Week of February 6, 2012 

      Last week was a fun and busy week. This week we will be celebrating the 100th day on Thursday. The children can wear their special item for the 100th day.

         I just have to say that I am really impressed with the children's reading and writing abilities. They are moving along nicely.  It is nice to see that a lot of the children are enjoying Raz-kids.com. It is a nice time of year to take advantage of it!!! Our subscription will run out in the spring.

        Talking about reading, we have been enjoying guided reading.  I meet with the groups 1-2 times a week in small groups. The other childrn work independently on word sorts, handwriting, math, reading activities etc. etc. The children have been doing a good job of working independntly.

        Mrs. Dowling asked me to remind everyone that the children usually go out every day. So they need to remember their hats and gloves. 

                We have started a new thematic unit on Penguins. We are having fun learning about the 17 different types of penguins and their special features, where penguins live, how they are able to protect themselves from predators and their special adaptations that allow them to survive in the cold environment, etc. etc.

                 We will be starting spelling homework in January. I will send a note home explaining it to you. The students may get some time to work on it in school as part of our centers,during guided reading.  Our spelling tests will be on Friday. The words will always be posted on this schoolnotes page near the bottom, as well as in thier agendas. You will now start seeing reading words of the week in addition to spelling words of the week written in their agendas. They will also have a list  of their spelling words torn out from their  practice book that they will keep in the front pouch of their agendas. They did a good job with their spelling homework for the first week. Thanks for your help.            

        We have  some exciting classroom technology news. We have a new computer program that we are using in our classroom. It is called Doceri. It allows us to control and interact with the computer from the ipad while we are at our desks. We can also show it on our screen with our new projector donated by Gtech Corporation. Thanks to Mrs. Adamo for helping us to get it installed and working!!!  Thanks for my Christmas present!! The stylus works great and makes it easier to move around on the ipad etc. This week we put a scanner in our classroom and now we are able to scan workbook pages, poems and many other items. We can then show them with the projector. It is a nice addition.

   Although Schoolnotes is a great communication tool, always check your child's agenda  and pocket first for the most up-to-date information.


Our Classroom webpage has lots of information on procedures and policies. Please visit Mrs. Irving's 1st Grade at:

http://www.ri.net/RInet/Fr_Doyle/grade1I.html 

Homework for the week of February 6, 2012(Just a reminder... homework is 10% of their grade for math ,reading and spelling- Please help to instill how important homework is at a young age) You may also see math homework in the front pouch of their agenda so please check nightly.

Monday: Spelling words 5xeach, Read and sign Chan's Gift, Math page 77

Tuesday: Spelling sentences (Choose five of the words to write in a sentence, don't  forget a nice mix of sentences),Read and sign Ann Can't Sleep, Math page 78.

Wednesday: Spelling words in ABC order , Math page 79,

Thursday: study for the spelling test

 Friday : Read and sign Rick and Dad Go Camping, Math page 74

 For more information on our math program you may go to WWW.progressinmathematics.com. 

Don't forget to have the kids take advantage of  www.Raz-Kids.com (our password is jvdoyle) I pass out awards when they complete a level.

Unit Eight Phonics

We are in the third week of Unit 8. The Unit 8 packet  was sent home last week.

Trick Words (2/6/12) any, my and now

Trick words (1/30/12)say, do and first

Trick words (1/23/12)some, could and want

Unit 7 Phonics

Trick words (1/17/12) only, other and new

Trick words (1/3/12 & 1/9/12) two, about and into

Trick Words (12/19/11) out, so and are

 Unit Six Phonics

Trick words (12/12/11) there, what and she

Trick words (12/5/11) were, her and put

Unit Five Phonics

Trick words (11/20/11 and 11/27/11) from, or and have

Unit Four Phonics

Trick Words (11/14/11) they, one and said

Trick Words (11/7/11) you, we and I

Unit Three Phonics

Trick Words (10/31/11) as, his and has

Trick words (10/24/11) to, a, was, for, he and is ( we are combining the first two weeks since we got a head start last week.)

