Week of June 13-17

Dear families,

I hope you are enjoying your weekend!

This week we learned more about farms and farm life in preparation for our field trip on the 15th. The children are so excited! They sang the classic Old MacDonald song (good for memory!) and completed an accompanying booklet. The children had all their questions about horses answered - thank you to Miss. Nisker who videotaped herself taking care of her beautiful horse William. The children asked questions about pigs and sheep, which we will answer next week. They helped write the answers on the Smartboard to what various farm animals HAVE, CAN, ARE, EAT. The children also completed a reading activity booklet in which they had to match the sound animals make to the picture and word. We watched a terrific video on the Smartboard called "The Little Chick Company - It All Starts With an Egg" about eggs and chickens. We watched it two times, pausing the second time to quiz the children about what they learned and understood. The children also made and took home little plaster farm animals that they coloured. I added magnets and voila a cute fridge magnet. Next week we will finish our inquiry off with questions and answers about sheep and pigs. We will also do more summative activities about farm life in general. The children will complete writing activities about Wednesday's field trip and will bring their Farm Inquiry Folders home on Friday!

Thank you so much to Tessa who brought in porcupine quills from her cottage. This lead to a great discussion and a recap of habitats and local wildlife. I'm so pleased when the kids bring in items from the natural world to share and talk about!

The words of the week were ZOO and ZEBRA. Next week they will be KID, KITE and KITTEN.

The school had two fire drills this week and the children did a perfect job lining up quickly and quietly and following me outside to our designated spot. Great job!

In Friday's mail bags I included a list of Grade One High Frequency (sight) words. This is a good little tool to review over the summer. Speaking of which, the children completed a reading and drawing activity with their Reading Buddies about Summer Words. Their buddies helped them read the words (e.g. sun screen, picnic) and they drew an accompanying picture together. They look great!

Thank you so much for the Staff Appreciation Lunch... The food was amazing and this was a real treat! Thank you so much to Luca's mom who provided delicious pasta from her resto "Eatalian!" Thank you to Avery's mom and dad who were a Mystery Reader dynamic duo!

An important note regarding the field trip: please ensure you child is wearing running shoes, socks, sunscreen, and has a litterless lunch and snack packed. No crocs please. We will eat our morning snack before getting on the bus. Parent Volunteers, please arrive at 10:15 so that I can give you your packages (name tags, kleenex, etc.). The children's lunch bags should be in their backpacks. Thank you!

That's the news for this week! I hope you are having a terrific weekend.