Reading:  This week’s story is “The Kite” featuring Frog and Toad.  If your child has any Frog and Toad books in their library they are welcome to bring them to school.  This week’s vowel sound is long i when paired with  y, gh and e.  The skills that will be worked on this week are comprehension as we work to identify and visualize  the plots in “The Kite.”  The students will also learn that if verbs end with a consonant followed by y they need to change the y to i before they add -ed.  (ie fry becomes fried). 

Our vocabulary words this week are head,  never, should, ball, shout, meadow, perhaps.

Spelling:  This week’s spelling words contain the blend wh.  The students will learn that the blend wh is found at the beginning of words. 

Our spelling words are:  did, what, when, cut, whenever, white, twin, whisper, whale, any. 

Grammar:  This week the students will learn that when a verb talks about the future it does not take on a suffix like -ed or er.  Instead an auxiliary verb like to be, shall, or will is placed in front of the verb.  (I shall jump.  He will jump.)

English:  Story writing, editing and illustrating will continue this week.

Math:  Our units on money and time will continue this week. 

Science/ Social Studies:  The students will continue to learn about the four different types of bears: black, brown, grizzly and polar. 

Important information for this week:

Sunday, January 29th:  Thank you to all who came to visit at open house on Sunday.  It was a wonderful way to begin Catholic Schools week.

Monday, January 30th:  Report cards go home.  Please remember to sign the yellow copy of the report card and send it back to school as soon as possible.   Also if you have not sent back your conference sheet please do so by Monday, February 6th. 

Tuesday, January 31st:  All school Mass at 10:30.  Please join us if your schedule allows.  Third, fourth and first graders have been preparing the Mass. 

Wednesday, February 1st:  Student appreciation day – Roll out of bed and come to school in your jammies.  Bed head  is acceptable too but please remember to brush your teeth before coming to school.  Hot lunch from Chipotle.  Please remember to send a healthy snack for morning break.  

Thursday, February 2nd:  It’s Groundhog Day!!  How many more weeks of winter will we have? 

Friday, February 3rd:  DRESS DOWN DAY!  Red and White volleyball game.  Room 108 wears red and room 107 wears white.  We begin playing at 9:10 and end at 9:40.  You are welcome to watch us play in the gym. 

 Reading:  Our story this week is “Cesar Chavez”.  The skills that we will be learning this week are the sound of long o when paired with a, w, and e.  how to sound out a two syllable word, finding answers using context clues, and finally using a telephone directory.  The skills that we will be revisiting this week are retelling a story using the words first, next and last.

 The vocabulary words for the week are better, buy, change, difficult, move and ripe

 Spelling:  Our words this week will contain the long u silent e combination.    Our spelling words this week are: bus, pot, swim, cube, tune, used, excuse, little, down and useless.

 Grammar:  This week the students will be learning that the endings we add to words such as –ing, and  -ed, are called suffixes.

 English:  The student’s story writing continues this week.

 Math:  The students will continue working on their knowledge of telling time and using money.

 Science/Social Studies:  Our unit about bears continues this week.

 Important dates and information to remember this week: 

Wednesday, January 25^th:  Hot lunch from McDonalds.  Don’t forget to send a healthy snack for morning break.

 Reading:  The students will be reading the story of Gram and Me”.  This week we will be learning the sound of long e when paired with e, a and i in words.  We will be working on determining the setting and characters in stories this week along with learning about compound words.  The students will to write numerical lists.  Finally The students  will learn realistic fiction. 

Our Vocabulary words this week are: pretty,says, about, give, write, were. 

Grammar/ Spelling: This week in spelling we will be working with words that contain the long o sound with a silent e at the end. 

Our Spelling words this week are:  cod, lot, snap, bone, nose, home, globe, live, give, and tadpole. 

This week the students will learn that verbs often change to show when an action takes place.  So far the verbs that we have been working with have been used in the present tense which means they describe actions taking place now

English:    During first grade the students become authors, illustrators and editors of their own books.  This week the students will create a list of thing that they want to write about.  Finally this week we will be learning the different elements involved in writing a story. 

Math:  This week we will be learning about the different values of money.  Our main focus during this unit will be the four different coins.  

 Science:  This week we will begin a unit on bears.    

Social Studies:   We will learning about the life of Martin Luther King.    

Important information for the week:

Monday, January 16th:  No School

Tuesday, January 17th:  All school Mass at 9:00.  Please join us if your schedule allows.

Wednesday, January 18th . First grade will meet in Church at 7:50.  Please remind your child to enter quietly.  Please join us if your schedule allows.  Hot Lunch from Subway.  Please send a healthy snack for morning  break.

