OJCS Grade 1 / Kitah Alef

Economics 101

Posted on January 16, 2023September 10, 2023 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.

Always great seeing our Reading Buddies! Some of us chose books from our new Science Reading Bin “All About Energy”

Singing and learning in Hebrew Outdoors with Moreh Saar!

Welcome Back Maia! Such excitement in our class as we welcomed back Maia from her family visit to Peru!

A Busy week of measurement in 1A. Take a look at us using both standard measurement (rulers) and non standard units(unifix cubes and popsicle sticks) in and around our classroom!

Mrs Bennett

General Studies

General Studies Update

Posted on January 10, 2023September 10, 2023 by kzuorro

Our first week of 2023 was terrific! The students settled into their routines, and Morah Yaffa helped me settle into my Grade One routine. It is a joy to teach these children everyday.

In Math, we worked on measuring with our footprints, strings, and rulers. We measured all kinds of objects in the class. We also took time to make sure we worked on our addition facts.

Pyjama Day was lots of fun. We liked finding Moreh Saar watering the plants in his special Chanukah pj’s first thing in the morning. Maybe teachers do sleep at school?

Library Time with Brigitte was extra special because our stuffies came with us for storytime. Brigitte read a funny book. She was impressed with all the good manners shown by students and stuffies.

Both classes had fun watching Sing for our special movie day redo. The popcorn snack was delicious!

Happy New Year 1B Families! It was so exciting coming back to school yesterday and seeing all of the smiling faces and I can’t wait for the rest of the year.

Just a few reminders:

-Note totes and the blue homework tote should be returned to school everyday. We check note totes on a daily basis and are constantly adding things to them or taking things out.

-All students need indoor shoes at school. Students are not able to participate in gym class with their winter boots or in socks so it is important that they have a pair of shoes at school that can be worn inside.

Here is a copy of our monthly newsletter as well as the January homework choice board. All of the worksheet activities have been sent home manually and are in the blue homework tote.

1B Monthly News Newsletter

Copy of Copy of Copy of Homework BINGO by j.bennett

In exciting news, 1B has hit their goal of having 25 bingos which means they have earned their reward! After a close vote, the students have voted on having a movie and stuffed animal morning on Friday to go with pyjama day. Students are allowed to bring one of their stuffed animals to school that day to cuddle up with during our movie! I am so proud of them for all of their hard work!!

Bitmoji Image

1B, French

French Update and Chag Chanukah!

Posted on December 23, 2022September 10, 2023 by emouchou

Salut les parents!

What an exciting month December has been!!! We are all looking forward to observing different celebrations and spending quality time with our loved ones. In class, we started our theme, Winter. The students got familiar with the new vocabulary through games, poems, songs, and writing activities. We keep working on our letters and sounds, and I must admit that I am happy with their recordings. The more they read and practice, the better they become. After the holidays, they will also do a comprehension activity linked to each story. This will help them understand the story and remember the vocabulary. In addition, we did some math activities in french learning, plus, égale, and practicing the numbers. We also watched a show about the planets, and the kids drew Space with the names of the different planets. Finally, we explored all the vocabulary associated with the celebration of Hanukkah, and they did a word search, mazes, and decoding sentences, bingo games.

They sang beautifully in french during the school event. And as if that was not enough, I decided to expose them to Greek mythology so I read to them the story of Dedalus and Icarus the famous engineers who constructed the wings to escape from the prison in Crete, but unfortunately, the latter did not follow the father`s advice and flew very close to the sun so his wings melted and he fell in the sea and died. They were so excited! so along with the drama teacher we made the wings, and the kids decorated them with feathers. They flew only in the classroom. Thank goodness!
I wish you all happy and restful holidays!

Chag Chanukah

This week has been a beautiful week of Chanukah Celebrations and fun activities! Together with Moreh Saar we lit the candles each day at school.

On Wednesday, together with our Reading buddies in Grade 6 we made Edible Dreidels! They were so yummy! After we ate our dreidels, we read Chanukah stories together. We look forward to January for more fun with Our Reading Buddies.

What would you do if you were trapped in a snow globe? Here’s what 1A would do!

Look at our delicious Latkes that we made! They were so yummy! While the teachers fried Latkes, the class enjoyed sharing and playing with their games from home for our Games Day!

Playing Backgammon with Moreh Saar was a popular choice for Games Day!

At this time I would like to say it has been a true joy and a pleasure to have taught your children! They made coming out of retirement and being back in the classroom a great place to be! Thank you everyone, for being such a supportive group of parents. I’m so happy that Mrs. Bennett has healed so well and is ready to be back with the Grade 1 class. I know how excited she is to be with your children.

Have a safe ,happy and healthy Winter Break Everyone!

Morah Yaffa

1A, 1B, Jewish Studies

We tried so hard, and got so far….

Posted on December 16, 2022December 19, 2022 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.

1A, General Studies

Friday Features in 1A

Posted on December 2, 2022September 10, 2023 by kzuorro

Chanukah is almost here!! We can feel it in the air!

Here are some things we have been doing !

In math we have been working on different graphing activities for our math Unit on Data Management. We conducted a survey for our favourite Chanukah Treats. We are working on a booklet using 3 different types of graphs. Bar Graphs, Pictographs, and Tallie marks. We are looking forward to seeing how your family likes their Latkes, when our homework is returned on Tuesday.

Fun in the Snow!

Upcoming Activities for next week!

Tuesday : Live Virtual Magic Chemistry Show (Hosted by Carleton University)

Bingo Homework board Due back

Chanukah Family Night Celebration

Wednesday: Reading Buddies

Thursday: Grade One will be making Latkes!

Bring a game to school Day! (One that you are OK with)

Friday: Pyjama Day! Fun Friday!!

