Getting Ready for Grade 1!

Our SKs are getting ready to go up to Grade 1 in September! Usually, at the end of the school year, we practice doing some of the Grade 1 things. I can't show you in person, but I will describe  it here.

In Grade 1 you will start your day by lining up at the back of the School. The SK's should be used to this because we did this when they were in JK :)

Your teacher will walk you upstairs, just like in Kindergarten. You will likely have a locker - just like in Kindergarten. some classes have cubbies inside of the classroom instead of lockers, but the Grade 1 classroom for next year will have lockers.

There will be *some* Grade 2s in your class! You will remember them from when you were in JK and they were in SK - they might have been in Room 9 or in other Kindergartens.

You will start your day by standing for O Canada and listening to the announcements -- Just like in Room 9! You will be inside of the classroom though. Then you will start your day. There will be carpet time, work time and likely you will have some centre time.

In the middle of the morning, there will be recess. (15 minutes) Your teacher will walk you down the stairs and you will play outside. Your teacher might go outside too for "Yard Duty" or there might be a different  teacher out there. If you have any problems, find a teacher! They will be wearing an orange vest. There will be many students out in the backyard of the school.Recess is also your chance to go to the washroom. You will use the basement washrooms - just like you would use if you were in the Lunchroom Gym or in Drama. When the bell rings, line up in the same place that you lined up in the morning. The Grade 2 students in your class will help you find it if you can't remember.

Then you will go back to your classroom for more learning, until lunch time!

Lunch is in the lunchroom in the basement. It is where we ate Pizza Lunch! There will be lots of kids in there and it will be a bit loud. Your teacher will walk you down, and then She will leave. There are Lunchroom Supervisors who will look after you. If you have a question, or have to go the bathroom, put your hand up! You have to say in your seat unless a Supervisor says you can get up. If you finish your lunch, just keep sitting and talk quietly with your friends. The lunchroom supervisor will tell you when it is time to go outside to play.

(this is an old photo of the lunchroom. The tables are a bit different now!)

The afternoon is just like the morning! There is a recess in the afternoon too.

At home time your teacher will walk you downstairs and out the back door for dismissal. It is just like in Kindergarten. You have to wait with your teacher until they see your parent or babysitter or daycare and then they will tell you that you can leave.

Swimming! You will have Swimming twice a week! Parents -- if you get the chance over the summer, you should take your child swimming at Earl Beatty to get them used to the Earl Beatty pool. I used to be a TDSB Swimming instructor, so if you have any questions about Pool, please ask. If your child needs to sit on the side of the pool for a few lessons, that is fine! Please tell your child's teacher, and they will pass the message along to Neil and Julien, our Swimming Instructors.

Word Families and spelling

Some parents have asked about spelling the word families. In Kindergarten, we like to play with the rhymes and word families, and begin to get familiar with them in context (in our shared reading of messages, simple charts and poems). We played with word families with magnetic letters or letter cards, but we are not expected to use them yet in our writing!  In Grade 1, we are expected to begin to write (spell) with the word families.

The best way to learn about word families and rhyming is to play games and sing songs about rhymes.

Down by the Bay is such a fun summer song to sing!

I'm showing these so you knew that your child does not have to learn them in Kindergarten! In Kindergarten your child should be spelling phonetically as they hear a word. If they spell cat "ct"  - that is wonderful! They heard the initial sound and the end sound! That is AWESOME. As they learn more conventional spelling, they will use it. Do not worry if they cannot spell words properly!

As they come across more words in their reading, they will become more aware of word families.

These are the word families that we focused on when I taught Grade 1 and Grade 2.

 Grade 1 (by the END of Grade 1)

at, am, an, ab, ag, ad, ap, im, in, ip

op, ob, ot, ow (low), ow (how), ed, et

ug, um, ay, y

Grade 2 (by the END of Grade 2)

est, ell, ing, ink, ine, ill, ight, ick, ack, ank, ail, ain, ake

eed, ew, ore, ock, out, unk, uck

The Grade 2’s also focus on Letter Blends and Digraphs.

 Letter blends (at beginning of words):

bl, br, cl, cr, dr, fr, tr, fl, gl, gr, pl, pr, sl, sm, sp and st (also at end).

 Letter digraphs (at beginning and end of words):

th, sh, ch, wh (beginning of words only)

Thank you parents!