Friday, January 20th: End of second quarter. 

Religion:  We will be learning about three very important roles in the Catholic Church this week.  The first role we will be learning about is that of an Apostle.  The students know that an Apostle was a follower of Jesus when he was alive.  They will now learn that an Apostles in today’s Church acts as a Cardinal.  Their job is to chose Bishops to lead and care for the Church.  Next we will learn about the role and responsibilities of the Bishop.  A Bishop’s job is to lead and care for the people in his diocese.  Lastly we will learn about the role and responsibility of the Pope.  We will learn that the Pope is the head of the Catholic Church and teaches what Jesus taught.     

Reading:  The students will be reading the story of “Drake’s Tail”.  This week we will be learning the sound of long a when paired with i and y in words.  We will be working on our predicting and questioning skills this week along with adding the inflectional endings -er and est to words.  The students will learn that when a sentence talks about two people, places or things they will add the two letters -er to compare them.  They will also learn that when they are comparing three or more people, places or things they will add the three letters -est.  Lastly this week we will be learning that some words have many meanings to enhance this skill the students will be working with dictionaries to look up words. 

Our Vocabulary words this week are:  once, upon, carry, eight, across, saw, and walked. 

Grammar/ Spelling: This week in spelling we will be working with words that contain the long i sound with a silent e at the end. 

Our Spelling words this week are:  six, pad, smell, bike, time, smile, prize, like, have, and bridesmaid. 

This week in grammar the students will be conjugating verbs.  We will begin by reviewing what pronouns are (ie. . .  I, we, he, she, it).  Next we will add a verb to the pronoun (ie. . . to eat).  Finally the students will learn that the pronouns  he she and it are third person singular and when using these words they must add an s to the verb they pair with the pronoun.  (ie. . . He eats.)   

English:    During first grade the students become authors, illustrators and editors of their own books.  This week the students will begin this process as they write about their Chirstmas break.  These stories will be made into a class book.  Also this week the students will create a list of thing that they want to write about.  Finally this week we will be learning the different elements involved in writing a story. 

Math:  This week we will begin our unit on telling time.  The students will learn to read both digital and face clocks.  We will begin with telling time on the hour, then half hour.  

 Science and Social Studies:   We will be reviewing the similarities and differences of landforms.  Then we will be looking at the effects of water on different land forms.    

Important information for the week:

Wednesday, January 11th .  Hot Lunch from Pisa Pizza.  Please send a healthy snack for morning  break.

Friday, January 13th:  Monthly spirit wear dress  down day. 

Over break please ask your child how their markers, crayon, scissors and colored pencils are holding up.  These items make GREAT stocking stuffers.

Religion:  We will continue talking about the meanings behind this very special time of year.

Reading:  The students will be reading Christmas stories and reporting about their favorite part of the story.  If your child has a favorite story at home and would like to share it with the class please send the book to school (be sure that their name appears on the inside cover).

Grammar/ Spelling:  We will be reviewing nouns and verbs and their jobs in sentences.

English:    We will practice labeling words in sentences this week.

Math:  We will continue working with numbers that contain tens and ones.

Science and Social Studies:  We will be learning about different Christmas traditions around the world.

Important information for the week:

Wednesday, December 21st:  Please bring your child to Church instead of school at 7:50 with a reminder to enter quietly and respectfully.     If your schedule allows please join us for Mass.  Hot Lunch from Dino’s.  Please send a healthy snack for morning  break.

Thursday, December 22nd:  We will be attending 9:00 am Mass as a school.  Please join us if your schedule allows. 

Friday December 23rd to Monday, January 9th:  Christmas Break. We ask that during the holidays that you encourage your child to read for a short time each day.   Enjoy and relax during the holidays.  Travel safely. 

Reading: We have come to the end of the third book in our reading series.  This week the students will review the skills taught throughout the book.  They will also read Christmas stories and do projects that will enhance the enjoyment.

Spelling and Grammar:  The students will be reviewing verbs, nouns, and pronouns.  As well as identifying words that contain the long vowel sound of e in words.

 Our spelling words this week are: ran, hat, scar, came, grape, name, cake, only, old, and baseball.

English:  The students will be learning about sentence fragments and practicing classifying sentences. 

Math:  The students will be learning to regroup groups of tens and ones to represent large numbers while learning about place value.

Science/Social Studies:  The students will begin learning about Christmas traditions around the world. 

Important dates and facts about the week:

Monday December 12th:  First Grade has dress down day from St. Nicholas.  Please remember to follow guide lines in student handbook concerning dress down policy.

Wednesday, December 14th:  Hot lunch from Little Joe’s.  Don’t forget to send a healthy snack for morning break.  We will be attending a Christmas band concert today.

