Dear Parents,                                                     March 14, 2011

Thank you to the parents who were able to help for Primary Centers on Friday.  Our classroom was full of the cutest leprechauns I have ever seen!

I am happy to report that, the “new” room set-up is working well.  Transition time between grouping activities is kept to a minimum and having the needed supplies at each center makes the activities easily accessible.

Our reading strategy this week is “questioning”.  Good readers question before they start reading, as well as, during reading.  The comprehension skill that will help is “fantasy/realism”.  Using our everyday experiences to determine if events in a story can really happen or if they are make-believe will help us understand the story. Our phonics focus this week is the sound of /oo/ as in moon.  This /oo/ sound can be spelled in various ways:  oo – moon, ew – stew, ou – soup, ue – blue.  We are also working on the long sound of /i/ spelled with ie or igh (as in tie or tight).  Please point out these various sounds and spellings in your nightly reading.  We do not have new spelling words this week.  Our grammar focus this week is using the pronouns he, she, it, and they for naming words.

Math finds us still working on sums to 12.  We are adding 3 addends, as well as finding missing addends from number sentences (algebra readiness).  This is where knowing the fact families will come in handy!  Please point out the fact families when completing homework.  We are also learning how to solve problems by organizing the information and creating a table to help us solve the problem.  Please continue to practice fact families, patterns for 10, and double facts at home.

In religion, we are learning that, Jesus is the Good Shepherd and that, when we sin, we say we are sorry.  We will be adding an “I am sorry prayer” to our afternoon prayers.  This ties in beautifully to our Lenten Journey to become closer to God.

The children did well on their social studies test on communities.  Our next unit focuses on our country.  We will be viewing a movie on “California Streaming” and working on completing a map with our sixth-grade buddies.  Science finds us learning about matter and the different properties of solids, liquids, and gases.

During Lent, the students of Sacred Heart are participating in Stations of the Cross on Wednesday afternoons at 2:00 p.m.  The eighth grade leads us in this prayer service and they do a wonderful job.  Please come early when picking up your children and join us if you can.

Thursday is Saint Patrick’s Day.  It is also a P.E. day.  The children must wear their P.E. uniform bottoms but they may wear green/St. Patrick’s Day shirts as well as, St. Patrick’s Day accessories.

There is no school on Friday.  Enjoy the three-day weekend!

Have a wonderful week.  If you have any questions or concerns please let me know.

Mrs. Manning