Week+25

Newsletter for Week of Mar. 10th, 2014 **Week in Review** Have you heard about Mardi Gras? The children absolutely loved the independence to stroll from room to room with friends and to conquer each game from Dino Dig, Soccer Kick, and Ring Toss to the Frisbee Toss to bowling and I can't forget the face painting, the Cookie Walk, and so much more. There was nothing we could do to contain the excitement. The children were thrilled and we thank **all** of the parents who volunteered their time and talents just for us.

In Social Studies we have been learning about being a good citizen and the many symbols that represent our country from the first flag, the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, even hearing about "Uncle Sam" to learning about the important rules for handling our flag. We explained the Pledge as a special promise and talked about our national anthem as well as our patriotic colors and what the birthday of our country is called. You would be so surprised how many children did not know the reason for the 4th of July. As adults we take so many things for granted and the children have many, many questions.

**Reading**  This week we will be reading a biography of Benjamin Franklin. This once again gives us the opportunity to talk about what a biography is. Did you know that many testing selections are now focusing on nonfiction selections such as this? Our skill lessons will focus on the readings of additional biographies as well as working on the r-controlled vowel "ar". We will continue to practice adjectives that compare using "er" and "est", ask questions, and return to making inferences. Our high-frequency vocabulary list continues to grow and at times the children get over-whelmed with so many words. We work daily on trying to increase our sight words, yet making flashcard at home to practice may be just another way to help your child become proficient in this area. We enjoyed another Read and Treat this Wednesday. Did you know a "picture is worth a thousand words?" =** Vocabulary for "Meet Ben Franklin" ** = career...curious...improve...fascinating...investigate ...idea...scientists... microscope...photograph...grew...house...knew...would...smart...cart...  barn...arm...art...yarn...harm

 **Religion** 

Ash Wednesday led us right to church for our liturgy and our cross of ashes. We will learn a new morning prayer for the Lenten season and we will return to our daily prayer service in which the children will be reading a New Testament story for us daily as we want to learn more about Jesus. We are also joining with the entire Lumen Christi Parish in "Feeding my Starving Children" service project. This can prove to be an amazing opportunity for your family to share and experience how very blessed we are in having our needs cared for and as well as talk about how many children go hungry each day. Though this [|video] may not be appropriate for the little children it may give you personally some specific information. This week we will continue our study on the sacrament of Baptism. The children shared their Baptism posters and they were so excited to share the details of their own special day. Our next Mass is March 19th, the feast of St. Joseph. Mass parts will be coming home this week Thursday.

= Math = We have worked on fact families and telling time. Fact families will cement the importance of how addition and subtraction relate to each other. 3+4=7 then 4+3=7 reviews the commutative property we learned earlier this year. We will see how subtraction relates to addition by using the same numbers in the equations of 7-3=4 and 7-4=3 and seeing how just the three numbers of 3, 4, and 7 are used for this entire fact family. In practicing telling time, we are working on an analog clock. The children and I have been enjoying my two favorite sites -- [| Stop the Clock] and later [|Bang on Time]. We have displayed them on our SMARTboard not only in our morning routine, but also in our math groupings. Telling time is a concept based on readiness. **Practice is so very important.** We need to make sure we can count hours and half hours of time.

related facts...addition equations...subtraction equations...minute hand...hour hand...half past...digital time...analog clock...half hour
 * Vocabulary for Fact Families and Time **

  What kind of music do leprechauns listen to? Sham-rock  What will you always find at the end of a rainbow? The letter "w"
 * Riddles of the Week **

=**Important Dates** =  Mar. 10th...................No school, professional development Mar. 12th...................Birthday Blessings for March Mar. 12th-14th........... **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Shamrock Raffle-[|Teachers Treasure] ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mar. 13th...................Irish Dancers, 1 p.m. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mar. 14th...................Spirit Wear tops only Mar. 15th...................** [|SHAMROCK], 5:30 p.m.** Mar. 19th...................Class Mass Mar. 19th...................Chancery Give Back Mar. 21st..................."[|Feed My Starving Children]", Lenten QuarterChallenge Mar. 21st...................Pizza Hut Lunch, no hot lunch offered Mar. 25th...................Papa Murphy's Give Back Mar. 26th...................3rd quarter ends Mar. 28th...................3rd quarter report cards go home Mar. 31st...................Spring [|Chess Club] sign-up Mar. 31st...................Group Picture Day Apr. 4th......................First Friday, out of uniform Apr. 12th-21st...........Spring Break