11/18 to 11/22

This week:

Vocabulary words:

forget

show

smart

pencil

best

read

school

time

being

place

sometimes

goes

Spelling words-short e sound:

red

bed

fed

led

wed

ten

men

hen

nest

tent

** practice test Thursday, final test Friday 

Wednesday is our Thanksgiving Feast with kindergarten .  There is a sign up at the classroom door for the items we need for that day.  

Other events to come:  we are in the Christmas program this year!!! This is such a wonderful event.  They will need to wear nice clothes , maybe a Christmas outfit?  No jeans or shorts please.  Girls should wear a dress and boys should be in dress pants and a collared shirt.  We will be starting the program practices this week.  First graders will be singing 4 songs.  I will be sending the song sheets home for your child to practice over the break.  They need to learn the words for these songs.  

Friday - progress reports will go home this day.  They must be signed and returned the Monday we return from Thanksgiving Break.  Please do not lose them :)

November 11 to November 15

Hope everyone is enjoying the 3 day weekend!!! It's been relaxing for sure. :)

It's a short week, but very full.

*****Reminder- shoebox items need to be in by this Thursday, November 14, 2013.  We will be packaging the items with our Faith Families this Friday.  

 Another reminder,  we have had many students who have been late to school.  I realize that getting children up and ready is a big task, especially when there's more than 1. However, the beginning of the day is very important.  Students use this time to get organized and ready for the day.  Planners are filled out,  lunch & roll is taken, and bags are unloaded.  When your child is late, they start the day in a frenzy.  When students are on time, this time is valuable and gives the child time to get settled so we can start the days lessons without delay.  I really appreciate your support and understanding on this matter.

Another important issue of concern is about absences.  Unless your child is running a fever or really coughing, please make sure child comes to school.  First grade is so important- there is much to learn.  

There are many new concepts introduced each day.  Even when the work is sent home to complete, they are missing the lesson or the review of a concept.  Please remember that school/ academics should be the priority.  And not only that, I miss them when they are out :). Please remember that your child's best interests are always my number one concern! Thanks again for the support :)

This is some of what we will be learning:

Reading / phonics

~ review if digraphs- ch, th, sh, wh. Please review these sounds with your child.  Go over beginning and ending sounds. chop, with, shop, wish for example.

~ review of short vowels: a, i, o

~ words endings - ing, s,es,ed

~ r blends: tree, brick, crab for example

*****There will be no new vocabulary this week.  There will still be spelling words .  These

 are the words:

branch

think

wasn't

trash

block

trick

print

stamp

spill

shock

Math

~review place value: ones, tens.  

~One less, one more, and numbers in between.

~ greater than, less than, equal to

~ numbers 1-100, number words

Religion

~ forgiveness and sin

Science

~ types of animals- mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, fish

Social studies

~Native Americans, early settlers to America 

Upcoming events:

Thanksgiving feast with kindergarten. Wednesday, November 20, 2013.  First graders will be dressed as Pilgrams.  It should be lots of fun.  We will be having a snack together starting at 10 am.  If you would like to join us, please do! Mrs. McParland is in charge of organizing the snack for that day.  There will be more info to follow next week.

First week of November ! Feel the chill outside!!

Along with this beautiful , but cold and crisp weather, comes the dreaded cold and flu season.  Please remind your child about washing their hands after they sneeze or blow their nose.  They can raise their hand to leave their seat to get a Kleenex and then they may either use our sink to wash their hands with soap or use the antibacterial lotion. I will provide the soap and antibacterial lotion for them to use.  My goal is to keep everyone as healthy as I can. We will also wipe our desks down often too.  Please remind them about these healthy hygiene habits.  I'll remind them at school :-) Thank you !  Remember that shorts are no longer allowed until May.

This week we will start meeting with our 8th grade reading buddies.  This is another way for them to listen to good reading skills and to practice their reading fluency skills too.  My students are so looking forward to this, So are the 8th graders!

Timed math facts tests- we will start taking addition tests of sums to 12.  Start practicing subtraction facts of ten and lower ex 10-7 =  or  6-5=.  We will start those after Thanksgiving break.  

Vocabulary this week:

pond

count

called

silly

morning

beautiful

put

tomorrow 

today

book

belongs

Spelling this week

wasn't 

block

saw

moth

didn't

chop

spot

with

cloth

frogs

We have two events coming up to help those less fortunate:  

Catholic Charities food drive 

First graders are being asked to bring 2 cans of cranberry sauce each- this needs to be brought in any time before Friday, November 15.  

Operation shoebox

First graders are asked to bring in miscellaneous items such as t- shirts, socks, ball, cap, sunglasses, hair clips , toy jewelry, watches, flashlights ( with extra batteries) etc...  Please check the family envelope for the flyer that went home to see what age range your faith family is buying for.  We will write the faith family number in your child' s planner this week.  These items also need to be brought in anytime before Friday , November 15.  

This is just another way we can get our children involved in becoming an Active Faith-Filled Citizen!!!!

This Friday we will be hosting a Veteran's Day Assembly @ 8:30.   If you are a veteran or you know someone who is - this event is for you !!! Please extend this invite to friends, family , or neighbors who you know are veterans .  This is a wonderful event!!