MHR First Grade Mrs. Schwer

Hello!  This will be the final blog for this school year.

The following information will be what we will be doing for the last two full days of school.

Mon.  June 1st - We will have a regular morning (last day for computers) and have a picnic lunch at 12:00 so please have your child bring a beach towel to sit on.  The Room Moms will provide hot dogs, juice and dessert.  After lunch we will play some games on the playground.  I hope the weather cooperates.  The children may wear play clothes and gym shoes.

Tues. June 2nd - It will be our last art class.
In the afternoon we will clean our desks and take home all our supplies.  Everyone should bring a rag or sponge and an extra bag for all the supplies.  The children need to bring a lunch with a drink.  There is no more hot lunches and no more milk sold.

Wed. June 3rd - Teacher Record Day - No school for students

Thurs. June 4th - Final School Liturgy at 8:30 and dismissal at 9:45

I would like to thank everyone for such a great year!  I will miss all the soon to be second graders!

Mrs. S.

Hello!  I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend.

This week in . . .

Reading
We will read the Time for Kids article, On the Go! and review all Book 5, Unit 2 skills.  We will have our Unit Test on Friday.  There is no more new H.F. words.  The skills on the test are:

• H.F. words
• Decodable words with oo, ar, ir, ur, er, ou, ow, oi, and oy
• Comprehension skills Fantasy/Reality and Summarizing
• Words with ‘ing’ ending and compound words
• Listening comprehension
• Study skills - review the skills at the end of each story in our reader

I reminded all the children to make sure they take 3 Book Adventure tests by the end of the week.  They need to complete 3 tests for Term 3 to receive a satisfactory in independent reading. 

Spelling
The spelling words this week are math words.  They are:

• feet
• five
• less
• miles
• sum
• ten

The challenge words are the review H.F. words.  They are:

• from
• people
• horses
• called
• these

Phonics
We will continue to work on the Pig Pen vowels.

Math
We will work on probability and have a Check Your Progress on Friday.  We will also have another timed test.

Religion
Chapter 28 will be our last chapter in religion.  We will review how the Holy Family is a model of faith, that Baptism makes us members of the Christian family, and that we can choose to act in loving ways.  We will also make a mass and prayer booklet.

Science
The students are really enjoying learning about the planets but we will need to finish with the planets this week.

Please return library books this week because Thursday will be our last library class.
The work folders will go home for the last time on Wednesday.
A short newsletter will come home about what we will be doing for the last few days of school.

Have a wonderful week!

Hello!
This week in . . .

Reading
We will read the biography or nonfiction story of Young Amelia Earhart.  The children will learn how she followed her dream.  All the leveled readers are nonfiction stories too.  With this story we will learn the vowels ou, ow, oi, and oy.  Practice reading the decodable words with these vowels.  Look for them when you are reading this week too.  We will continue to work on summarizing stories by retelling the main ideas in our own words.  We will work on compound words too.  The H.F. words are:

• people
• father
• should
• woman
• horse

Spelling
Our spelling test is Thursday this week.  The words are:

• boys
• mouse
• toy
• noise
• sound
• town

The H.F. words are the challenge words.

Phonics
We will be working on vowels that make special sounds.  The special vowels are au, aw, ou, ow, oi, and oy.

Math
We will continue to work on fractions - 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4.  We will have a Check Your Progress on Wednesday and start probability on Thursday.  Continue to memorize the addition facts.  We will have another addition timed test on Thursday.

Religion
We Honor Mary and the Saints
In Chapter 25 we will learn the ways the church honors Mary.  We have learned some of these ways throughout the school year.  We will also learn how the saints were special followers of Jesus.  On Wednesday night study the key word Saints on page 289.

Science
I’m sure your child has told you that we planted bean seeds.  We were learning about seeds and what they need to grow.  We hope our bean seeds grow!  This week we will learn about the planets in our solar system.

The students have no school on Friday.  The teachers have a planning day for next year.
Have a good week.

Hello!  I hope all moms enjoyed Mother’s Day!

This week in . . .