It’s that time we’ve all been waiting for…a new homework choice board! The students did an amazing job last month with the homework board. If your child still has not brought in their homework board with activities checked off please send it back to school as we are counting how many “BINGOs” we got as a class!

I have learned from last month and tried to make this month easier. I have sent all of the homework activites home in a plastic “Homework Folder” for each student. This is for everyone who wanted the sheets printed off last time. To submit these sheets students are welcome to bring the papers back to me, upload a picture to Classkick (using the link on the bingo board), or emailing me a picture of them!

Please let me know if something doesn’t make sense or any comments/concerns!

Happy December! bye

December Homework Board by k.zuorro

General Studies

Wednesday News

Posted on December 1, 2022September 10, 2023 by kzuorro

Last week Miss Brigitte had a class on Digital Citizenship. After reading the book Unplugged the class participated in an activity discussing what being unplugged means.

In Social Studies we worked in groups to create 3 Posters for our responsibilities at School, at Home, and in the community. Collaboration to create each poster was an important part of the process.

The picture gallery above shows some of the different ways we learn how to read. They include Word Work Booklets at the reading table, using a Blending Board on the ipad to create new words, and relaxing while reading together during Hebrew class.

After reading our final book from the Global Read Aloud Last Stop on Market Place. we all decorated our own Gratitude Mug by adding Marshmallows to say what we were Grateful for. This makes a beautiful entry to our Grade one Classroom!

Just a reminder that tomorrow will be our dress-down day! All donations will be going to the Ottawa Humane Society!

Happy Thursday Grade 1B Families,

We have two exciting things coming up on the OJCS calendar and we want to make sure that you have your calendars marked!

The Scholastic Book Fair

This is a great way to support the OJCS library while also purchasing books for your library at home! We will be visiting as a class on Thursday, December 8th. However, throughout the week, parents can pop into the book fair before and after school; it opens at 8:30AM and closes at 4:00PM. The book fair will also be open on Thursday night (Dec. 8) during P/T Conferences from 6:00PM-7:30PM and Friday (Dec. 9) during P/T Conferences from 8:30AM-12:00PM. Feel like shopping from home? Use the Virtual Book Fair Link! I will be sending home a flyer today that you can browse with your child in preparation for the Book Fair! We have already started putting together our class wishlist!

Family Chanukah Celebration

On Tuesday, December 20th at 6:30pm, we will gather as a school community to celebrate Chanukah IN PERSON for the first time in years! Come join us for an evening of performances and a sweet Chanukah treat.

Mark your calendars!

bye

Jewish Studies

A little taste of November

Posted on November 25, 2022November 25, 2022 by aaizenberg

We, at last, finished the puzzle we created with 1A… and are excited to put it up…

We completed the Ah sound of all the Alef Bet and were able to follow along a story as we listened to a recording of it…

Our class was filled with giggles as we practiced the Hebrew words for on, under and in – Al, Tachat & Bah…

We continue leading our morning routine … and we are getting better every day…

Uncategorised

French Update

Posted on November 21, 2022November 21, 2022 by emouchou

Salut les parents!

It`s finally winter and our kiddos aiment jouer avec la neige (love playing with the snow) This week, we learned about the soft G (genou,germe etc) and the hard G (gorille,grenouille) They mastered the poem about the numbers and next week we are excited to start our new activities related to winter with more songs, poems, sentence building, stories, puzzles, etc. In addition, we worked on the expression J`AIME (I like) and they made booklets about themselves saying what color,food, and animal they like. They watch the story `Un éléphant dans la ville` and they heard the song `On écritt sur les murs` which they adore! Thank you for your support with Je lis. I am very happy when I receive their recordings. This week, I am sending you 3 stories, the third one is optional. Take care!

1B, General Studies

We Remember

Posted on November 14, 2022November 13, 2022 by kzuorro

We were very busy in Grade 1 last week learning and commemorating Remembrance Day. We started off reading the story “Proud as a Peacock, Brave as a Lion” by Jane Barclay and then we learned about the different branches in the Canadian military: the Air Force, the Marines, the Navy, and the Army.

We had a TON of questions about being in the military (what life looks like, what the job is all about, and what some of the job requirements are) as well as what it means to be a veteran. So on Wednesday we had two very special guests come in: Troy and June! Troy and June are two Canadian Air Force veterans (and to make it extra special they are also Ms. Karissa’s parents). They told us all about why they chose to join the military as well as why they chose the Air Force. They told us about some of their travels that they had to do while they were in the military, and answered all of our questions about military life (like the vehicles they got to be in, what they ate, and what their daily life was like). It was so much fun seeing the students so engaged and asking so many amazing and thoughtful questions. Selfishly, it was also so much fun for me having my parents as guests in the classroom!

After learning all about life in the military and everything our veterans have done for us, we decided to write thank you letters to Canadian military veterans. We were so proud of our work that we even decided to put them on display in the hallway to show everyone at school how thankful we are for our veterans and all serving members of the military.

Finally, on November 11th, we got to go in front of the ENTIRE school and recite a poem in French about poppies as well as sing our song “Light a Candle for Peace” that we have been practicing so hard (for a few weeks because Ms. Karissa MAY have gotten the days mixed up and thought November 11th was a week earlier than it actually was). This song was so special because not only did we sing about lighting a candle for peace all around the world, but we also learned the song in sign language.

We couldn’t end the week without making a wreath full of poppies. We wanted to make our wreath extra special to show all of our gratitude for military members and veterans so we took our time to make these beautiful poppies. All in all, we had a great week learning about and remembering the fallen soldiers and thanking all veterans and actively serving military members.

From all of us in 1B, we thank you!