You're invited!

Dear families,

The end of grade 1 is quickly approaching, and there are some exciting events happening to end our school year.

- I hope you have received our invitation to our class concert. This will take place on Monday, June 27 beginning promptly at 12:45 pm. Details are on the purple invitation that came home on Tuesday (pictured here). We are working hard to get ready for this, and hope that each performer will have someone in the audience. I worry that it will be hard to hear outdoors, but it still seems like the safest way to gather in a large group so I am working on projection with the actors, and please be prepared to lean in!

- The very next day, Tuesday, June 28, we will celebrate the end of the year with a play day at Dufferin Grove. Weather permitting, we plan to stay there for most of the day and enjoy a picnic lunch. We will need at least one additional adult with us at all times, but we can split up the day. I will send a note next week, but please consider if you can donate any time on that day.

- The next day, June 29, we welcome the return of the Dewson Festival! Thank you, parents! I hope you can come and enjoy some fun with us between 3-7 pm. Not-so-baby Wales hopes to make an appearance as well!

- Finally, June 30 is the LAST day of grade 1! Félicitations!

We are still very busy, finishing up our last units and preparing for our concert. 

In science, we have expanded on what we learned on our field trip with Chloe and are discussing the characteristics and needs of living things. We sorted living and non-living things and named several things that all living things have in common, for instance, needing food, reproducing and creating waste. Last week, we were excited to become plant parents! We each planted our little bébé haricot and are taking care of it. We've given it a good home, and are watering it regularly. To our delight, our babies started being born just before the weekend, and now everyone has beautiful, and quickly growing, bean plants! We will have to bring them home soon as they will need some support. We've been able to see the roots in some of the clear cups, and have talked about what is happening underground when a seed is planted.

We concluded our poetry unit with a lovely poetry café. We enjoyed juice and cookies as we listened to each poet read us one of their best poems. We listened closely for special text features in each poem, and were able to find examples of alliteration, onomatopoeia, comparison, or name the type of poem in every single example. I am very proud of the students' work in this unit. Together they wrote over 100 short poems, and it was very difficult to select only one to publish!

In math, we have continued to work on measuring with different tools, and in centimetres. We are finishing up with some explorations of area, mass, capacity and some fun distance activities. Stay tuned!

Thank you for all of the returned library books. Please take one last look around, and check your student's pochette for a teeny tiny pink slip which lists anything that is overdue. RAZ-kids is still available to you, and I believe will remain active all summer. I hope that this tool has been helpful, and that you might continue using it to keep reading in French regularly. Consistent summer practice will make a big difference going into grade 2.

See you soon!