A Note from Ms. Lowe!

Hello parents and friends of Room 219A!

 

THANK YOU for the tasty and plentiful teacher treats today!  It's such a delight and so appreciated!

 

I'm sure you're as glad as I am to be back in the school routine after break.  I missed your kiddos and am ready to make the most of the last weeks of first grade!  I can't believe it, but our time left together is short and and we have A LOT to do!  Here's a peak of what we'll be keeping our brains busy with!

 

Math:  Chapter eight is a fun chapter!  We've practiced counting our coins and are learning how to make change. When you're working at home remind the little ones to 'count up' from the small amount to the large amount. We also took our first look at fractions.  Our focus is EQUAL parts.  We'll also be practicing place value and adding and subtracting two digits numbers.  We'll have a math assessment Monday of next week. Look for the review to go home on Friday.

 

Language Arts:  This week we're reading AND writing three types of poems: shape, acrostic and a bio poem. Poetry can be a struggling reader's place to shine as silly ideas and creative spelling are encouraged. Often times, the poems are short and the titles are catchy making poetry very approachable.  Share your favorite poems and poets with your students!  After poetry we will focus on reading and writing non-fiction materials.  Part of this unit is our upcoming field trip to the zoo. Students will gather information at the zoo to write their non-fiction paragraphs.  KEEP READING!  The days are longer and spring activities have begun but it is important to read each and every day. The sports section in the newspaper and the American Girl Doll magazine count!

 

Science:  Simple Machine projects are due this Thursday. Use the rubric included with the assignment to guide you and please let me know if you have ANY questions! We'll move quickly to renewable resources and then to habitats.

 

Field Trip: Our field trip to the Brookfield Zoo is next Friday, April 27.  This field trip will tie in nicely to our habitat unit. We're taking a class at the zoo and will be completing research to write our non-fiction paragraphs.  The permission slips went home in back packs today.  Be sure to return the slip and required fee to school.  Please let me know if you are able to chaperone. as you can imagine, we'll need many big people to cover the little people!

 

Poetry in Your Pocket:  Mrs. Susina is inviting our students to celebrate Poetry Month by writing or sharing a poem and bringing it to school.  Our students may bring their favorite poem or an original poem in their pockets on Monday, April 23.

 

Jackets & Water Bottle Note:  Please send your student to school with layers.  Our classroom can be fairly warm even when it's cool outside. We also change classrooms for Spanish and Computer class and have to walk out side for gym. This means it can be difficult to keep everyone comfortable and learning through the day.  Also, it's super helpful to have a water bottle in class, especially for gym as there is no water fountain in the Ackerman building.  I always allow students to get water when they need it but this can add up to quite a bit of time outside the classroom (and a really good excuse to leave class!). If you are able, please send your learner with a water bottle.

 

Don't forget to check out The Buzz for a comprehensive update on all things St. Ben's! 

 

Thank you for sending me your precious little people everyday!

 

Warmly,

 

Ms. Lowe

Trimester 2 Schedule

Our new schedule begins Monday, November 28th.

 Monday: Library 10:50 - 11:20

 Tuesday: Spanish 1:00 - 1:40

 Wednesday: Gym 10:20 - 11:00 

                     Music 1:00 - 1:40

 Thursday: Mass 8:30

                 Music 1:00 - 1:40

                 Spanish 2:05 - 2:45

 Friday: Gym 8:10 - 9:00

            Music 1:00 - 1:40

Notes from Ms. Lowe

Greetings Parents and Friends of Room 219A,

 
First, thank you sincerely for your attendance at Everyday Math Night. Your interest, support and feedback are most appreciated. Look for follow up information in the coming weeks.

Grandparents Day is this Friday, October 7th.  Grandparents are invited to arrive at 12:45 for activities, Mass and a small reception in our classroom. There will be a paper sent home today for parents to indicate if their student is going home with the grandparent on Friday.  Please fill out the form as to with whom your child will be dismissed on Friday afternoon. Your help with this procedure is appreciated! Due to the Mass on Friday, we will not have Mass on Thursday morning.

Math: We have begun working on telling time to the hour. Please practice this with your student on an analog clock whenever possible.  If you have additional time, other activities you can work on with your student are counting pennies and making tally marks.

Social Studies: We are continuing our unit on communities. In class, students have brainstormed community buildings where community helpers work. Our class will begin a project which will culminate in the creation a 2-dimensional community using construction paper. Students have been assigned a specific building. Please take time to talk with your child about their community building, what takes place inside it and how their community building/area might look from the outside.

Spelling: Just a quick reminder that both proper letter directions and using correct case, lower and upper, will count on this Friday’s spelling test. Next week, we will increase the amount of spelling words from six to eight.

