Dear Parents,                     September 30, 2013

My goodness, time flies when you are having fun! I cannot believe it is just about October! The first graders are making their way through the year with great progress and wonderful energy!

-We have completed theme 1 in our reading series.  We start theme 2 – “Surprise!” this week.  We will be reading stories that have a surprise in them.  Our reading strategy this week is questioning and the comprehension skill that will help us is noting details.  As we read, we try to pay attention to details within the story.  Paying attention to the details, using the pictures, and questioning why events are happening will help us to understand the story. Our phonics focus this week is the short sound of /o/ and d, l, w, and x.  Our spelling words are from unit 7 and will focus on the short sound of /o/. Our grammar focus is using an uppercase letter for names. We will be practicing these concepts in our language arts center activities this week.

As a reminder please make sure you are practicing sight words daily. The first ones tend to be easier for us to master but as we are moving right along daily practice of these words becomes essential.

-Math finds us wrapping up Unit 2: Numbers are Everywhere. We will begin Unit 3, Visual patterns, Number patterns and Counting. This unit focuses on patterns in a number of different ways.  We will start with picture patterns and end the week focusing on the patterns made by even and odd numbers.

-In religion, we will be taking the week to wrap up our chapter on Baptism. We will also begin to talk about the upcoming Saint Reports and Saints Parade at the very end of the week. As we will just be talking about what the Saints Parade and Report is in Frist grade a note will be sent home with directions and posted online next week.

-Science finds us wrapping up Chapter 1 and diving right into Chapter 2- Animals. Just as with plants, we will be discussing the needs of living things.

-In social studies we will begin Unit 2: At Home With My Family. This week we will focus on our new vocabulary words and lesson 1: Welcome Home!

Reminders for the Week:

• Please remind your child to bring their library book to school Tuesday so that they may check out a new one.
• Progress Reports go home on Tuesday.
• Friday in a noon dismissal day as the teachers have a staff meeting.
• This week is All About… Nicholas! Congratulations!

If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.  Have a fantastic week!

Ms. Manning