Reading
Our story this week is The Story of a Blue Bird.  This story introduces ir, ur, er.  Words with these spellings all make the same sound so practice reading the decodable words and look for these vowels when reading this week.  Our comprehension skill with this story is summarizing.  Summarizing is thinking about what the story is mostly about by using only the most important ideas from the story.  This week we will also review compound words.  The H.F. words are:

• from
• sister
• walked
• mother
• brother

Spelling
The words this week are ir, ur, and er.  They may be harder because they have the same sound so practice nightly.  The words are:

• bird
• burn
• girl
• serve
• hurt
• first

The H.F. will be the challenge words.  They are also a bit harder too.

Phonics
We will be working on vowels with ‘r’ - ar, or, er, ur, and ir words.

Math
We will have a Check Your Progress on Monday.  It will be on capacity and weight.  We have covered all the critical skills in measurement and will send the rest of the chapter home this week.  Also this week, we will start Chapter 12 - Fractions and Probability.  We will be learning about equal parts, one half, and one third.  On Friday we will switch the timed test to addition.  It will be 100 problems (sums to 10) in 5 minutes.  Everyone will start on 5 minutes.  All students must memorize the addition and subtraction facts to 12 for second grade.  The students will be expected to know them because they will begin learning higher facts next year.

Religion
We will finish Chapter 23 on the mass and learn how we can share God’s love in Chapter 24.  At this time of year the students will be expected to say The Hail Mary and The Our Father.  We will be checking to see if they know those prayers.

We had a wonderful trip to the zoo!  Thank you to all the chaperones for helping.

Wed.    Return Library Books
            We will attend the Ice Cream Social
            We will begin celebrating the 11 summer birthdays!

Have a terrific week!

Hello!
This week in . . .

Reading
We will read the story New Shoes for Silvia.  The story takes place in South America.  This story introduces the variant vowel ‘ar’ as in star.  Please work with your child to read the decodable words with ‘ar’ spellings.  We will continue to work on the comprehension skill fantasy and reality.  The H.F. words are:

• once
• took
• every
• morning
• or

*Reminder
Students will need to pass 3 Book Adventure tests for term 3.  We have books in our classroom to use.  Also, students may take quizzes on books that they have read. 

Spelling
Our spelling test will be on Thursday this week.  All the spelling words this week are ‘ar’ words.  They are:

• car
• bark
• star
• part
• dark
• park

The H.F. words are the challenge words.

Phonics
We will continue to review adjacent vowels.  Wednesday we will have a test on Skill 5 words.  Practice adding ‘ing’ to the long vowel words that was attached to the newsletter.

Math
We will continue our measurement chapter by comparing capacity with cups, pints, and quarts and measuring weight.

Science
We will continue to learn about animal groups for our trip on Friday.  We will learn to classify animals by their body coverings.

Religion
We will learn more about the Mass from Chapter 23 - We Celebrate the Mass.  This chapter introduces different parts of this special celebration.  Learn the key words gospel reading and altar.

Wed.     Return library books
Thurs.  We will attend the 8:30 Ribbon Mass for the 8th Graders
Fri.       Zoo trip!  We’ve been praying for good weather.
            Scholastic Book Orders are due

Have a very good week!

Hello!
This week in . . .

Reading
We will begin Unit 2 in Book 5.  The theme for this unit is Many Paths.  Each decision opens the door to a new path.  We will read the story  A Friend For Little Bear.  Little bear must decide what is truly important and what is not.  We have learned all the short and long vowels, now we will learn special vowels.  With this story we will learn ‘oo’ as in cool.  Practice reading he decodable words with this special vowel and look for ‘oo’ words when reading this week.  Our comprehension skill will be fantasy and reality.  The H.F. words for this story are:

• these
• called
• pulled
• only
• friend

The reading tests will come this week in the work folders.  Please go over the test with your child.  Then sign and return the test.

Spelling
The spelling words this week have the ‘oo’ sound.  They are:

• roof
• fool
• zoo
• soon
• cool
• moon

The H.F. words will be the challenge words.

Phonics
We will learn Skill 5 - adjacent vowels.  The vowel pairs are oa, oe, ai, ee, ea, ui.  The first vowel is a long vowel and the second vowel is silent (the first vowel does the talking and the second vowel does the walking).

