1. MARK YOUR CALENDARS! 2/18 – Feb. & Aug. birthdays dress down day 2/19 – March Lunch forms are due 2/26-3/4 – Terra Nova Testing 3/1 – Reading Logs are due Always make sure to check our school website for additional news and events. Thank you! Have a wonderful week! First Grade News February 15 th – 19 th 2016 We are collecting Boxtops and Campbell’s soup labels. Let’s see if we can be this month’s winning class! Fueling the body for focused learning! Nutritious snacks and healthy lunches fuel the body and mind. Suggestion - brainstorm a list of healthy food choices with your child. Friendly Reminder… Please keep February’s reading log in a safe place and log what your child is reading to you. Also, use the attached comprehension questions as a tool to monitor your child’s understanding of what they are reading. Folders are due on March 1 st. Math Enirchment Please review counting patterns (before, between, after, 10 more, 10 less) and reading three digit numbers both in word and number form with your child. Thinking ahead… Soon we will be identifying and counting coins and telling time to the hour and half hour. 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. I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing long weekend. We had a fun-filled Valentine’s party on Friday. I would like to thank everyone for their time and support with this special event. Stay warm this weekend! Cuddle up with a hot cocoa and good book! Hip, Hip, Hooray!!! We have reached the 100th Day of First Grade! According to our calendar count, we will celebrate the 100 th day of school this Wednesday. 100 days wiser, 100 days of hard work, and 100 days of friendship and laughter! Way to go! Let’s keep it up! If anyone would like to send in a special afternoon snack for Wednesday, please let me know via email. Remember, all food items must be completely nut free. Thank you! Happy Birthday to: Kyle Naomi Joey Best wishes to all of you! Remember to make time for additional family prayer and acts of kindness during Lent.

2. This Week’s Curriculum Notes Phonics – Inflected Endings –ed, –ing and r-Controlled words (ar) Tuesday’s decodable reader will focus on these words. Please practice the correct pronunciation of r-Controlled words. Reading & Spelling – This week, we will be reading, Frog and Toad Together. The reading skills that we will focus on are plot and visualizing. Our spelling words are generated from this story. This week, our spelling focus will be on words ending in -ed. Our spelling and reading test will be on Friday. Please see the attached list of spelling words. A hard copy of these words along with this week’s sight words were sent home on Thursday. The Frog and Toad books written by Arnold Lobel are a great first grade reading series to explore. Happy Reading! Grammar & Writing – We will continue to explore verbs. Students will identify past and present verbs and verbs that do an do not add –s. We will continue with fun winter writing prompts and poetry. In last week’s Scholastic News, we learned about Idioms. We are having a ball exploring these sayings and I encourage you to continue to discuss them at home. This week, we will focus on the 100th Day of First Grade and President’s Day. Students will complete a variety of writing prompts based on these celebrations. 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 – Chapter Five, Place Value We will continue with Chapter Five. Our focus this week will be on writing numbers in expanded form and identifying numbers within a counting pattern (before, between, after, 10 more, 10 less). Use your 100s chart to practice these counting patterns at home. We will review odd and even numbers and we’ll put on our thinking caps to solve word problems. Religion – We will continue to learn about and discuss Lent. Family activities were sent home last week. As a family, I encourage you to discuss what sacrifices you can make during Lent to grow closer to Jesus. Social Studies – We will be learning about and discussing President’s Day. On Friday, we learned about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Please reread and discuss the Scholastic News and fluency poems that were sent home. I encourage you to explore and discuss presidents of the United States as a family.

3. This week’s spelling theme: Inflected Endings Teachable Moment Please review the below spelling rule with your child. This is a concept that requires additional discussion and practice. It is extremely important for children to understand the rules of spelling and not just the correct way to spell a word. At school we have rules. Well, we also have rules in spelling. We often add suffixes to a base word to tell when it happened. Add –ing to a base word to show that it is happening now. Add –ed to a base word to show that it happened in the past. Example: Toad is planting seeds. (now) Toad planted seeds. (past) In some base words, the final consonant is doubled before the ending –ed or –ing is added. Rule: If there is a consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) at the end of a word, then the last consonant is doubled before the ending –ed or –ing is added. Examples: jog (CVC) so… I have to double the g before I add the ending –ed or -ing I jog to stay healthy. I am jogging around the track. I jogged with my friend last week. call (CVCC) so…I only have to add the ending –ed or -ing I call my grandmother every weekend. I am calling her tonight. I called her yesterday. Please discuss the following examples with your child: pet, nap, wag, hug, stop, wish, help, jump When reading with your child this week, be on the lookout for words that end in –ed or –ing. Thank you!

4. Spelling Words Adding -ed ask asked call called plan planned jog jogged help helped High-Frequency Words: again soon Challenge Words: shopping melted clapping worked Spelling Rule: If there is a consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) at the end of a word, then the last consonant is doubled before the ending –ed or –ing is added. Examples: bat (CVC) so… I have to double the t before I add the ending –ed or –ing batted or batting ask (CVCC) so…I only have to add the ending –ed or –ing asked or asking Words to READ afraid read soon again how few Test: Friday

5. Ending –edEnding –ing nappednapping patted patting fanned fanning clappedclapping huggedhugging joggedjogging shoppedshopping planned planning zippedzipping hoppedhopping Sight Words consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) Rule: double the final consonant and add –ed or -ing

6. Sight Words consonant-vowel-consonant-consonant (CVCC) Rule: add –ed or –ing to the base word Ending –edEnding –ing calledcalling pitchedpitching restedresting helpedhelping askedasking fishedfishing meltedmelting plantedplanting workedworking jumpedjumping