Transcript Feb. 8 th - Holy Family School | Phoenixville, PA

First Grade News
February 8th – 12th 2016
We had a great time celebrating Catholic
Schools Week! Thank you for your time and
support with all of our special events.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
I truly love being your child’s First
Grade teacher!
Friendly Reminder…
February’s reading log was sent home
early last week. Please keep this in a safe
place and log what your child is reading to
you. Also, use the attached comprehension
questions as a tool to monitor your child’s
understanding of what they are reading.
Folders are due on March 1st.
Wonderful Writing
Everyone did a fantastic job on their
hot chocolate writing. Way to go!
These pieces will be proudly displayed
in our classroom.
We are collecting Boxtops and Campbell’s
soup labels. Let’s see if we can be this
month’s winning class!
Math Enirchment
Please review reading two and three
digit numbers both in word and
number form with your child.
Thinking ahead…
Soon we will be identifying and
counting coins and telling time to the
hour and half hour.
Math is “snow” much fun!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
Feb. 8th - Mid-Progress reports are due. I
am so proud of everyone’s hard work and
positive attitude. Let’s keep it up!
Feb. 10th – Ash Wednesday
Feb. 11th – Valentine containers are due.
Be imaginative and have fun with this
project! Please refer to the guidelines
that were sent home last week. I can’t
wait to see your creativity.
Feb. 12th – Valentine cards are due
Feb. 15th – NO School. Teacher InService. Enjoy your day off from school!
Always make sure to check our school
website for additional news and events.
Thank you! 
Have a wonderful week!
Please review the dress code policy
online. Make sure that your child is
adhering to all of the standards. Note that
sweatpants are to be worn for gym class.
School Supplies
We are running low on tissues, paper
towels and antibacterial wipes. If you
did not bring in these items in August,
could you please send them in at your
convenience. Thank you.
Fueling the body for focused learning!
Nutritious snacks and healthy lunches
fuel the body and mind. Suggestion brainstorm a list of healthy food
choices with your child.
Daily Reading Practice
Daily reading should consist of fluency practice, sight word practice, and free-choice reading. Break these into
separate times to prevent them from feeling time consuming to your child.
Fluency Practice – Repeated Readings
Echo or choral read poems, songs or short stories together to model expression and fluency.
Sight Words
Don’t forget to practice the Dolch sight word booklet on a regular basis. Five minutes of daily sight word practice
can make a big difference! Also, please have your child practice reading the weekly words that are attached to our
spelling list. These words are in conjunction with our weekly phonics/spelling skills. Reading these words will help
your child apply our phonics skills.
Free Choice Reading
Allow your child to select a book at their reading level to read aloud to you. When time allows, read to your child.
This will inspire them and help them grow as readers.
Have a book talk. Ask your child questions about what they are reading independently and/or aloud to you. This will
help you to monitor their comprehension.
Don’t forget to fill out this month’s reading log. Remember, our goal is to read five evenings per week for 15
minutes. We are building reading interest and stamina.
This Week’s Curriculum Notes
Phonics – Ending –es and Plural –es and r-controlled words (or, ore)
Monday’s decodable reader will focus on r-controlled words. Please practice the correct
pronunciation of these words at home.
Reading & Spelling – This week, we will be reading, Jan’s New Home. The reading skill that we
will be focusing on is theme. Our spelling words are generated from this story. Our spelling focus
will be on words ending in es and plurals with es. Our spelling and reading test will be on Friday.
Please see the attached list of spelling words. A hard copy of the attached spelling list was sent
home last Thursday.
Grammar & Writing – We will continue to explore action verbs. Students will identify action verbs
vs. nouns within a sentence. We will continue with fun winter writing prompts and poetry. We will
be writing about Valentine’s Day and President’s Day.
Math – Chapter Five, Place Value
We will continue with Chapter Five. Our focus this week will be on writing numbers in expanded
form, identifying numbers within a counting pattern, and we will continue to have fun with
estimation. We will review comparing numbers and number order. A special thank you to everyone
who brought in an estimation jar.
Religion – This week, we will begin to read and discuss Chapter 20, Lent.
Science – We will continue to learn more about the winter season. Last week, we had a blast
learning about groundhogs and penguins.
Social Studies – We will be learning about and discussing President’s Day. We will also complete
fun Valentines crafts as we celebrate these two special events this week.
Reading & Spelling - Next week, we will be reading, Jan’s New Home.
The reading skill that we will be focusing on is theme. Our spelling words
are generated from this story. Our spelling focus will be on words ending
in es and plurals with es. Our spelling and reading test will be on Friday.
Spelling Words
Adding -es
fix
fixes
class
classes
wish
wishes
kiss
kisses
bus
buses
High-Frequency Words:
friends
very
Challenge Words:
dishes
catches
glasses
brushes
Words to READ
very car away our house school friends
Sight Word Review
Below is a list of sight words in
conjunction with this week’s
spelling focus.
High-Frequency Sight Words
fixes
dresses
always
wishes
boxes
every
kisses
cares
because
buses
buzzes
enough
classes
beaches
nothing
mixes
fishes
were
brushes
matches
own
glasses
cakes
very
catches
piles
our
foxes
rules
afraid
patches
sides
again
dishes
titles
how
Number Review
Please have your child practice reading two and three
digit numbers.
Numbers in digit form.
75
123
543
938
52
89
98
376
210
201
103
81
18
430
305
56
65
236
632
150
Numbers in word form.
forty-seven
twenty-three
ninety-five
sixty-two
fifty-four
thirty-eight
thirteen
eighty-one
eleven
Monitoring Comprehension
Please find time to have a book talk with your child on a regular basis. Now that your child is
becoming an independent reader, it is important to discuss with them what they are reading.
This will enable you to monitor their comprehension and help them with book selections.
Story Connection: After your child reads aloud to you, please select one of these
questions to discuss together each evening.
• Take a picture walk through the story. Look at the pictures before reading the story to
predict what may happen.
• Setting - Where does the story take place?
• Who is/are the main character(s) of the book? Character Traits - Describe the main
characters.
• What was the problem and/or solution of the story?
• What is the theme (main idea) of the story?
• Draw conclusions – How do you think the story may end? If you could write a sequel to
this story, what would happen? Why?
• What was the author’s message? How do you know?
• What was your favorite part? Why? What was your least favorite part? Why?
• Compare and contrast the characters. How are they alike? How are they different?
• What type of genre is this story? How do you know?
• Visualize – What mental pictures do you make as you are reading? What details from the
story helped you make visualization?
• Write down 2-3 words that were challenging to read and add these to your sight word list
to practice each evening.
• Rate the book. Tell why you liked or did not like the story. Would you recommend this book
to a friend?
• Text–Self connection – this story reminds me of…
1.
A time when I…
• What is the plot of the story?
• Summarize the story.
2. A person I know…
3. A book I read…