December

 The true joy of Christmas is the love of Christ,

shared with family and friends.

May you find His peace, love and joy

now, and in the coming New Year.

 

 

 

 

  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.    Isaiah 9:6     

 

 

December in review

Religion

•  Advent
• The birth of Jesus Christ our Savior
• Story of Saint Nicholas (December 6th)
• The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (December 9th)
• Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12th)
• Mexican legend of the Poinsettia

Language Arts

   Writing

• Conventions
• Narrative writing
• Lessons in editing / proofreading /drafts / revisions /
• Researching and inquiring for writing
• Story mapping

• spelling words - (please continue to revisit all spelling words and word families throughout the school year - this is a great way to build vocabulary, word recognition, and correct spelling of words)

                Spelling words year-to-date 

              **80 words before Christmas**

   Reading

• Word families / letter sounds / spelling words
• Content knowledge / reading comprehension
• Fiction / non-fiction
• Setting/plot/characters
• Inflection
• Segmenting / syllables
• Word detective skills (words inside of words, segmenting, letter sounds, diagraphs, blends and other phonic rules)
• Reading groups
• AR books

 

Math

• simple addition and subtraction
• doubles / doubles rap
• doubles plus one
• doubles plus two
• flash cards (addition and subtraction)
• math story problems

Social Studies

• Review the settlement of the Americas
• Pilgrims and the freedom of religion

Science

• Introduction to matter

Interactive website - free learning games

The following is a website with many games. Scroll down to the bottom of the website to find topics. I just played math line. This game teaches children what two addends make a sum (5 + 5 =10). Explore and have fun. I have reviewed about 10 of the games. This website looks age appropriate and fun. I recommend parents preview each game and help your child get started.

 **just click on the following website - have fun!!!

http://www.knowledgeadventure.com/games/fort-frosty/

November

October Review

• Science - The Body

The Circulatory System
The Skeletal System
The Muscular System
The Digestive System

• Religion

All Saints Day
The Catholic Church - Items found in the church
Objects used during Mass - examples (chalice, paten, cruets, pall, altar, altar cloth, ciborium, corporal, tabernacle, stoup, wine-Blood of Christ, bread-Body of Christ)

•   Language Arts

Reading Street - weeks 3-4-5
Narrative writing
Vowel games
Spelling words - 60 to date
Nouns - verbs - adjectives
Author Study - Mo Wilems, Kevin Henkes and  Shel Silverstein

•  Math

addition
subtraction
10 frames
addition/ subtraction sentences 
terminology - sum, addends, parts of a whole, parts I know, solving for the unknown 

 

• Social Studies / Geography

Christopher Columbus
address / city / state / continent / planet - ME ON THE MAP
Safety with strangers

Welcome to November

 

Thank you to our Veterans!!

 Veterans Day

by Cheryl Dyson

On Veterans Day we honor all,

Who answered to a service call.

Soldiers young, and soldiers old,

Fought for freedom, brave and bold.

Some have lived, while others died,

And all of them deserve our pride.

We’re proud of all the soldiers who,

Kept thinking of red, white and blue.

They fought for us and all our rights,

They fought through many days and nights.

And though we may not know each name,

We thank ALL veterans just the same.

 

 

November in Review

 

We are enjoying working together as a first grade family. The first graders have settled-in and know the first grade routine. This month we will continue review on how we walk in Jesus' foot steps; that we all help and love each other. We will finish our unit on objects and items found in the Catholic Church, with emphases on the objects/items used at the altar during Mass. We will celebrate the feast day of Saint Francis Cabrini on November 13th. Saint Francis is the first American Saint.  We will also study early exploration and settlement of the Americas. The first graders will learn the story of the Lost Colony, Sir Walter Raleigh, Virginia Dare, and the First Thanksgiving. As always we will have a full morning of Reading Street (language arts) and our daily math lessons.  As we get closer to Thanksgiving we will discuss being thankful for all our blessings. 

 

 

October

GOD, FAMILY, STUDENT and TEACHER

First grades academic and spiritual success is due to the encompassing of God, family, student and teacher in the success of the student academically, socially and spiritually.  The student is continually encouraged to grow in emotional development, right judgment, academics, and  spiritual values through love, patience, confidence and the teachings of Jesus Christ.  To achieve academic and spiritual success teacher modeling along with question/answer time teaches students to have good study habits, organizational skills, and to understand and develop time management. Each student is modeled and taught how to work independently and to problem solve tasks at hand through encouragement and love.

First graders know that I am here to help and guide them

 through a fabulous first grade year!





 
 

October's educational websites to enrich your child's learning -

 

Click on one of the links below to have fun while learning

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/literacy/phonics/play/popup.shtml
 

http://www.funbrain.com/brain/MathBrain/Games/Title.html?GameName=BumbleNumbers2&Grade=1&Brain=math

  A glimpse into the next two weeks......

• Math - Subtraction
• Science - The Body
• Letter sounds -  f, b, g, i, d, h, o
• Religion - The Mass - items found in the Catholic Church