May 22-25:
We also continued our exploration of poetry through exploration of the 3 Poems: Hail Mary, Our Father and Glory Be. Students designed their own prayer book and explored symbols of prayer. Following study of prayer, students were introduced to the rosary and built their own using pipe cleaners and beads.
May 14-18
This week we discussed the ascension to Jesus, his promises to us and celebrated the Pentecost. Students explored why it would have been so important for Jesus' disciples to speak the tongues of many people, and built their own flame hats that celebrated the many diverse languages the students in our class speak.
May 7-11th:
This week students explored the story of Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish (John 21: 1-10). We discussed ways we can remember that Jesus is always with us.
April 30-May 4th:
This week we focused on how Jesus is like a vine. He is the vine that supports us to grow as branches and leaves. Without his example we would not know how to do good for the Earth and for others. Students created examples of how they can follow Jesus' example and do good deeds and we created a class vine.
April 9-26:
In preparation for Earth Day, we have continued discussing ways to take care of the Earth and give more of ourselves to others.
April 3rd-6th:
This week we explored the ways we can show our commitment to our Faith and celebrate Jesus' resurrection. In church last weekend, my priest talked about ways we can give more of ourselves to God. He compared Jesus' Resurrection to people showing up to a group project once all the work is done and asking "Is there anything I can do to help?". In many ways, those who showed up to Jesus' empty tomb were given a "free pass"... All the heavy lifting was already done. As such, we need to remind ourselves each day to thank Jesus for his sacrifice and give more of ourselves to others, and to our faith. We created a resurrection bracelet to wear and remind ourselves of Jesus' sacrifice and help us to live our lives by considering "What Jesus Would Do" :)
March 26-29th:
This week we continued our study of the stations of the cross with a variety of art and reading activities. Students continued to explore how we can repent for our sins and strive to act by Jesus and God's example. We began learning about the Last Supper and completed a writing activity "If I could have supper with Jesus".Over Easter Weekend, students will bring home their own reader outlining the stations of the cross to read and discuss with you.
Week 26: March 19-23
Throughout the Lenten Season we have been learning the song "Father I Have Sinned". Students compared these song lyrics to the book "I'll Love You Forvever (Je t'aimerais pour toujours) by Robert Munsch. We discussed how parents have unconditional love for their children and will always welcome them with open arms, just as God does for us when we show penance for our sins.
Week 25: March 6th-9th
This week we continued our exploration of Lent and the idea of forgiveness with the story of the Prodigal Son. We compared this story to a discussion of parent's eternal love for their children and discussed ways we can show the same type of love to our family.
Week 24: Feb 26-March 2nd:
This week we finished up our Family Life Unit: Created Sexual Male and Female with our class presentations. Students continued to explore God's love for us by exploring Jesus' Journey Through Jerusalem just before Easter. Students studied the story of "The Good Samaritan" to explore how we are able to use God's love for us as inspiration to show love for our neighbours.
Weeks 22+23: Feb 12-23:
As we continued to explore Theme 3 of family life, we discussed the various ways couples and families show love. I was happy to give students the chance to look through my own wedding album and learn about the promise of a marriage. Students learned that a marriage is not only between the couple, but also involves God who helps the couple to support and care for one another. We also looked at the pictures in the album to discover the various ways love can be shown and recognized.
Following our discussions of how families show love, we continued our discussion on families and the decision to have a baby. We discussed God’s plan and how it is different for each person and each family. Some families choose to adopt, while other couples chose never to marry or have children. We looked at ultrasound pictures of babies, discussed pre-natal development and discussed how we know if a baby is a boy of girl, reviewing the vocabulary for the differences in our bodies. As a final task, students completed projects to share with the class. Students were given the opportunity to share how their families prepared for their birth, what their name means and how their family shows love.
Week 21: Feb 5-9th
This week the Grade 1 classes began Fully Alive Theme 3: Created Sexual: Male and Female. This unit offers a wonderful opportunity to explore the special love between families, and how each family is unique. At the center of each lesson is God’s message of love and commitment. We started the unit by exploring how families take care of one another, including how parents prepare for the birth of their child (i.e. picking a name).
Week 19: Jan 22-26
This week we focused on the 10 commandments and created a bracelet which we can wear to remind ourselves to act in a manner that would be fitting of a Saint who follows the rules God has given us.
