Week of September 30, 2024

Please Note

-Happy October! I cannot believe we are finished with September already. October will certainly fly by as well. Here are your reminders for this week:

- Elmwood Zoo will visit SKS with their mobile zoo this week.  We look forward to extending our reading unit on living things and discussing how we can care for God’s creatures!  You should have received an invoice of $5.00 through your facts account to cover this learning experience.

- Information about the first grade Saints Presentation was sent home last week. Each child may choose any saint they want. The report will be due next Wednesday 10/9, so please work on it this week. Please ensure the report and the picture are done neatly as we will hang them on our bulletin boards. Don't forget to have your child practice reading their report too.  The Saints Presentation will be on Friday, October 25th at 9:00 am in the Church. 

- By now you should have received an invoice through FACTS for our trip to Riverbend, and a permission slip link via Option C.  Please contact Anne Condello if you have any issues.

- We will take the Chapter 2 religion quiz together on Thursday, and have our Unit 1 Week 2 reading assessment on Friday.

- Home and School will be hosting a Blessing of the Animals this Sunday in honor of St. Francis at 2:00 if you are interested.

- Looking ahead, we have off on Monday, 10/7 and winter uniforms will start on Tuesday, 10/8.

-That is all for this week, please let me know if you have questions about anything!  Thanks, Melissa

Homework

Monday

Religion: work on saint report 

Reading: complete worksheet

Practice NEW words and read for 15 minutes.

Math: wb page 18

Tuesday

Religion: work on saint report

Reading: complete worksheet

Practice words and read for 15 minutes.

Math: worksheet

Wednesday

Religion: work on saint report

Reading: complete worksheet

Practice words and read for 15 minutes.

Math: wb page 25

Thursday

Religion: work on saint report

Reading: complete worksheet

Practice words and read for 15 minutes.

Math: wb page 26

A Peek at Our Week

Religion 

Chapter 2 - "We Believe in the Blessed Trinity"

We will finish up Chapter 2 and have a quiz on Thursday that we will take together.

Reading

Story: Plants and Animals Grow and Change

Target Skill: Asking Questions, Main Topic and Details, Sequence of Events

Phonics Skill: Short o 

Grammar: nouns and verb tenses

Sight Words: have, jump, no, one, for

Spelling Words: mop, top, hop, not, hot, lock, rock, sock

Math

We will finish up our addition unit this week. We will focus on adding 3 addends and finding doubles and sums of ten as a strategy. We will also work with simple word problems. Next week, there will be a test on adding on a number line, adding 3 addends, and word problems. 

Week of September 23, 2024

Sample of a well-done saint report.

It does not HAVE to be two sides.

Please Note

- I hope you had a great weekend! I can't believe we are in the last full week of September already. We will continue working on our routines, but the kids are settling in and doing great! We have a pretty calm week but there are a lot of reminders.

- Just a reminder to review all spelling and high-frequency words each night to prepare for the weekly Friday tests. There will also be a comprehension and grammar portion that we will prepare for in school.  There are grammar pages for review in the reading copybook along with their words.

- Please check your child's homework for neat handwriting and completeness. We've been working on writing neatly and in lowercase letters in school, using the proper lines, and it would be helpful if you could continue to reinforce this at home.  Please have them use pencil only, unless the directions call for coloring.  There are pages in the front of their reading copybooks that show the correct letter formation.  If anyone would like a packet for extra handwriting practice, just let me know.  Thank you for your help with this.

- A paper explaining the Saints Celebration will be sent home this week. Please read it carefully and mark down the dates. The report will be due on Wednesday, October 9th and the celebration will be on Friday, October 25th. If you have any questions please let me know.

- We have our first field trip planned to Riverbend on Thursday, October 17th.  You will be invoiced for the cost of the trip through your FACTS account. The invoice will have the permission waiver in the form, and payment of the fee will complete both steps. We are fortunate that most of the expenses will be covered by The Connelly Foundation.  Many thanks to the Connelly family once again!   We need 4 chaperones for our class.  The trip will run from approximately 9:45 to 1:00. Sorry, no younger siblings are permitted.   If you have your clearances and are interested, please email me back and I will pick from a hat next week.

- We will also be having the Elmwood Zoo visit SKS with their mobile zoo on October 3rd to present a lesson on animal habitats.  There will also be a small fee for this included in your FACTS account.

- Looking ahead, there will be NO SCHOOL on Monday, October 7th as the teachers will be attending an In-Service, and winter uniforms will begin on October 8th.

- The children are loving Mystery Reader.  Here is the link if you have not signed up yet.  If you can not find a time that works for you, please let me know and we can find a time.

-Have a great week!

Homework

Monday

Reading: complete worksheet

Math: workbook page 20

Practice words and read for 15 minutes.

Tuesday

Reading: complete worksheet

Math: workbook page 21

Practice words and read for 15 minutes.

Wednesday

Reading: complete worksheet

Math: worksheet to review for addition quiz 

Practice words and read for 15 minutes.

Thursday

Reading: complete worksheet

Math: workbook page 23

Practice words for test

Read

A Peek at Our Week

Religion: Chapter 2 - "We Believe in the Blessed Trinity"

In this chapter, we will learn all about the three persons that make up the Blessed Trinity and we will also learn about what prayer is.

