FYI - We do not have a spelling list this week.

A few updates -

First Grade Math - We have been working on tens and ones.  We have learned how to relate additions problems, such as 3+4=7 and 30+40=70.  We also have been working on greater than, less than, and equal to.

First Grade Phonics - We are continuing to work on basewords and suffix -s.

Reading - This week in word work our focus is pronouns. The students continue to work hard in their reading groups and Daily 5.  Daily 5 is a big chunk of our morning.  It's our reading block.  We have six different reading groups.  When I'm not working with a group, the students are working on one of the Daily 5 - Read to self, Read to Someone, Work on Writing, Listening, and Word Work.  Read to Self and Read to Someone - self explanatory.  Work on writing - the students have lots of choices - write a friendly letter, write a card, hand art, stencils, squiggle, sticker stories, story blocks, story cubes, etc.  Word Work - a weekly word focus and practice spelling words with play doh, wikki sticks, rainbow spelling, or Spelling City on  the ipads.  Listening - Listen to stories.  The students can use the ipads to listen to stories on Storia or use the computers to listen to stories on Tumblebooks.  The students may also go on to Odyssey on the ipads during Daily 5.

Religion - Our Promise Paper this week focused on talents.  The rest of our Religion classes this week were spent practicing for our mass.  :)

Snack Reminder - We do have snack time every morning.  Please remember to send a healthy snack with your child each day.

Second Grade Math - Second grade has had an interesting week in math. Friday is our "math story" day.  Last Friday we read a book about different kinds of apples with a lesson about fractions.  On Monday, I brought 4 kinds of apples (Cortland, Granny Smith, Red Delicious, and Macintosh) to school and we tasted and rated them.  Then we made bar graphs with the results. Here's what we decided:  Cortland won as best tasting, Red Delicious was the sweetest, Granny Smith was the most sour, and Macintosh was the softest. I wish I would have taken pictures...sorry!  Next time!

We are still working on adding and regrouping 2 digit numbers.  Students are learning 2 methods:  Show All Totals, and New Groups Below.  Most of the kids have their preferences, and that's fine.  I tell them to use whatever method they prefer. I'd be happy to give anyone a "crash course" in Show All Totals.  New Groups Below is pretty much the way most of us learned to add.   

Second Grade Phonics - We are working on suffixes again this week.  I feel that I rushed through the last lesson, so I'm reteaching -s, -es, -ing, -ed, -er, -est.  

Gym - During this first trimester, we have worked on throwing, kicking, and teamwork.  We have also done some activities on scooters.  We have thrown and caught tennis balls, kicked soccer balls, and worked on passing and stopping soccer balls without using our hands.  Team work with a class this size is very important.  We will work on some team strategies next trimester.  Your child’s laps have been entered into PowerSchool along with the amount of time they ran.

First graders have math homework tonight.  :)


PBIS News -The first and second graders voted on their next PBIS Reward.  They would like to earn an electronics day.  What this means is that they would be allowed to bring an electronic device from home for the day.  (ipod, DS, etc.)  We would spend the last 30 minutes or so of the day on their electronic device.  If you are not comfortable with sending a device, no worries.  We have plenty of ipads at school the students would be able to use.  We use the ipads daily in our classroom - they work on Odyssey, Spelling City, Math Ninja, and listen to books on Storia.  This, however, would be a time to have fun with games.  :)  The next goal is to get 300 faith shields in our bucket. We currently have 212 faith shields.  (That means we have 212 good deeds in our bucket.  That's awesome!)  I'll keep you posted as to the progress of our class faith shield bucket.

These adorable turkeys were made with the students hands and feet!  :)

Weekly Spelling Lists -

First Grade - Phonetic List - Short o Words
box
fox
top
job
not
hop
trot
spot
chop
frog

First Grade - High Frequency List - Words 51-60
out
them
then
she
many
some
so
these
would
other

Second Grade - Phonetic List - Short u Words
just
hunt
club
drum
jump
dust
bump
until
ugly
sunny

Second Grade - High Frequency List - Words 221-230
need
far
hand
high
year
mother
light
country
father
let

Mass reading parts are going home today.  Please take some time to practice this weekend.

Thanks!  Have a great weekend!  :)

A few classroom happenings -

Handwriting - The first graders are plugging along.  We work on one letter at a time.  We are working on forming the letters the correct way and getting them in the correct places.  The second graders work on two letters at a time.  They only have a few letters left, and then they are going to start learning cursive.

Reading - The last two weeks our word work has been practicing spelling words.  We've been practicing the words by making letters out of play-doh and wikki sticks.  We've also been rainbow writing the words, as well as working on Spelling City.  Three of our six groups were working on plays.  They had to create characters and practice, practice, practice.  They finished those up this week.  Blank cards - If anyone has blank cards, we'd love some more!  The students love writing cards to others in work on writing.

