1. MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Jan. 12 th – Candles are due for our prayer service. Jan. 18 th – No School, Martin Luther King Day. Home & School Ice Skating Party. Find more information about this event online. Jan. 22 nd – First Grade Prayer Service in the Chapel at 2:15pm. Please check our school website for additional news and events. Thank you! First Grade News January 4 th - 8 th 2016 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. Starting the New Year Off on the Right Foot Good organizational skills are the key to success in and outside of the classroom. Please read our newsletter with your child each Monday evening and continue to check your child’s homework folder on a daily basis for nightly and long term assignments as well as recently graded papers. Reviewing your child’s classroom assignments is an excellent way to monitor growth, and it provides additional reinforcement. Thank you for your support. A hearty breakfast and a nutritious lunch will help fuel the body for learning! Please pack a healthy morning snack. Let’s save the cookies and potato chips for our afternoon snack time. Make sure your child is getting an ample amount of sleep each evening. It is important to arrive to school on time. We have many fun-filled learning activities in store for 2016. Now that cold weather is upon us, please make sure to label your child’s coat, hat and gloves. Happy New Year! Welcome Back! We hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas and a restful vacation. May the New Year bring you good health and continued happiness. We have lots of learning and fun in store for 2016. A Heartfelt Thank You We would like to thank everyone for their support and generosity not only during the holiday season, but throughout the school year. We feel truly blessed to be your child’s teacher. Wintertime is a great time to cuddle up with a good book and cup of hot cocoa. Please review the dress code policy online. Make sure that your child is adhering to all of the standards. Note that sweatpants are to be worn for gym class. Leggings and yoga pants are not permitted for gym class. If you have questions, please contact the office. Thank you.

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 – Repeated Readings (5 minutes a night) Echo or choral read poems, songs or short stories together to model expression and fluency. 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 (a minimum of 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. Have a book talk. Ask your child questions about what they are reading independently and/or aloud to you. This will help you to monitor their comprehension. This Week’s Curriculum Notes Reading & Spelling - This week, we will be reading an expository nonfiction called, Life in the Forest. Our reading skill is: Author’s Purpose. Our phonics concentration will be on long u, long e (CVCe), and inflected ending –ed. Our spelling words are generated from this story. Our spelling test will be on Friday, January 8th. Grammar & Writing – This week during our grammar lessons, we will review contractions as well as the names of days, months and holidays. We will also review nouns and identify plurals. During writer’s workshop, students will set resolutions for the new year. They will also write about their vacations. Students will review how to use part of a question (question stem) to respond to comprehension questions. Religion – We will read and discuss Chapter Five, Jesus Teaches Us About Love. Social Studies & Science – In conjunction with this week’s story, we will learn more about plants and animals that live in our neighborhood. READREAD

3. Reading & Spelling - This week, we will be reading an expository nonfiction called, Life in the Forest. Our reading skill is: Author’s Purpose. Our phonics concentration will be on long u, long e (CVCe), and inflected ending –ed. Our spelling words are generated from this story. Our spelling test will be on Friday, January 8 th. Spelling Words Long u (CVCe) hugecube Junerule tuberude mulecute use flute High-Frequency Words waterunder Challenge Words thesewon’t packedshrub Words to READ growfoodaround find water under

4. cube flute tube cute mute prune dude tune rude mule use huge Long u, short u and vowel teams cub slug tub cut rule mud dud fume shrub June must bus glue flu blue juice suit due true clue hue The letter u is tricky… it makes different sounds. Please review the different sounds that long u and short u can make. Thank you!