Thursday February 27, 2014

Music Exam Review

The 3rd quarter music exam will take place next Wednesday March 5 during regular class time.

1. Musical staff, clef, and note reading.
2. 3 ways of naming musical notes
    Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, si, do     C D E F G A B C      1234567
3. Whole note, half note, quarter note
4. Recorder fingering C B A G
5. Must be able to play Hot cross bun, merrily go along, sloppy joe

Math Homework page 47-48

Have a great weekend everyone, i'll see you Monday =)

Wednesday February 26, 2014

Hi everyone,

We had a busy day in Grade 1. This morning we furthered our learning about comparative verbs. Students homework will reinforce this lesson.
English Page 77 and 78

We also did some more Magic Finger reading and everyone really enjoyed that.

There have been some behavioral issues recently in Father Prudencio's Christian Living class as well as in Music class with Sister Loida. I have spoken sternly with Grade 1 about respecting all of their teachers.

In Math class we had fun making pictures out of shapes and sorting plane and solid shapes into groups using different sorting rules.

In Social Studies we learned about different kinds of homes, and lifestyles, of children around the world. Students were especially fascinated with the children in Northern Canada who lived in igloos so I showed them a short BBC clip showing a young boy building an igloo. We compared the lives of children around the world and had a great class discussion.

In Science we compared plants and animals and talked about how their needs differed.

See everyone tomorrow for a great Thursday!

Tuesday February 25, 2014

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to NATHAN and AYRTON! 

Exam Information:

Chinese, Computer, Christian Living, Health, and Music exams will take place during regular class time throughout the week of March 3-March 7.

Reading, Phonics, Language and Spelling, Science, Math, and Social Studies exams will all take place on Thursday March 13 and Friday March 14. Both of these days will be half days, with students being dismissed at 12:00pm. Please note that lunch will not be served on these days. 

I will be posting exam review content as soon as possible.

Science Homework: Page 151 and 152

Many students did finish in class. Those who did not brought their textbooks home.

Thank you to Ayrton and Nathan's parents for bringing in these delicious cakes for us to share!

Monday February 24, 2014

Aquarium Visit and Overnight Trip

This year our school excursion will take place at the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium in Pingtung County on March 20th. Grade 1 students who would like to attend will need to pay 700 NT. This will cover the bus and Thursday's activities at the aquarium. We will be leaving at 8:30 am on March 20 in order to get there as early as possible so please make sure you arrive at school by 8:15. Lunch will be provided for everyone up on arrival to the aquarium.

Please fill out the form and return by Wednesday February 26.

Spelling Words

while

press

express

close

night

real

realize

life

Today in Science class we planted four cups of seeds. We are learning about what plants need to grow and be healthy. One cup will not get water, one will not get sunlight, one will not get air, and one will get water, sunlight, and air. We will be observing the changes in each cup over the course of the next week. We also did another experiment to understand how plants "drink" water. We put a piece of celery and a white flower into cups with water and red food coloring. We will observe them over the next few days to see what happens. Students predicted that the parts of the celery and flower that are in the water will turn red, but the parts sticking out will not. Stay tuned!

In Math class today we talked about the difference between plane shapes and solid shapes. Shannon is counting the faces of a rectangular prism. Later, we counted the edges, and corners of various shapes.
Math Homework: Page 45 and 46
For page 45 students must complete a chart to count the number of faces, edges, and corners of different solid shapes. Please encourage them to look around the house for these shapes to help them count.

Have a great night everyone, see you tomorrow!

Friday February 21, 2014

Hi everyone,

Thank you for the great Family Day and Sports Day!

Just a quick reminder to come to school in your proper school uniform for class photos on Monday.

No homework this weekend. Enjoy the sunshine!

Thursday February 20, 2014

Hi everyone, 

Lots of important information today:

• Ms. Mahon was absent with a sinus infection today and so our class photos have been rescheduled to Monday February 24. Please make sure to come to school in your proper school uniform. 
• If anyone has a white flower that they don't mind donating to our Science class, I would really appreciate it. I need one for an experiment I want to do about how plants use nutrients but I cannot seem to find one around town.
• Tomorrow is Family Day. Mass begins at 8:30am. Everyone is welcome. Students must come to school in their proper school uniforms and bring their Sports Day shirts and P.E. bottoms and shoes to change into. 
• Family Day Schedule

8:30-9:30 Family Day Mass in the Chapel

9:30-9:45 Break

9:45-11:30 Sports day

11:30-1:00 Lunch in the lunchroom and covered area

1:00 End of Day

• Science Homework Page 140

• Computer Class Exam Review

Quarter 3 skill outline

In the third quarter, we used the program “MS Word”.