Week 18: Jan 15-18
This week we focused on studying what self-care means. Students were asked to consider ways they can take care of their body which is a gift from God. They had some amazing ideas to help our body and our mind: take a bath, take a breather, hug your mom, talk to a friend, cuddle your dog, do your math, read a book, eat the 4 food groups, drink lots of water, pray etc. We used this as inspiration to begin our gratitude journals which have been scientifically proven to reduce stress and increase happiness in our lives. By taking time each week (or even better each day!) to thank God for what we have, we can actually improve our overall health and wellness. Similarly, we also continued to work on our class New Year's Resolution which was to pray more respectfully (making the sign of the cross) and thank God each day for different things.
Week 17: Jan 8-12
This week we focused on devoting ourselves to God and the wonderful things He has given us. We each described goals for growth over the next year and set a class wide goal to spend time each week to thank God. We will now be completing weekly Gratitude journals on Thankful Thursdays to remind ourselves of how lucky we are. We will be using this time of thanksgiving and reflection to further develop and enhance our Growth Mindset which reminds us that we grow from our mistakes and that every day offers the opportunity to learn.
Week 15: Dec 11-15
In addition to our religious advent and Nativity study, at the beginning of the week, Elfie covered our room in bright pink hearts hearts... We did some online research and it turns out that Christmas elves can always be found around acts of Peace and Kindness. To help make Elfie feel welcome we are transforming our classroom into a Kindness Kingdom. Each child will be sent home with 3 of Elfie's hearts to fill with pictures or sentences of acts of Kindness they have completed. If everyone returns their hearts filled with acts of Kindness, Elfie will visit our classroom!
"Hello!
Don’t forget to fill your hearts with acts of kindness if you want me to reveal my hiding spot in your classroom. I have been watching you every day and can’t wait to see how kind you can be! Please fill your hearts with pictures and/or words to make sure I’ll know what act of kindness you completed :)
Lots of love,
Elfie"
Week 14: Dec 4-8
This week we began to focus on Christmas and the Nativity story. Students began learning various songs such as "Take a Walk to Christmas", "Stay Awake, Be Ready" and "Light the Advent Candle" to prepare for the birth of Jesus. With our reading buddies, students worked together to create a book to share their own learnings from the Christmas Story.
Take a Walk to Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFklu4JI86c
Stay Awake, Be Ready: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZKZSmUJlzE
Week 13: Nov 27-Dec 1:
A Kindness Elf (Elfie) has been leaving little messages around our room to make sure that our students are behaving their best. It is Elfie's first year being a full-time Christmas Elf and sometimes it can be scary to leave the North Pole. It can be especially scary to come into a school where students throw snowballs, are very loud and act silly so we are working on ways to make Elfie feel welcome in our class.
Week 12: Nov 20-24
This week we explored what it means to be an Eco-Hero and keep promises. We signed a pledge that will with CARE for God's Creation and continued to explore ways that we can make a difference:
C- CARE
I will care for the plants and creatures around me.
A-ADAPT
I will adapt and change habits that hurt the earth. I will reduce the amount of garbage I create.
R- RESPONSIBLE
I will be responsible for my actions that impact the earth. I will reduce, re-use and recycle what I can.
E- ENERGY
I will save energy by turning off the lights, reducing the need for electronics and making environmentally friendly choices.
After exploring the story of Noah's Arc, we discussed ways we can help care for the animals in our world, including how to protect endangered animals. Students loved hearing a child friendly book about protecting South African Rhinos which I brought during my trip to South Africa. We used this religion topic as inspiration for our science unit on animal needs and for French through our "jeudi journal": Je suis un éco-héros."
Week 11: Nov 13-16th
To celebrate waste reduction/Eco-Week we focused on how we can care for God's creation. Specifically, we worked on completing missions to become battery bosses and keep the harmful chemicals inside batteries out of our landfills. Students were encouraged to explore the story of Noah's Arc and how we can help care and protect the animals in our world.
Week 10: Nov 6-10th
This week, our main focus was on peace and Remembrance day. One of the highlights of the week was a presentation which included pictures from Mme Proulx's high school trip to Normandy in France. I showed pictures of Juno Beach and the Canadian cemetery where many Canadian soldiers are buried. The students enjoyed talking about how lucky we are to live in Canada. After our discussion, we created doves and poppies to show what peace looks like, sounds like and feels like to each of us.
Week 9: October 30-Nov 2nd
For many, October means Halloween. In our class we have quite a few students who do not celebrate this "Holiday" so we will be focusing on the meaning of "Hallow's Eve" and All Saints Day. In the spirit of our school wide virtue of compassion, we began our exploration of Saints with the newly canonized Mother Teresa.
