Ms Jenna  Grade 1  (October, 2022)

Making a Storybook

The students of 1.4 love reading and learning about books. We learned that the title of our book today was, “There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat!” and the author was Lucille Colandro. After reading the story we decided to recreate the story in our very own storybook!

First, we are the authors of our storybooks, so we made sure our names were on the front cover. Our main character of our book is of course, the Old Lady. We copy our sentences very carefully making sure we use proper spacing and write our letter correctly. We show our teacher our great work! The second page we usually discuss what time of the year it is or where the character is located. This time it was Halloween time. On the third page we discussed what the problem was in the story. We determined that the Old Lady was eating a lot of Halloween things.

Finally, the conclusion of our storybooks ends on the fourth page. Our teacher asks us, “What happens in the end?” We take some time to think and remember this was when the Old Lady went Trick or Treating! We always enjoy making and learning about storybooks!

Mr Bryce  Grade 1  (October, 2022)

Applying New Language: Talking about Autumn

1.1 has been learning to recall and apply newly learned language and concepts to talk about and present their own autumn related crafts. The goal is to encourage students to combine their knowledge of numbers, colors and autumn vocabulary to improvise their very own mini show ‘n tell style speeches.

The process involves 3 main steps: Presentation (learning new vocabulary and concepts), Practice (drilling pronunciation and testing understanding), and Production (creating something and applying the language to describe it).

Using songs, chants, videos and other visual aids, the students are exposed to new concepts and vocabulary. Recently, we have been learning numbers, addition sentences, colors and autumn related vocabulary. The teacher provides clear and precise language modeling for the students.

Then, the class runs drills, with the teacher checking for clear pronunciation and natural intonation of sentences. Various games are played as follow-up to test the student’s listening and understanding of the content. Competing in teams ensures the process is as fun and engaging as possible.

Students then get to create their very own crafts. We did 2 autumn related crafts: Leaf rubbings (to consolidate and contextualize knowledge of colors) and a “mathematical leafy hedgehog” (to consolidate knowledge of numbers and addition sentences).

Finally, students are given an opportunity to present their crafts to the class using all the vocabulary and sentences they have been learning to describe it: Example: “These are autumn leaves. I see 5 leaves! They are colorful. I see red, orange, yellow and brown.”

The end result: Happy, accomplished students and one very proud teacher! 

Mr Iain  Grade 1  (October, 2022)

Halloween:  What do you see on Halloween? I can see a ___.

First, students began learning the words by seeing pictures. There were pictures of Halloween related words. During the week of Halloween lessons, we began learning about answering in specific sentence form in relation to specific questions. Focusing on the question “what do you see?”                                       with “I see a ______”. These answers were only based on selected theme vocabulary as well as additional vocabulary words.

Next, the students got a chance to come up in front of the class to individually ask fellow classmates “what do you see?”. Followed by the response “I see a ______”.  This helped them further understand each word and answer them in correct sentence form. To help assist some students, selected recognized items such as colors, shapes, and additional vocabulary words were used as an alternative to encourage participation and comprehension. Finally, the students were then seated at their tables. Here they were given Halloween activity books. These writing books were designed from the selected Halloween PowerPoint used in an earlier lesson this week.

Now it was time for the students to look at each page and picture, then read each sentence question and write the correct answer. For example, the question “what do you see?” for a picture of a costume. And in response the students would write the sentence “I see a costume.

This is an enjoyable an effective speaking and writing activity for the development of sentence structure, dolch words, and grammar. 

Megan Nielsen Grade 1 (October, 2022)

Phonics Practice

 In 1.2 we practice phonics every day. We begin each class by reviewing all the letter names and sounds. Then we sing a phonics song. Every week, we focus on learning two letters of the alphabet. The first day we begin by using Starfall to introduce the letter. On Starfall, we learn about some words that begin with that letter, how to properly write it, and sometimes there are games we can play as a class. Then we sing a song that focuses on the letter sound to help us remember the sound for that letter we are learning. As a class we try and think of as many words as we can that begin with that letter. Lastly, we learn how to properly write the letter. Then the students get to practice writing it on a worksheet. The second day we play a game where tables and individuals get practice listening to words and decide if the word begin with the letter we are learning. We also sing more songs to practice the letter sound. Then the students draw a picture of an animal that begins with that letter. The students love following the step by step guide to draw the animal. They also love trying to guess what animal we will draw. 

Mr Bryce  Grade 1  (May, 2022)

Speaking Naturally: Guided Dialogue Practice

1.1 has been having fun while learning how to ask and answer questions with natural expression. The goal is to get students speaking more fluently. In this process, we engage our senses and integrate all the language skills: Listening, speaking, reading and writing.

The process begins by introducing a topic. In this example, we explored our sense of smell to generate a simple dialogue: “What can you smell? I can smell…” and “How does it smell? It smells…”.  The students start by learning some topic-related vocabulary and listen to the teacher model the dialogue. Then, they read the dialogue out loud, and the teacher asks questions to confirm their understanding.

Next, the students compete in teams to practice the dialogue, with one team asking the target questions and the other answering. Then they swap roles. The team with the most expression earns more points.

