things to mention:
I had sent out an email last week about different dress up and activities days happening this week. I have listed them at the bottom of this message if you don't remember.
Christmas Concert: Our concert will be taking place on December 9th at 1:00pm and 6:00pm. Each student has received 2 tickets per show. If you have any extra tickets could you please send them back in ASAP. We want to redistribute to those who may need them. If you do need extra tickets for a certain show please reach out to our principal, Vanessa Dunn.
Last week I had sent out and email looking for those who would be interested in coming into the classroom to do a read aloud. I have had a few interested and looking for a few more. If you are at all interested please let me know ASAP and we can set up a date and time.
Library - we will be visiting the library this Tuesday December 2nd. Please send in your child's book.
I have added a new tab at the top of the page. It's called Student Sites. These are some sites that we use in the class that the students love. Feel free to use them at home when you want.
The cold weather has arrived. Please make sure to pack appropriate clothes for the cold weather (hat, mits, splash/snow pants, boots). Some have been saying they're cold when coming in. I always make sure they have everything they need on as well (weather depending).
We continue to work on speaking French as much as we can. I'm now looking for students to be speaking a little French with their friends (saying numbers, colors, certain vocabulary words we've learned). This is all the process on working towards speaking French all the time.
This week in the following subjects:
Reading: This week we will continue to work on looking at all the letters in a word to help us figure out the word. We will continue to talk about our strategies we use when we get to a word that we don't know. One thing that I always tell them is that I'd rather you at least say the first letter then simply guess the word.
Sounds of the week: *we now work on our double and more complex sounds
ch (as in chuchote)
-e at the end of words (as in fée) - when -e is at the end of a word in French it's silent
Word Study words of the week: * we practice writing them every day
tout, dit, lis, bas, pas
Writing: This week we will do our first Christmas writing piece. One song that I always listen to for Christmas in the classroom is "Quand le Père Noël viens me visiter". It's a song about what Santa wears. We'll been listening to the song and writing about what he wears and what order he puts it on.
Math: This week we will continue to compare numbers. Last week we worked on put numbers in order from smallest to biggest but this week we will try biggest to smallest. We will also continue to review stuff we have already learned such as counting by 2, 5 and 10 each days as a warm up. We will also start our unit on shapes. This is fun and easy unit which is perfect for this time of year.
Integrated Studies: We will continue to talk about ways to stay healthy and what our body needs. We will talk about physical activites, what we eat and what we need to do to protect ourselves from sickness. This will be out unit until Christmas.
Homework: I have added this week's homework sheet to the purple duotang. Please check it out!
Dates to remember:
December 1st - Teddy Bear Day
December 2nd - Christmas Sweater Day (Ugly or Nice)
December 4th - Holiday Hat or Hair Day
December 9th - Grade 1 Christmas Concert 1pm & 6pm
December 19th - Last day before the Holidays
I hope everyone has a great week!
Mme Melissa
Monday November 24th
I hope you all had a great weekend! I can't belive we are changing the calendar to December at the end of the week. Lots of fun stuff coming. I love December!
A few things to mention:
I will be out of the classroom on Tuesday. Please contact the office with any after school changes as my substitute will not have a way of knowing.
Library - we will be visiting the library this Monday November 24th. If your child has not returned their book, could they please bring it with them tomorrow.
Report cards will be going home next Wednesday, December 4th.
Thank you to all of you who were able to meet with me and talk about your child. It was great talking to you all and finally being able to put a face to the name.
Christmas Concert: Our concert will be taking place on December 9th at 1:00pm and 6:00pm. Each student will receive 2 tickets per show. Our principal Vanessa will be sending out an email at the beginning of the week explaining how this will work. If any questions please ask. Students are to come dressed in their best concert attire. We will be making festive headbands that students will be wearing on stage.
Later in the week I'll be sending out an email about parents doing a Christmas read aloud to the class in the month of December. It is one of my favorite things to do around the Holidays. Stay tuned for an upcoming email.
If you or someone you know has a little one ready for kindergarten next year, please remember to register them as soon as possible. Simply drop by the school (or school in your area). This helps allocate for proper classroom sizes.
The cold weather has arrived. Please make sure to pack appropriate clothes for the cold weather (hat, mits, splash/snow pants, boots). Some have been saying they're cold when coming in. I always make sure they have everything they need on as well (weather depending).
We continue to work on speaking French as much as we can. I'm now looking for students to be speaking a little French with their friends (saying numbers, colors, certain vocabulary words we've learned). This is all the process on working towards speaking French all the time.