We explored the various ways we can act to be more like a saint and celebrated the amazing examples our students have set in the classroom thus far.
Week 8: October 23-26th:
This week we discussed the saints and how we can seek to be more like the saints and Jesus who care for our world. To celebrate our science unit on living things we focused on how we can care for God's creation. Inspired by St. Francis, we drew ourselves as heroes who can save the world! We continued to develop our understanding of Jesus, His love for us, and that He will always be there for us.
Week 7: October 16-20th:
This week we focused on our Family Island Projects and provided the opportunity for students present their "Islands" to the class. After hearing from everyone and celebrating the differences in ourselves and our families, we celebrated what makes our classroom special. We decorated puzzle pieces which showcase our uniqueness and will be combined to display our classroom community
We are Mme Proulx's Grade 1 class
Each of us is unique.
Put us all together,
and the puzzle is complete!
Week 6: October 10th-14th:
This week we have been working on the Genesis story and creation. We thank God for all He has given us.
We also continued our exploration of poetry through exploration of the 3 Poems: Hail Mary, Our Father and Glory Be. Students designed their own prayer book and explored symbols of prayer. Following study of prayer, students were introduced to the rosary and built their own using pipe cleaners and beads.
May 14-18
This week we discussed the ascension to Jesus, his promises to us and celebrated the Pentecost. Students explored why it would have been so important for Jesus' disciples to speak the tongues of many people, and built their own flame hats that celebrated the many diverse languages the students in our class speak.
May 7-11th:
This week students explored the story of Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish (John 21: 1-10). We discussed ways we can remember that Jesus is always with us.
April 30-May 4th:
This week we focused on how Jesus is like a vine. He is the vine that supports us to grow as branches and leaves. Without his example we would not know how to do good for the Earth and for others. Students created examples of how they can follow Jesus' example and do good deeds and we created a class vine.
April 9-26:
In preparation for Earth Day, we have continued discussing ways to take care of the Earth and give more of ourselves to others.
April 3rd-6th:
This week we explored the ways we can show our commitment to our Faith and celebrate Jesus' resurrection. In church last weekend, my priest talked about ways we can give more of ourselves to God. He compared Jesus' Resurrection to people showing up to a group project once all the work is done and asking "Is there anything I can do to help?". In many ways, those who showed up to Jesus' empty tomb were given a "free pass"... All the heavy lifting was already done. As such, we need to remind ourselves each day to thank Jesus for his sacrifice and give more of ourselves to others, and to our faith. We created a resurrection bracelet to wear and remind ourselves of Jesus' sacrifice and help us to live our lives by considering "What Jesus Would Do" :)
March 26-29th:
This week we continued our study of the stations of the cross with a variety of art and reading activities. Students continued to explore how we can repent for our sins and strive to act by Jesus and God's example. We began learning about the Last Supper and completed a writing activity "If I could have supper with Jesus".Over Easter Weekend, students will bring home their own reader outlining the stations of the cross to read and discuss with you.
Week 26: March 19-23
Throughout the Lenten Season we have been learning the song "Father I Have Sinned". Students compared these song lyrics to the book "I'll Love You Forvever (Je t'aimerais pour toujours) by Robert Munsch. We discussed how parents have unconditional love for their children and will always welcome them with open arms, just as God does for us when we show penance for our sins.
Week 25: March 6th-9th
This week we continued our exploration of Lent and the idea of forgiveness with the story of the Prodigal Son. We compared this story to a discussion of parent's eternal love for their children and discussed ways we can show the same type of love to our family.
Week 24: Feb 26-March 2nd:
This week we finished up our Family Life Unit: Created Sexual Male and Female with our class presentations. Students continued to explore God's love for us by exploring Jesus' Journey Through Jerusalem just before Easter. Students studied the story of "The Good Samaritan" to explore how we are able to use God's love for us as inspiration to show love for our neighbours.
Weeks 22+23: Feb 12-23:
As we continued to explore Theme 3 of family life, we discussed the various ways couples and families show love. I was happy to give students the chance to look through my own wedding album and learn about the promise of a marriage. Students learned that a marriage is not only between the couple, but also involves God who helps the couple to support and care for one another. We also looked at the pictures in the album to discover the various ways love can be shown and recognized.
