Picture Day

Dress in your best! Picture Day is tomorrow!

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Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer

Naughty Letter Ee

    I love, love, love teaching our kiddos little tricks to help them with their reading. I was working with my Grade One's today and my little buddy Owen noticed something in our morning message. On the message I wrote about a rat. He noticed that the word rat looked a whole lot like the word rate  in our Rate Your Writing corner.

Rat and rate-what started our talk about that naughty letter e.

    Thank goodness I'm pretty organised and have most of my literacy games ready because this was the perfect opportunity to teach the kiddos about the naughty letter E. This is how I explained it to the kids: The letter Ee is like the bully of the alphabet. He likes to pick on the other vowels and make them do silly things. Most of the time when the letter e is at the end of the word, he likes to pinch the vowel in the middle to make them say their name.
     I then wrote the word mat on the board. This is the word mat, but looks what happens when we add the letter e to the end. Mat turns into mate. It no longer says the "ah" sound in the middle it says its name "ay". The kids thought this was just amazing and we played a little game. See if your kiddo can tell you about the naughty letter E tonight!

Twin turns into twine, man to mane, can to cane etc.

Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer

Watercolor

    If you asked anyone of the kids what their favourite day of the week is most of them would say Wednesday. I know what your thinking "ew" am I right? Wednesday is smack dab in the middle of the week when everyone seems to be the most tired. However, the kids love it because we have Gym and Art on Wednesdays-a kids dream!
     We worked with watercolour this week. The kids had to learn the special way to use the water on the paint and how to hold their brush. As this was our first time with watercolour, we did a very simple alphabet watercolour. I think they turned out pretty good-don't you?

 

 

Sweet huh?

Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer

 

Class Mission

      The days keep on zipping by in our 2/1 combined class! The kids are getting into the routine of things and know the procedures for coming into the class, getting ready for recess, and much more! I'm very proud of all they have been doing and learning so far and I hope you are too.
       As most of you know at Fairvale, we believe in teaching the 7 Habits to our kids in order to  show them the importance of being leaders in their schools and communities. Monday, our class was talking about the 7 habits. It was in talking about the habits that it was decided that we needed a class mission statement.A class mission statement is based on habit 2 of 7 Habits called begin with the end in mind. In ones life, the most effective way to begin with the end in mind is to develop a mission statement, one that focuses what you want to be in terms of character and what you want to do in reference to contribution of achievements.


 

        It didn't take very long for the kids to decide on our mission once we got started. I began by asking the kids if they had ever been on a journey or a trip. We talked a little about journeys they had taken; real and I'm sure a few were imagined(unless someone really has been to the real Jurassic park and "not the one in Disney World but the really real one" as one of my Gr.1's put it). We then talked about what you need for a journey: food, a car, and a map. I asked: But what if we don't have a map? Can we find our way to where we want to go? No the kiddos answered. It was here that I explained that a mission statement was kind of like a map for the class. It explains where our class wants to go in their learning and in their play. The kids seemed to really understand this explanation and totally went with it. We started our sentences with "We will... " and the rest is our kids' own ideas. Check it out below. A special thanks to Mrs. Shillington for the map/mission statement comparison!

 

 

Enjoy!

Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer

 

Behavior Chart

     It must be said, our class has pretty good behavior. The kids' good behavior makes it much easier for me to be able to deliver both the grade one and two curriculum and it allows the kids to have more one on one time with me. The less time I spend correcting behaviour = more time working with students. That being said, while we do have great behaviour we still have classroom rules and spend time practicing these rules. One way I keep the kiddos on track is through our behaviour chart.

     This behaviour chart, in my opinion, is great because 1) students start out in a neutral position “Ready to Learn” and move up or down based on their behaviour throughout the day,  and 2) it gives students an opportunity to redeem themselves…even if they make a bad choice and have to move their clip down, they can move it back up, if they make  good choice later in the day.
       The kids love using the chart and often times have little competitions to see who can get "the highest" on the behaviour chart by the end of the day. Ask your child where their behaviour fell on the chart today!

Fabulous First Day

       Phew! What a day! I told the kids we were going to be very busy today but that was such an understatement! The kids worked hard today. Here is an example of a  few things that the kids did:writing about their summer (Gr.1), writing about themselves (Gr. 2), "birthday" graphing (Gr.2), and working with ten frames (Gr.1). We finished up the day playing a few getting to know you games. The day was a blur! Luckily we have a great group of kids so we were able to accomplish quite a lot today.The kids were also pleasantly surprised to find out that their buddies in other classes had done similar things today. I am planning with both the grade one and two teams to be sure that our kids don't miss out on any great learning opportunities.
     
