November 27 second post

Sometimes parents share, too.

Thanks to Kathleen and her dad, we got to see fossilized seashells in a rock from Alberta where Kathleen's dad has been working.

November 27

Yesterday, Mrs. Hoechstetter , who serves on our local Social Justice committee, brought a chart to our staff meeting. This chart shows how interpersonal problems can escalate. I'm sharing the full chart with you even though we don't usually see the final steps in Grade One. In fact, for the most part, we deal only with the very earliest steps. The good news is, if we can teach our children how to behave respectfully from the very beginning, we will make a major difference in society.

Here are the problems, from discourtesy to violent crime:

1. Putdowns
2. Insults
3. Threats
4. Trash talk
5. Bullying
6. Pushing
7. Fighting
8. Sexual harassment
9. Stealing
10. Drinking and drugs
11. Weapons
12. Vandalism
13. Hate crimes
14. Gangs
15. Hostages
16. Rape
17. Murder
18. Suicide

Note that although some steps may happen in a different order, there is a general slide toward trouble.

Note, too, that at Gibsons Elementary, bullying is defined as repeated behavior intended to hurt another. Repeated putdowns are a form of bullying.

When I was a child, no teacher ever dealt with the talking part. As long as no one was physically injured, we were expected to tough it out. We've come a long since those days. I take putdowns seriously and take action to change the dynamic when I discover a problem. The more you arm your child with assertive verbal skills, the more successful your child will be in life.

Throughout the year I'll be posting here about how to build assertiveness in children -- even when we as adults weren't given assertiveness training ourselves. I'll also send home newsletters and other material from time to time to address the topic. I'm happy to answer any questions you have and to pass on any resources you find helpful.

How we treat each other is the most important outcome of our education.

Miss Owen

November 26

Today we began our Second Step lessons. These focus on feelings and effective ways to deal with them.

Today we talked about how to behave in a group, something we are generally pretty good at. We also began our list of feeling words.

November 25

We are working on the concept of odd and even numbers. In case you've forgotten, odd numbers end in 

1, 3, 5, 7, and 9.

Even numbers end in

0, 2, 4, 6, and 8.

When numbers come up, you can ask your child whether the number is odd or even. Getting this right 100% of the time takes time. Just keep at it, and your child will learn to sort numbers in this way.

Miss Owen

November 21

We have a wonderful opportunity this year to have French lessons from a specialist. Madame Marshall is piloting a program that uses signs to reinforce the understanding of French words. We enjoy the challenge of trying to figure out what she is saying to us by listening and watching. A few of us can now answer simple questions. We can tell Madame our names and tell her how we are feeling.

Although this is just a short program, it's been well received. This photo is from yesterday's lesson.

November 20

Today we had curds and whey just like Little Miss Muffet. Most of us had only a small taste, but some of us really like curds and whey and asked for a full portion.

November 19

Sharing is an popular activity in our class. Makhaila brought a boomerang today. No one was able to make it come back. And no on actually hit the teacher with it.

If your child wants to share something, you can help by having your child practice a presentation at home. This doesn't have to be overly formal, but it's important to have something of interest to say.

I allow toys only after a birthday and after Christmas. At those times, each child is welcome to choose one toy to bring in. This keeps us focused on things other than who has the most toys.

It is not expected that every child will share every day. Quality is much more important than quantity. Later in the year, we will have special sharing activities in which all children will be asked to participate. You'll learn about those through the planner.

Miss Owen

November 18

Mr. Heidebrecht caught a perfect moment in our classroom and I thought you'd like to peek through the lens of his camera to see one of the things we are doing right now.

We're working on the idea that the best readers always guess and check. We look at pictures, think about what the book is about, examine words around the word we are going to read next, and make a guess about what the word should be.

Then we check. We start by looking at the first letter. That's what the kids are doing in the picture. They are showing me, using American sign language, which letter they expect to see on the page. I've covered the words with a post-it note so they can't see it until we've all had a chance to show our guess.

Your children are getting really good at this.

You can try this at home, with or without the post-it notes, and with or without the sign language. But asking what a child guesses will be next is helping your child to read like you and I do.

When we guess and check well, we read with fluency. That's the part of reading that is often missing in Grade One where children focus on each letter so long that they forget what the first sound was before they get to the third sound.

Miss Owen

November 17

Today we passed a milestone in our class. On two of our charts, we added the number 50 because we've been in school for 50 days. That's half way to 100 days. In Grade One, we celebrate 100 Day in a big way.

You can help your child to be fully ready for the big day by working with the numbers to 100.

Recently we've been counting forward and backward between 0 and 20. It's time to move on. Now we'll be solidifying our ability to count to 50 and back again.

Miss Owen

November 14

The report card comes home today.

Praise your child for the things learned so far.

Note the ways to support your child's learning.

Sign both the envelope and the card. You can keep the paper report. Some people prefer that I keep it with the card and envelope, and I'm more than willing to do so. I simply return it with each report.

