Week of November 30, 2020

Please Note

- I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a nice break. Our first virtual day went smoothly! Thank you for having them prepared.  I appreciate all of your effort and cooperation.   I know it is not easy for you to take the time from your day, or for them to sit and listen for that long, but we completed everything I had planned and they were GREAT!  If you have any requests or recommendations please let me know.

- Virtual school Monday and Tuesday of this week.

- Dress down day on Friday of this week. Please send in $1.00.

- NO SCHOOL next Monday or Tuesday (12/7 & 12/8)

- Grades close this Friday, 12/4. Report cards will be given out the week of 12/14.

Our Week

Religion

We will learn about The Church Year and the season of Advent.  We will finish Chapter 5 but not have a test for this chapter.

Reading

Story: "At Home in the Ocean"

Target Skill: Fact and Opinion

Phonics Skill: Long A, (a_e and ay, introduce -ai) digraph th

Grammar: Proper Nouns

Sight Words: blue, cold, far, little, live, their, water, where

Spelling Words: that, then, with, cape, name, make, say, pray

Math

We will begin our unit of Place Value. We will focus on learning tens and ones and where they go in the place value "house". We will also practice making tens, teen numbers and numbers up to 40 using tens and ones for place value.

Week of November 23, 2020

Happy November 25th Birthday to Sara!

There are only 14 school days until Christmas break! I cannot believe how fast this year is flying by. This week we will start our new story, start learning the long a sound, and do Thanksgiving themed activities. We will also have our class party on Tuesday. Thanks to everyone who donated. I hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving. Please know that the entire SKS faculty and staff are always grateful and thankful for your support but this year especially. We could not do this without your help and support! Speaking of that, below you will find everything you need to know regarding Virtual School on Monday and Tuesday of next week.

Virtual School Information for Monday 11/30 & 12/1

- Next Monday and Tuesday we will be fully virtual. The kids will be coming home with all of their workbooks and copybooks on Monday and Tuesday. There will not be any worksheets to print.  I will review these tips and rules with the kids in school this week, but it is a great idea for you to review them at home as well. 

A few helpful tips and suggestions are:

        - Please be sure to have your child logged in to google so they will be ready to join the Meet. 

        - Post the Meeting code somewhere visible: mthornton3

        - Look at/print the Virtual Schedule ahead of time.

        - Follow Virtual Learning Schedule: HERE (To make things easier, students will stay logged on during morning break but do not need to be on screen.  They will have to sign off during lunch, and sign back on after lunch at 12:10.)

       - Have materials ready for the week: pencils, workbooks, copybooks, reader, crayons, colored pencils, glue sticks, scissors, headphones, etc.

       - Have a quiet, distraction free place to work. Students should not be laying on beds, be away from your pets, TV, toys, and other family members.  *Headphones would be best for focus!*

       - Wear your required uniform daily (spring uniform is okay). *MONDAY WILL BE A DRESS DOWN FOR OUR CLASS ONLY AS A THANK YOU FOR MY BIRTHDAY GIFTS!*

      - Make sure devices are fully charged and have the charger available if needed.

      - Check your child’s computer volume and practice muting and unmuting.

     - Remind your child that virtual school is like being at school, but from home. The same behavior is expected. They should be respectful of the teacher and classmates.  

      - If they have questions or need help with something, they should ask ME,  just like if we were in school! They may need to seek help from you OCASSIONALLY for finding a page or logging on, but you should not have to sit with your child during each lesson.

    - The kids should stay on mute unless they are called on or have a question. If they have a question, they can raise their hand or pop on and ask if not interrupting a lesson. Please do not use the raise hand button or thumbs up button as it becomes a distraction. Also, they are not allowed to change their backgrounds.

I know this is a lot of information, but it will help everything transition smoothly if they are prepared and ready to go.  The hope is to develop good virtual habits in case we need it for longer periods. Remember, this is a trial run and we can tweak things if we need to.  Feedback is welcomed!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

Melissa

Week of November 16, 2020

Please Note

- We had another great week last week and will keep going strong into the holiday season. Thank you so much for being so flexible and giving us some days to meet with each other and plan. We truly, truly appreciate your support!

