First Grade News March 7th – 11th 2016 MARK YOUR CALENDARS! 3/10 Easter cardboard Cross is due 3/13 Daylight Savings Time to “spring” ahead! 3/14 Stations of the Cross project is due 3/17 Happy St. Patrick’s Day! 3/18 Report Cards will be distributed 3/23 No School 3/24 Holy Thursday, No School 3/25 Good Friday, No School 3/28 Easter Monday, No School Always make sure to check our school website for additional news and events. Job Well Done! I was delighted with everyone’s hard work and positive attitude during Terra Novas. Each day during the test, everyone was focused and really tried their best. I can’t tell you how proud I was to watch my students work so hard. It is truly a privilege to be their teacher. I would like to thank Mrs. Curtis and Mrs. Niewinski for providing our class with a sweet award on Friday morning after our last test. We appreciate your thoughtfulness. Reminders…  1. Book orders are due on Tuesday. 2. Yearbook order forms have been sent home. 3. March reading logs were sent home. Please make sure to log your reading time daily. Reading logs should be returned on Friday, April 1st. Please let me know if you need additional books to read or any book recommendations. Remember to make time for additional family prayer and acts of kindness during Lent. We are having a ball with geometry. On Friday, we met with our prayer partners and designed both plane and solid geometric figures using mini- marshmallows and toothpicks. March 13th is Daylight Savings Spring into a good book! On Thursday, The Cat in the Hat visited our school. We had a blast celebrating Dr. Seuss this week. Our hallway has been transformed into a Dr. Seuss sensation!

This Week’s Curriculum Notes Reading & Spelling – This week, we will read, Where Are My Animal Friends, from our reading textbook. Our comprehension skill will focus on sequencing and using prior knowledge. In phonics and spelling, we will focus on comparative endings –er, -est. Spelling words were sent home on Thursday. An additional copy along with this week’s reading and sight words are attached. Please review this word list with your child. Thank you! Math –Chapter Seven, Geometry. Two geometry readers were sent home last week. These booklets are to serve as a study tool. Please review them frequently with your child to help them prepare for upcoming geometry quizzes and tests. Students will need to be able to correctly name these figures and their faces and vertices. This week, we will continue to identify and sort both plane and solid figures. I Spy… look around your house with your child to “I Spy” examples of solid figures. For example, look for real life objects that are a cube, sphere, cylinder, rectangular prism, cone, or pyramid. Also search for plane figures. Have fun on your shape hunt! Heads up… our next chapter will cover telling time and counting coins. Grammar & Writing – We will continue to explore verbs. Students will identify verbs am, is, are, was and were. We’ll put our creative writing caps on and write a story about Leprechauns in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. We will also continue with fun thematic writing prompts, poetry and idioms. We are having a ball exploring these sayings and I encourage you to continue to discuss them at home. Continue to encourage your child to explore writing. Creating stories, responding to a prompt, and keeping a journal are all excellent ways to reinforce letter formation and sentence structure. If you notice that your child is forming letters or numbers incorrectly, please find time to practice them. Developing correct letter formation is critical. Practice writing on a white or chalk board or try writing in shaving cream. Religion – We will continue to learn about and discuss Lent. As a family, I encourage you to discuss what sacrifices you can make during Lent to grow closer to Jesus. Stations of the Cross projects are due on or before March 14th. This week, we will discuss Chapter Nine, Jesus Died and Rose to New Life Social Studies and Science – All About the Four Seasons. Students will identify changes in nature.

Think Spring! Spelling Words bigger biggest faster fastest slower slowest shorter shortest sadder saddest High-Frequency Words good-bye before Words to READ does good-bye before won’t oh right Think Spring!