Kenneth D. Taylor - Grade 1D

This week we are having special days to promote literacy. Tuesday is COLOUR day; wear fun, bright colours and ride your bike to school! There will be room in the gym to park all the bikes. Wednesday is crazy hair/hat day. The whole school will be participating in 'DROP everything and READ' where we will hear an announcement to stop what you're doing and pick up a book. Thursday is crazy SOCK day! Wear your favourite, silly socks. Friday will be beach day and we will be doing a fun sandcastle activity. Please use your judgement for appropriate beach wear. (ie. no bikini tops!)

Swimming this week has been a success! The students are enjoying their lessons and overcoming fears and challenges! Here are a few pics from the lessons: This Thursday evening from 3:30-7:30 and Friday morning from 8:00-12:00 are the final student-led conferences of the year. Please call the office if you are having difficulty signing up for a time online. Due to the conferences there is no school this Friday, April 20th. Classes will resume on Monday as usual. Passion for glass: The field trip forms for passion for glass are due! The students will be participating in this wonderful activity on Tuesday, April 24th. Please email/phone me if you are able to volunteer! Thanks and enjoy the rest of the week:) -Ms. C

We are short on volunteers to help the students get ready/changed for swimming next week. If you have current CBE police clearance and are available in the morning next week from Monday to Thursday please email me! Thank you very much: tkcarstairs@cbe.ab.ca -Ms. C

Our class will be going to the Thornhill Aquatic & Fitness Center for swim lessons as part of the Alberta Physical Education curriculum! The lessons will begin on April 16th and finish on the 19th. The students will come to school as usual and will be taking a chartered school bus, supervised by teachers, to the aquatic center where they will receive lessons from the pool staff. Please send your child with a swimsuit and a towel and an extra bag (a plastic shopping bag is fine) on these days! A permission form will be coming home with your child today. In class, students have been working on their own stories and learning about how to edit their work and complete a rough and a good copy. They have been using their writing checklists to ensure they are doing their best work. At upcoming conferences, your child will show you a piece of writing and explain how they use the checklist to edit their work. For math, we are beginning our unit on measurement! Today we will be see...

On Monday, the students were VERY excited to see that a Leprechaun had come into our room over the weekend, made a big mess and stole all of the gold out of our traps! Unfortunately, no one managed to catch him. The students did some excellent writing about 'How to catch a Leprechaun' after and have been using their writing checklist to ensure their writing is the best it can be! Ask your child what they need to look for to get a 4-Star writing piece! In Math the students learned a fun, new game called 'Bump!' Here's a link to some free 'Bump' printables, if you would like to print it and have your child show you how to play over Spring break! You will need something for playing pieces (10 each) and 3 dice! http://www.teachjunkie.com/math-subject/roll-cover-bump-cool-math-games/ Tomorrow is a half day and the students will be dismissed at 12:00, even though it is a Thursday. There is no school on Friday as it is the first day of Spring Break for th...

We finished inline skating last Friday and I was very impressed with their progress and their skills! Here are a few pics of us: Thank you for all the donations of cereal boxes and building materials!! We started by designing our Leprechaun Traps with Ms. Moore's class yesterday and today we had the opportunity to begin using our supplies to construct them as per our design. We will continue to build over the next two days and see if we can't catch a Leprechaun over the weekend! Here are some pictures of us collaborating on our traps: Just a reminder that this Friday is our next fun lunch! Also, our last day of classes before Spring break is Thursday, March 22. The students are off on Friday and will return April 3. Enjoy the rest of your week! :) -Ms. Carstairs

Hello,   Our grade 1 team is starting our building unit and we are hoping you can help out with gathering some materials:)   If you have any of the following items that are empty and clean, please bring    ·        Kleenex boxes ·        Cereal boxes ·        Yogurt cups ·        Shoe boxes ·        Toilet paper tubes ·        Paper towel tubes ·        Box of straws ·        Box of popsicle sticks ·        Pipe cleaners ·        Paper plates ·        Paper or plastic cups ·        String/Twine ·        Ribbon ·      ...