Thursday, December 15th:  Christmas Concert tonight in the church at 7.  Please follow the dress requirements that were sent home recently.  Please be sure to bring your child to their classroom by 6:40.   Please take your child’s coat with you into church.  All students will be released to you in the church after the program.

Reading: Our story this week is ” Kids Have Fun”    The skills that  we will be working on are:  Three letter blends scr, spl, thr,  and where they are used in words.  We will be reviewing how to add -ed and -ing to the end of words.  The students will use a venn diagram to compare how things are alike and the ways they are different.    This week we will also be revisiting the concept of nonfiction when reading a story.  Lastly the students will practice rereading stories to work on comprehension.

The vocabulary words for the week are boy, does,any, girl, by, friend and water.

Spelling and Grammar:  The students will be reviewing short vowel sounds in words. 

 Our spelling words this week are: sad, let, trip, blue, orange, gray, black, one, by and color.

This week in grammar we will be working with putting words in alphabetical order.  The students will also be using dictionaries to help them put words in ABC order. 

English:  The students will continue learning about prepositions and object of a prepositions.  Also being reviewed this week is the concept of subjects and predicates in complete sentences.

Math:  The students will review these concepts probability, plotting points on a grid, geometrical shapes, patterning, symmetry, fractions and other skills that we have covered in this chapter. 

Science:  We will continue our unit on landforms.      

Social Studies:  The students will continue learning about the Nutcracker ballet and the music that we will hear at the performance on December 9th.   

Important dates and facts about the week:

This week room 108 is leading school prayer.  Please keep a look out for an email with your child’s part attached.  Please help your child learn to read their parts smoothly.  They do not need to be memorized.  Room 107 will be leading prayer next week.  Mrs. Schaefer will be assigning parts soon. 

Wednesday, November 7th:  Hot Lunch is from Arby’s.  Please remember to send a healthy snack for morning break.  Mrs. Schaefer and Miss Gearen will be out today at a First Grade Conference.

Thursday, December 8th:  Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  The all school Mass is at 9:00.  Please join us if your schedule allows. 

Friday, December 9th:  First Grade field trip to see the Nutcracker.  We will be leaving school at 9:00am and returning around 12:30.  Please be sure that your child dresses in the dress uniform and wear the St. Cletus red sweatshirt. 

Reading: Our story this week is ” Rose Robot Cleans Up”    The skills that  we will be working on are:  reviewing the long sounds of  the vowels o,u, and e when paired with a silent e at the end of a word.  We will be working with the silent letters  at the beginning of words kn as in knight, gn as in gnat, and wr as in write.  The students will begin using inference and conclusion charts to enhance their comprehension skills.  This week we will also be revisiting the concept of fiction when reading a story.  Lastly the students will learn to read a floor plan to find items in a room. 

The vocabulary words for the week are find, after, old, and new.      

Spelling and Grammar:  This week our spelling words contain the blend “ck”.  Students will learn that this blend can be found in the middle and at the the end of words.

 Our spelling words this week are: bed, wet, prod, duck, neck, clock, lick, so, my and backpack. 

This week in grammar we will be working with these initial blends sp, sm, dr, sk, sn, gr, sw, fl, cl, bl, sl, gl, st, cr, tr,  and fr.  Working with these blends will help the students develop their awareness of initial consonants blends for reading and writing.

English:  The students will review what a preposition is (a word that shows the relationship if its object to other words in the sentence.  Ex: The little boy walked beside his mother)   and then they will learn what  an object of a preposition does in a sentence (the noun after a preposition in a sentence.  Ex She rode with her friend.)

Math:  The students will review the  simple fractions they were working with before the Thanksgiving break.  These fractions are 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 and a whole.  The students will also be introduced to the concept of probability.   

Science:  We will begin our unit on landforms.  The class will explore the five different kinds of landforms that make up the earth (mountains, hills, valleys, plain and beaches.).  Also in this unit we will examine the four different kinds of water resources that are available to us (streams, rivers, lakes and oceans.)  Lastly we will find out about the three different things that can cause significant changes to the earth’s surface (flooding, droughts, and erosion) .      

Social Studies:  The students will begin learning about the Nutcracker ballet and the music that we will hear at the performance on December 9th.   

Important dates and facts about the week:

Monday, November 28th:  Welcome back to school.

Wednesday, November 30th:  Hot lunch from Chipotle.  Room 108 will have their dress down day today. 

Friday, December 2nd:  Children’s FSA Christmas Party.  The party starts at 5:30 in the gym.

