Posted in General Studies

The latest from Grade One

                             March Madness

March Madness has arrived in our classroom, and it’s not just about basketball. We’re exploring the world of books with the help of the Novel Effect app. The app creates beautiful soundscapes that play with the teacher’s voice, making story time more engaging and interactive for the students. The four brackets are Women’s History, Spring has Sprung, Guaranteed Giggles, and Award Winners – with each having its unique selection of books. The children are thoroughly enjoying the daily books and even get to vote on their favorites.

We will be sure to share the book that is declared champion.

 

 

                                    Innovation Day

Students are keeping busy with their projects for Innovation Day. They are really putting in the effort, collaborating and designing their projects to make them the best they can be. Building something from scratch can be a real challenge, but it’s also a great opportunity to learn new skills and collaborate with others.

 

                                     Special Guest

 

Today we had a special guest visit our class. She also happens to be a mom of two students in our classes. We learned how the how Canada helps refugees. We even got special little bags from one of her trips. It was a very special way to end the week.

                                                   

 

 

 

                                                     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Uncategorised

Innovation Day and Ruach Week

  All parents are invited to Grade One on Wednesday March 20th, from 9:00-9:45 AM for Innovation Day. The children have worked hard on their wildlife crossings projects.

 

If you are unable to attend Innovation Day, I will send you a video of your child presenting their project so that you can experience the excitement of Innovation Day from afar.

TukTukDesign / Pixabay

Posted in General Studies, Jewish Studies, Ruach

A Week full of Ruach

What a week in Grade One! The students loved celebrating the 100th day of school on Monday. They wrote 100 words in Hebrew and French words. They even counted by 10s to 100 in all three languages. The children visited different stations throughout the day. They built a tower with 100 cups, made a 100th-day hat, and created 100th monsters. The day ended with 100th-day stories and a freezie treat.

On Tuesday, Let’s Talk Science visited Grade One for a workshop on structures. The children learnt about natural and man-made structures. They were challenged to make houses for the Three Little Pigs with straws, sticks, and wooden blocks. The workshop had all the students engaged and building.

 

JNF visited on Wednesday morning, and the children had the opportunity to learn about different parts of Israel with a beautiful parachute. The children played a collaborative parachute game while reviewing different places in Israel.

Winter Fun ended the week perfectly. The children were so excited to ride a school bus for the first time and go tubing. The location was perfect, the weather was great and everyone had fun.

Posted in General Studies

The latest news from 1A & 1B

 

  Tu B’Shevat

Grades 1-3 spent the afternoon working on special activities together. The children were split into mixed age groups for the afternoon. They loved travelling to different classrooms to work at each station. #We Learn Better Together

 

In honour of Tu B”Shevat, Brigitte read a wonderful book. Everyone loved it!

Both classes also got together to plant some salvia seeds from JNF. The seeds were attached inside the top of a pencil. It was funny to put the pencil into a cup of soil.

 

 

 

 

The children said good bye to Morah Andy last week.  They each made a special page for a special class book for Morah Andy. She took time to look at each page and read the messages the children wrote.


 

The children enjoyed a second Zoom call with children from different parts of Israel. They took turns presenting slides they made about their favourite foods. Our next Zoom call will take place on February 27th.

This week we read a story called Mimi’s Dream House. After reading the story the children were asked to draw their perfect dream house. The children let their imaginations run wild. They wrote about their dream houses and displayed them in the class.The students loved this type of writing.

 


 

It is so much fun to watch the students read each other’s work.

Kiran has been helping out in Grade One and SK classes on Mondays and Tuesdays over the last month and a half. He is a student at Algonquin College, and he is a natural fit in the SK and Gr.1. We will be sad to say goodbye to him this Tuesday.

1A and 1B recited a poem at the Rosh Chodesh Assembly this morning. They did a great job!

WE LEARN BETTER TOGETHER! 

(Poem for Rosh Chodesh Adar)

Kitah Alef is a special place,

See the big smile on each face.

WE LEARN BETTER TOGETHER!

Hebrew, French, English and the Arts

We learn Judaics to fill our hearts.

WE LEARN BETTER TOGETHER!

Adding and subtracting is challenging but fun,

11 + 10 is 21.

WE LEARN BETTER TOGETHER!

We play games, sing a song,

Lots of fun all year long.

WE LEARN BETTER TOGETHER!

Books to read, poems to say,

Learning new things everyday.

WE LEARN BETTER TOGETHER!

Reading, writing, spelling too. 

So much to learn, much to do.

WE LEARN BETTER TOGETHER!

We work as partners, small groups or a team

In our classroom, outside and in the gym

WE LEARN BETTER TOGETHER!

1A & 1B are the best team,

Every day our teachers beam.

WE LEARN BETTER TOGETHER!

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in General Studies, Grade 1 Reading

Happy Hanukkah!

The children had a great week getting ready for Hanukkah. They made beautiful chanukiahs with Morah Andy. Morah Ada and the classes got into the spirit by making spinning dreidels, lego chanukiahs, and dreidel snowflakes

Grade 1 and 2 lit the candles virtually with schools from all over Canada and Israeli through our Etzbah Hagalil Partnership!

                                     Kitah Alef Shabbat

Both 1A and 1B love celebrating Shabbat together each Friday.

 

 

 Reading

 

What is Amplify reading?

Amplify is the new reading platform (the umbrella company) that the OJCS purchased licenses for this year to use as a pilot project to enhance our current reading programs. We bought three programs for our school through Amplify, each explained below.

