Mrs. O'Connell's Classroom Connection

Happy New Year!

For the week of January 4-8, 2010, our phonics focus is on the short vowel sounds and final consonant blends -nd and -st. Here are the spelling words for Friday's test:

and, best, fast, just, hand, must, out, came, sent, next

High Frequency word wall words: came, know, out, she, there

Homework for Monday, Jan. 4

Reading Fox and Bear
Math Workbook p. 49

Mrs. Janet Potrawski needs your HELP!
She's looking for lunchroom volunteers to fill a shortage. If you are willing and able to help, you can accrue time served to use next year! Please call her at 229-2814 (home) or 601-2814 (cell). She needs volunteers for every day except Thursdays.

Homework

Reading: Phonics take-home reader Hop, Run, and Jump. Read the story aloud then do a word hunt. Circle all words with short vowel sounds.

Math: Workbook p. 50

Homework
Study for spelling Test on Friday
Math Workbook p. 52

If your child brought home a navy blue St. Linus sweatshirt that doesn't belong to them, please send it back to school. We are missing one. Thanks.

Phonics focus for this week is short vowel sounds and contractions

Here are the spelling words for Friday's test:
clap, sled, trip, spot, drop, drum, read, please, can't, it's

High Frequency words are: again, please, read, say, word

Homework

Reading
I Can Read

No homework in math workbook today, but please practice subtraction facts for a quiz on Tuesday!

Reminder: Please turn in the completed St. Linus enrollment form (yellow) at your earliest convenience. Thanks!

Homework:

Reading
Read phonics reader Dogs Can't Read aloud. Do a word hunt to find all the contractions. Circle them and write the words that they are made from.

Math
No workbook page today. Practice your subtraction facts!

Homework:

Study for Friday's spelling test and practice subtraction facts.

Tomorrow is the last day of the 2nd quarter! Many in our class have achieved our goal of mastering subtraction facts through -6 as shown in our weekly timed facts quizzes. Those who are still working toward that goal will take one last timed quiz for the quarter on Friday. I'll be assessing some children individually with flash cards. Be ready! Don't forget about the helpful (and often more fun than flash cards) math sites on our St. Linus website.

On January 28 we will celebrate our very first 1st grade Mass. Mark your calendar, for you are welcome to attend! Our 1st graders will have important roles in this Mass, including reading from the podium and bringing up the gifts! We will have a 1st grade Mass each month, and all the students will have an opportunity to take part before the year ends.

Hope that you enjoyed the long weekend.

There are no new spelling words for the week of January 18. We will be reviewing the words learned in Unit 3 over the last several weeks through games in class. We have just completed our third unit in our Reading series and will be working on a Unit Skills Test and a Readers Theater performance of Flowers in January. You may see their script in their take home folder if they need to rehearse their parts at home. Please see that they bring them back to school as they will need them to perform!

In Readers Theater, students take on a role of a character in the story (sometimes sharing it with another student or two) and all parts are read from their script. Their are no lines to memorize and most of the story is told from their seats. I'll be encouraging the children to read with much expression, since their voices alone need to tell the story. All the children will have a part, and we will have two scheduled performances on Friday, January 22 at 10:30 and 11:00 a.m. We hope that you are able to take advantage of hearing your child read with his or her peers by attending one of our "shows."

Math Homework: Workbook p. 60

Reminder: Wednesday, 1/20 is ice cream day! $1.00

Today we began rehearsing our current Readers Theater production Flowers in January. The students are excited because we hope to invite you to see a performance. I'll send word of our performance date as soon as we get a handle on reading our parts with much expression! The script may come home for reading practice. When it does, please make sure your child brings it back to school.

Homework for Wednesday:
Math workbook p. 61
(A few students also need to complete p. 60 because they did not bring their workbook home on Tuesday.)

Homework for Thursday

Reading:
Flowers in January Read your own part 3 times, and read the whole play once.

Math:
Workbook p. 62

Reminders
Scholastic Book orders are due tomorrow!
Don't forget about the Six Flags Read to Succeed Program to win a free ticket to Great America this summer!
Yellow St. Linus School registration forms for next school year are due tomorrow!

