Half-way through the Year!

In literacy this week we honed our sentence writing skills and continued to learn how to get super smart about nonfiction topics:

In Unit of Inquiry we tracked how things like toys and dance changed over time using timelines:

We hit our 90th day in school this week!

In arts we looked at the collages of French artist Henri Matisse and began creating our own:

In maths we are talking about time, introducing the concepts of whole, half, and a fourth (or quarter) and always practicing our number sense. 

Of course, we always make time for a brain break to dance!

In preparation for conferences we took some time to reflect on our skills and make goals for the second term.

Please take a minute to review our updated Coronavirus Health & Safety Policy. 

Please also read the Scholastic Book Club Letter and browse to order books here. This order closes February 12th and is a great opportunity to support your child's development while supporting your school! DSKI earns books for our collection while you add to yours!

Reminders:

Monday: 

• Turn in Word Study books (remember to not only sort and paste, but practice writing/using your words!)
• Reading Log check
• Swimming

Tuesday 

• Library

Next week: 3-Way Conferences 

Thank you for booking your conference. As mentioned, these will be with the parent this time due to the state of emergency and all held online. I will send a Zoom invitation to you. 

Each conference is 20 minutes so please be prompt and understand that I have to end at the scheduled time due to the next conference beginning. If there is something further to discuss we will have to make an appointment to meet the following week. 

We are Flexible Risk-Takers!

Grade 1 didn't miss a beat this week even when we found out the evening before that we had to move to remote learning the very next day. The learning didn't stop and we were all risk-takers trying out a new video conferencing software and using breakout rooms for our small group sharing. 

Conferences

They will be a bit different this year. Usually it is a time for parents, teachers and students to sit down together and reflect on the year so far and work together on goal setting for the coming months.

But due to the current state of emergency, we will have the conferences online this year. To make it easier to schedule, it will be only teachers and parents together. Students are of course in class in the day and after school are traveling home.

Teachers though will meet with students before the conference to talk about progress and goals they would like to set, which can be discussed at the conference. We would like to ask you as parents to also have this conversation at home.

Please book your time here. Each conference is 20 minutes so please be prompt and understand that I have to end at the scheduled time due to the next conference beginning. If there is something further to discuss we will have to make an appointment to meet the following week.

Upcoming:

Monday: 

• Turn in Word Study books (remember to not only sort and paste, but practice writing/using your words!)
• Reading Log check
• NO Swimming lesson - Regular PE - COVID-19 related closure

Tuesday:  Library

Have a great weekend!

Where We Are in Place and Time: Past and Present

Where We Are in Place and Time: Inquiry into orientation in place and time; personal histories; homes and journeys; the discoveries, explorations and migrations of humankind; the relationship between and the interconnectedness of individuals and civilizations, from local and global perspectives. 

Central Idea: Children in the past lived differently from how we live today.

Lines of Inquiry:
Daily life then and now
School then and now
Factors influencing lifestyle change

Concepts: Change, Perspective 

Approaches to Learning: Thinking, Research

Learner Profile: Knowledgeable, Inquirer, Reflective

Learning Goals/Success Criteria:   

• learners can give 2-3 examples of how daily life has changed from the recent past to now and 
• learners can give reasonable ideas as to why those changes have occurred
• learners can give examples of what is the same and different in schools between then and now
• learners can place items on a timeline in order from past to present or present to past

How to support your child at home

The curiosity about histories of their families and how things were done in the past will likely come naturally to you child so be prepared for questions and discussions about it. One of the activities from this unit will be to interview a grandparent (if possible) or elder friend or relative to find out more about the difference between daily life in the past and now. Possibly have a couple ideas of who and give them a heads up so they might provide photographs to share. 

In the class:

This week we began tuning-in and seeing what we knew about the past and present. 

Reminders:

Monday: 

• Turn in Word Study books (remember to not only sort and paste, but practice writing/using your words!)
• Reading Log check
• NO Swimming lesson January 18th - we have just been notified of a COVID-19 related closure

Tuesday Library

February 1st-5th: 3-Way Conferences (I will be sending out more details soon)