ISB Grade 1

We start the year with a mathematics unit called How
Many of Each? from the Investigations in Number, Data, and Space
Curriculum. This unit is an introduction to mathematical ideas such as
counting, ordering and comparing quantities, and addition.

Click here to download the PDF:
How Many of Each

Counting activities to try at home.

Please click here to download the PDF:

Counting Activities (M9-10)

We’ve been working hard at learning and using strategies to figure out words.  All of this is in service to the main goal of reading: to understand and enjoy the text.  Students will be taking home bookmarks that can be used to remind them of the strategies learned in class.  It is best to let your child struggle through a word and use different strategies to help solve the word than it is to give them the word.  We want them to feel confident when they come across an unknown word and to be as independent as possible.  When students use these strategies at home, ask them what strategy they used and why.  This will help to reinforce good reading behaviours.  This is a good way to celebrate all the learning your child has accomplished.

Every Friday, we go book shopping.  Students select a variety of books from the classroom library and other collections borrowed from the Hub.  Students are responsible for choosing “Just Right Books” that are at their independent reading level.  That means that they should only come across a few difficult words.  It is important that your child is able to understand what they read.  The reading should also sound smooth and not choppy.

In order to check for understanding, we are working on RETELLING.  Students are encouraged to talk about what they read.  We are using the following prompts:
1) When the story starts…
2) Then…
3) Finally…
A good retell includes characters names, main events, setting, words and voices from the text.  Students will practice these skills in class and are encouraged to do the same with reading at home.

We are beginning a new unit in mathematics called Making Shapes and Designing Quilts.  This geometry unit focuses on two-dimensional shapes and the relationships among them.  Students observe, describe, compare, classify, represent, and build with 2-D shapes. They will also combine triangles and squares to make quilt patterns.

Click here to download the pdf of the parent letter:

Math Parent Letter: Creating Shapes and Designing Quilts

Unit 1: Launching the Writing Workshop
In this unit, we help all children see themselves as authors. Children discover that the things that happen to them each day are stories worth telling and writing.

We will focus on:
- choosing topics that are real and important to us
- planning for writing
- drafting as best as we can
- stretching out sounds in words
- using author tools to help us write

Parents can help support writing at home by:
- modeling and sharing your writing at home
- talk about writing work done in class
- write list, letters , etc. at home
- share and recognize experiences that are good to write about