       I'm unable to post any pictures as of yet as I am still waiting to hear back from everyone concerning media permission (this is on the back of student information forms) so stay tuned! Below I'm posting the two notices I sent home today in the homework folder. I will always try to post notices I send home on the blog just in case :)

  ***In case anyone comes home and is mum about what went on in school today ask them about the monarch butterflies.*** 

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How our 2/1 Split Class Works

      

Dear Parents,

            Welcome to our 2/1 combined class! For some of you this is your first experience with your child in a combined class, for others this may be your 2^nd or 3^rd time. In the effort to ease any worries, below I have included a list of frequently asked questions about combined classes and my responses to the questions.

What is a combined class?
A combined or split class refers to a class that is made up of students from two or more grades. Combined classes occur most frequently in elementary schools and are the combination of students in two different grades with one teacher teaching both curricula. For example, a school might have a grade 1/grade 2 class combination or a grade 6/grade 7 class combination. It is important to know that students in combined classes are not held back to the level of the younger children nor are the children in the lower grade expected to do work beyond their abilities. The prescribed learning outcomes are grade appropriate for all students, whether or not they are in a combined class.

Why do schools create combined classes?
There are many reasons why schools create these classes. When school staff look to organize their students, that is to place the students in their classes with teachers, they have to balance the educational needs of their students with the staffing they receive from Human Resources as well as with legislated contractual considerations.

A school calculates enrolment. The Principal, working with the teaching staff of the school, then constructs classes based on these factors and the educational interests of each student. In many instances, combined classes result.

Will the teacher teach the entire curriculum to both grades?
All teachers, including teachers of combined classes, must teach the prescribed curriculum. Therefore the teacher is obligated to teach the entire curriculum to both grades. Our Grade one students will learn the grade one curriculum and the grade 2 students will learn the grade two curriculum.

How can I support my child in a combined class?
Parents can support their children in the same ways they would if they were in a single grade class. Staying interested and concerned about school work and activities, monitoring a child’s homework and keeping in touch with the teacher and attending the school whenever possible are ways the parents can support the child’s learning.

How will your class work?

Our class will be using the Daily 5 to structure our literacy time. The Daily 5 allows me to address the specific needs of students by working with them in small groups and to have regular reading conferences with individual students.

Math will also be a bit different. We will be working in grade groupings. We will also do some lessons together. The grade one students will learn the grade one curriculum and the grade two students will learn the grade two curriculum.

            I know there were a few questions at our open house about combined classes and I hope this helps to alleviate any concerns. As always please feel free to call or email me if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

Ashley Daley-Creamer

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 Welcome to our 2/1 Class!

Wow, another school year has come! Welcome to our grade 2/1 combined class! It was wonderful meeting so many of you last week and it was great to see a few familiar faces! The purpose of this letter is just to give you a brief introduction to me, your child’s grade 2/1 teacher. I am not going to overwhelm you with a lot to read in this letter. Next week you can expect a more detailed letter outlining our curriculum for September, our rules, routines, procedures etc…

My name is Ashley Daley-Creamer, known as Mrs. Creamer to your child. I have been a teacher in the district for a few years now and I am very familiar with both the grade one and two curriculum as the majority of my experience has been at the primary level. I am absolutely thrilled to be teaching a combined class and I am looking forward to guiding your child on his/her journey at school.

My husband and I live in Quispamsis with our 2 year old dog, a Basenji, named Dingo. I am interested in reading, technology and Art. I love volunteering in our community and I am hoping to set up a few volunteer opportunities for our class!

Please feel free to contact me anytime during the school year via phone 847-6206, email ashley.daley@nbed.nb.ca, through our class blog at mrsdaleycreamersclass.blogspot.com or a written note placed in your child’s homework folder. A phone call or note in your child’s folder works best as I don’t always have time to check my email before the end of the school day.

I want to wish everyone a spectacular first week of school! I especially look forward to seeing your child again tomorrow.

Mrs. Creamer

P.S Please return all/any completed forms in the homework folder to school with your child tomorrow. Thanks!