We celebrated Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Dr. Seuss’s birthdays.  Each of us have been featured as the student of the week.  We all celebrated our bitrthdays and received birthday letters from our friends in class.   

 We marked the 100th day of school as we created projects with 100 items.  We brought in our favorite stuffed bear or moose to celebrate the end of our bear unit.  Our guest had a wonderful time and did not cause much confusion through the day. 

Reading:  This week we will be reading in small literature groups.  Each group will be assigned a different story to read, and they are responsible for completeing a a corresponding project.  All skills learned this year will be strenthened next year.  PLEASE remember to READ with you child throughout the summer so that these skills are not rusty when the children return as second graders.  Encourage your child to continue with their story writing as well.  Ms. Delaney is always looking to add student written stories to our library.

Grammar:  In first grade we covered many aspects of grammar through out the year.  The students learned about nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, antonyms and synonyms.  We have also reviewed all  letter sounds and have learned actions that help us to rememebr these sounds. 

Spelling:  This year the first grade class hit the floor running with spelling.  In the past we started spelling tests in November but with the new curriculum in place we were encouraged to begin in September.  Along with the ten words the students were also given three dictation sentences that they had to write, spell all words correctly, and use proper punctuation to get all points.  Both classes did fantastically on this part as well.

Writing:  Imaginations were set on fire as the students wrote their original stories.  Topics of stories ranged from pets, best friends, vacations, to retelling of movies.  Thanks to all the parents for attending the Author’s Tea; we are so glad  you were able to join us.  Keep your child writing this summer.  Their story writing ability can only get stronger!

Religion:  We became more aware of  our Catholic faith this year.  We took a closer look at the Church year and the different seasons within it, our faith families, saints, Stations of the Cross and many other topics.  In the coming week we will review the lessons that we learned during “Second Steps.”  Some lessons include learning to wait our turn while another person is talking.  We learned some techniques to help us stay calm instead of getting mad and into a fight.  These along with other lessons, will be reviewed.

Math:  Many skills were reviewed, or introduced this year.  Skills covered this year were; adding and subtracting one and two digit numbers with this skill we learned to carry and barrow when necessary.    To strengthen their addition skills the first graders began taking timed math test.  These timed tests will follow them to second grade so please take time over the summer to practice the facts.  A great website to use is www.mathfactcafe.com.

Science:    During the year we covered many topics in Physical, life, and earth sciences.  Mrs. Pauly helped us with many experiments and we did a few in our classrooms as well.

Social Studies:  Our Social Studies curriculum was new to us this year.  We covered many topics with this new series.  Some topics were School, Community, Work, Earth and it’s resources, Our Country, and finally this week we will be learning about the different states and their capitals.     

Mrs. Schaefer and I would like to thank all of you for your support this year as we have grown to know and love your children.  We’ve had many enjoyable experiences throughout the year and hope that all of our students and their families have a safe and exciting summer.

Monday May 17th:  Installation Mass at 9:00am

Tuesday May 18th:  First Grade Author’s tea beginning at 12:30

Wednesday May 19th:  Hot Lunch from Little Joe’s – Please remember to send a healthy snack for the morning.

Friday May 21st:  Dress Down Day – Please remember NO filp flops! 

                                     Permission Slips for our trip to Lincoln Park Zoo on June 1st are due today. 

Religion:  This week we continue learning about the Rosary as we make our own.  Also this week we will also reflect on the gifts that God gave us that make us special.   

Reading:  This week we finished the last story in our reading books.  The story name is “On The Go” and it comes to us through the “Time For Kids” magazine.  This story  reviews the followinig skills:  the sounds of oo, ar, ir, ur, er, ow, ou, oi, oy, working on story comprehension using pictures, learning about different information sources, distinguishing between reality and fantasy, summarizing, adding  -ing to the end of words, and working with compound words. 

Grammar:  This week in grammar we will be working on the sound /oi/ makes in words.  Also this week we will learn how adding  /ly/  to the end of words describes a verb.

Spelling:  Our spelling words this week are  got, bun, belt, arm, hard, scarf, cart, goes, does, barnyard.