Following our discussions of how families show love, we continued our discussion on families and the decision to have a baby. We discussed God’s plan and how it is different for each person and each family. Some families choose to adopt, while other couples chose never to marry or have children. We looked at ultrasound pictures of babies, discussed pre-natal development and discussed how we know if a baby is a boy of girl, reviewing the vocabulary for the differences in our bodies. As a final task, students completed projects to share with the class. Students were given the opportunity to share how their families prepared for their birth, what their name means and how their family shows love.
Week 21: Feb 5-9th
This week the Grade 1 classes began Fully Alive Theme 3: Created Sexual: Male and Female. This unit offers a wonderful opportunity to explore the special love between families, and how each family is unique. At the center of each lesson is God’s message of love and commitment. We started the unit by exploring how families take care of one another, including how parents prepare for the birth of their child (i.e. picking a name).
Week 19: Jan 22-26
This week we focused on the 10 commandments and created a bracelet which we can wear to remind ourselves to act in a manner that would be fitting of a Saint who follows the rules God has given us.
Week 18: Jan 15-18
This week we focused on studying what self-care means. Students were asked to consider ways they can take care of their body which is a gift from God. They had some amazing ideas to help our body and our mind: take a bath, take a breather, hug your mom, talk to a friend, cuddle your dog, do your math, read a book, eat the 4 food groups, drink lots of water, pray etc. We used this as inspiration to begin our gratitude journals which have been scientifically proven to reduce stress and increase happiness in our lives. By taking time each week (or even better each day!) to thank God for what we have, we can actually improve our overall health and wellness. Similarly, we also continued to work on our class New Year's Resolution which was to pray more respectfully (making the sign of the cross) and thank God each day for different things.
Week 17: Jan 8-12
This week we focused on devoting ourselves to God and the wonderful things He has given us. We each described goals for growth over the next year and set a class wide goal to spend time each week to thank God. We will now be completing weekly Gratitude journals on Thankful Thursdays to remind ourselves of how lucky we are. We will be using this time of thanksgiving and reflection to further develop and enhance our Growth Mindset which reminds us that we grow from our mistakes and that every day offers the opportunity to learn.
Week 15: Dec 11-15
In addition to our religious advent and Nativity study, at the beginning of the week, Elfie covered our room in bright pink hearts hearts... We did some online research and it turns out that Christmas elves can always be found around acts of Peace and Kindness. To help make Elfie feel welcome we are transforming our classroom into a Kindness Kingdom. Each child will be sent home with 3 of Elfie's hearts to fill with pictures or sentences of acts of Kindness they have completed. If everyone returns their hearts filled with acts of Kindness, Elfie will visit our classroom!
"Hello!
Don’t forget to fill your hearts with acts of kindness if you want me to reveal my hiding spot in your classroom. I have been watching you every day and can’t wait to see how kind you can be! Please fill your hearts with pictures and/or words to make sure I’ll know what act of kindness you completed :)
Lots of love,
Elfie"
Week 14: Dec 4-8
This week we began to focus on Christmas and the Nativity story. Students began learning various songs such as "Take a Walk to Christmas", "Stay Awake, Be Ready" and "Light the Advent Candle" to prepare for the birth of Jesus. With our reading buddies, students worked together to create a book to share their own learnings from the Christmas Story.
Take a Walk to Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFklu4JI86c
Stay Awake, Be Ready: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZKZSmUJlzE
Week 13: Nov 27-Dec 1:
A Kindness Elf (Elfie) has been leaving little messages around our room to make sure that our students are behaving their best. It is Elfie's first year being a full-time Christmas Elf and sometimes it can be scary to leave the North Pole. It can be especially scary to come into a school where students throw snowballs, are very loud and act silly so we are working on ways to make Elfie feel welcome in our class.
Week 12: Nov 20-24
This week we explored what it means to be an Eco-Hero and keep promises. We signed a pledge that will with CARE for God's Creation and continued to explore ways that we can make a difference:
C- CARE
I will care for the plants and creatures around me.
A-ADAPT
I will adapt and change habits that hurt the earth. I will reduce the amount of garbage I create.
R- RESPONSIBLE
I will be responsible for my actions that impact the earth. I will reduce, re-use and recycle what I can.
E- ENERGY
I will save energy by turning off the lights, reducing the need for electronics and making environmentally friendly choices.
After exploring the story of Noah's Arc, we discussed ways we can help care for the animals in our world, including how to protect endangered animals. Students loved hearing a child friendly book about protecting South African Rhinos which I brought during my trip to South Africa. We used this religion topic as inspiration for our science unit on animal needs and for French through our "jeudi journal": Je suis un éco-héros."
