Almost done!

Dear Salle 213 families,

We have reached the last weekend of Grade 1! It's gone by so quickly. Happy belated Father's day to all the dads and grandpas out there. We hope you liked your card and keychain!

We have been rehearsing every day for our concert on Monday, and the kids are doing a great job. I'm excited, and hope you have planned to be there. If anyone is able to send me video clips after, that would be great. On Monday, the kids are invited to wear a colour or outfit that matches their role in our play. A reminder that you will be sitting on the bleachers, and there isn't any shade on them at that time of day. Please come prepared with your hat and sunglasses, sunscreen and water!

Tuesday we will be going to Dufferin Grove and we currently have just enough help to stay all day. We would welcome more parents to provide supervision in more areas. Let me know if you can lend us some time. On Tuesday, students will need their regular lunch, snacks, water and whatever activities they would like to bring.

Wednesday, we are looking forward to the return of the Dewson Festival from 3-7pm. Please let me know if your pickup arrangements will be different on that day. Hopefully baby Wales can come for a visit!

We have wrapped up our work in all units (unless I decide to squeeze in a surprise project next week) and we are starting to do our classroom cleanout and bring all our work and belongings home. When you are here next week, do have a look at all the lost and found items hanging around outside.

Our French duotangs have already come home, and in there you can find copies of all the poems your student wrote in our recent unit, as well as the final rubric. 

In science, we wrapped up our living things unit by discussing what foods and products come from plants. Earlier, I dug up and brought in some chives to show students. They did careful diagrams of the plants, and added labels for the roots, stem, leaves and flower. We brought home our bean plants last week as they were already getting quite tall. I hope they made it home safely and are still doing well. I'm sure they would love a bigger pot and something to climb on.

In math, we have been learning to measure in different ways. We continued to measure with centimetres in a fun distance challenge. Partners raced cars down a ramp and then measured how far their cars went. With each repetition, they raised their ramp by one lego block to see if that changed how far their car would go. We talked about other factors that could have affected their results, such as a broken wheel, or the wheels being connected (thanks, Wales, for lending us your train set).

After length and height, we learned to measure area. We measured the surface area of our desks using different units, such as playing cards or books. We talked about how we might need to measure area if buying wallpaper, or a new table. We later used cubes to compare two different "fields" to see which was bigger. One was a rectangular shape and the other was irregular. As we were laying cubes down on our papers, some students started figuring out shortcuts. For example, instead of covering the entire area with cubes, they could just use one, or a row of cubes to get started and then draw the grid lines. We were able to share these shortcuts, including how we can turn a repeated addition into a multiplication to speed things up (some of us are ready for this).

We ended this unit with investigations into capacity and mass. For capacity, we had a look at different measuring tools used for baking. We used the tablespoon to fill 4 different containers with lentils, counting the scoops to place the containers in order. We started doing this again using the teaspoon and discovered that 1 tablespoon is the same as 3 teaspoons. We did some calculations together to figure out what the larger containers would hold, rather than having to keep scooping.

For mass, we got out the balance scales and I presented each group with a tray of objects to weigh and compare. After making our predictions, each student got to place 2 objets in the balance scale announce the result to their group to make note of. We brainstormed situations where we would need to measure mass or capacity, and students impressed me by naming many reasons - for example, weighing baggage before getting on a boat, knowing how many people or how much weight an elevator can safely hold, or needing to weigh ourselves to know how much medicine to take. 

At lunch last week, I introduced our class to Fay and Fluffy. Fay and Fluffy are Toronto-based drag performers and outstanding educators who focus on inclusivity and reading. They have a storytime program (check this out) and have actually visited Dewson before (pre-Covid). At first, students were surprised at how they looked, and it gave us an opportunity to talk about drag queens, inclusivity and how it might feel to be laughed and pointed at. After a short discussion, students realized that Fay and Fluffy were not to be ridiculed, and became very sensitive to them and the message they promote. We listened to them read a few books, all around the theme of Pride. 

Happy last weekend of grade 1!!