Writing:    The week begins with the students finalizing preperations for our annual “Author’s Tea.”   The students will then  brainstorm ideas about things that happened during the year.   After this class list has been created, each student will fill out a memory page that will be turned into a book to go into a memory file for their eight grade year.

Math:  The students will be solving various addition and subtraction problems that have missing numbers.  The students will use different manipulatives and white boards to solve these equations. 

Social Studies:   The first graders have been  learning about the different symbols the represent the United States.  We will be finding the location these symbols on the map of the United States.  Also this week the students will be introduced to the names and locations of the seven different continents.   

Tuesday May 4th:  May Crowning Mass at 9:00

Wednesday May 5th:  Arby’s for Hot Lunch.  Please remember to pack a healthy snack for the morning.

Religion:  This week we will be finding out about Pentacost.  We will also discover what the first members of the church did together. 

Reading:  Our story this week is “The Story of a Blue Bird”.  The skills that will be reviewed this week are the sounds of these  R controlled vowels, ur, ir, and er;  story comprehension and compound words.  New skills that will be introduced are summarizing paragraphs, and working on a library computer.  Our vocabulary words for the week are sister, from, mother, walked and brother.

Grammar: This week the students will be revisiting the sounds that ou and oi make in words.  In addition we will also learn about adverbs and the part they play in a sentence.

Spelling:  Our Spelling words are bug, had, film, oil, coin, noisy, spoiled, would, right and boiling

Writing: The students are continuing to write, edit, revise, type, illustrate and publish their original stories in preperation for our  Author’s Lemonade this month.

Math:  The students will be introduced to the skill of finding the missing adden of an addition problem.

Science / Social Studies:  This week we begin our exploration of space it’s  many different characteristics.   

Wednesday April 28th:  Hot Lunch from Subway – Please remember to send a healthy snack for the morning  We will be going to an all school Mass at 9:00 instead of our usual once a month at 8:00.

Friday  April 30th:  Dress Down Day. 

Religion:  This week we will learn about who saints are,  What saints do,  And where they come from.  During the week we will also discuss the importance of Mothers in our lives.  We will talk about Mary’s role in Jesus’ life.

Reading:  Our story this week is “New Shoes for Silvia”.  During the week we will be recognizing these vocabulary words;  every, once, or, took   and morning.  Our workbook has us learning these skills the sound of /ar/ in words.  We’ll be strengthening these skills story comprehension, reading a diagram, sounds of oo, long i and a, distinguishing between reality and fantasy, and adding -ing to words.  Our reading test will be Friday, April 30th. 

Writing:  The students will continue writing, typing, editing and and illustrating their original stories.

Grammar:  We will revisit that a verb is a word that tells an action.  As a class we will create a class list of verbs that we can use in our  stories.

Spelling:  This week’s spelling words are  big, fox, milk, how, owl, brown, town, could, should and flowerpot.  Our spelling test will be Friday, April 30th. 

Math:  Now that the students have gotten the concept of adding two digit numbers together they will be introduced to subtracting two digit numbers.   The terms that we have been using in class are digit, carry and borrow.

Science and Social Studies:  We will be talking about seasons and the different element of winter, spring, summer and fall. 

• Tuesday: Room 108 has library!!!  Please be sure to bring back library books to that new ones may be checked out.
• Wednesday: Hot Lunch from Mc Donalds.  Please remember to send a healthy snack for the morning.
• Thursday: Health Fair

Religion: This week the students will learn why Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to us.

Reading: Our story this week is “A Friend For Little Bear”.  We will be strengthening these skills recognizing the sound of /oo/ in words, story comprehension, reading a diagram, reviewing the sounds of long e, o, and a, determine what is fantasy and what is reality and how to add  -ing to the ends of words.  Our vocabulary words this week are friend, these, called, pulled and only.

Grammar: This week the students will be revisiting the skill of putting words in alphabetical order.  They will be given projects that require them to alphabetize words in order to solve problems.

Spelling: This week some of our spelling words contain the special vowel combination of /ou/.  Our spelling words this week are bat, pet, self, out, our, round, mouth, saw, put and outside.

Writing: The students continue to write, revise, publish and illustrate their original manuscripts in preparation for their author debut in May.  The students are doing all the typing for their final copies.  They are really doing a great job with this.

