This week we have been learning about the “Circle of Courage.”  The Circle of Courage embodies the values that Regina Public Schools promote.  There are four quadrants to the C of C: Belonging, Independence, Generosity, and Mastery.

We brainstormed ideas about what each quadrant could mean to us:

Belonging: we belong to our families, Hawrylak, our friends, Ms. Holmes’ class

Independence: We do things on our own, like play, tie our shoes, complete puzzles, build lego, ride a bike, clean up, etc.

Generosity: be generous, share with people, be nice, donate toys and clothes, etc.

Mastery: You are really good at something.

How amazing are these ideas?!  We then discussed each quadrant further…

Belonging: I can show kindness and consideration; I can help others

Independence: I can be responsible by owning and fixing my own actions; I can stay focused and regulated when learning

Generosity: I can show respect through my actions and words; I can treat others with fairness.

Mastery: I can do my very best; I can set goals for myself and achieve them.

We are going to be discussing these values throughout the year, and will be doing specific activities to reinforce the concepts.  We are starting with MASTERY.  I had the students think about ONE thing they are masters of (something they feel they do really well) and shared their ideas.  We had students share that they are masters of Pokemon cards, lego building, minecraft, dancing, piano, soccer, football, taekwondo, drawing, etc.  We discussed HOW we became masters of these activities–we had a GOAL (something we want to achieve) and we PRACTICED really hard for a long time in order to improve our skills and achieve our goal!

THIS WEEK we will be sharing with the class what we are masters of with a short presentation.  For example, if your child is a master of hockey, he/she may bring pictures of themselves in their hockey uniform, bring medals they have won, or send me a short video of them playing hockey!  Children will be expected to tell us WHAT they are masters of, WHY they are masters of that particular activity, and what they have had to DO to become masters.

MONDAY, OCT.3:

Moiz, Simon, Sam, Rylee, Aryan, Alexis, Jesse, Connor, Irene

TUESDAY, OCT. 4:

Jalen, Avery, Kaitlyn, Ayyan, Amanda, Quinn, Nevaeh

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 5:

Anoushka, Nia, Yahya, Gauri, Chec, Tharaa, Eric

I am so looking forward to hearing these wonderful presentations! 🙂

Ms. Holmes

 

Wow, what an incredible day for the Terry Fox Walk.  Our students listened so well to directions and really enjoyed walking around the neighbourhood to support cancer research.  THANK YOU to the parent helpers today–you really helped to keep the little ducklings in line! Ms. Perkins and I really appreciate the extra hands 🙂

Yesterday and today we learned, alongside our friends in Ms. Perkins’ class, more about the amazing person Terry Fox was and how he was a TRUE hero.  We discussed how heroes are very similar to superheroes (minus the super powers and the capes!) in that they are good, brave people, and help others in need.  We then brainstormed ideas about the REAL heroes in our lives and wrote about them…pictures to come!

Today we began to discuss Orange Shirt Day which is TOMORROW!  In preparation we read the book “Shi-shi-etko” which follows a young First Nations girl’s last day before leaving home to attend residential school.  Without going into any details about residential schools and the horrible incidents that went on there, our grade ones are just learning about how First Nations children were taken away from their families and made to go to schools that were sometimes far away from home.  We spoke about how that would make us feel if we could only see our families on the weekends, or even only during the summer! It was very thought-provoking.  We also discussed how children in many countries can not go to school as some may be in a war-zone, some may have to stay home and help on farms, or go to work to support their families.  In many countries girls are not allowed to go to school, and we discussed how unfair that is!  We learned that education is a RIGHT in our country and that ALL children, no matter their language, culture, beliefs, skin colour, gender, etc. have the right to an education.  Children also realized the importance of an education, because if we cannot read, write, or do math, we would grow up and not be able to get a job, make money, and support our families.  It has been a very thought-provoking couple of days!