This week in the following subjects:
Reading: his week we will work on looking at all the letters in a word to help us figure out the word. Some are still guessing the words and not fully looking at all the letters. Others don't always recognize words in books but do on their own. We will try and find strategies to help us remember our sight words from our lists and be able to see them in books.
Sounds of the week: *we now work on our double and more complex sounds
eu (as in bleu)
ch (as in chuchote)
Word Study words of the week: * we practice writing them every day
petite, toute, frère, rouge, dis
Writing: This week we will be creating our own sentences by using different sentence starters. We will talk about different ways we can start a sentence and practice what kind of things we can write each of them. I will do a lot of modelled writing with them as this will require students to be a little more independent and come up with some ideas.
Math: This week we will our small unit on equal groups. This can be an easy and faster unit. Students will use manipulatives to seperate numbers into either 2 or 3 equal groups. If that goes well, we will also start our unit on comparing numbers. We will talk about putting numbers in order from smallest to biggest and biggest to smallest. We will also talk about numbers being bigger or smaller than other numbers. We will also continue to review stuff we have already learned such as counting from 0-50 forwards and backwards and counting by 2's, 5's and 10's each day as our warm up.
Integrated Studies: We will continue to talk about ways to stay healthy and what our body needs. We will talk about physical activites, what we eat and what we need to do to protect ourselves from sickness. This will be out unit until Christmas.
Homework: I have added this week's homework sheet along with the new blue colored sight words to the purple duotang. Please check it out!
Dates to remember:
November 25th - Madame is out of the classroom
November 26th - Report Cards go home
December 9th - Grade 1 Christmas Concert 1pm & 6pm
December 19th - Last day before the Holidays
I hope everyone has a great week!
Mme Melissa
Monday November 17th
I hope you all enjoyed your weekend! I had a busy few days with my little ones 7th birthday this weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing them you all this week for our interview.
A few things to mention:
Glen Stewart will be having Jersey Day on Wednesday. Students can wear any type of jersey that they have.
If you have not already, can you please sign up for a slot for parent-teacher interviews this week. I'm so looking forward to seeing you all (some for the first time) and talking about your child. Click Here
When entering the building for interviews, you can simply come in the main door. Go to your left and down the stairs. Once down the stairs you'll see a paint wall (Winnie the Pooh, Arthur, Elmo etc.), go past the wall and take a left. I'm then the first door on your left. My name is right outside on the wall.
Library - please return your childs library book by Thursday.
If you know that your child will be absent, can you please send me a quick email. I have to keep track of absences and have certain codes to enter. Knowing why a student is out makes it much easier.
The cold weather has arrived. Please make sure to pack appropriate clothes for the cold weather (hat, mits, splash/snow pants, boots). Some have been saying they're cold when coming in. I always make sure they have everything they need on as well (weather depending).
We continue to work on speaking French as much as we can. Some have caught on to certain phrases really quickly and don't need any reminders to use them. Others are still asking to go to the bathroom in English, which is something they learned in kindergarten. I remind those students to try again or ask them how do we say that in French.
This week in the following subjects:
Reading: This week we are going to take a small step back to using our finger to help us read. Some are looking to me for the word. Pointing to each word before saying it can help us follow and also help us see the letters. Some also guess a word before even looking at all the letters, so I'm hoping that using our fingers will help us focus on the word.
Sounds of the week: *we now work on our double and more complex sounds
ou (as in hibou)
Word Study words of the week: * we practice writing them every day
chat, petit, vert, vite, joue
Writing: This week we will do some writing about fruits and vegetables. We will also add in prepositions and write about whether it's on, under, beside or in front of something. Everyday I will also be asking if anyone is eating certain fruits and vegetables and I'll keep a little chart. At the end of the week we'll see which fruit or vegetable was more popular.
Math: This week we start comparing numbers. This is our next unit. We will talk about putting numbers in order from smallest to biggest and biggest to smallest, and start talking about numbers being bigger or smaller then other numbers. We will also continue to review stuff we have already learned such as counting by 2 and will add on counting by 5 and 10 each days as a warm up.
Integrated Studies: We will start talking about ways to stay healthy and what our body needs. We will talk about physical activites, what we eat and what we need to do to protect ourselves from sickness. This will be out unit until Christmas.
Homework: I have added this week homework sheet to the purple duotang. Don't forget to clean out homework bag and only have the purple duotang and traitement alphabetique book in there. Please check it out!