Math: We are moving from working with weight, centimeters, and inches into working on solving double digit addition and subtraction  problems.  The students will be learning to borrow and carry numbers in order to solve these problems.

Science and Social Studies: We will be doing activities that help make fellow cardinals aware of the fact that we all  need to help keep our earth clean, healthy and safe for the future.

Wednesday, March 31st - Please bring your child to 8:00 Mass.  Hot Lunch from Little Joe’s

       Thursday, April 1st- Prayer Service at 2:00.  Please join us if your schedule permits.

       Friday, April 2nd – Good Friday – No School – We will see you on the 12th.  Enjoy your Spring Break.

Reading: This week we will be working in small literature gruops.  We will be reading stories that feature different characters than are in our reading series.  After each group has finished reading their story they will then complete a project about what they have read. 

Grammar:  This  week in grammar we will be working with synonyms and antonyms. 

Spelling: There will not be any spelling words this week. 

Writing:  The students will continue writing their original stories. 

Religion:  We will be be discussing that the church celebrates the fact that Jesus rose to new life.  We will be takinig a look at what happened at the Last Supper.  Lastly, we will be hosting the washing of the feet ceremony for the entire school on Thursday April 1st.  You are welcome to join us if your schedule permits.

Science and Social Studies: We will  complete our ocean unit this week as we generate a list of fact we have learned, create an ocean scene using different materials, and lastly, we will be watching a video about the ocean.

Math:  This week the students will be introduced to measurement.  The terms that will be used during this unit are inch, foot, centimeter, cup, and ruler.

Monday, March 22nd – March Madness Dress Down Day wear your favorite college team’s colors.

Tuesday, March 23rd – Watch dress rehersal of Mulan.

Wednesday, March 24th -  NO HOT LUNCH!!! 

Friday, March 26th – Stations of the cross at 2:00

Friday,  March 19th – Stations at 2:00 Please join us if you are able to.

Reading:  This week’s story is “Owl And The Moon.”  The skills we will be working on this week are the sound of Long I when paired with y and igh, story comprehension, reading road signs, reviewing the long vowel o sound when paired with a, e, and w, drawing conclusions, and context clues.  Our vocabulary words this week are; eyes, head, gone, room and everything.

Spelling: Spelling words for the week are box, job, bulb, own, grow, elbow, yellow, other, were and snowman.  Also this week we will be working on a word search that contains words from all the previous spelling tests.   

Grammar:  This week we will be working on adding these blends to the end of words:mp, lt, nt, st, nd, and ft.

Writing:  We have begun writing our stories that will be made into published works of literature.  These publications will be turned into books and saved until our “Author’s Lemonade” this May.  Details about this event will be posted in our news letter and invitations will be arriving at your homes in the weeks to come.

Math:  We begin our unit on telling time.  The students will be learning to tell time using a face clock.  They will be introduced to the following vocabulary words; hour hand, minute hand, hour, quarter hour, and half hour.  They will learn that there are five minutes in between each number on the clock, 60 minutes in an hour, and 30 minutes in a half hour.  Please review these concepts at home as well.  By doing this you will help your child grasp the concept of time telling easily.

Science and Social Studies:  We are continuing our ocean unit.  We will be looking at the different locations of oceans around the world.  We began our unit looking at whales and learning about the many different types of these large mammals.  This coming week we will continue to investigate the other life forms in the ocean.

Religion:  Our discussions of the fourteen Stations of the Cross continue this week.

Monday we will be on the assembly schedule so that we can attend the band concert at 1:45.

Wednesday we will attend an all school Mass.  If your schedule allows please join us at 9:00.

Friday we will be attending Stations of the Cross at 2:00.  Please join us for this as well. 

Religion:  We will continue to learn about and discuss the Stations of the Cross.

Reading: Our story this week is “You Can’t Smell A Flower With Your Ear.”  This story centers around the five senses and has us conducting several mini experiments.  The skills that we will be working on this week are recognizing the long o vowel sound when paired with a, e, and w.  This weeks vocabulary words are by, kind,more,high, and find.  We will also continue strengthening our comprehension skills by  identifying the different jobs of the 5 senses.  We will review how to write a list this time focusing on helping us remember things.  Another skill that will be worked on is drawing conclusions after reading parts of a short story.  Finally, the students will be introduced to the term context clues.  They will learn that context clues are words that tell you the meaning of another word.   