If you need additional information, call me at the school (604 886 2612) or drop in before or after school. I have meetings after school on Wednesdays, but other days are fine. If you want to talk before school, come before 8:30. After that, things become far too hectic to focus attention on a serious topic. Of course, if you just want to tell me that the plans for going home have changed, you don't have to come before 8:30. It's those quick communications that make the morning hectic, but they don't mean I have to lock the door and focus only on you for an extended time.

November 13

We have begun counting by twos and tens. If your child can whip through 2,4,6,8..., offer the challenge of 1,3,5,7... There's always one more step.

November 12

If you aren't already playing dice games with your children, now is a great time to start. One goal for Grade One Math is instant recognition of arrays. The way the dots are arranged on dice is one example of a set of arrays. Over time, a child who plays with dice often learns to recognize the dice arrays instantly. Of course, lots of counting goes on first.

Here are some steps to watch for and encourage:

1. Child counts all dots on both dice.
2. Child recognizes the number of dots on one die, but has to count all dots on both dice to find the total number.
3. Child can hold the number of dots on one die in memory and "counts on" to find the total number. (Child sees 5+2 and says, "5, 6, 7.")
4. Child has memorized combinations and knows the total instantly.

If your child is at stage one, you may want to stick with one die for most activities.

Miss Owen

November 10

We went to a wonderful assembly where we remembered the soldiers who died in the wars.

In the afternoon, we met our Aboriginal Education teacher, Signy. She will teach us about bears. Right now, we know that there are three kinds of bears in Canada: 

1. black bears
   
2. grizzly bears
   
3. polar bears
   

We are learning how to know the differences between them and what aboriginal people did with parts of bears if they hunted them.

Miss Owen

PS No school tomorrow.

November 6

Yesterday we learned how to form the last of the lower case letters. This means that children should now be saving capital letters for special places like the beginning of their names and the beginning of sentences. 

The concept of a sentence is hazy, so grammatical perfection is not the goal. I'm happy if a child is trying to use a capital at the beginning of what the child thinks is a sentence. 

What is a really big no-no from now on is a capital letter in the middle of a word. If your child is writing at home and you see random capitals, ask your child why (s)he chose to use it there -- after you've oohed and ahed over the fact that your child is writing thoughts you can read. 

November 5

Is your child's backpack too heavy? Chances are, yes.

A Division 11 child should have only

1. Lunch and recess snack
   
2. Duotang
   
3. Planner
   
4. Sometimes finished work your child is bringing home to show you
5. A library book one day per week

More than that is probably too much.

Extra clothes can stay at school in another bag that hangs on your child's hook. Extra gym shoes should stay at school. Dead food that is growing legs should come out as soon as possible. Toys belong at home.

Did you know that chiropractors and other health professionals are concerned about the load your child carries every day?

How can you lighten your child's load?

See http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/safetyfirstaid/l/aa090202a.htm for more information.

November 4

Today the children began to write their own report cards.

It's important that they know what is expected of them and how well they are meeting those expectations. One of the best records of how much your child learns in Grade One will be the three reports (s)he writes this year.

Miss Owen

November 3

Every Monday your child brings home a new Word Wall List. Find a place to post the new list. Some families use the fridge door. Others have a spot in the child's room.

Here are some things you can do with the list that will help your child.

1. Read the words together. Not every child will be able to read the words yet. Give as much support at needed.
2. Play Mystery Words. Take time with your child giving clues to each other about words from the list. For example, if the word you want your child to find is to, you could say, "The word rhymes with Boo!" Or if the word you want your child to find is up, you could say, "The word is the opposite of down."
3. Ask your child to show you the Grade One way to print the new words -- or any words -- from the list.
4. Write the words on "cards." Pieces of paper will do. Take turns with your child. Draw one or two cards and make a sentence with the word(s) you've drawn. At this stage, simply saying the sentence is good enough for all but the most advanced students.
5. Make rhyming words with a specific Word Wall Word. Being able to hear and reproduce rhymes is an important reading strategy.
6. If you see your child spelling a Word Wall Word incorrectly, point out that that is a Word Wall Word and ask your child to correct the word. NOTE: These are the only words I hold children accountable for spelling correctly, and even then, I insist on correct spelling only if they can see the list.

The list above contains ideas to prime your pump. You and your child will find other uses for the words. The more fun you have with the list, the more valuable the list will be to your child.

November 2

On Hallowe'en morning, we finished our pumpkin art. Then we used our lovely pumpkins to create a pumpkin pyramid. We had exactly enough pumpkins to create a pyramid with one more pumpkin on each level down -- except we started at the bottom.

Ask your child to show you how to create a pyramid.

HINT: Each item has to "stand" on two items below.

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Thanks to families who sent treats for our party. Servers did a good job of passing out the food and everyone was polite.

Miss Owen