This week the students have been working with numbers and arranging items in a variety of ways to show as many different ways to show the same number as possible. Here are some pictures of us working! For the past couple of weeks we have been reading, illustrating and writing our own version of the wall story entitled, Please, Mr. Panda. Each student will write their own version and will bring it home by the weekend to share with their families. Our class started inline skating today, and we will continue tomorrow and Friday. If permitted, students are able to leave their helmets at school for the remainder of the program and then bring them home on the weekend. There will be pictures of this fun activity in the upcoming posts; stay tuned! -Ms. C

Dear Parents/Guardians,   We are going to be starting our science unit on Building Things in the next few weeks. It is a really fun unit, but it requires lots of materials. Therefore, we are requesting your help!   If you have any of the following items that are empty and clean, please send them with your child to school.   ·        Kleenex boxes ·        Cereal boxes ·        Yogurt cups ·        Shoe boxes ·        Toilet paper tubes ·        Paper towel tubes     If you have any decorative supplies at your house that you are not using, we would also love them! Some ideas include: ·        Box of straws ·        Box of popsicle sticks ·        Pipe cleaners · ...

Michael Mitchell is coming to perform at Ken Taylor School this Tuesday, March 6th at 12:45! Parents are welcome to join. Also, Ms. Carstairs' class starts inline skating on Wednesday so please remember to send your child to school with their helmet! Enjoy your weekend:)

Two things will be coming home in your child's backpack today. One is art that your child completed last Friday and an order form. This is put on by parent council and is a fundraiser for the playground. If you would like to order your child's art in the form of a card, please fill out the form and return to school. There is also a field trip form for Alien Inline skating. The inline teachers will be coming to our school to teach the students how to inline skate (rollerblade). All the equipment is provided except for helmets; please send your child to school with a helmet on March 7, 8 and 9th (Carstairs). Please sign and return the form prior to the start of inline skating! Tomorrow is also a Toonie popcorn day so if you missed popcorn day today you are still able to buy a bag of popcorn from Kernels for $2. In Math this past two weeks, we have been working on simple addition and subtraction word problems. Here are some pictures of us working! We also complete...

I still have a few students who have not returned their signed field trip forms. The Leighton Center is coming tomorrow to do an in-school field trip and teaching the children how to build a sculpture using a variety of materials. I have sent home some new notices in your child's bag today if I have not received their form yet. Unfortunately, if the form is not brought back tomorrow morning, that student will not be able to participate in this fun activity! Please call/email if you have any questions! Thanks, Ms. C

Next Wednesday is Valentine's Day. If your child would like to bring something for this day, I ask that you please include everyone in the classroom! Please note, it is optional to participate but if you choose to do so it's important that everyone feel included. I will send home a list of the names of the students in our class today. Toys at School: There has been some problems in our class lately with students who are bringing toys, stuffies and other items to school. It is a school rule that children do not bring toys to school in the case of them going missing or being damaged. These toys are being given away to friends and then asked for back and causing a lot of problems. Also, they are a distraction to the learning during class time. If you could please remind your child that it is NOT allowed to bring toys to school and check their bags in the morning that would be greatly appreciated:) Teacher's Convention: Just a friendly reminder that there is no sc...

This Wednesday and Thursday are POPCORN days! If you would like to purchase a bag of popcorn, please bring $2 to school on one or both of these days. This Friday is FUN LUNCH! Next Thursday and Friday are student-led conferences. Please watch the blog for more detailed information; coming soon!! Have a great week:) -Ms. C

Thank you for all the wonderful presents and for the well wishes. I wish my students and their families all the very best over the next two weeks and look forward to a New Year and new learning in January! -Ms. Carstairs

Please bring something small (to fit in a brown paper bag) that makes sound! We will be playing a mystery sound game to continue our talk on the senses and our sense of hearing. An example of something you might bring could be a small rattle or bell. Thank you!!

In lieu of doing an evening Christmas concert, the students at Ken Taylor will participate in winter celebration week. This will consist of assemblies each day on the last week of school that showcase different class performances so all parents may have the opportunity to come and watch their child. The schedule is as follows: Ms. Carstairs' class will be performing on Tuesday the 19th. The assembly will begin at 8:30. Also please join in for our spirit days and dress up! Monday is festive day where you can wear anything that celebrates a particular custom or festival you may have. Tuesday is holiday hat day, Wednesday is PJ day and Thursday is 'Candy cane day' where you can dress in red and white. Thanks!

Just a reminder that there is no school this Friday, November 17th as it is a PD day for teachers.