Grammar:  We will continue to work with adjectives this week.

Spelling:  Our spelling word for this week are win, sit, stop, fry, dry, crying, sky, more, before, and myself.

Math:  The students have had a great time working with money this past month and have shown that they are beginning to understand the concept.  Please continue to reinforce this skill with them at home so that they do not lose the kowledge that they have acquired.   We now go on to working with probability.  The terms that the students will be learning in this unit are impossible, probable, more likely, less likely, equally likely and certain.  To enforce these terms the students will be doing many hands-on activities.

Social Studies and Science:  This week we begin our unit about the ocean.  The first activity we always do as a group is make a list of things we know and want to learn about the ocean.  As the unit progresses we learn the names of each of the oceans that surround us on all sides of our country.  We talk and read about the life that lives beneath the ocean.  We see actual footage that has been filmed by oceanographer so that we can see actual plant and fish life. 

Wednesday, March 3rd:  Hot Lunch Subway.  Please remember to send in a healthy snack for the morning.

Friday, March 5th:  Stations of the Cross at 2:00.  Please join us if your schedule allows you to.

Religion:  This week we begin examining the stations of the cross.  As a whole group we will read and discuss one station each day.  This week we will cover stations one through five.  Then each student will illustrate the station.  This activity will continue through the season of Lent so at the end each student will have their own personal Stations of the Cross book.

Reading:  Our story this week is the “Shrinking Mouse.”  The skills that we will learn are the sound of e when paired with i and a.  The students have been learning about adjacent vowels.  The rule for these vowels is that when two vowels sit together in a word the first one does the talking (letter says it’s name) and the second one does the walking (silent).  Vocabulary words are before, off, our, right, and come. We are strengthening our story comprehension skills by identifying the characters in the story.  We are learning to read a newsletter.  The students are learning to make predictions about what will happen in storieso which they are listening.  Our final skill this week had us learning when to add the ending -ing to words.  Here is the rule we learned to help us remember; “When you add -ing to a word that ends with a vowel and a consonant double the final consonant and add -ing.”

Spelling:  Our spelling words this week are lip, his, went, night, high, might, light, any, many, and frightening.

Grammar: This week  we are working with adjectives. 

Writing:  The students have been introduced to a new process in writing.  Each student is given a squiggle (this is a wavey line in different shapes) to draw a picture around.  After the squiggle has been used in a picture, they then go back and write a story about their picture.  These are lots of fun and the students’ imaginations have really taken off.

Math:  We continue with our unit about money.  We are learning different ways to:

• make a dollar.
• show different amounts using coins.

Social Studies:  We continue with our unit about transportation.

• Monday, February 22nd Teacher In – Service.  No school for students.
• Tuesday, February 23rd Mrs. Schaefer and Miss Gearen will be attending a First Grade. conference.  Mrs. MCQuillan (107) and Mrs. Radom (108) will be substituting  for us.
• Tuesday, February 23rd is Pajama Day to help support
• Wednesday, February 24th First Grade will meet in church for 8:00 Mass.
• Friday, February 25th we have stations of the Cross at 2:00.

Reading:  We begin the fifth book in our reading series.  This fifth book contains ten stories and introduces many different skills and concepts.

Our First story is “The Seven Sillies”   The setting for this story is around a pond on a farm.  The characters in this story are farm animals.

The skills that we will be working on as we read this story are story comprehension, using the dictionary, the sounds of long e paired with e, and ai, making predictions, and adding -ing to the end of words.

Our vocabulary words for this story are all, four, many, so, and over.

Grammar: We revist the concept of nouns being names of people, places or things.

Spelling: Our spelling words for this week will be met, web, spin, tea, heat, leaf, each, who, which, and seashell.

Writing:  The students have begun working on writing their first stories.  The writing process involves, making a list of things that each student is interested in,  the next step is to choose one of these topics and then make a list of things they knoow about it.  The next step is to put these ideas into sentence form and write a sloppy copy .  Once the sloppy copy is finished the student meets with the teacher for fluency, spelling and other types of editing.  Once this meeting has taken place, the students go back and make the corrections.