First Grade Newsletter
November 2009
We are so pleased with the progress the children have made this quarter. They
have realized the expectations of First Grade both academically and socially.
It was great to talk with you at Parent Teacher Conferences. Our continued
communication throughout the year is so important to your child’s education.
Thank you to all the parents who helped with the Pumpkin Festival and the
field trip to Heritage.
CURRICULUM UPDATES:
READING: Our Reading unit will explore the theme of travel. This will
include familiar vehicles, and a wide range of other vehicles in which people
travel in, in other parts of the world. In this unit we continue to practice
the letter sound/sounds and blend those sounds with the short vowels. Our new
sounds will be sh(shell), th(thimble), tch(chipmunk, ar(armadillo), and er,
ir, ur(bird). As you can see, November is a busy month for the introduction of
new phonics’ skills. The decodable books will be sent home almost daily and
you will notice all of these new skills in the stories. Remember the
importance of reading every day.
SPELLING AND LANGUAGE ARTS: Through our reading and language arts activities,
we practice our handwriting skills every day. Please be sure your child is
using the correct handwriting method when doing their homework. We continue
to practice our short vowels with our new spelling lists each week. The
children will practice rhyme, alphabetical order, correct grammar, and
punctuation when doing their spelling homework. We talked about how
adjectives help to make our sentences more exciting. Please guide your child
when doing homework. It should be their sentence, with little reminders from you.
MATH: We continue to have Math Meeting every day. This is where we discuss
the date, graph the weather, count the number of days in school, count coins,
and learn our math vocabulary. We have learned several addition and
subtraction strategies to solve problems. Continue to practice your math
facts each night for mastery.
RELIGION: We have learned how to be Fishers of Men. We hear the Gospel in
our Promise Magazine. This month we will learn about the saints and the many
things we are thankful for.
SOCIAL STUDIES: We have been discussing our Wants and Needs, and identifying
Good and Services. Thank you for helping us with our Jobs Booklet! This
month we also discover our First Thanksgiving.
IMPORTANT DATES:
Nov. 9-10 No School- Catholic School Convention
11 Veteran’s Day
12 Scholastic Book Orders due. This is the last order before Christmas
19 Dress Down Day
21 Fall Gala and Auction
24 Thanksgiving Centers with our Prayer Buddies in 5th Grade
25-29 Thanksgiving Holiday!!
Have a peaceful and safe Thanksgiving Holiday.
Mrs. Hamrick, Mrs. Rohrbach and Mrs. Gasper
