1. MARK YOUR CALENDARS! 2/26-3/4 – Terra Nova Testing 3/1 – February's Reading Log is due. Please make sure to have a book talk with your child on a regular basis. Questions can be found in your child’s reading log folder. 3/2 Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! Hats Off to Reading! Please bring in your favorite Dr. Seuss book to share. 3/13 Daylight Savings Time to “spring” ahead! 3/14 Stations of the Cross project is due. Guidelines for this project were sent home last week. 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. First Grade News February 29 th – March 4 th 2016 Remember to make time for additional family prayer and acts of kindness during Lent. Terra Nova Testing It’s time to try our best and show what we know! Testing will begin at 8:25 each morning. It is important that your child is present each day. Please allow plenty of time each morning for a hearty and healthy breakfast. Make sure your child is getting a good night’s sleep. Students will need to bring in a water bottle and a morning snack each day. Students are allowed to wear their gym uniform throughout the week. More information on this week’s dress code should be sent out via email or posted to our website later today. Please be on the lookout for this information from Mrs. Braca. Thank you. In order to get plenty of rest for testing, students will not have nightly homework this week. We will not complete a reading story or have spelling words this week. Students are expected to continue to read nightly. March 13 th is Daylight Savings Spring into a good book! School Supplies We are running low on tissues, paper towels, and antibacterial wipes. If you did NOT bring in these items in August, could you please send them in at your convenience. Thank you. "The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." Dr. Seuss

2. This Week’s Curriculum Notes Reading & Spelling – This week, we will read a biography on Dr. Seuss. We will complete a variety of fun activities in celebration of his love for reading. We will not complete a story from our reading textbook. Please continue to read every day and review previous weekly sight word lists. 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. Math – We will introduce Chapter Seven, Geometry. Last week, we completed Chapter Five. This week, we will skip ahead to Chapter Seven, Geometry. Students will identify figures, sides, corners and create plane figures using different shapes. Heads up … our next chapter will cover telling time and counting coins. 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 14 th. This week, we will discuss Chapter Nine, Jesus Died and Rose to New Life "Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!" "You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go..." "You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So... get on your way!" Hats Off to Reading! Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!