1. First Grade Newsletter September 14 th -18 th 2014 Mrs. McCarthy and Mrs. Frost MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Sept 21 st – Prayer Service at 2:15pm Sept 23 rd -25 th - NO school. World Meeting of Families Oct. 27 th - Field trip to Cherry Crest Farm Please remember to check our website for upcoming events and school news. Happy Birthday to: Chase Gnias We hope you have a great day! Read Everyday! “Children are made readers on the laps of their parents” -Emilie Buchwald Please remember to practice the short a sight words that were attached to last week’s newsletter. Also, try the below reading strategies with your child. Echo Read - Read a sentence aloud to your child and then have your child read the sentence aloud to you. Choral Read - Read a sentence or page of a book together at the same time. Please remember to pack healthy snacks and a water bottle for school each day. Our daily lunch time is at 10:55. Our morning snack is at 9:10 and our afternoon snack is at 2:00. Please remember that our snack times are nut free. Thank you! Please check your child’s yellow folder every afternoon and make sure it is returned to school each day. Put all notes and paperwork in this folder. If your child’s way home from school changes, please put a note in your child’s homework folder and email myself and the school office. Please return any first-of-the-year paperwork as soon as possible. We would like to thank everyone who attended our back to school night. It was a pleasure to get to talk with you. Please review our handbook and let us know if you have any questions. Thank you! Take care and have a wonderful week! We appreciate your patience as we continue to wait for the arrival of our consumable textbooks. We’d like to give a special thank you to all those who sent in ice pops last week. This was a welcome treat to get through the afternoon heat!

2. Curriculum Notes Math: Our objective this week in math will be to continue identifying and correctly writing numbers. Please practice reading (digit and word form) and writing numbers at home. We will also continue to review counting patterns and missing numbers within a counting pattern. We will introduce ordinal numbers (1 st -10 th ) and comparing numbers using greater than and less than. Reading: We will begin our first story in our reading series called Sam, Come Back. Our focus in phonics will be on short a. Our spelling words are generated from our weekly story. Please see the attached list of spelling words. Grammar and Writing: For the next few weeks, we will be focusing on sentences. We will discuss types of sentences, the parts of a sentence, word order, and correct punctuation. Religion: Chapter One. This week, we will continue to learn that God created the world and all the people. We will also discuss that God gives us special gifts and promises to always love us. Handwriting: A large amount of instructional time will be spent on reviewing correct letter and number formation. Please practice handwriting at home. Social Studies and Science: As a whole class, we will be reading and discussing the second edition of our Scholastic News magazine. This is a nonfiction news magazine centered around current social studies and science events. Next week, we will learn all about Johnny Apple Seed!

3. Spelling Words Please Note: The spelling test is on Friday, September 18 th Also, two high-frequency sight words have been added to our list. These words are from this week’s story, Sam, Come Back. Each week, your child will have ten spelling words based on our phonics skill and two high-frequency words from our story for a total of twelve spelling words. 1. at 2. can 3. cat 4. back 5. dad 6. am 7. bat 8. mad 9. ran 10. sack 11. on 12. way Bonus Words: These words will not be graded. Please practice these words if you feel that your child is up for a challenge. 1. plan 2. that 3. glad

4. Additional Notes: Newsletters The weekly newsletter will be posted on my webpage. Reading Homework This week, please continue to practice the short a sight words that were attached to last week’s newsletter. In addition, start practicing the Dolch sight word booklet that was distributed during our back to school night. Please have your child reread the decodable readers and poems that are sent home. Rereading short stories and poems helps to improve reading fluency. Math Enrichment Be on the lookout…. Later this week, I will be sending home two math games that I designed to reinforce important math concepts. Please find time to play these games with your child. Scheduling a family game night during the week or on the weekend is a wonderful way to make learning fun! These games are for you to keep and enjoy. Thank you for time and support.