Dates to remember:
November 19th - Jersey Day
November 20th - Parent Teacher Interviews (Evening)
November 21st - Parent Teacher Interviews (No School)
November 26th - Report Cards go home
December 9th - Grade 1 Christmas Concert 1pm & 6pm
December 19th - Last day before the Holidays
I hope everyone has a great week!
Mme Melissa
Wednesday November 12th
I hope you all had a great long weekend!! I had a busy few days with the teachers convention then I honestly picked away at my Christmas decorations for the remainder. I did have to go to school on Monday to do report cards. I also feel like it has been forever since I seen all my other kiddos. I'm looking forward to seeing them this week!
A few things to mention:
Scholastics - you will find November/December's flyer in the purple duotang. As always I have indicated our class code at the top. This will be our last book order before Chrismas.... if anyone is wanting to place an order as a gift please let me know and I can keep it a secret when it arrives.
For the writing piece that we will be working on this week, each student will need some pictures. I'm asking that each student bring in pictures of members of their family (themself, mom, dad, brothers, sisters). We won't get into grandparents or aunts and uncles because that'll just be too much. We will be cutting these pictures. Please have these sent in no later than Thursday of this week!
Interviews are just around the corner. Mrs. Dunn sent you the link in an email (on Friday or Monday). That link is already live. Please sign up for a time slot as soon as you can. You will notice that I have openings all that week for interviews. I always open time slots on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday just in case you can't come Thursday or Friday. Choose which ever day and time works best for you.
Library - please return your childs library book by Thursday.
If you know that your child will be absent, can you please send me a quick email. I have to keep track of absences and have certain codes to enter. Knowing why a student is out makes it much easier.
With the weather being so unpredictable in PEI, please ensure that your child is dressed properly and has extra clothes. Sneakers don't always cut it for playing outside on our playground. The ground is usually always wet and some play games/soccer in certain areas that are quite muddy.
This week we will continue to work on speaking French as much as we can. Some have caught on to certain phrases really quickly and don't need any reminders to use them. Others are still asking to go to the bathroom in English, which is something they learned in kindergarten. I remind those students to try again or ask them how do we say that in French.
This week in the following subjects:
Reading: This week we are really going to dive into our strategies for reading our books. Up until now we have been reading little books, paper books or syllables but students will now start "reading" bigger books in the classroom. Some strategeis that we will look at and talk about this week is how do we prepare for reading, I look and read the words, I choose a book I like and I read during the entire reading time. This will be a big change for some but we will practice each day.
Sounds of the week: *we now work on our double and more complex sounds
au/eau (as in auto or chapeau)
Word Study words of the week: * we practice writing them every day
neuf, bleu, soeur, veux, peux
Writing: This week we will work on our little writing piece about our family. With this writing piece students are going to have to be a little more independent because I'm only giving them the first word of each sentence. They will have to use their vocabulary words on family to fill in the rest.
Math: This week we will continue to count from 0-40 forwards and backwards. We will really focus on counting by 5's to 100 and maybe get into counting by 2's to 20. I feel as though counting by 2's is going to be a little tricky as some are still having a hard time counting by 1's. We will use manipulatives and visuals to help students understand the concept of counting by 2's.
Integrated Studies: We will start talking about ways to stay healthy and what our body needs. We will talk about physical activites, what we eat and what we need to do to protect ourselves from sickness. This will be out unit until Christmas.
Homework: I have added this week's homework sheet to the purple duotang as well as the new colored list of sight words (green). Please feel free to keep the ziplock of paper books at home as we now use the traitement alphabetique book for our reading. Please check it out!
Dates to remember:
November 19th - Jersey Day
November 20th - Parent Teacher Interviews (Evening)
November 21st - Parent Teacher Interviews (No School)
November 26th - Report Cards go home
December 9th - Grade 1 Christmas Concert 1pm & 6pm
December 19th - Last day before the Holidays
I hope everyone has a great week!
Mme Melissa
Monday November 3rd
I hope everyone had a great weekend! I cannot believe we have flipped the calendar to November.
A few things to mention:
For a writing piece that we will be working on, each student will need some pictures. I'm asking that each student bring in pictures of members of their family (themself, mom, dad, brothers, sisters). We won't get into grandparents or aunts and uncles because that'll just be too much. We will be cutting these pictures. Please have these sent in by Wednesday November 12th, next week!
We will be having an assembly this Wednesday for Remembrance Day. We will be having a discussion about how we behave during assemblies and how this one is really important. We have to listen and not make any unwanted noise.