When reading with your student this week, please place extra emphasis on finding the beginning, the middle and end of the story. This can be done by asking simple questions on what happened at the beginning, end, or middle of the story. Next week we will talk about making connections to our reading.  We will focus on text-to-self and text-to-text connections.
 
Progress Reports will be sent home with the students via backpack on the 17th. Conference time letters will be mailed by Mrs. O'Keefe later this week. Please keep an eye out for them.

Finally, please remember that homework is the student’s responsibility. You can help them with this by reminding them that homework is due first thing in the morning.

There will be no school on Monday, October 10, in celebration of Columbus Day.
 
As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns!
 
Best regards,
 
Ms. Lowe

Weekly Newsletter

Hello parents and families!

 

I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful day! We had a great day at school today!

 

We continue to work on learning about complete sentences and are reviewing the short i sound.  We started a social studies unit on community today and wrapped up our first math unit. Look for the math assessment in your Take Home folders tomorrow but please note they must be signed and RETURNED to school! We've been learning a lot about how good readers and good spellers use strategies when they come to words they don't know how to read or spell. You can encourage your learners to use "Stretchy Snake" to stretch out all the sounds, use "Lips the Fish" to get their lips ready by sounding out the first sounds they know and to use their "Eagle Eye" to use picture clues. We are also focusing on the beginning, middle and end of stories.
 
Picture day is tomorrow! You can still turn in picture day forms tomorrow morning.  Students may wear any appropriate clothing for their photo but keep in mind we have gym tomorrow afternoon so please send your child with shoes they are able to run in or shoes to change into before gym class.  

 

This week and moving forward we will take a spelling pre-test on Mondays. Please make sure your child is completing four spelling assignments a week, stapling the assignments together and sending the packet to school on Friday for the test.  Students should be using pencil, writing their first and last name and the 'short date' on each homework sheet. *Remember when practicing and studying our spelling words each letter should be lower case and facing the correct direction. 
 
Word Wall Words were sent home today.  We will have word wall word homework on Wednesday and a quiz on Thursday.  Your child does NOT need to know how to spell these words for the quiz.  
 
Weekly Mass begins this week on Thursday at 8:30. We will be having Mass with first through third grade. 
 
We will be having our first PEP RALLY this Friday! Wear your St. Benedict Prep gear and be ready to cheer on the Bengals!
 
Mark your calendars!  Everyday Math Night will be on September 28th from 6pm to 7pm.  I look forward to seeing you there!
 
We are still collecting Grandparent Day forms, so if you have not turned in the form and would like to participate please do so!  We are looking forward to our special day!

 

**Our HSA room representative is Mrs. Mary Eileen Weber (Elly's mom).  Please look for emails and information from her regarding classroom events.  If you were NOT at Back to School night and would like to be included in the HSA school directory please contact me or Mary Eileen at maryeileenweber@yahoo.com to let us know the contact information you'd like to be included. 
 

As always, your support is so appreciated!

Kindly,

 

Ms. Lowe

 

 

Newsletter 9/13/11

Hello Parents and Families!

Please look for our weekly Newsletters on this website.  I try to have them posted on Tuesday afternoons.  Also use The Buzz sent from Rachel Gemo to stay up to date on school activities.

All School Mass TOMORROW:  Please wear dress uniform. We have gym class as well tomorrow, please pack gym shoe shoes and we will change for gym class.

Mark your calendars! Everyday Math Night is scheduled for Wednesday, September 28th.  First grade will present at 6:00 pm.  Please bring your students and any questions you might have about our math procedures. We will discuss curriculum, assessment and routines.

Homework is picking up! Please keep in mind these few things when doing homework. All homework should be completed in pencil unless the directions state otherwise, homework should always be completed by the STUDENT, students should write their first and last names using appropriate upper and lower case letters as well as the short date (9-13-11). 

Spelling words went home yesterday. We are reviewing the short a sound. Students were taught all of the spelling home work options in class and should do them on separate sheets of paper and return them on Friday for their first spelling test. NOTE: all letters hould be lower case on this test to be correct.

Word Wall words were sent home today.  This week's words are: down, for, give, here, like, little, and I.  Look for homework tomorrow and the quiz on Thursday.

In preparation for our first all school Mass we meet our prayer buddies. These are students in fourth grade and will be working with us through out the year and attending school wide Masses with us. Ask your students about their new friend!

We completed our unit on varied scientist and had a short assessment. I will make a copy for you to send home and keep one for their portfolios.

This week will begin our literacy centers. This is practice and preparation for integrating guided reading.  Guided Reading assessments will be conducted at the end of this month.

This week in math we will learn about measuring the temperature with a thermometer and introduce number stories.  Remember the Home Links book travels to and from school as a book. Please do not rip out the pages.

Don't forget a healthy snack each day!

Thanks again for so many parents and families coming for Back To School Night.  We're off to a great start! As always, please contact me for any questions or concerns!

Kindly,

Ms. Lowe