Parents! You deserve a huge thank you! You have finished a 3+ month teaching practicum without teachers college (well, I know that at least 4 of you are teachers - but you had to do double teaching duty!) You all had the job of teacher thrust upon you, and your children have thrived!

Even if you never did any of the activities that I posted, your children learned so much from you during the past 3 months. They cooked with you, cleaned with you, learned how to deal with boredom, and played with you -- and they all looked so happy when we saw them in Google Meets.

So many of you went for nature walks. I wish that we could go for a nature walk every day with our class! Free play outside is one of the best things you can give your children to help their growth and development. Keep it up!

Lets hope that we are back in the somewhat normal classroom in September. Fingers crossed!

High Fives and Hugs all around!

(but maybe just within your family for now, right?)

(please give your children a high five or a hug from me)

Morning Message for Friday, June 26

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need go outside and decide what the weather and what the temperature is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Windy? Cold? Cool? Warm? Hot?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say what the weather is or how the temperature feels.

Math Word Problem of the Day!

This is the last day we will have a math "problem" to figure out. We have done these in class, so they should be familiar. This week we have focused on addition and subtraction! Please read the question to your child and ask them if they think that they should be joining the numbers together (altogether is the clue) or taking an amount away from the original number (how many do they have left)

(Students) Please draw the objects and then count them. This week we will focus on addition and subtraction in numbers less than 10. Parents! Feel free to change the numbers! If your child isn't able to count higher than 5, then use numbers that are less than 5. If your child is able to count larger numbers, change the numbers. I would stick with single digit numbers for now.

Please continue challenging your children with simple word problems throughout the summer!

Henry K and Winston were playing Pokemon. Henry had 9 cards and gave 2 to Winston. How many Pokemon cards does Henry have left?

Me, on my last day of Kindergarten

Today is the last day of school. It is your last day of Junior Kindergarten, or your last day of Senior Kindergarten.

It has been a very different year than most years!

Please draw a picture of you on your last day of Kindergarten. Do your very best drawing!

This is Mrs. Bindergarten Celebrates the Last Day of Kindergarten. (by Joseph Slate)

We didn't get to do some of the things that this class does, but usually, we do! We DID clean the classroom before the break though. Do you remember washing the toys and tables? And trying to find every piece of Lego and every Snap Cube so the caretakers didn't sweep them up? Thank you for helping with that!

Thank you for a wonderful year, Room 9!

Ms. Brown and Ms. Emerson will miss you so much. Have a great summer, and we will see you in September!

Morning Message for Thursday, June 25

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need go outside and decide what the weather and what the temperature is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Windy? Cold? Cool? Warm? Hot?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say what the weather is or how the temperature feels.

Happy Birthday Grace!!!!

Grace! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Grace, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your brother! You can write the names with Rainbow letters. You can write each letter in the name a different colour. You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Math Word Problem of the Day!

For the rest of June, each day we will have a math "problem" to figure out. We have done these in class, so they should be familiar. This week we are focusing on addition and subtraction! Please read the question to your child and ask them if they think that they should be joining the numbers together (altogether is the clue) or taking an amount away from the original number (how many do they have left)

(Students) Please draw the objects and then count them. This week we will focus on addition and subtraction in numbers less than 10. Parents! Feel free to change the numbers! If your child isn't able to count higher than 5, then use numbers that are less than 5. If your child is able to count larger numbers, change the numbers. I would stick with single digit numbers for now.

Grace's mom make 4 cupcakes for their family. Grace ate 1, Graces's mom ate 1, Graces's dad ate 1, and Grace's brother ate 1. How many cupcakes are left to eat tomorrow?

Our Friends

Our friends make us happy. They cheer us up when we are sad.

Read along to My Friend is Sad by Mo Willems. I think that you will be able to read many of the words. Once the book has played through once, play it again and read along! (Parents: You could turn the volume off, and pause on every page. Have your child find some words that they know. You could read the words and point to them, and they could chime in on words that they know)

Today, we continue our Year in Kindergarten Booklet! Who were some of your friends this year? I know that we are all friends (This year we had an amazing class of students who worked and played together better than any other class!).

Who did you enjoy playing with the most? Who made you happy?

Draw a picture of you playing with your friends, and write their names on the lines.

Don't worry, we will see our friends soon.