Ms. Holmes

Fall is finally here and we are pretty excited about it! We will be analyzing the changes that occur when Summer turns to Fall and then Fall to Winter through poems, hands-on activities, stories, and art projects.

This past week we continued our review of letters and letter sounds using jolly phonics and our printing booklets. We worked on sorting word families and have begun to learn more about our literacy stations.  We learned about what good writers do before, during, and after they write. We also have begun to learn the structure of a sentence and the three things we must remember when we write a sentence (capital letter, finger spaces between words, and a period, exclamation mark, or question mark at the end!).

We received a letter from Ms. Perkins’ class and we were so excited! We quickly read their message and then learned a bit about the structure of a letter (a concept we will build upon this year!) and then composed our own letter in response. We are eagerly awaiting a reply!

We have completed our patterning unit and will begin our shapes and sorting unit this week in numeracy

In health we learned more about “Bucket-filling” and how the Earth has a bucket, too! We read books about our Earth and thought of ways we can fill it’s bucket. We came up with some excellent ideas, like ride our bikes as often as we can, plant trees and flowers, and save our leftover food from the night before!

In social studies we are still learning about rules.  We discussed what happens when rules are broken and the consequences of our choices.  We had quite an indepth discussion about how our brains are in our heads, our heads are attached to our necks, and our necks are attached to our bodies…so who controls our choices and behaviors? WE DO!  If we choose not to follow rules we then must face consequences.  We had some fun with role-playing.  For example, we pretended to be people who were running in the classroom.  Students realized that if they broke the rule of “no running in the classroom” they could trip and fall, and hurt themselves.  We had a great time!

THIS WEEK:

Welcome Back BBQ on Tuesday

Terry Fox Run on Thursday ***if there are any parents who would like to walk with our class and Ms. Perkins’ class, please let me know. We are walking at 2:00***

Orange Shirt Day on Friday.

Excited for another great week!

 

One more reminder!  Students are bringing stuffed animals (stuffies), Pokemon cards, Ipads, and other toys to school.  I do not mind if toys are at school, but I did have a discussion with the children about the consequences of doing so.  They know that they could lose the toys or that they could break.  If children do bring toys or electronics to school, the students know that the toys must remain in their backpacks during class time.  They are free to take them outside or to play with them at lunch time once they have finished and cleaned up their lunch.  ***Toys are brought at the parent’s and student’s discretion***

Good afternoon families!

I have had some parents bring their concerns to me about their children not finishing their lunches at lunch time.  I just want to share with you our lunch room rules with you so that you are informed about the rules that the children have been learning and practicing since the beginning of the year!

Rule #1: Students must be seated at ALL times while they are EATING.  We discussed the importance of this so that they won’t trip, fall, and choke while eating their lunch.

Rule #2: Students must not yell or scream, run around the room, throw toys, be bucket-dippers, etc. while in the lunch room.  They are to treat each other and the toys with respect, and to treat the lunch room as our classroom.

Rule #3: Students must not ever SHARE food.  We discussed how important it is to eat our OWN food and never eat food from a friend (unless a parent or family member has brought treats to the class) as we have some very serious allergies in our room.

***Rule #4: Students must FINISH their lunch at lunch time.  We have had long discussions about how they need to eat all of their food so that they have energy for the afternoons and so that they do not waste food (which “dips the Earth’s bucket.”)  I have tried very hard to make sure I check their lunches as they finish, but I now currently have 32 grades one and three students in my lunch room.  I do my best, but sometimes it is difficult to check on ALL of the children.  I also allow children to have a snack (one item from their lunch) during the morning recess (10:30-10:45 AM) and if they did not finish their lunch at lunch time and they express to me that they are still hungry in the afternoon, I allow them to finish their food as quickly as possible.  Some children, however, choose to not have their snack.  I have recently noticed a few students take some food out of their lunch bags in the morning and leave them in their backpacks so that they do not have to eat them at lunch time.  I simply do not have the time to go through their backpacks in the morning or at lunch as their lockers are out in the hall.  I must remain in the room for the safety of the children.  I kindly ask that you speak with your children and inform them that food must remain in their lunch bags so as to avoid this from happening.  In regards to the children who attend the Before and After program, I do allow them to keep a snack in the lunch bag so that they have something to eat after school.***

Rule #5:  Students must CLEAN UP their lunch area after eating before they have free time.  The students are getting better at remembering this rule!