Now that we are in November interviews are just around the corner. I believe the link to sign up for a time slot will be available on Monday November 10th. I just wanted to let you know that I do open a few spots up the entire week of interviews (Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday) so please make sure to check those out as well when it's time to book your slot. I like to make sure there's options for everybody as sometimes the Thursday and Friday don't work.
I have added some more photos of our Halloween day spent in class. Click Here.
This week we will continue to work on speaking French as much as we can. We will practice some structures that can help us communicate what we are thinking and need to say. Sentences will likely be half Engligh and half French and that's fine.
This week in the following subjects:
Reading: This week I'm going to be evaluating their reading by getting them to read me a little book. This book only has sounds that we have worked on but it really practices being able to blend 2-4 sounds. In the middle of all that we will continue to talk about what we do when we get to an unknown word (at least sound out the first letter and look for known sounds) but we will also start searching for clues in pictures to help us with words.
Sounds of the week: *we now work on our double and more complex sounds
c/g (as in corbeau & gorgée) - we have already worked on the sounds for these two letters but now we will work on combination of letters that help each letter make the sound (ca, co, cu, ga, go, gu, cr, cl, gr, gl)
Word Study words of the week: * we practice writing them every day
jour, pour, oui, beaucoup, leur
Writing: This week we will do some writing about our families. We will talk about who is in our family and next week do a little project with it. With this writing piece students are going to have to be a little more independent because I'm only giving them the first word of each sentence. They will have to use their vocabulary words on family to fill in the rest.
Math: This week we will start counting from 0-40 forwards and backwards. We will also start counting by 2's to 20, 5's and 10's. I feel as though counting by 2's is going to be a little tricky as some are still having a hard time counting by 1's. We will use manipulatives and visuals to help students understand the concept of counting by 2's.
Integrated Studies: We will start talking about ways to stay healthy and what our body needs. We will talk about physical activites, what we eat and what we need to do to protect ourselves from sickness. This will be our unit until Christmas.
Homework: I have added this week's homework sheet to the purple duotang. With only three days I kept it very simply. Please check it out!
Dates to remember:
November 6th - PEITF Convention (No School)
November 7th - PEITF Convention (No School)
November 10th - Teacher's Report Card Day (No School)
November 11th - Remembrance Day (No School)
November 19th - Jersey Day
November 20th - Parent Teacher Interviews (Evening)
November 21st - Parent Teacher Interviews (No School)
December 9th & 10th - Christmas Concert 1pm & 6pm (I have to double check our exact date)
December 19th - Last day before the Holidays
I hope everyone has a great week!
Mme Melissa
Monday October 27th
Happy Halloween! I hope you all had a great weekend! Is was a beautiful fall weekend. It's going to be an exciting and long week with the anticipation for Halloween.
A few things to mention:
Halloween Friday - Kids are allowed to dress up in their costume but there should be no masks or weapons. We will also have a classroom party with some treats and fun!
Library on Thursday. Please send in any library books.
If sending treats in your child's lunch this week, please limit the amount. I always say that 2 treats are enough. I will also not allow them to eat the Halloween treat at snack, it must be after they have finished their lunch.
I have addedsome pictures of a math activity we did Friday as well as the many pictures that I took from our day at Orwell Corner. It was such a fun day! Take a look by visiting the Classroom Tour tab or simply click here.
This week we will continue to work on speaking French as much as we can. Little things like saying "Ma maman..." instead of "my mom..." is kind of what I'm looking for. Basically if they know the word they should be able to say it in their sentene even if the sentence is half French and half English.
This week in the following subjects:
Reading: This week I'm going to hopefull finish evaluting the red & orange list words and move on to evaluating their reading. In the middle of all that we will continue to talk about what we do when we get to an unknown word.
Sounds of the week: *we now work on our double and more complex sounds
We will work on one sound for 3 days. Our double and complex sounds are really what help us read French words. Students have to pay attention to some sounds as it puts two letters together to make a new sound.
é (as in éléphant)
o (as in fort) - this sound is not the same as o we did before. This sound is an open o and sounds almost like a lower voiced a
Word Study words of the week: * we practice writing them every day
garçon, beau, jaune, fille, famille
Writing: This week we will finish our writing about haunted houses. The students have been doing very well with this writing piece. Some are taking a little longer because they keep losing their place when writing, and one of the strategies we have been talking about is being able to copy the words that Madame wrote. We've also been watching how we form our letters. I've also been very picky with their letters simply because we have been working very hard on them.