Week 11: Nov 13-16th
To celebrate waste reduction/Eco-Week we focused on how we can care for God's creation. Specifically, we worked on completing missions to become battery bosses and keep the harmful chemicals inside batteries out of our landfills. Students were encouraged to explore the story of Noah's Arc and how we can help care and protect the animals in our world.
Week 10: Nov 6-10th
This week, our main focus was on peace and Remembrance day. One of the highlights of the week was a presentation which included pictures from Mme Proulx's high school trip to Normandy in France. I showed pictures of Juno Beach and the Canadian cemetery where many Canadian soldiers are buried. The students enjoyed talking about how lucky we are to live in Canada. After our discussion, we created doves and poppies to show what peace looks like, sounds like and feels like to each of us.
Week 9: October 30-Nov 2nd
For many, October means Halloween. In our class we have quite a few students who do not celebrate this "Holiday" so we will be focusing on the meaning of "Hallow's Eve" and All Saints Day. In the spirit of our school wide virtue of compassion, we began our exploration of Saints with the newly canonized Mother Teresa.
We explored the various ways we can act to be more like a saint and celebrated the amazing examples our students have set in the classroom thus far.
Week 8: October 23-26th:
This week we discussed the saints and how we can seek to be more like the saints and Jesus who care for our world. To celebrate our science unit on living things we focused on how we can care for God's creation. Inspired by St. Francis, we drew ourselves as heroes who can save the world! We continued to develop our understanding of Jesus, His love for us, and that He will always be there for us.
Week 7: October 16-20th:
This week we focused on our Family Island Projects and provided the opportunity for students present their "Islands" to the class. After hearing from everyone and celebrating the differences in ourselves and our families, we celebrated what makes our classroom special. We decorated puzzle pieces which showcase our uniqueness and will be combined to display our classroom community
We are Mme Proulx's Grade 1 class
Each of us is unique.
Put us all together,
and the puzzle is complete!
Week 6: October 10th-14th:
This week we have been working on the Genesis story and creation. We thank God for all He has given us.
Week 4 & 5: Sept 25-October 6th:
We have been studying our families and responsibilities. Through Terry Fox's example we studied how we can help others in our community and in our families.
Week 3: Sept 18th-22nd:
We were so grateful to experience our first Mass at St. Justin's Parish on Tuesday. We had beautiful weather for our walk to the church, and were so pleased to be welcomed to the Parish for the new year.
As part of our preparation for mass we reviewed why we pray and how we can use Prayer to connect with and praise God for all He has given us. We held a classroom prayer service to thank God for bringing all of us together in our amazing classroom for such a great new school year! We celebrated our unique differences as children of God and began to work on our first art assignment- "No one has a hand like mine".
This week we explored the book: "As-tu remplis un seau aujourd'hui?" (Have You Filled a Bucket Today?). We have been working on how we can “fill one another’s buckets” which means helping them to feel good about themselves and happy. We can be bucket fillers by following the golden rule or bucket dippers when we do something wrong!
Week 2: September 11th-15th
This week we began focusing on the Cross as a symbol of our faith and our connection to God. Students explored where and how they can "see" and "feel" God in their daily lives.
We have been studying our families and responsibilities. Through Terry Fox's example we studied how we can help others in our community and in our families.
Week 3: Sept 18th-22nd:
We were so grateful to experience our first Mass at St. Justin's Parish on Tuesday. We had beautiful weather for our walk to the church, and were so pleased to be welcomed to the Parish for the new year.
As part of our preparation for mass we reviewed why we pray and how we can use Prayer to connect with and praise God for all He has given us. We held a classroom prayer service to thank God for bringing all of us together in our amazing classroom for such a great new school year! We celebrated our unique differences as children of God and began to work on our first art assignment- "No one has a hand like mine".
This week we explored the book: "As-tu remplis un seau aujourd'hui?" (Have You Filled a Bucket Today?). We have been working on how we can “fill one another’s buckets” which means helping them to feel good about themselves and happy. We can be bucket fillers by following the golden rule or bucket dippers when we do something wrong!
Week 2: September 11th-15th
This week we began focusing on the Cross as a symbol of our faith and our connection to God. Students explored where and how they can "see" and "feel" God in their daily lives.
Faith is a large part of our classroom community. For the first few weeks we will be focusing on character building and establishing a community of Catholic learners in our class. As a school community we will be focusing on the Catholic Graduate Expectations, beginning with encouraging students to become "A Responsible Citizen".