Math
On Monday we will have the Chapter 8 Test on Time and Money.  The children need to know:

• to recognize coins and their value
• counting mixed coins
• how to tell time to the hour and half hour
• time patterns

On Tuesday we will begin Chapter 9 - Measurement
We will be measuring height and length in nonstandard units using cubes and paper clips.  Then we will learn measuring in inches so the children need to bring in an inch ruler by Wednesday.

Science
We will begin learning about the five animal families for our field trip.  The animal families are birds, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and fish.  The children will be able to classify an animal by its body covering.

Religion
Chapter 22 is Jesus Gives Us the Eucharist.  The children will learn that in the sacrament of the Eucharist, bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.  Please learn the key words Eucharist on page 250 and Mass on page 252.

Monday we will attend the Band Concert at 1:15.
It is a $1.00 Out of Uniform on Friday and there is a bake sale at lunch time.

Have a good week!

Hello!  Welcome Back!
This week in . . .

Reading
We will read the Time for Kids article, Night Animals.  With this article we will finish Unit 1 in Book 5 and review all the skills.  We will have the Unit Test on Thursday.  The skills on the test are:

• All H.F. words
• Long e - ea, ee, ie, long o - o, oa, oe, ow, and long i - i, y, igh
• Making predictions and drawing conclusions
• ‘ing’ ending and using context clues
• Study skills (go over the skills page after each story)
• Listening comprehension
• Writing

Practice making predictions and drawing conclusions when reading this week.  Look for clues in the text and illustrations and things that the children already know to help with comprehension.  The review H.F. words this week are:

• many
• find
• come
• kinds
• all
• off

Spelling
The article Night Animals has 6 science words.  They are:

• bugs
• frog
• logs
• owl
• pond
• rat

The H.F. words will be the challenge words.

Phonics
We will practice adding ‘ing’ to Skill 4 words.  These words have a silent ‘e’ at the end.  The children should learn to drop the ‘e’ before adding ‘ing’.

Math
We will review telling time to the hour and half hour.  Then we will learn about elapsed time and estimating time (how much time went by and how long it takes to do something).  On Tuesday we will have a Check Your Progress on telling time.  Later in the week we will learn the higher ordinal numbers and more problem solving skills.  On Friday we will have our first 100 Problem Subtraction Timed Test with facts to 10 in 5 minutes.  Please keep memorizing the facts.  The children need to know them for 2nd grade. 

Religion
Our Religion chapter correlates with Earth Day this week.  For Religion we will be learning how we can take care or God’s Creation and for the Science part of Earth Day we will learn about recycling, saving energy, going green, etc.)

Wed.     Return Library Books
Fri.        Missoula Play - Princess and the Pea
             Zoo permission slip and fee due for May 8th Field Trip
             Progress Reports go home

Hello!
This week in . . .

Reading
We will read the story Owl and the Moon.  It is a story about friendship.  This story introduces the long vowel i spelled i, y, and igh.  Practice reading the decodable words with these spellings.  We will continue to work on drawing conclusions and context clues.  When reading this week, have your child try to figure things out from other things that he/she might already know (draw conclusions).  Also, use surrounding words in a sentence to help figure out what a word is or what it means (context clues).  The new H.F. words this week are:

• eyes
• head
• gone
• room
• everything

Spelling
We will have our spelling test on Thursday this week.  All the spelling words are spelled with i, y, or igh.  They are:

• my
• night
• shy
• sky
• child
• tight

The H.F. words will be the challenge words.

Phonics
We will have a Phonics Test on Wednesday.  It will be on Skill 4 words.  The children will have to spell and mark the words.  Practice with lesson 29 that was sent home with the newsletter.

Grammar
We will learn about synonyms and antonyms.

Math
We have finished the money part in chapter 8 and we will begin to learn telling time in the next part.  We will learn to tell time to the hour, the half hour, and showing time patterns this week.  We will continue time when we return from break.  Please spend some time helping your child read an analog clock.  Help them to identify the hour hand and the minute hand.

Religion
We will learn about The Three Days and how we celebrate Jesus’ dying and rising to new life.  We will make a mobile representing this. 
We will attend the 8th Grade Living Stations on Wednesday afternoon and the 2nd Grade Bread Celebration on Thursday morning.

There is an 11:30 dismissal on Thursday - Spring Break begins!
Happy Easter to all and enjoy the break.  I hope the weather is nice!