- Thank you so much for purchasing from my Scholastic Book Wish List.  The kids will have so much fun reading our new books!

- Dress Down Day on Tuesday for Jenna's Blessings Bags. Please send in $1.00 to dress down.

- Test folders will be sent home on Friday. Please sign and return on Monday.

- There will be a math test on fact families and mixed addition and subtraction on Thursday. We will be reviewing this week.

- There will be a Reading and Spelling test on Friday for 'A Cupcake Party'.

Our Week

Religion

We will begin Chapter 5 "Jesus Teaches Us About Love".

Reading

Story: "A Cupcake Party"

Target Skill: Story Structure (characters, setting, plot)

Phonics Skill: Short u sound and final blends -mp -nt, -nd, -st, -sk

Grammar: using a, an and the. Synonyms and antonyms

Sight Words: eat, give, one, put, small, take,

Spelling Words: sun, bus, but, run, fun, us

Math
This week we have a test on fact families and mixed addition and subtraction on Thursday.

Week of November 9, 2020

Please Note

- Thanks for meeting last week.  It was great to connect with all of you!  If you find you have any additional questions or concerns, please let me know.  Thanks!

- Our Virtual Monthly Mass for November will be on Tuesday at 9:00 am. You are welcome to join us via the SKS Parish YouTube link!

- Chapter 4 Religion test will be on Friday. A study guide will be sent home on Tuesday.

- Our class will record their Christmas Concert song this Friday. Please send them to school dressed in their Christmas/Sunday best. They will not need a change of clothes. 

- There is no school on Monday, November 16th.

- Please make sure you have the apps Seesaw Class, Starfall, IXL and Kids A-Z downloaded for your child at home. All of their Login information is on the one paper which was already sent home.  Please let me know if you need another copy.  It is a good idea to start checking their Seesaw account weekly to see what we are doing in school and for help with assignments I have sent back to them for corrections. Kids A-Z is great for reading at home.  They can choose a level they are comfortable with, or they can level up and listen to stories.  IXL is great skills practice for both Reading and Math.  Starfall has both reading and math practice, too.  If they have finished what I have assigned, they can chose other activities on their own.  The kids know how to use all of these. Doing this at home now will also be good practice for the two virtual days after Thanksgiving.

- Instead of using the original Zoom link for Guest Reader, please sign in to Google Meet with your child's Google information, which can be found on their Login paper.  Our class meeting code is mthornton3.  You will be able to enter once I start the meeting.  Here is the link to sign up for those who have not signed up yet.  Please specify 12:30 or 2:00 in the comments.  There are enough slots for each family to choose 2 dates.  Please choose a few books and plan to read for about 20 minutes.  I prefer to read, and then share the pictures, but you can do whatever you are comfortable with on screen.

Have a great week! 

Our Week

Religion

We will finish Chapter 4 and have a test on Friday.

Reading

Story: "A Cupcake Party"

Target Skill: Story Structure (characters, setting, plot)

Phonics Skill: Short u sound and final blends -mp -nt, -nd, -st, -sk

Grammar: using a, an and the. Synonyms and antonyms

Sight Words: eat, give, one, put, small, take,

Spelling Words: sun, bus, but, run, fun, us

Math
This week we will learn about Fact Families and practice relating addition to subtraction.

Week of November 2, 2020

Please Note

-Even though Halloween this year was a little different, we still had an AWESOME day! The costumes were great and we loved watching the video and seeing all the costumes!  Thanks to those who contributed to the Halloween activities.  Our Homeroom Moms will be in touch to find other volunteer donations for Thanksgiving soon.

- We will finish up the story "Dr. Seuss" but there will be no reading or spelling test this week.

- There will be a math test on subtraction on Thursday. We will do a review in school on Wednesday. The kids have been doing really well with it!

- No school on Friday due to Parent/Teacher Conferences. I look forward to meeting with all of you! I will send home a conference sheet with your child this week.

- Just a reminder that there will be no school on Monday, November 16th for a teacher in-service day. Thanks!

Have a great week!

