Weekly Letter December 2nd

Dear Parents & Guardians,

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and long weekend. Things are busy in class 1-2 and we are so excited that it is finally December! Where did the time go?! Below are the topics being covered this week.

Reading & Writing: This week students will be engaging in various writing activities. We will be using our imagination and writing about reindeer. Students will be writing opinion pieces about whether they think a reindeer would be a good pet. Students will be able to state their opinion and provide reasons to support their opinion. We will also be focusing on how we can light up the world with kindness. You will see some of our writing at conferences!

Phonics & Vocabulary: This week our spelling and sight words will focus on the long vowel E sound! Please continue to practice your words each night! We will have a spelling test on Friday.

Math: This week, the students will continue with chapter 4. We are learning how to use our knowledge of addition and subtraction facts to complete a fact family. Today students used a “part + part = whole” model to help them solve various facts. Later in the week students will use strategies learned thus far to help them solve word problems.

Religion: The class discussions this week will focus on Advent. We will be coloring our own Advent wreath and learning about we can prepare ourselves for this special season. We continue to prepare for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas! The students will engage in many activities to ensure understanding of this special time of year.

Announcements & Reminders:

• Parent/Teacher Conferences: Thursday, December 5th. There is a noon dismissal on this day! Please make every effort to be on time for conferences 
• Half Day on Friday!

• Christmas Show – The Christmas Show is Thursday, December 19th at 7 PM at St. Francis Prep High School. Tickets are on sale now. Please keep in mind tickets will NOT be sold at the door. You should be receiving a notice in the green folder about how to purchase tickets.

Weekly Letter November 18th

I hope you all had a nice weekend. I can’t believe that Thanksgiving is next week! Time is flying by and we are busy as usual in class 1-2. Please continue reading to find out what we are working on this week…

Reading & Writing: During reading workshop this week, students will be working on activities that focus on the long vowel sounds. We are continuing with the CVCe (consonant, vowel, consonant, silent e) words. A fun activity we’ve been doing is any time we see a magic e word when reading we point it out. You can try this when reading at home with your child. Last week students started quizzing on Accelerated Reader. We quizzed on read aloud books that I have read to them, as well as books that were listed on their reading logs. You will see a report every few weeks.

Today for our light and sound unit, students went on a listening walk around our building. We noticed that there are many sounds around us, especially when we are silent and carefully listening. Some things that we heard were, pencil sharpeners, talking, laughing, coughing, etc. Students can do a listening walk at home and compare the sounds that they’ve heard in two different places, school and home.

Phonics/Spelling/Grammar: This week the phonics skill will focus on the long u vowel. Students will need to identify what makes a word have a short or long u sound. Please continue to review spelling and sight words each week. During this week I will be assessing students’ reading levels again. You will be able to see which level your child is, by seeing the books in their baggie.

Math: We are taking a chapter 3 math test tomorrow. Study guides went home in green folders on Friday. On Wednesday, students will begin chapter 4: subtraction strategies. We will practice using a number line and a ten frame to help us subtract.

Announcements & Reminders:

• Religion Chapter 4 Assessment on Wednesday. Books are coming home today. Questions to focus on: Who is John the Baptist? Zacchaeus? What does it mean to trust?
• Turkey Trot on Friday
• Permission Slip & Money due by Wednesday, November 27^th
• Scholastic Order Due December 2^nd

Weekly Letter November 12th

I hope you all enjoyed the beautiful, but cool weather this weekend! In class 1-2 we are getting ready to learn all about Light and Sound in our new science unit! This will be a very interactive unit and students will love every minute of it! J I love how excited the students get when experimenting with various objects during our STEM class. Below are some of the topics we will be studying during this week.

Reading & Writing:

The unit on Waves: Light & Sound is an interactive and exciting unit! During this unit, the students will be introduced to the skill of making predictions. This is a skill that readers use daily while reading, but also during every day activities. This week in Reading Workshop we will be discussing how important our five senses are. Tomorrow we will illustrate things we hear, smell, taste, touch, and hear. Towards the end of the week we will be going on a listening walk!

This week in Writing Workshop, the students will be learning about informational books: books that tell us information about topics. This will lead our focus on making journals throughout our new unit. Students will be involved in many hands on activities this month!

During writer’s workshop, students will also have a chance to choose a topic for their personal narratives. We will begin organizing our ideas and adding details to our story maps!

Spelling/Phonics/Grammar

The phonics skill this week will focus on the long o vowel pattern. Please review our words each night! This week we will also focus on question marks and exclamation points. We practiced finding questions today and trying our best to make a question mark at the end of each question. These marks can be quite tricky. Maybe try to have students incorporate questions into their spelling sentences.  

Math

We will be finishing chapter 3 this week. The last few lessons focus on using our knowledge of various addition strategies to help us solve word problems. Students are able to draw pictures to help them if they need. We are trying to get students away from using their fingers to help them solve. We are beginning to use mental math and using what we already know to help us solve other problems. We will spend a great deal of time reviewing the skills and strategies that the students will need to be ready for the assessment. *The chapter study guide will be going home on Friday. We will have an assessment on Tuesday, November 19^th.

Announcements & Reminders

• Religion Chapter 4 Assessment on Wednesday 11/20. Books will go home on Friday. Questions to focus on: Who is John the Baptist? Zacchaeus? What does it mean to trust?
• Dress Down Day Friday

Weekly Letter November 4th

Dear Parents & Guardians:

A few things we will doing this week in class 1-2…

Reading/Writing: Tomorrow is our family celebration in Father Smith Hall from 9-10. Please enter through the main entrance. We are so excited to share with you our family books. We have been working very hard all month. I am sure you are going to love them!

On Wednesday students will be introduced to personal narratives. We will be reading various stories and thinking about a moment in our own lives. Once we have our moment we will start to plan out the details about the moment such as the who, where, and when?

Spelling: This week students will not have new spelling words. We will continue to review the long and short vowels sounds that we’ve learned so far. Homework for each night can be found in the green folder.

Math: Students will be learning how to make a ten to add. We will begin to understand that when given an equation, we can always think about making a ten to help us. Please find below how making a ten can help you add. Also, students should continue to practice their doubles facts at home.

Religion: This week we will start chapter 4, “Jesus Works Among the People”. In this chapter students will learn that John the Baptist helped people get ready for Jesus. Students will also learn that God watches over us and cares for us all the time!

Announcements & Reminders:

• Family Celebration Tomorrow 9-10 in Father Smith Hall
• No School on Friday & Monday.
• Scholastic Orders Due 11/15