Category: 1A

Posted in 1A, 1B, Jewish Studies, Jewish Studies Reading, Ruach

Where did my flag go?!

Posted on by sbaram

Hello everyone, it’s another interesting week here in the first grade.

As a part of our morning routine, we take notes about the weather, debating whether it’s rainy, sunny, cloudy, etc. outside… One of the different weather conditions we talk about is windy (רוח). Unfortunately, 2 weeks ago, a big storm tore away the flag from one of the businesses situated across the 417, leaving us completely lost when it comes to determining the level of wind outside.

That is why the first grade decided to spring into action and use their hard earned vocabulary into use. We sat down and wrote a stern, yet firm, letter to the Customs and Immigration Union (look it up, this is the real deal), asking them to bring their flag back. We also took the liberty of drawing some nice depictions of how the loss of the flag makes us feel, and these are some of the results:

 

Now we just have to hope that if they don’t bring the flag back for their own national pride, at the least they’ll do it for the children!

I hope that there will be updates to follow,

Saar.

Posted in 1A, 1B, Homework, Jewish Studies

Economics 101

Posted on by sbaram

Dear grade 1 parents,

As I’m getting used to the hardships of winter (clearing the snow from my car, every, single, morning, is a new one for me), I had the pleasure of sitting in my car for 15 minutes straight waiting for my fingers to thaw. During that time I came across a meme that really reflects my way of thinking about how school should be.

 

 

It reminded me that while my “I believe” is heavily influenced by this idea, I still need to communicate that to my surrounding. So here it goes:

Since I encountered this phenomena many, many times in the various jobs I had, I believe in the power of incentivizing and fear the impact of dicentivizing. Therefore, I try my best to include the former, not the latter, in my teaching.

That is why I added a new, 100% optional, incentive to do the homework, a game. The game reinforces only some of the words in the homework, offering sound and translations to several words. Please only play the game if the kids have done their readings and still have some time and energy to play the game.

I hope this makes the homework experience more enjoyable,

Saar.

Posted in 1A, 1B, Jewish Studies

We tried so hard, and got so far….

Posted on by sbaram

In the end, it was all that really mattered!

Grade 1 has been working so hard on their Hebrew skills for almost four whole months now, last Monday they got to put  those skills to use in real life. We had our second meeting with a group of Israeli children who got to practice their English, while we practiced our Hebrew. We spoke about how old we are, what are our favourite sports and colours, what we like to eat and drink, it was a blast.

It was an amazing experience for the kids, who got to see how quickly they could use the Hebrew they know to express themselves in a coherent manner. Lastly, it was an amazing time for us Hebrew teachers, we got to see the fruits of our labor grow right in front of us. Trust me when I say, I’m one happy gardener…

From everyone in the grade 1 team.

Posted in 1A, 1B, General Studies

General Studies Homework!

Posted on by kzuorro

I am SHOCKED at how excited the grade 1’s were today when they heard homework would be starting!

For general studies homework, we decided to go with a bingo board for each month. The bingo board has a variety of different activities that all target different concepts or topics that we are learning about in class. Students have all been sent home with a login card with their password and username for both Raz-Kids and IXL. For the choice board, students are challenged to complete at least ONE activity per week and they will keep this homework choice board for the month. Students are encouraged to make a “BINGO” line by the end of the month with their homework. The goal is one activity a week but students are welcome to do as many activities as possible. If you have any questions about the choice board please email your child’s general studies teacher and we would be happy to help! I know a few parents have asked to have some hard copy versions of the homework (for example, having a reading book rather than using the raz kids program) that can be arranged as well or anything can be printed from ClassKick or from the bingo board itself.

November Homework Board

RAZ-KIDS: in Grade 1 we are using Raz-Kids to help with reading at home and at school. It is a fantastic program that can be individualized for each student according to their individual learning needs and learning goals. I have created a quick video just showing how to use Raz-Kids at home to help ease any confusion.

 

IXL: IXL is the online math platform that we use at the school. This is also individualized for the students and the grades. The activities that are on IXL are the same activities and concepts that we learn in class so it helps to reinforce learning. I created a video to help explain how to use IXL at home as well.

 

I hope this helps answer any questions around the general studies homework. If you have any additional questions or concerns please let us know!

Posted in 1A, General Studies

1A Happenings

Posted on by jdarwish

Here’s an update to some of the great things happening in the class.  Our own Morah Lianna introduced our class to a Structured Word Inquiry Lesson. The Lesson was on suffixes and adding ing, ed, and er to words we may know.  In Math we are exploring numbers beyond 20. Some of the math tools we used in class were a double 10 frame and a Hundred chart.  Take a look at our chart for the beginning of our Social Studies Unit on Roles and responsibilities to see what job your children said they were responsible for at home 🙂

Today we read and discussed two books for Truth and Reconciliation Day. During our Library time Miss Bridget taught us the difference between Fiction and Non Fiction Books. Please remember in order to choose a new book the old book must be returned.

In our Daily Five have a look at how we read to Self and Read to someone!

Next week we begin The Global Read Aloud. One book to connect the World  To learn more about the books and author chosen for the Picture book study you can read all about it here. theglobalreadaloud.com

We have started to send home our Note-totes. Please empty and return on a daily basis.

1A and 1B read these books today!

Posted in 1A, 1B

שנה טובה – Shana Tova

Posted on by aaizenberg

Wow! what a great start to our Kitah Alef this year!

We have already learned so much and the year has just begun. We are getting to know each other, both students and teachers, we are learning how to read in 3 languages, we are gaining new vocabulary every single day, we have our routines down packed and we are having lots of fun doing all this…

As you know, we also had some special guests visit our classroom last week…

We want to invite you to follow us here, on our blog to see photos and learn about what is happening in our classrooms throughout the year.

Please check out our back to school page above for information about our curriculum, homework, behaviour management, communication and more.

We wish you all a Shana Tova Umetuka and we are looking forward to this wonderful year together.