If your child's grandparent has some free time and would like to be one of our honored Rocking Chair Readers on Friday mornings, please send me a note. I'm looking for a couple of volunteers.

Happy Friday!

I must apologize for the confusion caused with my earlier blog note about our class performance of Flowers In January. Because our Unit Reading test took up the early part of the week, we didn't have enough time to rehearse and prepare for a performance today. I had mentioned to the children that we would not be performing for you today, but I should have noted that on my blog. Next week, we will spend a lot of time preparing for our 1st Grade Mass, so we will save our performance for the following Thursday, February 4th during Catholic School Week Open House. We will have a performance at 10:00 and again at 10:45. Hope that you can take some time to visit our classroom and see our show!

Report cards are being sent home today, Friday, 1/22. If you have concerns about your child's progress, please feel free to contact me by email. If needed, we can set up a conference in person or by phone.

BASIC MATH FACTS
For the 3rd quarter, please keep in mind that our goal is to master addition and subtraction facts to +9 and -9. Please continue to work at home to help your child achieve this so they can be successful.

Have a great weekend!

Our phonics focus this week is on the long a sound, as in bake and the inflected ending -ed, as in helped.

Our spelling words for Friday's test (which can also be found on spellingcity.com) are:
ate, bake, gave, late, make, take, as, after, helped, wanted

Our high frequency word wall words are: after, as, call, laugh, something

On Thursday, January 28 we will celebrate our very first 1st Grade Mass. If your child came home with a reading part, please practice it with them. They do not need to memorize anything, but should be able to read all the words comfortably and with expression. We will practice in class and in Church next week. By the end of the year, all the children will have an opportunity to read during Mass, but won't be required to if they aren't comfortable. There are other "jobs" that they can do to be an important part of our monthly Masses.

The week of January 31-February 5 is Catholic Schools Week! More information to come!

Homework:

Reading The Red Stone Game
Math Workbook p. 64

A reminder that you are invited to celebrate our first 1st Grade Mass with us tomorrow, January 28 at 8:30 a.m. We have been practicing all week, are very excited, and hope to see you there!

Homework for Wednesday

Reader The Gingerbread Man Read aloud and retell the story in your own words.

No math workbook page, but practice your +7 or +8 facts.

If you have a reading part in tomorrow's Mass, please practice it one last time at home.

With this cold snap, it is again a little chilly in Room 16. Please send school sweaters or sweatshirts each day to keep the cold at bay.

Today we celebrated our first 1st Grade Mass together. The children did a wonderful job reading, singing, bringing up the gifts and participating! I am so proud of them. We will have one 1st Grade Mass each month for the rest of the school year. Dates are tentatively scheduled for 2/25, 3/25, 4/29, and 6/4 (this will be the all-school Mass on the last day of school.)

Homework for Thursday:

Study for Spelling Test on Friday!

Math Workbook p. 66

A homework note: When students forget to do or complete their homework, they are asked to write down their name as a reminder to me, and to bring it the next day. I often remind the children that it is their responsibility, not Mom's or Dad's to make sure it is done and put back in their folder/backpack. We've had quite a bit of missing homework in the week's since the holidays, so I've told the students that from now on, I'll be keeping track of when they do not complete and return their homework. If it happens very frequently, it could affect their effort grade. Thanks for understanding and helping them take this responsibility seriously.

Our phonics focus this week is again on the long /a/ sound, as in tape. We will also learn about the initial digraphs ch and th, as in check and then.

Spelling words for Friday's test are: tap, tape, cap, cape, mad, made, of, was, check, then

High Frequency Words: every, made, mother, of, was

As you know, we are celebrating Catholic Schools Week January 31st through February 5th. I hope you will join us as we celebrate Mass together on Sunday, followed by an Open House in the classrooms.

For your information:
On Wednesday, Student Appreciation Day, we will have a dress down day, an assembly in the gym, All School Bingo, a movie with popcorn in the classroom, and NO HOMEWORK! How exciting!

On Thursday, we will have an open house from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. Our class will have two performances of our Readers Theater on that day, at 10:00 and 10:45 a.m. We hope that you can make it to one of our performances.