Students should know the meaning of:

• Clip Art – picture we can put onto our page on the computer

• Click – click the left button of the mouse ONE time

• Double click – click the left button of the mouse TWO times

• Right click – click the right button of the mouse ONE time

• Font – the letters that we type into a document.

• Insert clip art – Using the INSERT TAB at the top of MS Word, and selecting “CLIP ART”

Students should know how to:

• How to open a folder by double clicking it

• Type their name, change the size, color, or style of the font.

• Insert clip art

• Make a picture bigger or smaller by clicking and dragging the corner

• Save a document by clicking the save button.

• PE/Health Exam Review 

Health:

Your Health text book p. 110-125

*Students should read and review the information in this chapter/and notebooks.

P.E:

Quarter 3 sport: Handball

Basic rules:

·         A player may only have the ball for 3 seconds

·         A player may not run with the ball

·         There are a total of 7 players on a team on the court (six players and a goal keeper).

·         You may not foul a player from the other team by hitting their arms, or trying to steal the ball.

To score a point:

• A point is scored when the ball is thrown into the goal.
• The ball may not be kicked except by the goalie when saving.
• Only the goalie is allowed in the goal area
• You cannot shoot for goal if you are in the goalie’s area

Wednesday February 19, 2014

Hi everyone,

We had a really fun morning! Lots of students were eager to read their Magic Finger homework to the class. They did a great job on their first creative writing assignment and I was happy they were so willing to share with others. Good job everybody!

In Phonics we did some long vowel exercises and the students worked hard to complete two pages in their workbooks.

In Social Studies we had a quiz where students had to look at a map and follow verbal directions. For example, which continent is north of South America.

Math Homework: Page 42, 43, 44

*A reminder for any students who have not bought a recorder yet, please buy one as soon as possible from your local music store and bring to school as Grade 1 students are learning how to play it this semester.

*Tomorrow we will have a class picture taken so please be sure to come to school in proper school uniform and on time. =)

Thanks for the great day everyone, see you tomorrow!

Tuesday February 18, 2014

Hi everyone,

• Because I was not at school on picture day, due to having my wisdom teeth removed, we will be having another whole class picture taken this Thursday February 20. Please make sure students come to school in their proper school uniform on that day. They can bring their P.E. clothes to change into for class.

• I set up the The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl on the projection screen today and we all sat around reading together. They are really enjoying this story a lot and it's great to see their enthusiasm reading.

• We practiced describing nouns with adjectives by making a big list of nouns and a big list of adjectives and then students lined up by their rows and had to make sentences and I timed them. They did so well!

Homework: The Magic Finger Prediction Activity
Students must reread the last excerpt from the story and then write to tell what they think will happen next.

Christian Living Exam:
Date: Friday March 7, 2014
Chapters 10-12

Our Kindness Stars!

Monday February 17, 2014

Happy Birthday Jessie!

We had our spelling tests and they were marked and returned. Any mistakes need to be written 3 times and all tests must be signed by a parent and returned tomorrow. 

In reading class we played a team reading game and reviewed compound words. In Math, we did a lesson on sorting and classifying. In Social Studies we continued talking about preserving our resources and talked about reducing, reusing, and recycling. I showed the students some photos of landfills from National Geographic.

Homework: Journeys Reading page 68

See everyone tomorrow! =)

Friday February 14, 2014

Happy Friday everyone!

Our next lesson in Social Studies is about homes around the world. This morning we had the opportunity to Skype with my parents in Canada so the students could see a Canadian home. They were quite cute wanting to see what the TV looked liked, the bedroom, and the toilet. They even got to see my Dad eat some snow so it was a pretty fun experience!

Later on, we talked about Valentine's Day and picked a name out of a box and made a secret valentine for that person. We exchanged valentines later in the day and the student's had to guess who their secret admirers were.

In Social Studies, we continued talking about natural resources and ways to use them responsibly.
For Social Studies homework students must complete:
Page 28 Land and Water
Do NOT do page 29 Around the World (this page will be used as a quiz next week)
Page 30 Earth's Resources: Write the names of 3 resources you see in the picture. Draw something you could use each resource for. For example, use wool from the sheep to make clothes.
*Page 29 will be used as an oral quiz during next week's Social Studies class.

• 

Thursday February 13, 2014

Hello all,

• This morning we had a fabulous reading class. The students wanted to read our story by Roald Dahl so I projected the book onto the whiteboard and we all read aloud and then I re-read it to them. They really like the story a lot and it's so sweet to see them laughing and so engaged. They even told me, "Ms. Fisher, this is a fantasy story!" I was very proud of them. In Math class we did some more symmetry and shape practice. I also introduced the students to fractions and we talked about dividing pizzas into 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4. We went to the library this afternoon and students who brought back their library books took out two new ones. In Science, we started the unit with living and nonliving things, just finished animals, and are now moving onto plants. 
• Tomorrow we will welcome a new student, Nathaniel, to our class.
• There is no homework tonight 
• Communication books were not sent home tonight. I will send them home as usual tomorrow.

