Spelling - Vowel Teams - ue, ew
blue
true
glue
due
rescue
chew
flew
stew
grew
few
Phonics - Last week we worked on vowel teams ou and oo. This week we are going to work on vowel teams ue and ew. We continue to learn new trick words and vocabulary words. We do a ton of dictation, tapping, and sentence writing. Most recently we've been practicing tapping out words that have 5 sounds. (Example - trust, slept) We frequently practice our spelling words on our whiteboards. We read story passages and find and mark our phonics concepts, as well as discuss the story elements - character, setting, and events.
The vowel teams we have learned so far
The current group of vowel teams
Science - We have started our newest PLTW unit. It is called Animal Adaptations. We have learned about 4 different types of adaptations. They are camouflage (blending in), food (having something specifically for the way the animal eats - such as different types of bird beaks or a butterfly's proboscis), protection (such as a turtle's shell or a porcupine's quills), and locomotion (the way an animal moves - such as a kangaroo's tail and strong legs).
We read a story about animal adaptations, sorted animals into adaptation groups, and dug deeper into the apadtations with activities.
One acticity was deciding which animal fit which adaptation and drawing/writing it in the launch log. A second activity was reading about birds and deciding which adaptation was best for flying long distances, climbing trees, and swimming. A third activity was reading clues about adaptations and then cutting / gluing animals into the box. A fourth acticity was scattering paper butterflies onto a paper sheet. Some butterrlies were solid colors and some butterflies had a pattern. The paper had the same pattern. The butterflies became hidden. The students had to see how many butterflies they could pick up one by one in 20 seconds.
Religion - Each week we have been attending the Stations of the Cross. Last week we also attended Adoration. We continue to learn about the weekly Gospel readings in our Promise Paper. We are working in our Friendzy lessons / book. The unit we have been working on is called "I Am Brave" This week we will start our latest unit. The theme is "I Get To Be Me, You Get To Be You". We will be having one more mass this year. It will be on April 14th. Mass parts will be going out some time this week - we're waiting on Abbot Gary for help with one of the readings. On St. Patricks Day we worked with our fourth grade buddies. We learned about the trinity and how St. Patrick used the shamrock to teach about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Reading - This week word work will be synonyms and antonyms. Next week we will switch our word work centers to homophones.
Every day we work in our reading groups and our centers. Daily 5 time is a time for everyone to work on read to self, read to someone, listening, work on writing, and word work.
Knowing basic sight words is a big part of reading. By the end of first grade, the goal is for the students to know the first 175 sight words. Some of the students already know all 175. Some of the students know only a few words. Some of the students are somewhere in between those. :) The sight words that we use are in our Bee Binder. Please take some time to practice sight words with your student.
Reading with your child for 20 minutes a day is another way for your child to strengthen their reading skills!
Remember, you can access Raz Kids and Vocabulary A-Z at home to practice both reading and spelling.
To access Raz Kids, you can either go to the website or download the app.
The website is https://www.raz-plus.com/
The app is Kids A-Z.
Once there, go to kids login.
The teacher name to enter is jsullivan100.
Once in, the student will click on their name.
The password is the apple.
Press go.
The student can click on the purple planet for reading or the yellow plant for spelling. (It says vocabulary)
*If the student would like to choose books on their own, they will click reading room.
In reading room, they have lots of options on how to choose the books they want to read. If they want to read books at their level only, they may press leveled books. Every student has their level entered in the website. This allows them to read books at their level, as well as 2 levels above and below.
*If the student would like to practice their spelling words, they will click on vocabulary. Their assigned spelling list will pop up. Click on the list. From there you can choose phonics, spelling, or vocabulary. Whichever one is chosen, it will bring you to games that use the spelling list.
Writing - We are working on non-realistic fiction stories. We have read mentor texts to hear non-realistic fiction stories. Then we worked on brainstorming some possible ideas - powers, creatures, settings, and human like objects or animals. Next we worked on picking through our ideas, giving our ideas a character and setting. We are currently working on ideas for our beginning, middle, and end.
Math - In math we worked with geobards to identify and make congruent shapes. A shape is congruent if it is the same size and the same shape. We worked on counting items and grouping them into tens. We worked on place value - the tens place and the ones place. We have been practicing how to add 2 digit numbers. This last week for the first time we added 2 digit numbers with regrouping. We used dimes and pennies to show how one dime can take the place of ten pennies. We worked on telling time to the half hour. We continued to practice doubles plus one math facts.
Some fun pictures -
A visit from Sassy-
Have a great week!
Holy Cross Mission Statement
Holy Cross Catholic School guides each student in developing academic, emotional and physical excellence while spreading the Gospel message as Jesus did, since 1868.