To reinforce their understanding and to help them remember, students write out the dialogues and illustrate them in their journals. This is an opportunity for students to review and apply their sight words and phonics learning too! Drawing pictures gives the students opportunity to flex their creativity.

Finally, the students apply what they have learned in context. In this case, we conducted a “smell test”. Each group was given 5 mystery items to smell. One by one, students closed their eyes and smelled each item with fellow group members asking “What can you smell? How does it smell?”. With smiles, laughter and excitement all round, the students have engaged in a learning experience they won’t soon forget. 

Ms Jan  Grade 1  (June, 2022)

Developing English Speaking Confidence

In G1 we have a mixture of personalities with some students very confident in speaking English and others who are not confident, and then everything in between. To speak confidently, each child needs to have many opportunities to speak.

 In 1.5 we use a combination of these methods: speaking with the class, speaking with the group, and speaking individually.

At the beginning of the school year, we use a lot of class and team speaking so that the students with lower confidence can practice more comfortably. We then begin to practice more individually to help all students develop their confidence in speaking English.

In May the G1 classes begin the Show and Tell activity. This is an opportunity for each child to speak about any item from home they want. During the first 2 weeks we have the 10 Questions activity.

Because some children have a timid personality, everyone has a chance to practice with the teacher first before they present to the class. They receive a lot of encouragement to speak loudly and to look at the audience.

The child presenting hides their item in a bag and is asked 10 questions from the audience and the audience tries to guess what it is. The child presenting can answer with simple yes or no responses. The child presenting can reveal their item after a correct guess or after the audience has asked 10 questions. One of the students will be asked to count the questions. This activity allows every student to become comfortable standing up in front of the group.

The last 3 weeks of Show and Tell involves each child telling the audience about something they have brought to school. Every day for the 5 weeks we practice the sentence structures so that students can speak confidently when it is their turn to speak.

It’s a fun way to help the students increase their confidence speaking English. The children have a lot of fun sharing their toys and items from home with the other children.  

Ms Megan  Grade 1  (June, 2022)

Using the 5 senses - Taste

In Grade One we have been learning about the five senses. As we have learned about the five senses, we have focused on speaking and dialogues. The last sense we learned about was taste. This was the students’ favorite sense to learn about. They learned a question “How does it taste?” Then, they learned some new vocabulary to describe how different things taste.

First, the whole class learned the vocabulary and question by looking at pictures to understand the different ways things taste. Next, each table got a chance to practice the new vocabulary. After, they got the chance to practice as a whole group and with their table, each student practices it individually. Two at a time the stand up and ask each other the question and answer using pictures.

Next, the class was shown some different food items and got to practice answering the question with different items. Then they went to their tables and got a chance to practice describing how each food item tasted. Finally, the students got to taste a sample of something that was sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and spicy. This was their favorite part. They had to practice listening and eat the food in a certain order.

Finally we had a class discussion about what tastes they liked best and what tastes they didn’t like. The favorites were salty and sweet. But many students had a hard time choosing one favorite.

Mr Michael  Grade 1  (May, 2022)

Word Family Darts

During the week, we played a review game called Word Family Darts. The students really enjoyed it and were very competitive. Before we play, the teacher reviews the target word families, by having students read the words on the PPT slides. The teacher will ask students to say the word on the slide or if they are confident, they can give sentence using that word. Each student in class will have a chance to answer a question. We then move onto the game itself. Each table team has their own whiteboard and marker. They will use these to write down the answers. Students help by becoming ‘little teachers.’ They will read the words I have written down. The teacher will help them if necessary. Students must line up and stand nicely before the game starts, ‘Little teachers’ say the word, and on the count of 3,2,1, go, the students playing the game must get to their board and write down the word they hear. When the students finish writing, they hold up the board with the answer. The two students, who are fastest and have written neatly, have the chance to gain points for their team.

Students must throw the sticky ball at the ‘dartboard’ and earn points based on where they hit. This is a fun game we can use to review vocabulary and phonics. 

Ms Jenna  Grade 1  (June, 2022)

Summer Garden

Summer was right around the corner when we began planting our garden in spring. Class 1.6 learned a lot about plants and how they grow: “These are seeds” and so “Seeds need soil”. Each student had the opportunity to start their own miniature flower garden and we even began a small classroom garden. As time went on, we watered, gave our mini gardens sunlight, and lots of love! So the flowers grew, and grew, and grew! Eventually, we were able to take them home to begin our summer garden at home.

As our garden was growing at home, in class we discussed topics related to summer: clothes, the changing season, and of course, summer holiday!  We were excited to share with each other what we would like to do over summer vacation. Many students want to travel to see their families, play at a theme park, or travel to other areas to see nature. We played games on what we wear in the summer time: sun hats, sun glasses, shorts, and bathing suits. However, the students really were excited about their summer gardens. So, with the help of our classroom dictionary and our imaginations, students wrote and drew their dream summer garden.

This was a fulfilling lesson for the students. They learned about nature and how we can grow anything with time, patience, and a little love.