1. MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Dec. 11 th – Boxes were due for our Nativity scene project. Dec. 15 th – First Grade Mass Dec. 23 rd – No School. Beginning of Christmas vacation. Jan. 4 th – Return to School. Jan. 12 th – Candles are due for our prayer service. Jan. 22 nd – First Grade Prayer Service in the Chapel at 2:15pm. Please check our school website for additional news and events. Terrific Trees Everyone did an outstanding job on their Christmas tree book report. Our hallway has turned into a winter wonderland. I am so proud of the creativity and time that was put into this project. Way to go! First Grade News December 14 th -19 th 2015 Have a wonderful week and a blessed holiday season! Ho Ho Ho … Only a week and a half to go! Peace and Light First Grade Prayer Service January 22 nd at 2:15pm. Our prayer service theme is Peace and Light. For this special prayer service, your child will need one battery operated window (taper) candle. Plastic candles please. These candles can be found at most stores during this time of year. Make sure that your child’s candle has a battery and that their name is on the bottom. Candles should be brought in no later than January 12 th. We have important curriculum to cover this week and many fun Christmas crafts and activities planned. Please make sure your child is getting a good night’s sleep and arrives to school on time each day. Thank you! A hearty breakfast and healthy lunch will help fuel the body for learning! Happy Birthday to: Lukas, Dec. 12 th Rachael, Dec. 16 th We hope you have a great day! Best wishes! First Grade Mass We will attend Mass this Tuesday, Dec.15 th. We will leave from the cafeteria promptly at 7:45am to walk over to the church. If your child arrives after 7:45am, they will report to Kindergarten until we return.

2. Daily Reading Practice Daily reading should consist of fluency practice, sight word practice, and free-choice reading. Break these into separate times to prevent them from feeling time consuming to your child. Fluency Practice Poetry Practice (5 minutes a night) Echo or choral read poems or short stories together to model expression and fluency. Practice Christmas poems and songs together as a family! Sight Words (5 minutes a night) Don’t forget to practice the Dolch sight word booklet on a regular basis. Five minutes of daily sight word practice can make a big difference! Also, please have your child practice reading the weekly words that are attached to our spelling list. These words are in conjunction with our weekly phonics/spelling skills. Reading these words will help your child apply our phonics skills. Free Choice Reading (5-10 minutes a night) Allow your child to select a book at their reading level to read aloud to you. When time allows, read to your child. This will inspire them and help them grow as readers. Curriculum Notes In math, we will continue with subtraction, odd and even numbers, counting patterns, and fact families. Please practice addition and subtraction facts at home. When time allows, play math games that have been recently sent home to reinforce addition and subtraction. We will have a math test on Thursday. In religion, we will create Nativity scenes in honor of the birth of Jesus. In reading, we will focus on long O. Please practice the attached spelling words and sight words. Our story this week is, The Big Circle. Our comprehension skill is sequence. After your child reads a story aloud to you, have them retell it sequentially. During our writer’s workshop, we will learn the parts of a letter. We will write letters and complete some fun Christmas poems. Encourage your child to write letters to family and friends during vacation. Our grammar focus will be on special titles, compound words, and contractions. We will also review days of the week, months, and holidays. In conjunction with this week’s story we will learn more about dinosaurs in science. It is going to be a fun-filled week with lots of learning and laughs along the way! Get wrapped up in a good book! First Grade Community Service Project Theme: Thanking Community Helpers In conjunction with our reading unit, we will be learning about people who live and work in our community. During writer’s workshop, students will learn how to write friendly letters and create messages to thank community members who help us every day. Along with our notes of appreciation, students will be filling candy bags to give to these individuals. This holiday season is a perfect time to reflect upon our many blessing and to thank those who help us. Pencils and pencil top erasers Glue sticks Crayons- regular box Crayons – a box of the thin twistable color crayons instead of colored pencils. This way, sharpening is not involved! It’s time to restock! Students will need to bring in the following school supplies after vacation.

3. Spelling Words Long o (CVCe) homehope rosejoke wokethose bonehose stonerode High-Frequency Words: theretogether Challenge Words: snowflake globe Christmas Jesus Have a safe and magical holiday season. Get wrapped up in a good book! Words to Read: there down inside now together

4. code joke dome robe rode poke home broke Rome smoke globe stone home chrome mope bore cove core drove slope rope sore note hose mole choke tore scope those store spoke more stove pore nope stole Long O Sight Word List close vote zone role mode phone whole woke tone pole rose bone