Hello!
This week in . . .

Reading
We will learn about the 5 senses in the nonfiction story You Can’t Smell a Flower With Your Ear!  The story explains how the 5 senses work.  It includes experiments about the senses too.  With this story we will learn long o spelled o, oa, oe, ow.  Please practice the decodable words with these long vowel combinations.  The repitition helps the children recognize and then use decoding skills in their reading.  The comprehension skill is to draw conclusions - we can figure out certain facts because we already know other facts.  We will also be working on context clues - using clues in a sentence or word to identify an unfamiliar word and its meaning.  The H.F. words this week are:

• by
• kind
• more
• high
• find

Spelling
The spelling words have the long o vowels.  They are:

• cold
• goes
• hold
• road
• show
• boat

The challenge words will be the H.F. words.

Phonics
Last week’s phonics test will be in the work folders this week.  Please go over them with your child and talk about their work.  This week we will introduce Skill 4.  All Skill 4 words are long vowels. If a word has two vowels the ‘e’ at the end of the word is silent and makes the first vowel say its name.  We have already learned this in reading.

Grammar/Writing
We will rewrite and illustrate our kite stories and keep working on adjectives.

Math
We will continue to learn and practice counting mixed groups of coins with 1 quarter, dimes, nickels, and pennies.  Please practice at home.  Some students need to practice counting up by 5’s.  They are having a hard time counting on from a number if it is not 5.  This week we will also identify 2 groups of coins with equal amounts, compare an amount of money to the price of an item, and identify coins equivalent to $1.00.

*Tuesday we will have a Check Your Progress on counting mixed coins.

*We will have the same subtraction timed test on Friday.  Practice the facts nightly for memorization.

Religion
As we near Palm Sunday, we will be learning about it and practicing for our Prayer Service on Friday.  Those with parts, please practice loudly, slowly and clearly at home.  On Friday we will attend the Living Stations by 5th Grade.  We are still collecting for the Orphans and remember to keep your Lenten promises!

Have a super week!

Hello!
This week in . . .

Reading
We will read the story Shrinking Mouse.  This story continues with long e using ie and ea vowels.  Practice reading the decodable words with this new vowel pattern.  Practicing will help the children recognize and decode words with this pattern.  We will continue to work on prediction by using clues in pictures, text, and things that we already know.  We will also continue to work on ‘ing’ endings.  The H.F. words this week are:

• before
• off
• our
• right
• come

Spelling
The spelling words have the ie and ea pattern.  They are:

• reached
• fields
• read
• sea
• piece
• leaf

The H.F. words will be the challenge words.

Phonics
We will learn Skill 3.  These words are long vowels.  The children should learn that one vowel that stands alone at the end of a word is usually long.  The children should practice adding ‘ing’ to Skill 1 and 2 words on the sheet attached to Friday’s newsletter.  The children do not need to return the sheet.  On Thursday we will have a test on spelling and proving words for Skills 1, 2, and 3 and adding ‘ing’.

Grammar and Writing
We started to write stories about a kite that blew away.  We will edit and rewrite them this week.  The children were introduced to adjectives this week.  We will continue to work on them this week.

Math
We will begin Money and Time - Chapter 8
This week we will be recognizing different coins and their value.  Then we will be counting coins with different combinations each day.  This involves counting by ones, fives, and tens with mixed coins.  This can be difficult so please practice counting coins each night.  The children should bring a small zip-lock bag to school on Monday with 1 quarter, 3 dimes, 3 nickels, and 5 pennies.  The children thought the subtraction test was harder on Friday.  We had three students who had 36 out of 36 in 2 minutes.  Some were close!  We will have the same subtraction test on Friday.

Religion
Chapter 11 - The Holy Spirit Helps the Church Grow
We’ve already have been learning about the Holy Spirit so in this chapter we will examine the ways the Holy Spirit helped the first members and how the Holy Spirit helps the Church to grow today.  Homework for Wednesday will be to learn the key word Church on page 133.  Please help your child to keep their Lenten Promises and to try to contribute to the Orphans.  Thank you for those of you who have already been generous.  This Friday we will attend the 6th Grade Passover Meal.

Enjoy the week!