Unit two Phonics

Trick words (10/3/11 and 10/11/11) a, and, the  and of (write these on an index card and practice reading and writing) The children will be tested on Trick words. 

  This weeks poem is to be decided. The children have also been enjoying word sorts in class. We are moving on to long o words at this time.(oa, ow and o with the silent e at the end. We have done both word sorts and picture sorts. We are using the back of our poetry notebook for this.

       The children are working on a writing activity without a picture. We are trying to focus on writing longer stories.

Reading- We will be  starting Theme 7 this week. Theme 7 is titled We can Work It Out. The theme has stories about people and animals that try to find solutions to their problems. 

Reading words of the week: (These should be written on index cards and practice daily.) The children have been doing well with these words  of the week.

  Week of 9/6/11-Theme 1 Week 1-go, on and the. Also practice the at word family.(ie cat , sat , mat, hat etc.)

Week of 9/12/11-Theme 1 Week 2-and, here, jump, not, too, we and an word family. (ie Nan, fan, tan, can etc)

Week of 9/19/11-Theme 1 Week 3- a, find, one, have, to, who and it word family. (ie sit, hit, pit etc)We will also review the ig word family. (ie big, pig, wig etc.)

Week of 9/26/11-Theme 2 Week 1-five, four, three, two, in, once, upon and what.

Week of 10/3/11-Theme 2 Week 2-for, you,said, my, me, is, I and do. We wil also practice words that end with en and et.

Week of 10/11/11-Theme 2 Week 3-are, away, does, he, live, pull, they and where.

Week of 10/17/11- No new words due to testing

Week of 10/24/11-animal, flower, bird, full, see, cold, fall, of and look.

Week of 10/31/11-all, call, eat, every, first, never, paper, shall and why

Week of 11/7/11-also, blue, brown, color, funny, green, like, many and some.

Week of 11/14/11-children, come, family, father, love, mother, people, picture, and your.

Week of 11/20/11 and 11/27/11-today, know, play, friend, write, she, girl, sing and read

Week of 12/5/11-car, down, hear, hold, hurt, learn, their , walk and would.

Week of 12/12/11-grow, light, long, more, other, right, room, small and these.

Week of 12/19/11-could, house, how, over,own, so and world.

Week of 1/3/12-give, good, her, little, try, was, fly and our.

Week of 1/9/12-morning, found, shout, by, out, show and climb.

Week of 1/16/12-cow, table, now, door, there, through, horse and wall.

Week of 1/23/12-been, far, forest, goes, hungry, soon, evening, and near.

Week of 1/30/12-again, both, gone, or, want, turn, and hard.

Week of 2/6/12-afraid, any, bear, follow, most, tall, water and idea.

Spelling-Spelling homework will be the same each week. On Monday night the children will write the words 5 times each neatly. Paper will be provided and sent home in their agenda pouches. On Tuesday night the children will choose 5 of their spelling words to write in a sentence. They should try and write a variety of sentences ie asking sentences , telling sentences etc. The sentences should be numbered and the spelling words  need to be underlined. On Wednesday, the children will put the words in abc order and Thursday night they will study for the spelling test.

Spelling Words

Week of 2/6/12-look, book, took, good, foot, cook, hoof and crook.

Week of 1/30/12-boat, slow, coat, grow, show, toad, coast and know.

Week of 1/23/12-day, say, play, may, way, stay, away and holiday.

Week of 1/16/12-me, see, mean, feet, eat, he, maybe and sheep.

Week of 1/9/12-go, bone, so, nose, home, no, also, and woke.

Week of 1/3/12-like, five, ride, nine, time, kite, prize, and smile

Tests and quizzes:

Monday: spelling pre-test, Math test Ch's 1-5

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday: 

Friday: Spelling test , Math test Chapter 6 Lessons 1-4