Dear Parents,                                                     May 2, 2011

I hope that all of you had a very wonderful Easter vacation and a well-deserved rest!  It is so hard to believe we are already in May!

Our reading strategy this week is evaluating.  The comprehension skill that will help us with evaluating is story structure.  Knowing the setting, the characters, the problem, and solution in the story and being able to sequence the events will help us evaluate the story. Our phonics focus this week is on base words and the endings –es, -ies.  These endings have the /ez/ sound as in reaches and bunnies.  We are also working with the prefixes un- (not) and re- (again).  Our grammar focus is on the proper usage of the words was and were.  This week, our spelling words are a mixed vowel review and are from unit 26.  They are posted to spellingcity.com.  Don’t forget to practice!

We continue working with money in math as well as, fact practice and word problems.  We are adding the quarter this week and will be working on counting and using different coins to make equal amounts.  Please practice counting coins at home – this is quite difficult for the children.  When practicing, have the children sort the coins by value first then count by tens, fives, and ones.

We will review the Last Supper, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday events and take our chapter 19 test in religion and then continue with our study of our Risen Lord.

We will also review the concepts of matter and take our science test this week and we continue with our study of America in social studies, concentrating on our national symbols.

Wednesday is our May Crowning and our Living Rosary.  The first graders are
presenting our Blessed Mother with flowers as we process in.  The first and second graders are singing and the middle school students are forming the Living Rosary and leading the student body in the praying of the rosary.  Please join us at 1:45 for this wonderful devotion!

Have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Manning