Math: This week we will simply continue our work with representing numbers. I'll be doing some evaluating as well this week to see how students are able to count and represent numbers in certain ways.
Integrated Studies: We will resume our integrated units of study after Halloween. I have lots of stuff planned for this week.
Homework: I have added this week's homework sheet to the purple duotang along with the new yellow sight words and sentences. Please check it out!
Dates to remember:
October 31st - Halloween (Kids can dress up)
November 6th - PEITF Convention (No School)
November 7th - PEITF Convention (No School)
November 10th - Teacher's Report Card Day (No School)
November 11th - Remembrance Day (No School)
November 20th - Parent Teacher Interviews (Evening)
November 21st - Parent Teacher Interviews (No School)
I hope everyone has a great week!
Mme Melissa
Monday October 20th
I hope you all had a great weekend! We had a busy weekend running around doing PEI Marathon stuff for my girls and my husband. Not sure if there were any runners amongst you but is so congrats!
A few things to mention:
We will be gonig to Orwell Corner this Thursday. It looks like there might be a little bit of rain, so please make sure your child is dressed for the day. We will mostly be outside as we explore the village. We will be leaving the school at 9am and will be back by 2pm. Please make sure your child is here on time Thursday. Also make sure to pack snacks and lunch as we will be eating there.
Picture retakes are on Thursday. I know we are going to Orwell but the photographer is suppose to be here first thing in the morning. If you want your child to take retakes, please let me know via email by Wednesday.
This past week students did some autumn leaves painting. I have added the picture plus pictures from our field trip to Cotton Park to our Classroom Tour page. Take a look by visiting the Classroom Tour tab or simply click here.
Library on Wednesday. Please send in any library books.
I have lots of Halloween activities planned for this week so it's going to be a fun week!
This week we will continue our work on controlling the volume in the class and concentrating on our own work. Another goal that I'm adding this week is speaking French. Now I'm not saying it's French all the time but there are a few sayings that the students know now that I will ask them to start using all the time. Those sentences are asking to go the bathroom, filling their water bottle, needing help and opening something.
This week in the following subjects:
Reading: This week I'm hoping to find time to evaluate the red and orange list words (not sure because it's going to be a busy week). If I get around to evaluating, the ones who are able to do all words will receive the next list (orange and jaune). We will also start talking about what we do when we get to an unknown word when reading. Up to now we have simply been finding words that we know but some are very eager to try new words. This can be scary at first because for the most part they will not be able to figure out the word the first time.
Sounds of the week:
Review of alphabet this week before moving on to our grade 1 sounds.
Word Study words of the week: * we practice writing them every day
bébé, bonne, donne, école, regarde
Writing: This week we will finish our writing about monsters and start our writing about haunted houses. As always, I will be modeling what to write and the students will then try and do it on their own following my sentences and changing 1 part of each sentence. We also practice vocabulary we can use, so it makes it easier to fill in the blank when asked to write on their own.
Math: This week we will continue our work representing numbers. We have been working on so much of representing numbers that it's time for them to show me what they have learned. We will do this through practice, grames and centers. We have also shifted our counting focus to 1-30 forwards and backwards.
Integrated Studies: We will resume our integrated units of study after Halloween. I have lots of stuff planned for this week and the beginning of next week.
Homework: I have added a new homework sheet to the back of the purple duotang. Please take a look. Please remember to return the purple duotang to school each day in the homework bag.
Dates to remember:
October 23rd - Orwell Corner
October 23rd - Picture Retakes
October 31st - Halloween (Kids can dress up)
November 6th - PEITF Convention (No School)
November 7th - PEITF Convention (No School)
November 10th - Teacher's Report Card Day (No School)
November 11th - Remembrance Day (No School)
November 20th - Parent Teacher Interviews (Evening)
November 21st - Parent Teacher Interviews (No School)
I hope everyone has a great week!
Mme Melissa
Tuesday October 14th
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 Wednesday. 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 Wednesday 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
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 continue to practice our red and orange lists of our sight words. Even though I have sent the orange list home, this week students haven't gotten their new words in the class simply because it was a busy week and I didn't have time to evaluate. I feel as though there are some that are ready for the next words so I'm hoping to find some time to evaluate some of them this week. 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 exttérieur)
w (as in wow)
y (as in yoga)
z (as in zigzag)
** We will be wrapping up our review of letters this week. We will continue to practice everyday but we will also be moving on to our grade 1 sounds next week. These next sounds can start to get tricky so students have to really practice and pay attention. These next sounds are the ones that we will really help students read.
