Weekly Newsletter

                                      Develop Disciples of Christ...
                                     Promote Academic Excellence...
                                   Maintain a Respectful Environment...
                                       Messages from Mrs. Phillips
                                          December 7-11, 2009

          Weekly Specials:   Mon. - Music          Tues. - Gym & Computer 
Wed. - Mass,Art & Library    Thurs. - Music & Computer    Fri. - Gym & Spanish

Home Assignments... see assignments for this week under Home Assignments
Complete assignments & read with your child for 10 minutes each night.     

Religion...Advent & Chapter 9: Jesus Is God's Son
•We made an Advent wreath at school and lit our first Advent candle.  Your 
child should place a paper flame on a candle each Sunday. 
•There is a Family Time assignment, pages 115-116 that is due Friday, 
December 11th.  Please remember to check one activity that you completed with 
your child & include a parent signature.

Spelling... Study 10 Long u Words (CVCe) - Test Friday, December 11th	
Ask your child about our "Letter Aerobics" we do in class.  We are working on 
recognizing if the letter is "tall", "short" or "long" on our handwriting 
paper.  This is a FUN activity and it helps the children remember where a 
letter begins & ends when we are writing words.  This is especially important 
since they will be writing their Spelling words for their test.

Word Wall Words... Test Friday, December 11th
Please review the WWW to see if your child can recognize and locate these 
words when reading stories at home. These are important words that are needed 
frequently when reading.  Your child should over-learn to read these words 
by "sight".  Write each week’s new Word Wall Words on note cards and use 
these as a quick review to study each evening at home.

Visit Mrs. Phillips’ Webpagewww.teacherweb.com/OH/NorwalkStPaul/phillips/     
I try to update my teacher webpage every Friday if you are interested in 
looking ahead to see what the next week’s assignments, Word Wall Words, 
Spelling words, important notes and upcoming events are.  We enjoy visiting 
the Spelling City website on our smart board and playing games with our 
weekly Spelling words.  It is an excellent site with games to help your child 
learn their Spelling words.  I have showed the children how to go to my 
webpage and click "educational sites" and Spelling City is listed there, with 
the new week’s list words ready to practice.
                                                                          
Math – We will learn this week to...
*Identify Odd & Even Numbers
*Numbering a Clockface & Showing Time to the Hour
*Adding 2 to an Even Number
*Adding 2 to an Odd Number

We will continue to review locating numbers on a Hundreds Chart, counting 
dimes & pennies, identifying a line of Symmetry, counting by 2's, Telling 
time to the Hour, Subtracting 0 & Subtracting a Number from Itself, 
Subtracting 1 facts,counting dimes, Adding 0 & Adding 1 facts, Doubles with 
Sums to 18 facts (Ask your child the Doubles Rap), counting on to find a sum, 
write number sentences for “Some, Some More” stories & "Some, Some Went Away" 
stories, and get our next set of flashcards.  When flashcards are assigned, 
your child should write the answer and their initials on the back of each 
card.  They should practice these facts and return flashcards back to school 
the next day.   

First Grade Behavior 
If your child seems overly excited about receiving a brightly colored note, 
it’s because it’s extra special.  These notes are given to individuals and/or 
the entire class when they've made good choices and had a great day!  The 
children are all beginning to show me that they know how First graders 
behave.  I am seeing "First grade hands", "Eyes on the Speaker" and when 
instructions are being given they "Stop, Look and Listen".     

Dress Code
Please make sure your child is in dress code before they leave home in the 
morning.  Some children aren't tucking in their shirts or wearing belts if 
they have belt loops.   

(AR) Accelerated Reader Helpers Needed
The children will take (AR) tests in the morning from 8:30-9:00.  If your 
child has read an (AR) book, please fill out the AR paper that was sent home 
and return it back to school.  I now have parent volunteers for Monday (Mrs. 
Ceccoli), Tuesday - (Mrs. Adelman), Wednesday (Mrs. Moffit), Thursday (Mrs. 
Bleile) & Friday - (Ms. Winslow) to assist the children by locating the book 
they are taking a test on and helping read the questions.  Please let me know 
what day you would be available to help out if something comes up and the AR 
volunteer isn't available on their assigned day (Mrs. Patti Bleile is 
available).  Thank you for volunteering your time each week!

Writing Sentences
The children have been learning that each sentence begins with a capital, 
ends with a punctuation mark, and tells a complete idea.  We continue to work 
on knowing the difference between an asking (?) and telling (.) sentence.  
*You can orally give your child a sentence and have them tell you if it ends 
with a (?) or (.)  For example – That is a red light.  Who picked up the toy 
room?  We are having pizza for supper.    
*Ask your child does that end with a (?) or (.)

Word Wall Words (WWW)
*Make two flashcards of each Word Wall Word (WWW) and play a fun game of 
memory with your child.  This activity can be done with the 5 new weekly WWW, 
all of the WWW, and/or WWW they keep having difficulty remembering.  
Directions: Lay the WWW flashcards face down so the words can’t be seen.  
Have your child pick up two WWW cards.  They need to tell you each word, 
whether they are a match or not.  Children tend to see they aren’t a match, 
quickly lay the cards back down and are ready to pick up two new cards.  The 
idea is to recognize & read each WWW and have fun doing it!
*Lay out 3 WWW flashcards for your child to choose from.  Orally give them a 
fill in the blank sentence or write this sentence down.  They need to choose 
the WWW flashcard that makes sense in the blank.  We use the skill of trying 
each word in the sentence until we find one that makes sense.

Replenish Supplies
It is now time to send in new pencils & a notebook (writing journal).  I will 
replenish the children’s crayons with the ones the school provided.

Thanksgiving Feast
The students seemed to really enjoy our Thanksgiving Feast.  They sure have
big appetites!  I loved their picture that was in the Norwalk Reflector. 
Thank you to my parent volunteers - Mrs. Patti Bleile, Mrs. Endsley, Mrs.
Risner & Mrs. Smith that helped me serve the children our feast.        

Upcoming Dates...
*Friday, December 4 - WEAR JEANS & FLYERS SHIRT! GO FLYERS!!! 
*December 7-18 - Fill the "Flyer" Van with can goods at Convocation Center lot
*Tuesday, December 8 - Immaculate Conception Mass @ 10am 
*Friday, December 11 - Jeans Day - pay 50 cents for Piggyback Foundation 
*Tuesday, December 15 - Shopping at Secret Santa  
*Tuesday, December 15 - Christmas Movie @ Gathering Space 6:30-8:30 
*Friday, December 18th - Wear Jeans & Christmas Shirt! 
*Monday, December 21st - 1st & 2nd grade Christmas Program

                                 Have a Fantastic Week!!!
                                      GO FLYERS!!!
                                     Mrs. Phillips

                                                                        
                                www.teacherweb.com/OH/NorwalkStPaul/phillips/
                                          aphillips@ncsmail.org