Week+31

Newsletter for Week of Apr. 28th, 2014 = Week in Review = In Social Studies we have been learning about Japan. We have learned the names of the four islands, Japanese words for girl, boy, teacher, student, hello, and goodbye. We even learned that life is very different in Japan, now more than ever.Every day is like "Mother's Day" or "Father's Day" except one day set aside for "Children's Day" in which the children celebrate with sporting events if they are a boy and sharing their doll collection if they are a girl. Wind socks are flown outdoors to express the honor of having a son. We have spoken about how important it is to them, as well, to show respect. We have also learned more about Japan's traditional ceremonial clothing and their language. In fact, we made a great attempt of writing five primary color words out of a first grader's expected 80 characters to be mastered. We learned how to count to 10 in Japanese and how to make their numbers. We ended our study by learning a simple conversation and we practiced a bit of origami. We have been greeting each other in Japanese. Now the children are in Italy each morning. How perfect when 2 new saints were canonized in Rome this weekend. We all think it is pretty cool. Next week Monday we are going to have an International lunch tasting food from Japan and Italy. YUM! Finally, did you know we will be putting on a musical play with Mrs.Melichar, "Frog and Toad All Year," during our Music class. We are working on perfecting listening and following directions, learning and singing many new songs, as well as working on our acting skills. The date of the play has yet to be determined, but you will be all invited. Have you marked the dates down for our Mother's Day and Father's Day Breakfasts? Be sure to check the dates out and mark your calendars.

= **Reading** =  Whistle for Willie is a classic in children's literature, written by Ezra Jack Keats. We will enjoy the story as we work on inferences each day. Once again we will work on au/aw vowel digraphs. We also have avery challenging vocabulary list. Next week the children will also be formally introduced to the pronoun. Our week with learning about subject and predicates went very well. We enjoyed the mysteries of Encyclopedia Brown last Friday. We love Read and Treat at the end of the week. Vocabulary for "Whistle for Willie " permit...dare...humble...predicament...solution ...along...instead...early...nothing...thought...suddenly...errand... called...haul...cause...saw...claw...paw...dawn

 **Religion**  This week we will begin our Growing in Love book that you previewed a few weeks ago. It is basically review of our First Grade year. We will work on twolessons about God's love for us. If you have not seen our Mary Garden lately, please monitor its progress. We are so excited to see the daily progress of our last Fall efforts.

= Math =

 In our new unit we will be working on our geometric shapes and the children will be asked to determine and explain their specific attributes. For this geometry standard the children will not just have to identify each shape but also compare and contrast its attributes.

**Vocabulary for Solid and Plane figures ** attributes...curved...slanted...features...geometry surface...sphere...cone...cylinder...flat...surfaces...cube...pyramid rectangular prism...corners side...trapezoid...rhombus...hexagon

**Riddles of the Week** Pilgrims. Because the egg cracked a yolk!
 * If April showers bring May flowers, what do Mayflowers bring?**
 * Why did the bacon laugh at the egg?**

**Important Dates** Apr. 30th....................Early Release dismissal, 11:30 a.m. Apr. 30th....................Cousins/Cherry Berry Give Back Day May 5th......................First Grade International lunch May 6th......................Field Trip-Shalom Wildlife Sanctuary Fieldtrip, 9-1:30 May 7th,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Research Reports due May 7th......................No Mass May 9th......................**Mother's Day Breakfast** at LCT-Dominiak Hall, **8:30 a.m.** May 10th....................Shamrock Student Lock-In Night 5-9 p.m. May 14th....................Class Liturgy May 14th....................May/June Birthday Blessings May 16th....................Pizza Hut Lunch May 19th....................Map testing begins, date change May 20th....................Rainbow Olympics LCM (May 22nd-rain date) May 30th....................**Father's Day Breakfast** in LCT-Dominiak Hall, **8:30 a.m.** June 2nd....................Out of uniform for the remainder of the year June 2nd.....................Frog and Toad performance at 12:45 Dominiak Hall June 6th.....................Early Release-Last Day of School