Our Week

Religion

We will start Chapter 4 "Jesus Works Among the People"

Reading

Story: "Dr. Seuss"

Target Skill: Graphic Features and Biographies

Phonics Skill: Short e sound and -s blends

Grammar: Antonyms

Sight Words: after, draw, pictures, read, was, write, 

Spelling Words: yes, let, red, ten, bed, get

Math

We will have a test on subtraction this week on using a number line, word problems, and finding the missing part. We will do a review on Wednesday.

Week of 10/26/2020

- It was great to see you at the Saints Presentation on Friday. The kids did such a great job, and I am so proud of them. Thanks again for all of your practice and preparations at home! 

- Test folders will be sent home tomorrow. Please return them on Thursday.

- We will have a Religion test on Chapter 3 on Thursday. A study guide was sent home today.

- We will celebrate Halloween on Friday! The kids should come dressed in their costumes. We will do a small craft/snack and watch the Halloween Parade at the end of the day. You are welcome to watch the parade on the SKS School YouTube channel.

- Virtual Conferences are available next Thursday night (11/5) and Friday (11/6).  Please note that conferences are not mandatory, but I am here if you want to check-in.  I am also happy to schedule a conference with you any night next week, just email me and we can arrange something if that works better for you.

Our Week

Religion

We will finish Chapter 3 and have a test on Thursday.

Reading

Story: "Dr. Seuss"

Target Skill: Graphic Features and Biographies

Phonics Skill: Short e sound and -s blends

Grammar: Antonyms

Sight Words: after, draw, pictures, read, was, write, 

Spelling Words: yes, let, red, ten, bed, get

Math

We will continue our unit on subtraction! This week we will focus on using a number line to count or hop back.

Week of October 19, 2020

Please Note

- I hope you had a great weekend! We had some great practices last week for our Saints Presentation. We will have 2 more this week before our big event on Friday. Please continue to practice their readings at home, too. 

- The Virtual Scholastic Book Fair is this Week. You can shop for books from October 19th - November 2nd.  You can shop HERE.

- Math test on Tuesday on addition on a number line, sums of 10 and adding 3 addends.

- Thursday will be a Dress Down Day. Please send in $1.00 to dress down.

- Reading and Spelling test on Friday on a Musical Day.

- Reminder there will be no school on Monday, October 26th.

- Saint Presentation reminders:

          - Our class' presentation will be at 9:40am on Friday.  Miss Rooney's class is before us.  Please allow them to clear out before you enter the church.  Please make sure you are wearing your mask and socially distanced in the pews.  

          - The kids are to come to school dressed in their costumes over their gym uniforms (sneakers are fine).

          - Please make sure robes are not too long as we will be walking to and from the church. Also, bobby pins tend to not keep veils on so if you can attach them to a headband that would be great. 

          - All 3 presentations will be live streamed on the Parish YouTube page.  Please invite extended family to join us virtually!

Our Week

Religion

We will share our Saint Reports with the class.  We will continue Chapter 3 "Jesus Grew Up in a Family". We will learn about the birth of Jesus and the Holy Family. We will have our Saint Presentation on Friday.

Reading

Story: "A Musical Day"

Target Skill: Sequence of events

Phonics Skill: Short o sound and -l blends 

Grammar: Complete sentences and nouns

Sight Words: her, now, our, she, today, would

Spelling Words: on, pop, got, not, fox, hop

Math

We will finish up our addition unit this week and have our test on Tuesday. Then we will begin our unit on subtraction. We will learn about the minus sign, counting backwards and most importantly, that the bigger number always goes first in subtraction!

Science

We will continue our Science unit on Light and Sound.  We will learn all about the scientific

method and put it into practice with some fun experiments and investigations. Here are the

topics we will learn about in Unit 1:

• The Scientific Method, Science Safety and Tools Scientists Use

• States and Properties of Matter

• Sound and Vibrations

• Light

• Using Light and Sound to Communicate

Social Studies

We will continue our Social Studies unit on Responsible Citizenship. Here are some of the

important things we will learn about in Unit 1:

• Rules and laws in our home, school, and community

• How we can be responsible citizens:

-Following our rules and laws

-Respect and responsibility

-How we can be a good friend

-Why truthfulness is important

-Cooperation and sportsmanship

-Perseverance

This unit will teach us about how we can make our classroom

community the best that it can be!