Religion - We finished the entire rosary this week.  We've been praying one decade at a time.  This week we also worked on the chapter of our book that discussed Adam and Eve and the first sin.  We also read the story of Adam and Eve out of the Children's Bible.  Next Thursday we have Mass.  I just received the parts today.  The students chose their parts this afternoon.  I'll type up the parts and send them home tomorrow.  The parts are -
Greeters - Misha, Brett, Ella, Heath, Katey, Rowen
Cross - Enzo
Bible - Kate
Introduction - Hannah
First Reading - Keegan, Max
Responsorial Psalm - Cassie, Reese
Petitions - Mia, Cullan, Megan, Mary, Kyan, Teddy, Zak, Ruby, Dylan
Bread - Landon
Wine - Madison

First Grade Math - We have been learning about tens and ones.  We've been using base ten blocks and writing out ten sticks and ones.  We leaned about how to add numbers and subtract numbers using the plus one and minus one method with doubles.  (Ex. What is 8+7?  I know 8+8=16.  7 is one less than 8.  The answer must be one less that 16.)

First Grade Phonics - We started unit 6 this week.  We are leaning about basewords and suffix s.  Our new trick words today - are and were.

Social Studies - We have been working out of our book.  We are learning about landforms and different types of bodies of water.  We also learned how to identify them on maps.  We also read two Scholastic Newspapers.  One was about veterans, and one was about Thanksgiving, the pilgrims, and the first feast.

Tomorrow, November 14, is a Packer Dress Down Day.  :)

Here are a few updates from a few other teachers...

Mrs. Van Zeeland-

The second grade math class is learning about place values up to hundreds.  This will help us in adding 2- and 3- digit numbers next week.  We are also drawing pictures to represent numbers.  Boxes are hundreds, sticks are tens, and circles or dots are ones.  We have homework two or three nights a week, but sometimes students finish it before they leave school. Our math class needs old magazines if you happen to have any you haven't recycled.  Thanks!!

In phonics, we just learned about the suffixes -ed, -s, -es, -ing, -er, -ing.  We spend a little time each day working on spelling our "trick" words (words that don't follow the rules).  Coming up we will be working on vowel teams -oa, -oe, and 

-ow.  We will on occasion have phonics homework.  

Mrs. Ihlenfeldt - 

Grades 1/2 are in the midst of doing a painting in the style of Piet Mondrian. His style uses basic lines, colors and shapes. In this project we are learning to use a ruler to draw straight lines, and practicing painting skills using liquid tempera paints. We are working on our clean up routine after painting. It will take some practice but I know we will improve each time we paint.

Miss Diericks -

¡Saludos de la clase de español!

 We've been working on counting to 30, Greeting and Goodbyes, days of the week, months of the ,

year, alphabet, and colors at an advanced level.

All classes studied The Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) and how this celebration coincides

with All Saints and All Souls Days in the Catholic Church.

Have a great night!  :)

Mrs. Francois would like me to pass this information on to you...

Greetings 1st grade parents!

I just wanted to let you know that your children are now famous artists!  You may recall that last year we did a little study of African animals as we followed the travels of my sister Christine and her husband Terry throughout Africa.  I had the kids do a group watercolor painting of their favorite animal and I gave the painting to my sister when she was home this past summer for a visit. She and her hubby own an art gallery in Boise, Idaho.  It is called Gallery 601. My sister framed the painting and hung it up in the middle of an African art display.  It looks awesome!  Please go to Gallery601.com and check it out.  While you are there, be sure to like them on Facebook. ( My shameless plug for my sister's business!)    

Blessings to you!

Mrs. Francois

First grade has math homework tonight.
Second grade has phonics homework tonight.

Weekly Spelling Lists

First Grade - Phonetic List - Short i Words
his
dig
bit
sit
pig
him
slip
twin
crib
grin

First Grade - High Frequency List - Words 41-50
which
their
said
if
do
will
each
about
how
up

Second Grade - Phonetic List - Short o Words
stop
pond
spot
cot
fog
nod
block
body
doll
popcorn

Second Grade - High Frequency List - words 211-220
four
head
above
kind
began
almost
live
page
got
earth

Tomorrow is a Packer Dress Down Day.  :)

First and second graders have math homework tonight.

The students have Spanish homework today.  (Some students did finish it in class.)  They need to circle the days of the week words in the conversation worksheet.  They will have Spanish again on Friday.

Spelling lists -

First Grade - Phonetic List - Short e Words
let
pen
met
bed
yes
leg
fed
vest
mend
mess

First Grade - High Frequency List - Words 31-40
but
what
all
were
when
we
there
can
an
your

Second Grade - Phonetic List - Short i Words
hit
fill
will
wind
miss
milk
win
fish
little
kitten

Second Grade - High-Frequency List - Words 201-210
feet
land
side
without
boy
once
animal
life
enough
took