Sentence Writing

Students in Room 7 have begun to print simple sentences using predictable sentence starters. Using the book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?" as a starting point, we used the sentence starter "I see a". We first read the book, each student being given the opportunity to orally tell their peers what they see. 

Using visual examples of colour words, animals from the book and sentence frames, students then explored printing simple sentences with varying levels of adult support. 

Expanding on our initial activity, we repeated the same task but used animals from one of our favourite songs "Slippery Fish".

During the week of Valentine's Day, we built upon our previous skills in order to make a classroom book. 

All of the students in Room 7 have done such a wonderful job exploring sentence writing. 

Learning About the Letter O

Last week, students in CSSI learned about the letter O. Tasks focused on the letter O were incorporated into our daily activities throughout the week. 

Students first made an octopus craft to put into their letter portfolios. This task required students to listen to verbal instructions and use a visual example in order to complete their octopus craft. 

Using the program "Handwriting Without Tears", students explored using shapes to make the letter O. In addition, they used their fingers to trace and feel the letter O. 

During our daily music and circle times, we would explore songs from Super Simple Songs and Bounce Patrol that reinforced the letter O. 

 

Students continued to practice letter formation and identifying "o words" using their understanding of letter sounds. In addition, some students continued to practice labelling their pictures using visual examples. 

We had alot of fun learning about the letter O!

Weekly Reminders:

Wednesday February 12th: Wear Pink and/or Red Day

Thursday February 13th: No School: Teacher's Convention

Friday February 14th: No School: Teacher's Convention

Monday February 17th: No School: Alberta Family Day

Numeracy Sensory Boxes for January

January is quickly leaving us, but below are some pictures of the numeracy focused task boxes that we explored for the past month. 

This task box required students to order the numbers from 1-20. 

Continuing our work with ten-frames, students were tasked with matching the ten-frame to the number. 

For this activity, students use manipulatives to complete simple addition equations. 

Students in these pictures are matching a group of objects to the number, practicing and reinforcing their one-to-one correspondence and subitizing skills. 

Fine motor and counting skills are practiced and reinforced during this activity as students place beads onto the pipe cleaner. 

Have a great weekend!

Sensory Time

An important part of our program is helping students develop the skills and strategies needed to regulate their emotions and behaviour within the classroom. We provide our students with the opportunity to engage in sensory activities on a daily basis. Sensory integration activities can serve a calming function for children and can be used to facilitate communication, social interaction and processing of sensory needs. 

Below are some examples of the type of sensory activities the students in Room 7 experience on a daily basis. 

Water Play

 Styrofoam pieces

Beads

Sand Play

Buttons

Ribbons

 In addition to providing opportunities for sensory play, we also set up our classroom environment in order to facilitate a quiet, calm, and mindful atomosphere. Overhead lights are turned off with natural light or low-light lamps providing light. Soft, relaxing music is played with natural images displayed on the smartboard.

Upcoming Classroom Reminders:

Thursday January 30th- Report Cards Home

Friday January 31st- No School: Professional Development Day

Task Boxes for December-Part 2

Here are some photos that highlight our other task boxes for the month of December. 

Students love this task box that not only requires them to verbally identify the letters on each tree, but they then get to explore forming the letter in the green sand. 

Students use their visual discrimination skills in order to match the letter magnets to the sheet provided. During this activity, adults elicit further skill development such as, letter and colour identification. 

Using pattern blocks, students build the Christmas-themed picture. This task is slightly more challenging as previous pattern block activities as students do not have the colour to guide them complete each sheet. Instead they must rely on their knowledge of the shape. 

 Students must place the gingerbread man into his correct letter house. 

Weekly Reminders:

Thursday December 19th- Special Lunch for students

Thursday December 19th- Last day for students

Friday December 20th-No School: Organizational Day for Staff

Monday January 6th-First day back to school after Winter Break

Task Boxes for December: Part 1 (Numeracy)

December not only brought more snow, it brought new task boxes for the students to explore in Room 7. Below you will find examples of the new December Numeracy task boxes. 

For this task, students are required to count the Christmas characters and clip the clothespin onto the corresponding number. Students must use one-to-one correspondence to count, must be able to identify written numerals, but also strengthen their fine motor skills by repeatedly squeezing the clothespins. 

 Some of our students are tasked with a similar activity as above, but must count characters from 10-20, further expanding their counting skills and understanding of number. 

This activity requires students to recognize the number on top of each tree and place the correct number of decorations on top of it. This requires students to recognize numbers to 10, use visual discrimination and fine motor skills to place objects on the tree, and use their one-to-one correspondence in order to ensure they have the correct number of decorations for each tree.  

Students are further strengthening their counting skills with the next task box by placing the correct number of snowflakes in the ten frame. 

For this task, students must roll the dice and count the dots. Using their visual discrimination and number recognition skills, they must place a snowflake on the correct number. 

 Some students are practicing their early addition skills by using two dice to determine the number of dots. We pair the counting of dots on each dice with a verbal equation (ie. 6+4=). Students are not only beginning to add numbers, but they are further developing their understanding of numbers 10-20. 

Thank you to all of our parents and families for attending our Parent-Teacher Conferences this week. It was wonderful to get to speak with you all about the wonderful progress your child is making in CSSI. We hope you all have a wonderful weekend.