1. MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Jan. 31 st - Feb. 5 th – Catholic Schools Week! This is going to be a fun-filled week. Please review the email that was sent to you last week. Also, check the HF website for additional information. Feb. 11 th – Valentine containers are due Please read the attached slide for more information on this project. Feb. 12 th – Valentine cards 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 1 st – 5 th 2016 We are collecting Boxtops and Campbell’s soup labels. Let’s see if we can be the winning class! 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. If you have any questions on the dress code policy, please contact the office. Thank you. Now that cold weather is upon us, please make sure to label your child’s coat, hat, and gloves Fueling the body for focused learning! We are so pleased with the healthy snacks and nutritious lunches students are brining to school. “Snow” Much Fun! Frosty’s Favorite First Grade Friends! Everyone did a brrr..illiant job creating and presenting their snowman project. Our hallway has turned into a winter wonderland filled with wonderful works of art and writing pieces. I encourage you to stop in to take a look during Catholic Schools Week. Friendly Reminder… January reading logs are due this week. Be on the lookout…a reading log for February will be sent home early this week. Please continue to review your child’s nightly homework and classwork assignments. Reviewing these assignments with your child is an excellent way to monitor progress, review recently taught concepts, and discuss what they are learning. It’s Catholic Schools Week!

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 Phonics – Review of consonant blends. Reading & Spelling – We will complete, Ruby in Her Own Time. The reading skills that we are currently focusing on are plot and summarizing. Ask your child to summarize what they read each evening. We will also focus on fluency by reading winter poems. Please continue to practice the winter poetry packet that was sent home. Spelling: Due to our eventful week, we will not have a spelling test on Friday. Please review previous spelling lists to ensure mastery. Grammar & Writing – We are diving into action verbs. Students will identify verbs within a sentence. Review nouns vs. verbs at home. During our writing time, students will be writing thank you notes to parishioners. We will also have fun writing winter poems. Math – Chapter Five, Place Value We will continue with Chapter Five. Our focus will be on place value to 100. Please review how to correctly read and write numbers and number words. Continue to practice adding and subtracting. Religion – This week, we will read and discuss Chapter Six, The Church Year. I am so proud of everyone’s written responses on the Chapter Five test. Let’s keep up the great work! Science & Social Studies – All about winter weather, animals, and activities.

3. Valentine’s Day Challenge Your Challenge: Design and build a container that will hold all of the valentines that your classmates will soon be giving you. Method: Be creative, colorful, and unique! Use recycled materials from home (old cereal boxes, coffee cans, shoe boxes etc.). Use whatever materials you’d like (wrapping paper, foil, paint, fabric, ribbon, lace, buttons, beads, pipe cleaners, etc.). The sky is the limit! Be sure to design your container so that you can easily receive and retrieve your valentines. All containers must be student made and be able to sit easily on your desk. Containers are due on: Thursday, February 11 th. We will pass out our Valentine cards on Friday. Please make sure to have a valentine for each student. A class list will be distributed.

4. Math is “snow” much fun! Math Project Estimating Quantities Developing Number Sense In conjunction with Chapter Five, Place Value, I would like to have some fun with estimating. I am looking for some help with this. If time allows, please use a clear jar or container and fill it with an item. For example: dried pasta, goldfish, mini-marshmallows, cotton balls, Legos, etc. Make sure to use something that is the same size and shape. Complete the card below, seal it in an envelope, and send it in with your container. Feel free to do this activity with your child. However, please make sure that your child keeps the actual amount a secret. We will be estimating the actual amount in class. The deadline for this activity is February 5 th. This is completely optional. Thank you for your time and support. Excellent Estimating Item : ________________ Actual amount: __________________

5. Book Talk Story Connection: After your child reads aloud to you, please select one of these questions to discuss together each evening. Take a picture walk through the story. Look at the pictures before reading the story to predict what may happen. Setting - Where does the story take place? Who is/are the main character(s) of the book? Character Traits - Describe the main characters. What was the problem and/or solution of the story? Draw conclusions – How do you think the story may end? If you could write a sequel to this story, what would happen? Why? What was the author’s message? How do you know? What was your favorite part? Why? What was your least favorite part? Why? Compare and contrast the characters. How are they alike? How are they different? What type of genre is this story? How do you know? Visualize – What mental pictures do you make as you are reading? What details from the story helped you make visualization? Write down 2-3 words that were challenging to read and add these to your sight word list to practice each evening. Rate the book. Tell why you liked or did not like the story. Would you recommend this book to a friend? Text–Self connection – this story reminds me of… 1.A time when I… 2. A person I know… 3. A book I read… What is the plot of the story? Summarize the story. Monitoring Comprehension Please find time to have a book talk with your child on a regular basis. Now that your child is becoming an independent reader, it is important to discuss with them what they are reading. This will enable you to monitor their comprehension and help them with book selections.

6. 10 ten 20 twenty 30 thirty 40 forty 50 fifty 60 sixty 70 seventy 80 eighty 90 ninety 100 one hundred Math Review Below are charts to help your child read and write numbers 1-00. 1 one 2 two 3 three 4 four 5 five 6 six 7 seven 8 eight 9 nine 10 ten 11 eleven 12 twelve 13 thirteen 14 fourteen 15 fifteen 16 sixteen 17 seventeen 18 eighteen 19 nineteen Place Value Review 75 seven tens, five ones 32 three tens, two ones 18 one ten, eight ones 60 six tens, zero ones