Report Card Overview

Grade One - Term 2

March 2015
Dear grade one parents,
Welcome to the midyear reporting period. To assist you in interpreting your child's progress and to
describe what we have covered this term, here is our second term curriculum overview.
Language Arts:
Writing:
Meaning: Children have started to increase the amount of written output in their writing assignments.
Sentences or ideas should be related to each other, with supporting and interesting details. A sense of
originality is encouraged.
Style: Students should show evidence of choosing some words for effect and should be including
descriptive language on a regular basis.
Form: Students have had opportunities to experiment with voice in their written assignments, writing
from the perspective of a different character. Students are expected to maintain this voice throughout
the written piece and include thoughts and feelings of a character. In our Multi-cultural Social Studies
unit, students created their own information book and were expected to include taught text features
(such as labeling, captions, bold text) into their own work.
Conventions: Students have had a more formal introduction to basic punctuation. They are expected
to consistently start their written pieces with a capital letter and to end with punctuation. They should
be experimenting with punctuation in their daily work. Students have learned some basic proofreading strategies and should employ these upon completion of a writing assignment.
Spelling: Students should be using taught high frequency no excuse words correctly in their written
work as well as applying weekly word study patterns in their daily writing. They should have a strong
grasp of short vowel sounds, consonant blends, as well as the sounds ch, sh and th. Children have been
introduced to the magic e for long vowel sounds.
Reading:
Reading: When reading aloud, it is expected that students have moved beyond reading word by word
and are now reading with more natural phrasing. Students should be acknowledging punctuation cues
and responding appropriately with expression. Children should be employing a variety of decoding
strategies. They should show evidence of comprehension by self-correcting miscues that do not fit
with the meaning of the text, making logical predictions, answering basic comprehension questions,
and retelling basic events in logical sequence.
Application of Reading Power: This term our focus has been on visualization. Children have been

taught to use words in the text to create mental images while reading in both written and drawn
responses. The children have utilized this strategy while listening to our in class read-aloud novel
Harry the Poisonous Centipede and in response to a collection of stories read-aloud. As they start to
read longer text with fewer illustrations, they are encouraged to apply this strategy to deepen their
understanding of their reading.
Public Speaking was an integral part of the Language Arts program this term.
Mathematics:
Concepts and Applications: This term students were introduced to the numbers up to twenty. They
should be able to count forward and backward from 20 and recognize numbers as tens + ones. They
should be able to add and subtract 1-digit numbers up to 20. Students are also expected to recognize
common 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shapes, compare and measure length of objects, and
measure and compare weight of objects.
Strategies and Approaches: Students should be able to identify if a word problem requires addition or
subtraction in order to be solved. They should be able to add two 1-digit numbers, using the make 10
strategy. Students have been introduced to the idea of using a number bond to solve more complex
subtraction questions. Counting on and counting back should be a strategy used when adding or
subtracting 1, 2, or 3. Students are also expected to be able to accurately measure objects using a
variety of units.
Accuracy The students have continued strengthening their basic number facts (adding and subtracting
0, 1, 2, 10, and the friendly pairs). They have learned the computation strategies for 3, 9, 8, the
doubles and doubles plus 1. It is expected that the students are using these mental math strategies when
calculating number facts.
Science:
This term in Science the students had a chance to finish our unit on Forces and Motion unit where they
learned about the concept of friction, gravity, and momentum and applied them to solve real live
problems. They also had the opportunity to learn about magnets. The young scientists enjoyed
experimenting with magnets to discover objects to which magnets attract and repel. They experimented
with different types of magnets of varying strengths and learned how the magnetic forces can work
through other objects.
Social Studies:
The children took part in a number of activities surrounding seasonal themes such as: Winter, Chinese
New Year and Valentine's Day (with a classroom focus on kindness). We concluded our Multicultural
thematic unit and each child learned many interesting facts about children in other countries. Their
individual country study booklets were a major component of their project marks. Children are
expected to contribute to and participate in class discussions and lessons.

Art:
Students are expected to display originality, creativity and a sense of accomplishment when creating
their art work using a variety of media. Illustrations that accompany their writing should be showing
increasing detail. Cutting, tracing, painting and colouring should be done with increasing accuracy.
Work and Study Habits:
Children have been taught independent work habits and active listening skills and are expected to
exhibit these in classroom learning. Students are expected to show more responsibility toward their
belongings and to be organized and prepared at work times. Students are learning how to complete
assignments in the time provided.
French:
This term in French grade 1 students were exposed to new vocabulary through the context of a new
AIM story: Petite Pauline. In addition, students were introduced to a variety of new games and songs.
A focus this term was on responding orally to closed- and open-ended questions.
Music:
This term, students in grade 1 expanded on basic knowledge introduced in term 1. Through movement,
singing games, and instrument play, students explored basic rhythms and melodies. Students are now
able to read and write basic rhythms using eighth notes, quarter notes, and quarter rests. They are able
to sight-sing and notate melodies that use do, mi, so, and la syllables. Students continue to
explore different ways that we can change music: tempo, dynamics, and form. Music literature covered
in term 2 included seasonal songs (Christmas and other winter festivals, New Year, Valentines Day).
Moving forward in preparation for their spring concerts, students will learn musical concepts through
musical literature about well-loved fairy-tales. This topic will connect directly to their classroom
learning.
P.E.:
The focus in the second term of grade one physical education has continued to be on Physical Literacy.
The concept of Physical Literacy aims to build the physical, cognitive and affective (social-emotional)
competencies that will make possible for the student to participate with confidence and competence in
life long physical activities. The fundamental movement skills we focused on this term were: dribbling
with hands and feet using floor ball sticks, basketballs and soccer balls, striking objects with
implements including badminton racquets and paddles, skipping (jump rope), balancing, throwing, and
catching and learning to move into space to receive a pass. The students were also asked to make
connections between physical activity in the gym, classroom, and outside of school. The specific work
habits that were assessed were the ability to focus and be aware of their surroundings, comprehend,
listen to and follow through with instructions, their cooperation with others, helpfulness, as well as
their effort and attitude.