Reading

Story: Plants and Animals Grow and Change

Target Skill: Asking questions, Main Topic and Details, Sequencing

Phonics Skill: Short i

Grammar: Nouns (review) and verbs

Sight Words: play, little, with, you

Spelling Words: lip, hip, rip, win, bin, pin, hit, bit

Math

This week we will continue with addition. We will review the parts of an addition sentence (addend + addend = sum, part + part = whole) and practice making sums up to 12.  We will have a quiz on addition facts with sums to 12, number order, number words, and making ten using ten frames.

Week of September 16, 2024

Please Note

- We will have our first school Mass on Wednesday at 9:00am. Dress-downs are not permitted on mass days.  All are welcome to join us!

- We will have our first Religion quiz on Thursday. We will complete the quiz together, no preparation is needed from home.

- We started our first unit in reading today on "How Plants and Animals Change". We have begun making our flashcards for the high-frequency words this week. They will go home in your child's 'pet bag' and will come home each night. Please make sure everything is returned to school each day. The high-frequency words and spelling words for the week can also be found in your child's "R Copybook" and at the bottom of this communication.  (They must know how to spell the spelling words, but only to read the high-frequency words.)

- Please review all spelling words and high-frequency words each night to prepare for the test on Friday. There will also be a comprehension portion of the reading test which we will prepare for in school.

- The children will bring home their 'Pet Bags' each night.  In this bag will be a 'pet' they can read to along with their word cards and books for nightly practice.  Please be sure to send these back to school each day.  They are meant to be read multiple times to practice the reading skills we are working on.

- We will try to log in to all our new apps this week at school.  Be on the lookout for login information coming home soon so you can practice at home, too.  The logins will be listed in the front of their Homework Copybook.

-I think that is it for this week.  Please email me if you have any questions!

Homework

Monday

Reading -  worksheet

Math:  worksheet

Practice words (High Frequency Words and Spelling Words) and read for 15 minutes.

Tuesday

Reading -  worksheet

Math:  worksheet

Practice words and read for 15 min.

Wednesday

Reading -  worksheet

Math:  worksheet

Practice words and read for 15 min.

Thursday

Reading -  worksheet

Math:  worksheet

Practice words and read for 15 min.

A Peek at Our Week

Religion: Chapter 1- "Jesus Teaches Us About God's Love"

We will be learning about the story of creation and how we were all made in the image and likeness of God. We will also learn about how God made each of us different. We will talk about how we are called to know, love, and serve God. We will take our first quiz together.

Reading

Story: "Five Little Tadpoles"

Target Skill: Asking questions, main idea, sequence

Phonics Skill: Short a

Grammar: nouns

Sight Words: and, go, the, see, she

Spelling Words: pat, bat, hat, had, mad, can, ran, fan

Math

This week we will start our unit on addition! We will learn the parts of an addition sentence (addends, plus sign, equal sign), start making our flashcards and learn how to add by counting on from the higher number. Please start practicing flashcards at home once completed in school.  (They will be stored in their 'Pet Bags.')

Week of September 9, 2024

Welcome to our Classroom Blog! We are so excited to start our first full week of first grade, and are looking forward to a great year. Thanks for attending Back to School Night. It was great to meet everyone. You can find the BTSN information for our class here.  We have a lot of fun things planned so keep checking our classroom blog for updates and pictures of what is going on in Room 3.

Please Note

- The first few weeks of school are very important for setting expectations and learning our classroom routines and procedures. Students thrive in environments where they feel comfortable and know what is expected of them. I encourage you to also have expectations and routines at home as well. For example, each day after school your child can eat a snack, empty their home folder, complete their homework, and practice their word cards and spelling words for the week. Simple chores like packing their school bags, helping pack lunches/snacks, and making their beds will help your child to become responsible, organized, and independent.

- Please check your child's "Home Folder" with them every night. They can empty out any papers that were completed in school.  If anything needs to be sent to school, please place it in the folder. Our 'H' and 'R' copybooks "live" in their Home folder. This folder should be returned to school along with their copybooks each day.

- We will start off slow with homework the first few weeks so the kids can get back into the swing of it! 

- On Friday, we will be having our One Book, One School Book Club. Students are asked to wear their blue t-shirt which you received at BTSN. We will be talking about what they will do to take care of God's creation, and completing a fun activity with our 8th grade Buddies.

- There will be a dress-down day on Monday, 9/16. Please send in $1.00 to dress down to benefit the World Eye Cancer Organization.

- The Mystery Reader sign-up genius is up! You can find it here.  If you have any questions please let me know!

- Here is a link to our schedule and class list.

- Here is a link for September Craft Club if you are interested. Craft Club is on Tuesday afternoons. We complete a craft, have snack, and enjoy some outdoor play.

- Please email me with any questions or concerns :)

-Have a great week!

Homework

Monday

Religion: practice saying the Hail Mary (Found on first page of homework copybook.  Please be sure they are practicing/learning the correct words.)

Phonics: page 67

Tuesday

Religion: practice saying the Hail Mary

Phonics: page 68

Wednesday

Religion: practice saying the Hail Mary

Phonics: page 69

Thursday

Religion: practice saying the Hail Mary

Phonics: page 71

*Wear Summer Reading t-shirt with gym shorts on Friday*

A Peek at Our Week

Religion

We will be learning about the story of creation and how we were all made in the image and likeness of God in Chapter 1. We will also learn about how God made each of us unique!

Reading

We will start our new reading series with the Foundations and Routines unit. 

Math

This week we will focus on writing numbers and number words. We will also work on putting numbers in order and filling in missing numbers and counting forwards and backwards.