Reading: Our story this week is ” Masks! Masks! Masks!”    The skills that  we will be working on are:  the sounds of the digraphs ch, tch, wh and ph, adding the ending -es to words to make them plural, listing details in a story and determining the main idea from those details this will help us with our comprehension. The vocabulary words for the week are your,into, people, soon, every and from.      

Spelling and Grammar:  This week our spelling words contain the blends “zz and ss”.  Students will learn that when a small word with a short vowel has an s or a z at the end these letters will be doubled.

 Our spelling words this week are: hop, fit, grin, buzz, cross, less, miss, go, no and classroom.

This week in grammar we will be working with these initial blends sp, sm, dr, sk, sn, gr, sw, fl, cl, bl, sl, gl, st, cr, tr,  and fr.  Working with these blends will help the students develop their awareness of initial consonants blends for reading and writing.

English:  The students will review all the jingles for the different parts of speech that they have been introduced to this year.  We will also continue working on labeling sentences and determining if it contains all five parts that make is complete. 

Math:  The students will begin learning about simple fractions.  During this unit the students will learn to identify these fractions 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 and a whole. 

Science and Social Studies:  The students will be learning about pilgrims and Indians and the hardships they faced daily. 

Important dates and facts about the week:

Wednesday, November 16th:  First grade at 8:00 am Mass.  Please bring your child to Church by 7:50 reminding them to enter the building quietly.  Please join us for Mass if your schedule allows.   Hot Lunch will be from Mc Donalds.  Please remember to send a healthy snack for morning break. 

Friday, November 18th,  Room 108 has a dress down day awarded to them for the most MANNA orders placed in October.  GREAT JOB!!

Reading: Our story this week is ” On My Way To School”    The skill that  we will be working on are:  the sound of long a when a silent e is at the end of the word, our vocabulary words are away, school, today, way and why,  adding -ed and -ing to the end of words, and retelling events that happen in a story.  The concepts that will be introduced this week are alliterations and rhyming stories.    

Spelling and Grammar:  This week our spelling words contain the blend “ll”.  Students will learn when “l” is at the end of a short vowel word it is ususally  doubled.

 Our spelling words this week are: ox, run, from, will, bell, doll, skull, there, they and windmill.

This week in grammar we will be reviewing the concept of pronouns that we were introduced to in our Shurley English curriculum

English:  The students will create their own sentences and share them with the class.  These sentences will then be labeled by the class. 

Math:  The students will conclude their work with geometric shapes and lines of symmetry.  Then they will be introduced to plotting places on a grid.  The students will learn how to read directions in order to locate places on a grid.  When the students have grasped this concept, they will then learn to write directions so that others can place objects on a grid. 

Science and Social Studies:  The students will be learning how to find places on simple maps after reading directions.  The classes will create town maps using paper buildings and other objects found in the classrooms. 

Important information and dates to remember for the week

Monday October 31st:  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  The students are encouraged to wear their costumes to school.  Please read the school scoop for costume guide lines below

Halloween Guidelines for Pre-K through 8th Grade: Halloween is always a time for great fun.  For the past few years, all of us at St. Cletus have been dressing up for Halloween in fun costumes.  Halloween parties will begin at 1:50 PM on Monday, October 31st.  Please follow the guidelines below, and come dressed for the day in your costume: 

       1. To promote healthier eating, this year is healthy snacks for Halloween!  Room parents and volunteers: please refrain from bringing in candy, cookies, or cakes and choose healthier snacks such as popcorn, pretzels, fruit, etc.  Thank you.

       2. Pre-school students: please see guidelines and information sent home by your pre-school teachers.

       3. K-8 grade students: costumes must be comfortable for all-day wearing–learning continues throughout the day.

       4. Leave all props at home: wands, gloves, brooms, whistles, etc.

       5. No masks, please–they can block vision; instead, try make-up, hair coloring, or wigs.  Remember, the children will be wearing make-up all day.

       6. Wear comfortable shoes–gym shoes are preferred.  We will still have physical education and recess.

       7. Costumes must be school appropriate.  No violent costumes, such as Freddy, Jason, etc.

       8. Skeletons, witches, Dracula, etc., are fine.

A special thank you to all volunteers for hosting the Halloween parties.  We know a lot of time and effort goes into the planning of these parties and we really appreciate all of you.

Tuesday, November 1st:  First Grade hosts an all school 9:00 am Mass to celebrate All Souls Day.  Please join us if your schedule allows.

Wednesday, November 2nd:  Hot lunch from Pisa Pizza.  Please send in a healthy snack for morning break.

 Friday, November 4th:  Congratulations room 107 for winning the door decorating contest during RED RIBBON WEEK.  Your class had a dress down day today.