See you all on Friday!

Wednesday February 12, 2014

Hi everyone,

We had such a fantastic day!

For our Social Studies class we watched an educational video about Natural Resources. The students were given a handout with questions to fill out during the video. This was an excellent activity to practice listening and picking out important information to record. I was really impressed with how seriously the students took the task and at how well they did.

We will be welcoming a new student to our class on Friday February 14, 2014. Nathaniel is joining us all the way from Australia. Today we talked about how we can make him feel comfortable and we all worked together to make him a beautiful card telling him about ourselves. The students were very sweet and did a great job on the card. While they were waiting for their turn to write in the card, they enjoyed some reading and adding words and illustrations to our adjective poster.

During Math class we did an interactive activity online where students had to count the sides and/or corners of shapes. We discovered that shapes have the same number of sides and corners. We also learned about symmetry and cut and folded paper to better demonstrate this concept.

Math Homework: Pages 39-41
Students had some time to start their homework in class so they may have already gotten through most of it. 

Benson adds the adjective "cute" to our board and draws a picture to illustrate it.

Wilsoni enjoys a book about a shark who goes to school.

Marianne and Shannon are cozy in the reading corner.

Jeffery is very into his book about a haunted house!

Miya is cuddled into the reading corner!

Jake showed me where Taiwan and Japan were on the globe! Way to go!

Alan is reading a very popular book at his desk.

Huan is adding an adjective to our poster!

The (almost) finished product! We still need to add some color =)

Jessie shows us where we should divide this square to make it symmetrical. Excellent work!

Tuesday February 11, 2014

Hello everyone,

We had a great morning playing learning games to practice our knowledge of adjectives. Afterwards we created a poster for our classroom and each student came up with an adjective which they wrote on the poster and drew a picture to illustrate it. Way to go Grade 1's!

In Phonics we reviewed hard and soft c learned about hard and soft g as well.

Phonics Homework:
Page 95 and 96

Rule: When g is followed by e, i, or, y, it usually has a soft sound. You can hear the soft g sound in giraffe.
*Remember, not ALL words follow this rule. So you need to try to read the word aloud and listen to the sound the g makes. Then write it in the proper column. (for page 96)

This afternoon we had an amazing Social Studies class. We were talking about natural resources and how important it is to conserve them and recycle. The students were SO enthusiastic and interested and they had a ton of fantastic questions and comments. Our class went late and they missed their playtime at the end of the day but they didn't even mind. I actually had to cut them off so they would have time to pack their school bags. I look VERY forward to continuing our discussions later this week.

Have a great night everyone!

Monday February 10, 2014

Spelling Words: Review Words

build

understand

should

answer

study

learn

thought

between

start

might

Hi everyone,
We had a busy  but great day. This morning we read our story The Tree. The students are getting so much better at reading with expression and predicting what will happen next. We did some practice with adjectives as a warm up for a bigger grammar activity tomorrow. I also gave the students a math quiz to wrap up the unit. For the most part I was very impressed with how they did. We had our spelling tests and they were marked and returned. Any mistakes need to be written out three times and parents must sign the tests and return them to school tomorrow. In Social Studies we talked more about reading directions on maps and globes and created a wall with our very own compass and 3D world maps and map of Taiwan.

Friday February 7, 2014

Hello!

We had a great, busy day today. This morning we read some of our Roald Dahl story, The Magic Finger. We also had a great lesson on hard and soft c and also talked about adjectives and played some learning games to practice the difference between nouns, verbs and adjectives.

This afternoon in Social Studies we talked about natural resources and learned that resources are anything that we can use. We also learned that some of Taiwan's natural resources are gold, marble, and natural gas. We made up songs to help us remember this new information and had a good time walking around the classroom singing them. =)

Homework: English Language page 71-73

Hope you all have a sunny and happy weekend!

Thursday February 6, 2014

Spelling Words

city

tree

cross

farm

hard

start

might

story

This morning we started to read a new story and went over some new vocabulary words. We also reviewed some of the homework from the holiday and practiced contractions and was and were.

Wednesday February 5, 2014

Welcome back everyone!

We have been having a busy morning so far. After Chinese class we had our spelling test. Tests have been marked and returned to students. Please make sure that any mistakes are copied correctly three times, and parents must sign tests and return them tomorrow.

Students cleaned their desks and cubbies this morning as well, so you may find their school bags are full of things I asked them to bring home in order to keep our classroom as clean and orderly as possible.

Music class resumed today with Sister Loida. As soon as students have their recorders, please bring them to school. 

Chinese New Year Writing Assignment:

Students brought home a handout that is to be completed and handed in by Friday February 7, 2014.