Spelling - This week we will have our first spelling list.  A spelling letter will be going home today.  This week's list is 

Digraphs

such

thin

fish

rich

thud

shop

quick

dock

thick

shock

Reading - We have been building our stamina - That means we have been practicing!  We are working on the correct behaviors and expectations of reading groups and centers.  This week I should finish up with all of the beginning of the year reading/phonics assessments.  When all of the assessments are finished we will start working in our reading groups in addition to our centers.

Phonics - We have been learning about digraphs.  Digraphs are two consonant together that make a new sound.  Here are the letter/keyword/sounds that we work on in first grade fundations.

Writing - We have been practicing our handwriting.  We have been working letter by letter on how to form the letters correctly, knowing which lines the letters need to be on, and writing neatly.  So far we are up to letter F in our handwriting lessons.  

We have also started a writing unit called personal narratives.  A personal narrative is a true story that happened to you.  So far we have researched personal narratives, read some mentor texts, and started planning our personal narratives.  We had to "heart write" our ideas.  Our next step was to break down our ideas - from a topic, to zooming in to a smaller piece, to finding the small moment to write about.

Math - We have worked on math facts (adding 1 facts), wrap ups, pattern blocks, weighing items with a balance, addition and subtraction word problems, counting forwards and backwards, graphing, and using the 100s chart to add 1, subtract 1, add 10, and subtract 10.

Religion - We have read the stories of Noah's Ark and Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors from our Children's Bible.  Last week was our first Promise Paper of the year.  The Promise Paper follows the story of each Sunday's Gospel and teaches a lesson.  We also started our first Friendzy unit.  Our first Friendzy saying is "We Are One".  We are learning that we are all unique.  We are also learning what we can accomplish when we work together.  - "We are many parts, yet one body." - 

1 Corinthians 12:20.  We also had our first Adoration of the year.

We have finished up our virtues and values cards on Respect.  This week we will start our new cards - Kindness.

Congratulations to our September BOLT Award Winners

Science - We are moving along on our PLTW light and sound unit.  We have been focusing on sound.  We went through sound centers experimenting with sound.  The centers included a stethoscope, a container with different size rubber bands in different places, metal water bottles with different amounts of water in them, and tuning forks.  We have learned about sound waves, and vibration.  We will finish up the sound lessons this week and then move on to some light lessons.  

Read-Aloud - We finished reading Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.  The students loved it!  They would groan when we had to stop reading each day!  :)  Last week we watched the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  It was fun to compare the book to the movie - not everything was the same.  We have now started reading Junie B. Jones - First Grader at Last!

We have celebrated a few birthdays

And we've had some fun -

Have a great week!

Holy Cross School commits to each student's learning and growth, blending innovation and compassion to guide students to become dedicated followers of Christ.