Week of January 28th

Dear Parents,                                                                                January 27, 2013

Please make sure that your fabulous first grader goes over these areas of study with you this week.

Virtue of the Month: *Courage

Saxon Math: Lessons 64-66: Write the numbers 58-60; Addition, Subtraction; Number sentence; Addition and subtraction; Counting by tens; Time to the hour; Even and Odd numbers- writing and counting up/aloud from random numbers, Math centers in the classroom (Pennies, Dimes, Working with Zero, Measurement with linking cubes and pennies, Telling time to the hour; Scales/Weight, Geo-boards, Pattern block diagrams, Shapes)

History/Geography: * Egypt- Importance of The Nile River; King Tut

                                   

Religion: Explore Art Print 4- Bring Peace, Art Print 7- Serving the Kingdom and Art Print 13- Our Neighbors; Wednesday - Class Mass @ 8:00

Science: * Introduction to Space, The planet song; The Sun: source of energy, light and heat and the moon: phases of the moon (full, half, crescent, new)

Literature: *Teacher “January-themed” selections;  *January Writing Journal

Sayings: * “The man in the moon.”

Reading: Reading Centers: Individual and Group Reading with the teacher, Saxon booklets (1-21); Open Court Reading Anthologies- Book 1; SSR – Student Silent Reading, Buddy Reading (with other 1^st graders and with our 4^th grade Reading Buddies) and Listening Center as a class

Saxon Phonics: Worksheet 61- vowel y- cry, sight words love and move; Worksheet 62- vowel y- candy, sight words any and many.

Spelling:  No Spelling List/Test this week.  Around the World (sight word and spelling words) in class and/or Sight word /Spelling word Bingo for Spelling List(s) #1-12 and Kindergarten/First grade sight words from Saxon booklets

Language Arts: Journal writing, capitals, periods, question marks and exclamation marks

Art: * January Art projects – Pyramids, King Tut line drawings

News to Know:

Weekly Reading logs and Book Reports are due Friday.

Catholic School’s Week Monday kick off- Student Appreciation Day!

Dress Up Day: twin, triplet, etc. day - Coordinate with a friend or friend(s) dress up day!  Please refer to your weekly flyer for the rest of the fun activities planned for the week!

Special “No Homework Week” this week for First grade!!! Yay!!!  (We will complete both sides of Saxon Phonics and Math IN class!)  This is in honor of how hard both you and your child have been working!  Plus, you will need a week off before our next BIG project J Hint:  First grade Solar Systems will be due February 22^nd.  These may be home made or a “personalized” store bought model.  Each child’s model will be suspended in the classroom, so a maximum height/length of 18 inches is necessary in order to make our way throughout the classroom “galaxy” each day!  Styrofoam, lightweight clay, construction paper, etc. have been materials that have been easy for the kids (and parent helpers) to use.  One or two metal dry cleaning hangars prove to be great mobiles for these systems.  Please see me if you have any questions regarding this fun project! 

Week of January 21st

Dear Parents,                                                                                         January 21, 2013

Please make sure that your fabulous first grader goes over these areas of study with you this week.

Virtue of the Month: *Courage

Saxon Math: Lessons 61-63: Write the numbers 55-57; Addition, Subtraction; Number sentences; Written Assessment #11; Addition and subtraction; Counting by tens; Time to the hour; Even and Odd numbers- writing and counting up/aloud from random numbers, Math centers in the classroom (Pennies, Dimes, Working with Zero, Measurement with linking cubes and pennies, Telling time to the hour; Scales/Weight, Geo-boards, Pattern block diagrams, Shapes)

History/Geography: * Egypt on the map- locate Egypt and The Nile; Importance of The Nile River, floods and farming

                                   

Religion: Session 13-Jesus Teaches Us to Share; Wednesday - Class Mass @ 8:00; Thursday- All School Mass in school uniforms (despite P.E.) @ 8:00

Science: * Introduction to Space, The planet song

Literature: *Teacher “January-themed” selections;  *January Writing Journal

Sayings: * “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

Reading: Reading Centers: Individual and Group Reading with the teacher, Saxon booklet #20 – Review final, stable syllables in Fun with Uncle Steve; Open Court Reading Anthologies- Book 1; SSR – Student Silent Reading, Buddy Reading (with other 1^st graders and with our 4^th grade Reading Buddies) and Listening Center as a class

