Friday, September 26, 2025

 Hello families,

Important Reminders:

September 29 – Non-Instruction Day – NO SCHOOL for students

September 30 – NO SCHOOL – National Day for Truth & Reconciliation

October 2 – Picture Day

This week, we:

• had our first fire drill on Monday! Students did a great job walking to our meeting spot and listening quietly!

• reviewed the Lively Letters 'o', 'm', 'n' and 'k' and read words and sentences with these (and other) sounds!

• learned some new heart words this week including the words "to", "is" and "see".  Heart wordsare words with parts that are tricky to sound out so students have to learn that part by heart. These words will be so important for us to know when we are reading and writing sentences!

• continued to work on representing numbers to 20 in a variety of ways and did some activities and played some games to practice our counting

• listened to the story "Buffalo Wild" and learned about the importance of showing respect to others, the land and the animals.  We brainstormed a variety of behaviours and actions that make us feel respected.

• with our buddies, we wrote messages on buffalos to describe the ways we feel respected. We coloured and cut these buffalo out with our buddies and added them to a whole school display that highlights the ways all the students in our school feel respected.

• spent some time reading with our buddies

• listened to the story "When We Were Alone" and "With Our Orange Hearts" and discussed how Indigenous students felt when they were at residential schools. Students brainstormed words to describe how we feel that all students should feel at school. We wrote these words on orange ribbons and went with our buddies to tie these ribbons to the fence at the front of the school to show everyone how we want students to feel at school.

 Things to Practice at Home:

There are some really important things your child can practice at home that will help them greatly in the class!

• practice writing their name with the first letter as a capital and the rest as lowercase letters

• have your child write the lowercase alphabet in order and see if they can get quicker at writing the letters the more that they practice!

• practicing counting with your child! In grade one, we work towards counting to 100. So, if your child can currently count to 29, spend a few minutes every day counting a bit higher with them!

• have your child practicing writing the numbers every day so they can practice writing them more automatically!

Friday, September 19, 2025

 Hello families,

Important Reminders:

September 18 – Terry Fox Run

September 25 – Subway Fun Lunch – Orders can be placed at healthyhunger.ca

September 25 – 5:00 – 7:00 – Welcome to the New Year Open House

September 26 – Orange Shirt Day

September 29 – Non-Instruction Day – NO SCHOOL for students

September 30 – NO SCHOOL – National Day for Truth & Reconciliation

October 2 – Picture Day

ORANGE SHIRT DAY

September 30th is a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation meant to commemorate the history and legacy of Residential Schools in Canada. On Friday, September 26th, students are encouraged to wear an orange shirt or something else with orange to recognize Orange Shirt Day and the National Truth and Reconciliation Day. 

Students will be engaging in learning next week to honor this important day. Through read alouds and activities, students will focus on understanding what they each need to feel safe and cared for at school and to consider this question: “What action can each member of our school community do to make sure every student feels safe and cared for at school, everyday?” This week is an opportunity for Northern Lights students and staff to come together in the spirit of reconciliation to show their support of a safe, respectful and caring school community.  

Make sure you read our blog posts next week to learn more about the activities and learning students are doing in our classroom.   

This week, we:

• reviewed the lively letters 'd', 'i', 'f' and 'v' and read words that contained these sounds

 

• learned some new heart words (words with sounds that are tricky to sound out) this week including the words "a", "I, "the" and "to". These words will be so important for us to know when we are reading and writing sentences!

• learned what labelling is and worked on making some labels this week, including labeling the parts of our teacher! Ask your child what part of one of the teachers that they labelled!

• worked on an "All About Me" page where students got to draw and write the words for some of their favourite things!

• learned about Terry Fox and all that he did to raise awareness and money for cancer research

• ran around the field for the Terry Fox Run!

• practiced some new math stations to help us review how we count and subitize numbers to 10

• went outside to use our senses to observe what we see, smell, hear and feel in the Summer

Things to Practice at Home:

There are some really important things your child can practice at home that will help them greatly in the class!

• practice writing their name with the first letter as a capital and the rest as lowercase letters

• have your child write the lowercase alphabet in order and see if they can get quicker at writing the letters the more that they practice!

• practicing counting with your child! In grade one, we work towards counting to 100. So, if your child can currently count to 29, spend a few minutes every day counting a bit higher with them!

Friday, September 12, 2025

Hello families,

It has been a wonderful week in grade one!

Here are some important reminders:

Please make sure your child has:

• a pair of indoor runners that stay at school (no laces) and outside shoes (no laces)

• a change of clothes in their backpack (in case of accidents or spills)
• a healthy lunch, full water bottle and a separate healthy snack (students eat their snack in the afternoon so they need to know exactly what to eat for lunch and what to eat for snack). Please make sure your child can open ALL of their snack and drink containers all by themselves.  Have them practice at home with you to make sure they can.

• please ensure to return the parent questionnaires if you haven't yet

Terry Fox Event at Northern Lights School  

Each September, students at Northern Lights School will join thousands of schools worldwide in the annual Terry Fox Event.  In preparation for the event, students reflect on topics such as Terry Fox’s legacy, meeting challenges, empathy, and setting personal goals.  You may wish to support your child’s learning about Terry Fox through discussion at home.  Further information can be found at https://terryfox.org/. 

This year the Northern Lights School community is challenged to meet the goal set by our students of raising $1500.00 and running or walking 1500 km!  

On Thursday, September 18, students will run around a designated course on the field beside the school.  In case of inclement weather, the run will take place indoors during regularly scheduled Phys. Ed. classes. 

Students and families are invited to donate to the Terry Fox Foundation in the following ways: by contributing cash or cheques, made payable to The Terry Fox Foundation, to classroom collection boxes; or online. Online donations may be made at: https://schools.terryfox.ca/98133. Tax receipts will be issued by the Terry Fox Foundation for donations over $20.00.  All monies raised through our event will be forwarded to the Foundation to further the cause of cancer research.  The deadline for donation is Friday, September 19. 

Let’s help Northern Lights School keep Terry’s dream of finding a cure for cancer alive.         

Thank you! 

This week in grade one, we:

• reviewed the lively letter sounds for 'p', 'b', 'a' and 't' and started reading words that contained these sounds

• started writing words that contain these sounds (and some other familiar sounds)

• worked on some guided drawings that matched the sounds we were practicing

• began representing numbers to 10 in different ways

• used manipulatives to represent different numbers at our tables

• began to learn a new math game using ten frames. Students are using their subitizing skills to play this game.  Subitizing is the ability to instantly recognize the number of items in a small group without counting. Ask your child how to play. 

• started learning about the seasons and what kinds of changes happen during each of the seasons. Ask you child to tell you the four seasons in the correct order! (spring, summer, fall, winter)

• learned about different ways we can "regulate" our bodies. Ask your child what it means to "regulate" .

• got to meet our grade four buddies. They read us a book! We will meet with them again next week when we do the Terry Fox run!