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 15th - Cotton Park (rain date October 16th)
October 23rd - Orwell Corner
October 31st - Halloween (Kids can dress up)
November 6th - PEITF Convention (No School)
November 7th - PEITF Convention (No School)
November 10th - Teacher's Report Card Day (No School)
November 11th - Remembrance Day (No School)
November 20th - Parent Teacher Interviews (Evening)
November 21st - Parent Teacher Interviews (No School)
I hope everyone has a great week!
Mme Melissa
Monday October 6th
Bonjour!
I hope you all had a great weekend!
A few things to mention:
PJ Day Monday!!
Picture day will be happening this week. Ours will be Wednesday October 8th.
You will find two permission forms and information in your child's purple homework duotang. 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. Send all this in by Thursday.
No library this week as the book fair is happening. We will be visiting the book fair on Monday. This will be our only day to purchase books. Please send in money with your child (if you want) on Monday. Please label a ziplock bag with your child's name on it.
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 asked to do. Please remember to return the purple duotang to school each day in the homework bag.
Dates to remember:
October 8th - Picture Day for our class
October 10th - PD Day for teachers (No School)
October 13th - Thanksgiving (No School)
October 15th - Cotton Park (rain date October 16th)
October 23rd - Orwell Corner
October 31st - Halloween (Kids can dress up)
November 6th - PEITF Convention (No School)
November 7th - PEITF Convention (No School)
November 10th - Teacher's Report Card Day (No School
November 11th - Remembrance Day (No School)
November 20th - Parent Teacher Interviews (Evening)
November 21st - Parent Teacher Interviews (No School)
I hope everyone has a great week!
Mme Melissa
Monday September 29th
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 Tuesday September 30th for Truth and Reconciliation Day.
Library books are due by Thursday.
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 this week before I send in the class order. If there is something you would like to order, plese 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 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. 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:
f (as in froid)
b (as in bébé)
r (as in renard)
g (as in gorgée)
v (as in voler)
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 asked to do each night this week. Please remember to return the purple duotang & ziplock bag if books to school each day in the homework bag. I have also changed the time of doing homework from 20 minutes down to 10 minutes.
Dates to remember:
September 29th - Orange Shirt day
Septembre 30th - National Day of Truth and Reconciliation (No School)
October 6th-9th - Book Fair at School (more info to come)
October 8th - Picture Day for our class
October 10th - PD Day for teachers (No School)
October 13th - Thanksgiving (No School)
I hope everyone has a great week!
Mme Melissa
Monday September 22nd
Bonjour!
Happy Fall!! I hope you all enjoyed your weekend and embraced the lovely fall days!
A few things to mention:
I am out of the classroom for an appointment on Tuesday. Mme Emily will be in for me. She was in at the beginning of the year this year as she will be my student teacher this year. She knows my routines and knows the kids as she is a regular sub in our school. If you need to get a message to her in regards to end of the day arrangements please call the office as I may not be able to check my email and let her know.
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 Thursday. 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 Tuesday, so please send in your child's library book on Monday.
Reminder that there will be no school next Tuesday September 30th for Truth and Reconciliation.
Students are still having a hard time settling into classroom routines and expectations. We had A LOT of chats last week about expectations in a grade 1 classroom and many are simply not getting it. It's getting frustrating and 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. 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. There will be no disposable utensils available this year. If you would like to donate a bag of forks/spoons or even straws 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.
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:
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
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 read each night a long with the specific activity indicated for each night. 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 (feel free to send in a $2 donation)
September 29th - Orange Shirt day
Septembre 30th - National Day of Truth and Reconciliation (No School)
October 6th-9th - Book Fair at School (more info to come)
October 8th - Picture Day for French Immersion kids
October 10th - PD Day for teachers (No School)
October 13th - Thanksgiving (No School)
I hope everyone has a great week!
Mme Melissa
Monday September 15th
Bonjour!
Welcome to our first update of the 2025/2026 school year! I am so excited to have your child in class with me! 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 17th. 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 Thursday.
Last year there was a new program launched in all grade 1 French immersion classrooms. I had the honor of piloting this program two years prior to the launch and I have seen the amazing things that this program does for students. I have seen how much this program helps students achieve goals and really learn how to read. It focuses on breaking words down 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
u (as in Tu pues LuLu)
m (as in macaroni)
d (as in descendre)
e (as in je)
k (as in koala)
c (as in corbeau)
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 17th - Meet the Teacher (6:20-6:35 is our time)
September 23rd - 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