The 2nd graders were good role models for us today when they led our worship. We will go to church next week on Monday and Tuesday to practice for our mass.
We went to church after lunch today for Stations of the Cross. The children were very engaged and thoughtful! This was just our class, so we were able to get close to the statues and talk at our own pace. Next week we will go to Stations with Father Eugene as a whole school. We learned a new method of comparing numbers today-comparison bars. We didn't get quite finished with the lesson, so I had the children take it home to finish rather than the homework sheet I had planned. We will do that tomorrow at school. I try not to send much math homework, but this is one skill that can really use some extra practice at home. We have been learning about Mae Jemison in both reading and social studies. We will continue tomorrow. Oh my-what a week last week! Here's hoping for no emergencies or illnesses this week! The children were so helpful and kind today-it was very much appreciated!
We welcomed our new friend, Ty, today. This class has officially doubled in size from last year! Remember-NO SPELLING LIST/TEST this week! We will do some review. Our class is leading mass next week, March 3. As there is no singing by the children, we ask that only parents of readers attend. Since you have to sit in the back corner, you will get a much better view at home on live stream! We also have to leave church immediately after mass ends, so you don't get a chance to greet your child at the end so I highly recommend opting for live stream even if your child is reading! Our main math focus right now is on data and graphing, with a lot of review thrown in! I've been very impressed with our time telling. Most children can consistently tell time to the hour and half hour. I'm a little scared to add quarter hour in. :) We started learning how to use the first grade robot, Beebot, last week. Right now we are just exploring what it can do. The February Scholastic book order forms went home in folders yesterday. If you are interested in ordering (online or paper), please have orders in by Friday, Feb. 19. Online ordering information: https://orders.scholastic.com/GRHHL
We are learning about the Lunar New Year (more commonly referred to as Chinese New Year). We have learned that it is celebrated in MANY Asian cultures. We started a dragon craft today. We are also learning about President's Day. Adding and subtracting tens is going to be a big focus in math. We are almost done with unit 5. I have been so impressed with the children's time telling skills! We've also been working on graphing. In religion we are learning about the "Our Father" prayer. I hope your child has been enjoying CSW! Bowling was a huge hit yesterday! We have some skilled bowlers. It was really fun to see them cheering each other on and celebrating successes. Thank you to Mrs. Jirik for walking with us and helping out at the bowling alley!
Thank you for the generous donations for the homeless. We heard a talk about the Dorothy Day Center and what they do there from Mr. Norb Sticha. We will end our celebration tomorrow with pajama day and a movie. The kids gave me suggestions for a movie-I'll have to dig some digging to find one that is rated G. I said I would check their suggestions first. Your child may have told you that we have a new student starting on February 22. His name is Ty and he is moving to New Prague. The boys are SO EXCITED that we will now have an equal number of boys and girls. If you are still wanting to check out the online book fair, the link is: https://athomebookfairs.com/home?bfstring=9N6eCyRt If you haven't sent in your child's Valentines, please have them in tomorrow (Friday). ***We will take our reading NWEA test tomorrow morning. Please help your child get to bed on time tonight and have a healthy breakfast tomorrow. Thank you!***
***Reminder-no spelling test this week. We are reviewing digraphs.*** What a blessing-EVERY child was in school today! That doesn't happen too often this year so I truly treasure it! We did our Archdiocesan required safety lesson today (Virtus). These were the big ideas: 1. ALWAYS check in with "the person in charge" before going anywhere. 2. Listen to your "gut instincts" 3. The difference between a surprise and secret (can your child tell you?) and that no one should ask your child to keep a secret from you. 4. Some body parts are private (those covered by a swimsuit) , your body is your own, no one is to touch your private body parts unless it is to keep you clean or healthy (and we talked about the guidelines around those 2 situations). 5. Adults shouldn't ask for help solving adult problems (lost puppy, getting directions)-say you have to "ask first" and leave the situation. 6. Every child is special and deserves to be safe. 7. Identify your trusted adults. This is a really important lesson for you to continue in conversation at home. Once is not enough. We started learning to tell time to the half hour today. Yikes-the children were SO SECURE in understanding time to the hour (we even reviewed and they were on fire) but after the half hour was introduced some couldn't tell time to the hour any longer. We will be reviewing this important skill daily. Pronouns were introduced in reading and adjectives were reviewed. ***We will take our math NWEA test tomorrow morning. Please help your child get to bed early and start the day out with a healthy breakfast.***
We started our day with the 5th grade leading our worship. They did a great job! Our school counselor did a lesson on big and small problems (and reactions). We are working hard on learning our 3 new digraphs. I hope your child enjoyed the 4 days off! It was good to be back together today.
We finished our "Magic Bone" chapter book. On to the first Judy Moody book tomorrow. Homophones were formally introduced in reading today. We've talked about them before, but we'll be doing more work with them now. During math, the children had to decide if a word problem was subtraction or addition. Usually we see all of one type-today it was mixed. Overall it went well! Our Scholastic News had 4 fun tips for building a snow person. It is so fun to hear the children reading paragraphs (which we've also been learning about). The spelling words this week are really hard! I wish the reading program didn't put three digraphs together. If your child needs to move from the challenge list to the main list, please email me! If you would like to order from the January book orders, please have them in tomorrow. I will place the order some time on Friday. Online ordering: https://orders.scholastic.com/GRHHL
It's been a week filled with half birthdays. Yesterday we celebrated with Ollie, today with Dima and tomorrow with me! I hope all you summer babies enjoy the real day in July. We are working very hard on learning the /ch/and /tch/ digraphs. Unfortunately, several children now can't remember the /th/ digraph. You could hunt for words with both those sounds the next time you read together. Yesterday we learned the "Flippy Dolphin" reading strategy-if you aren't sure of the vowel sound, try the short vowel. If it doesn't sound right, flip the vowel to the long sound. We also reviewed all of our other strategies and each child received a bookmark with the strategies on them. The children heard and read folktales yesterday that explained different animal features. They really enjoyed "How Leopard Got His Spots." In math our focus is on adding and subtracting within 20 (the first grade standard). It was fun to start our second math book today. For the first time since early December, we had EVERYONE at school today! Woo-hoo!! It was a great day!
In math, we are learning to tell time to the hour. Almost everyone was getting the hang of it by the end of the lesson. Our spelling patterns this week are /ch/ and /tch/. Our spelling test is on THURSDAY this week. We are also reviewing these parts of speech: noun, verb and adjective. We did a "Snow Friend" guided drawing/painting today. They turned out really cute and will brighten the hallway. Our focus prayer this month is the "Hail Mary". The children made a mini book that we read and discussed today. Happy Friday!
Happy half birthday, Sierra! It was fun celebrating with you! Reminder that students may still wear their Marathon t-shirts on Fridays with ANY bottoms! If you received an alternate SWS t-shirt (enrolled after Marathon shirts were ordered)-you can wear that shirt with ANY bottoms! Yay! Spelling lists for the rest of the month will come home on THURSDAYS or FRIDAYS because the rest of the month we have 4 day weeks! I want to make sure the children have enough time to study. I will continue to add the words to the Spelling City site (on the links page if you haven't bookmarked). Your children probably told you about the crazy end of our day. They were playing so nicely (reward free time), I was working with students at the table and we heard "Clubhousers you are dismissed." OOPS! That's the last time we have playtime at the end of the day without an alarm being set. Oh my!! We have been working hard on understanding base words and endings along with the digraph /th/ this week. Have a great weekend. Your child should sleep well-they were tired! |