We review these rules every lunch period, but please feel free to review them with your children so that they know you are aware of the rules as well.

Thank you!

Ms. Holmes

The school newsletter is available from the Hawrylak website: http://wshawrylak.rbe.sk.ca/

If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, please register your email address on the right hand side where it says “newsletter subscription” and automatically a copy of the newsletter and any other important info. will be sent to you once it has been uploaded to the website.  This is a great way of receiving important information without having to check the website to see when something new is available.

Please subscribe to our school twitter feed to see learning that is happening across the school as well as immediate information being sent out.

Classroom links are currently being updated as well.

***Note: the school newsletter will only be providing information about what is going on in the school, and not necessarily what will be going on in our own classroom.  Please keep checking our blog for information about our classroom activities***

The HSCC has reached out to teachers to email their classroom parents, as they are in need of volunteers for the HSCC BBQ on Tuesday, September 27th, 2016. Volunteers are greatly appreciated.

If you are able to volunteer your time, or even part of the time, that would be awesome! Shifts include:
4:00-4:45pm: Set-up
4:30-5:00pm: Cook Halal Dogs
4:50-5:30pm: Tickets/Front Door
5:30-6:00pm: Tickets/Front Door
5:45-6:00pm: Food Service
4:50-5:30pm: Food Runners
5:30-6:10pm: Food Runners
6:15-7:00pm: Clean-up/Take Down

Please see the link below to sign-up.
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0d44aeac2ba1fc1-welcome

Thank you!

The HSCC

Our first full week was a busy one!

We continued to learn our new popcorn words and review letters and letter sounds.  Our printing is slowly improving with the “house” analogy–tall letters reach into the “attic,” small letters “sit in the house,” while other small letters “hang into the basement.”  Students who take their time and do their own personal, best printing get TWO stamps!

In numeracy we continued learning about creating, describing, and extending their patterns.  We are working on a difficult concept–finding the “core” of the pattern (the PART of the pattern that repeats).

In health we shared our “All About Me” pages and learned that many of us had similarities and differences, and that it is our differences that make us unique and exciting!  We participated in name games and even wrote our own acrostic name poems!  We worked exceptionally hard.

In social studies we learned more about rules and responsibilities in our homes, at school, and communities and learned about the importance of each.  We came up with some excellent examples for each!

Thursday was an exciting day as it was “International Dot Day.”  We read the book “The Dot” which features a little girl who believes she cannot do art.  Her teacher challenges her to do her best and through her own personal perseverance, the little girl becomes a wonderful artist.  We created our own “dots” and analyzed how every single dot was different, complimenting each artist on their own ideas and abilities as we did so.  We then completed a shared writing piece in which we re-told the story and wow!  We have excellent memories and wonderful vocabularies!

It was a busy week, but another week is upon us! On Friday, we will be having the Terry Fox assembly.

Ms. Holmes

 

 

Hello families,

Please, please, please sign the Lunchroom Registration Form and send it and a cheque with your child by the end of THIS week (no later than Sept. 16th).  Madam Fournier is the lunchroom coordinator and has stressed that children who are not registered in the lunch program by that day cannot stay at school for lunch and that other arrangements must be made.  So far I only have 9 children from my class registered.  I have sent the form in your child’s agenda this evening to fill out, except the children who have already been registered.  Other forms are still missing from some families and I will be in contact with those parents soon.

Thank you!

Ms. Holmes

Just a quick reminder that Picture Day is THIS FRIDAY, SEPT. 16th!  I do not yet know the day for retakes, but I will post the day as soon as I do.