Miss Laidlaw

Room 101

SKN

GR1

September 2015

Ours to Discover
Appreciations

Twitter

Thank you to our GREC caretakers

who worked tirelessly over the summer
to
clean
our
school,
perform
maintenance, and store extra furniture
and supplies.
Thanks to our GREC office staff for
organizing student registrations over the
summer and providing us with all of the
necessary back-to-school documents.
Thank you to Mr. Paul Hewitt (an
elementary occasional teacher) for
making our picnic tables and other
items in our classroom over the summer.
Appreciations to Mrs. Cole for
transporting and storing our picnic
tables.

Our class is on Twitter! Our Twitter

handle
is
@grecgryphons12.
An
important permission form is in your
childs agenda - allowing or disallowing
names, pictures, and work to be shared
on Twitter.
Its the same account I used last
year teaching the 1/2 class at Granite
Ridge, so some of our families may
already be following us. Students are
always excited to connect with their
families and show them what were up
to every day.
We have made so many learning
connections with other classes and have
plans to continue our sharing and
learning challenges this year!

Welcome back!
Welcome back to school! I am
happy to have you and your child in our
class community.
I am very excited to teach my
second year at GREC and my third in
Sharbot Lake. After three years
teaching grades 1 and 2, I am making
the change to SK/1.
Our classroom will incorporate a
number of high -yield strategies
(research-based teaching and learning
strategies), including inquiry, authentic
tasks (learning based on interests and
real life), and guided groups (small
group instruction such as guided
reading).
If you would like to volunteer or
contribute to our learning environment,
please contact me via e-mail.

Homework
Worksheets and reading logs will
not be a part of our homework system.
Students are encouraged to read
and/or be read to every night for at
least 20 minutes. Some excellent
audiobooks are available on our class
website in the Language - Daily 5 Listen to Reading tab.
Writing can be practiced by
keeping a journal, writing grocery lists,
making cards, and writing letters and
e-mails.
M a th e m a t i c s s k i l l s c a n b e
strengthened by finding patterns in real
life,
exploring shapes, baking, using
money, and simple addition and
subtraction questions in real life
experiences.

Miss Laidlaw
Room 101

SKN

GR1

September 2015

Ours to Discover
Upcoming Special Days

Classroom Supplies

September 15: International Dot Day

Inspired by Peter H. Reynoldss book,
The Dot, classrooms all over the world
celebrate this day by wearing polka dots
and participating in curriculum-related
dotty activities.

Other than indoor shoes and a

bookbag, students dont need to have
classroom supplies purchased for
back-to-school. Pencils, colouring tools,
scissors, glue, and notebooks are all
provided by the school. However,
special supplies and items can be stored
in students individual cubbies.
However, our classroom is Reggioinspired. Part of this approach to inquirybased education is using loose parts.
Students are encouraged to bring
acorns, pinecones, nuts and bolts, shells,
beads, ribbon, material and fabric
scraps, popsicle sticks, egg cartons,
clothespins, and other small items to our
room to use in our learning.

September 19: Talk Like a Pirate Day

This year, it falls on a Saturday - so we
will celebrate on Friday, September 18.
Pirate-themed outfits are welcome - but
optional.

Assessments
In the first few weeks of school, I will
be completing a few assessments with
your child. Here are a few:
1.

2.

3.

4.

Dolch Sight Word Screener - These are

lists of sight words (words to be
automatically recognized and read)
by grade level.
Words Their Way - This is a spelling
assessment to level students
phonemic awareness (especially in writing).
Sound Skills Screener - This is an oral
language-based assessment to learn
about a childs prereading skills.
PM Benchmark and/or DRA - These
level a students reading ability.

Sincerely,

Miss Laidlaw
Website: http://misslaidlaw.weebly.com
Twitter: @GrecGryphons12
E-Mail: laidlawa@limestone.on.ca