 

1. mClass – DIBELS 8 assessment 

2. Boost Reading (K-3)

3. Boost Close Reading (Gr. 4-8)

Why did we choose Amplify? 

This program aligns with the ‘Science of Reading’. The Science of Reading research shows the need for students to have word recognition skills (such as phonemic awareness, decoding skills through phonics, and reading fluency) and language comprehension (including knowledge of vocabulary, morphology, and syntax) to read and comprehend text. 

1. mClass is the system that allows us to run the DIBELS 8 Assessment with all of our students in Grades K-3. 

What is DIBELS?

DIBELS ® (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) is a set of procedures and measures that assesses the acquisition of literacy skills. They are short (one-minute) fluency measures used throughout the year to monitor the development of early literacy and reading skills. In Grade One, the DIBELS 8 assesses different skills, such as letter names, phonemic awareness, letter sounds, decoding, word reading, reading accuracy, and reading fluency. The classroom teacher does the assessment individually with each child.

Results of these assessments help us identify who is below, at, or above grade level in each skill. We can tailor our instruction in small groups and resource support accordingly. 

2. Boost Reading is the reading program license we purchased for students K-5. Boost Reading is a literacy acceleration and remediation program that uses adaptive technology to deliver personalized learning instruction for K-5 students. The engaging world of Boost Reading adapts to each unique reader. 

Can my child use this program at home?

Yes, please! Boost Reading adapts to your child’s needs, so you don’t need to, and you should NOT assist them with their learning. Once they log in, they’re ready to start using the program. Some students will begin with a placement activity that helps the program match them to the best content. To ensure the most accurate placement, students must complete each activity independently. Your child can have fun playing the Boost games and improve their reading skills.

Posted in General Studies, Jewish Studies, Ruach

A peek into Grade One

On Tuesday, the Grade One classes took part in a Let’s Talk Science workshop called the Tree of Life. Science students from the University of Ottawa taught us about the different characteristics of animals. We then had fun sorting and classifying the plastic animals. This was the perfect introduction to an upcoming research project about animals in the winter.

We also had the chance to make our own Tree of Life.

In a unit on Data Management we have been making graphs and interpreting the data. Corn seems to be the favourite vegetable in Grade One. Cherries are a favourite fruit in 1B while 1A seems to prefer peaches.

 

 

The children are very excited to visit the Scholastic Book Fair next week. The flyer with some of the featured books came home in the note totes yesterday. 1A and 1B will visit the Book Fair on Thursday December 7th.

Save the date for our Family Chanukah Celebration. We have already started to practice the song we will be singing. It is a terrific one.

Posted in French, General Studies, Jewish Studies

Special days in Grade One

Global Maker Day

This past Tuesday was Global Maker Day 2023. The students loved taking part in a day full of collaboration and creativity with schools from around the world. 

1A and 1B loved using their design thinking skills on Global Maker Day. There were four different STEM challenges to choose from: make a monster, a game, a new playground, or build a 3D school model. Special thanks to everyone who sent in all the recycled materials. There was more than enough cardboard and containers for the building.

There was a buzz in the room as the students chose their groups and started to brainstorm. With materials and tape in hand, the building began, and absolutely everyone was engaged and having so much fun.

Morah Ada and I were amazed at all the different building that was going on in the class. The students collaborated as they tested and adapted the designs to meet with success. Students presented their STEM challenges to the class. They were so proud of their final products. Global Maker Day was a success. We were inspired to be innovators, problem-solvers and share our work globally. 

A visit with Ottawa Firefighters

The JK, SK, and Grade One classes had special visit yesterday afternoon. A group of Ottawa firefighters from our local Station 23 came to talk about fire safety with the children. Firefighters discussed their roles as community helpers. The students also learned about making fire exit plans at home.

The children were excited to go outside and get an up close look at a real firetruck and learn about all the gear firefighters need to use.

One of the firefighters just happened to be the father of a SK student, which made the visit extra special.

 

 

 

 

Posted in General Studies

Reading homework begins today. Hooray!

                                                                           English Reading Homework

Your child will be bringing home a book to read tonight. The children are so excited!The book bag should be in their note tote. Your child should read the book and then record the title on the reading sheet (great printing practice). Please return the book tomorrow so your child can get a new book.

Happy Reading!

 

 

If for some reason the note tote does not find its way home tonight you can read a story online with this link

Posted in 1A, General Studies, Science

Scribble Bots and a Special Day 1A

Scribble Bots in 1A

We had so much fun in the Makerspace last week. Mr. Ray challenged us to make a Scribble bot. He told us that we would need to use our engineering skills to make a moving robot. He told us the materials for building would be three markers, a plastic cup, a motor, a battery pack, and lots of tape. First we made a plan of what we wanted to build.

The next step was to start building. It took lots of patience to attach all of the parts. We had to tape our markers inside the cup, making sure everything was stable. There was a lot of trial and error with attaching the battery pack wires to the motor. Mr. Ray helped us problem-solve and get our scribble bots ready to scribble.

The scribble bots started to move and scribble. It was so exciting to watch them move and scribble on the paper. Take a look at them in action below.

 

 

A special Day in 1A

There was a special surprise in the library today.  Melanie came to enthrall us with her performance of Opera Mouse.

You can see more info about the show here: https://www.melaniegall.com/opera-mouse
This afternoon there was a wonderful Shavuot Assembly on the front lawn of our school. It was beautiful to sing and gather together in the sunshine. The students donated lots of food to the Ottawa Kosher Food Bank.
We finished off the day with a frozen Menchies treat. Yum!