Saxon Phonics: Worksheet 58- final syllables ‘{tle – bottle and ‘{gle – bugle; sight word eye; Worksheet 59- final, stable syllables –cle, kle, sle and zle

Spelling:  Spelling List #12, ABC word order, Rainbow words, Around the World (sight word and spelling words) in class and/or Sight word /Spelling word Bingo for Spelling List(s) #1-12 and Kindergarten/First grade sight words from Saxon booklets

Language Arts: Journal writing, capitals, periods, question marks and exclamation marks

Art: * January Art projects – Egyptian crocs, Pyramids, King Tut line drawings

News to Know:

Weekly Reading logs (and Book Reports) are due Friday.  For this week, we will be doing our book reports at school.  The topic is Egypt and all children will have access to a book of their choice, either from the school or class library.  These will be displayed in class, given our current theme of Egypt for this week.

Please feel free to visit this Sunday at our school’s Open House!  This is a great way to visit other classes, as well as your child’s! 

This week’s Mass opportunities are abundant!

Wednesday class Mass @ 8:00

Thursday ALL SCHOOL MASS @ 8:00 (School uniforms – No P.E. clothing)

Sunday Mass @ 9:00 to kick off our SHA Open House!

Week of January 7th

Dear Parents,                                                                                      January 6, 2013

Happy New Year!  I hope that you and your family had a great Christmas vacation! 

Thank you so much for your generosity in adding me to your Christmas list.  You are most kind and it is truly appreciated!  As I tell the kids, they ARE the present, as are you all!  I am so looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow!

Please make sure that your fabulous first grader goes over these areas of study with you this week.

Virtue of the Month: *Courage

Saxon Math: Review Addition and Subtraction with Zero, Lessons 53-55: Write the numbers 48-50; Addition, Subtraction; Number sentences; Written Assessment #9; Addition and subtraction; Counting by tens; Time to the hour; Math centers in the classroom (Pennies, Dimes, Working with Zero, Telling time to the hour; Scales/Weight, Geo-boards, Pattern block diagrams, Shapes)

History/Geography: * History of World Religions- Review of Judaism and Christianity; Introduce Islam and How Muslims Worship

                                   

Religion: Unit 3 - Session 11- Following +Jesus’ The Church, My Guardian Angel, +Jesus Asks Friends to Follow and People in Your Church; Wednesday - Class Mass @ 8:00

Science: * Introduction to Space

Social Studies: * Introduction to Egypt

Literature: *Teacher “January-themed” selections;  *January Writing Journal

Sayings: * “Wolf in sheep’s clothing”

Reading: Reading Centers: Individual and Group Reading with the teacher, Saxon booklet Review 17-21; SSR – Student Silent Reading, Buddy Reading (with other 1^st graders and with our 4^th grade Reading Buddies) and Listening Center as a class

Saxon Phonics: Worksheet 50- Assessment 9 (Tuesday); Worksheet 51-

Jj- jar and sight word- says; Worksheet 52- Floss Rule; Worksheet 53- Vv- vest, sight words give, have, live and final v- spelled “ve”; Worksheet 54- Spelling with final e.

Spelling:  Spelling List #10, ABC word order, Rainbow words, Around the World (sight word and spelling words) in class and/or Sight word /Spelling word Bingo for Spelling List(s) #1-10 and Kindergarten/First grade sight words from Saxon booklets

Language Arts: Handwriting Lesson 5, New Year’s Resolutions, Journal writing, capitals, periods, question marks and exclamation marks

Art: * January Art projects – Snowflakes and snow people

News to Know:

Weekly Reading logs and Book Reports are due Friday.  Book report forms will now be coming home every Monday.  For this week, please have your child read any winter or snow-related themed book.

January Field Trip- U.S.D School of Nursing- Tuesday, January 15^th (with 3^rd grade) – 8:30 to 11:45 (we will be back for school/hot lunch.  Please look for permission slips in school white envelopes.  This is a great hands-on field trip with many opportunities for the students to test their knowledge on the Human Body- Skeletal, Muscular and Circulatory Systems in an educational test lab setting.

Christmas ornaments- if your child has their special ornament still in class, please feel free to either collect it in the morning or I will send them home with them.