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Sister Frances Room 204
Sister Frances Hurley
ST BERNADETTE CATHOLIC SCHOOL
Zip Code: 15146
Page Last Updated May 25, 2012
Number of Visits: 5051
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Friday May 25, 2012
Have a Happy Memorial Day Weekend! You are invited to march with the St. Bernadette School group for the parade. Meet in Pier 1 Parking Lot no later than 8:45 a.m. on Monday. We were expecting a little fellow to spend the morning with us to see if he would feel comfortable in our school for 2nd grade in the fall. The First Graders were dear with him as they arrived this morning but he was too shy and didn't stay. I mentioned Fun Fair to his parents and so maybe he will come back for that. We are always looking to increase our enrollment. This coming week will be busy and hopefully not as hot. I won't be hearing anymore study sheets but you have them to continue reviewing over the summer. Today the First Graders spent part of the morning in second grade working on a project with the second graders. They seemed to enjoy themselves and came back to our room already feeling the urge to move on. We spent some time in guided meditation with the Pentecost Story for Religion Class. Then the children wrote in their prayer journals. Have a good weekend, Sister Frances Thursday May 24, 2012 The Drama Club treated us to a wonderful performance called Holka Polka this afternoon. It was so very enjoyable seeing these older students really get into their performance and enjoy the funny lines as they performed. What a wonderful opportunity for students who are interested in a little acting. Today was the last day to hear studysheets for Room 204. Room 203 missed out since we didn't change classes on Tuesday because of Field Day and Wednesday we only changed for about half an hour since we had liturgy, cookie sale and early dismissal. I'll hear 203 for the last time tomorrow. The children will have the studysheets to review over the summer and I will also be sending home a packet of Math Summer Skills to use for review over the summer. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Wednesday May 23, 2012 No math homework. The cookie sale went well. Several children forgot money and borrowed quarters from other children with the promise they would repay the money. Have a good rest of the day, Sister Frances Tuesday May 22,2012 Our 8th Graders did a fabulous job preparing field day games and then leading the small groups. It was evident the older children enjoyed working with the younger ones. No Math Homework tonight. Tomorrow is our day for liturgy so no dress down passes, please. Tomorrow is also an early dismissal day and a cookie sale day. Cookies and milk are 25 cents each. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Monday May 21, 2012 Reminder: Tomorrow is Field Day and your child should wear the colored shirt they were assigned or the white gym shirt, gym shorts and sports shoes. Remember to put sunscreen on your child if they burn easily. We will be outside most of the day. On Friday Lexie Patberg celebrated her school birthday and today Bailey Vereb is celebrating her birthday. Both girls treated the class to a special cookie. Math Homework:Practice Paper page 86. Good News:Cade Kellick has won a Movie and Popcorn for his grade from the St. Bernadette Gala. Also, Caleb Stark (Room 203) has won Extra Recess for his grade from the St Bernadette Gala. The movie and popcorn day and extra recess day will be celebrated on May 31st. What a fun day that will be! Have a good day, Sister Frances Thursday May 17, 2012 No math homework this evening. Father Tom Smith had our liturgy today. He is such a positive person and reminds us how much God Loves us and how we should see the beauty in all things. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Wednesday May 16, 2012 As promised, no math homework this evening. Since tomorrow is a Holy Day we will make it special and not have any math homework on Thursday either. Yesterday I told the children in 204 what color t-shirt they were asked to wear next Tuesday for Field Day. They should wear the gym shorts. Ask your child if you didn't get this information. We will be attending liturgy tomorrow for the Ascension Thursday. It's our regular gym day so children should wear gym clothes. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Tuesday May 15, 2012 Math Homework: pages 521-522. I forgot about the Mother /Son Picnic this evening when I assigned the homework. So any boys who are going to the picnic can do it the next night. I won't assign any math homework for Wednesday night. Sorry I forgot. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Monday May 14, 2012 Math Homework: Pages 515-116. We started a section on adding and subtracting double digits. Tonight's homework uses a hundreds chart to help the children understand the concept. The Gala was fabulous and so many folks helped in so many ways. I was happy to see many of you there. Nicholas Griffin's parents ended up getting our HUG RUG. Cade Kellick's parents got the bid for the classroom movie and popcorn treat. Thanks to All who were able to bid on items and help with the success of this event. I had a great time and look forward to the next Gala. We will be attending Liturgy on Thursday for Ascension Thursday so no dress down passes that day. Actually it is our regular gym day so our class will be in gym uniforms on Thursday. I started a wonderful book last week and finished it today with both classes. My Secret Bully by Trudy Ludwig provided the background for us to have a really good discussion on Bullying and even had time to do some role playing with Room 203. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Thursday May 10,2012 No Math Homework Reminder: Max and Erma Fundraiser Night The children enjoyed the silk screening program presented by the Children's Museum. Tomorrow we will have the Stuffee Presentation. It sounds like fun and also educational. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Wednesday May 9, 2012 Math Homework: Simple Solutions 96-97. Tomorrow is a Max & Erma's Day so we will not have any math homework. In math we reviewed our clock skills today. We will continue with this tomorrow. Deacon Kelly had the homily at liturgy today and he talked about our connection to Jesus just like the branches are connected to the vine. We attended the Band Concert this afternoon and enjoyed their performance. Tonight's Band Concert should be great! Children are reminded to return library books and bags tomorrow. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Tuesday May 8, 2012 No Math homework tonight. This is to let the children know how much we appreciate their special cooperation when we need to have a substitute teacher. I was out yesterday. We also want to invite you to come join us for liturgy tomorrow if you are free. It will just be grades !-4. You may remember that in the fall we took a Field Trip to the Woodhaven Care Center to celebrate Halloween with the residents. Because of the increase in the cost of using buses for field trips and the limited times in which we can even get them, we have decided to use the rest of our Magazine Field Trip Money to have the Children's Museum come to our school. On Thursday of this week we will have a lesson on Silkscreeening. On Friday we will have a presentation called, At the Sock Hop with Stuffee and Professor MiGooch. Both programs sound very interesting and will be presented in our classrooms. Since Thursday is a Max & Erma's Day. I will not be giving homework on this evening. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Thursday May 3,2012 No dress down passes tomorrow because we have the total school First Friday Liturgy. Math homework: Simple Solutions Lessons 90-91. Today we torn out the little Prayer book in the back of our Religion Book. Sometimes it is good for the children to look at the words they are praying to make sure they are saying the correct words. Have a good evening, Sister Frances I'm sorry to be adding another note. Tomorrow is the last day our class will be taking out Library Books. All books will need to be returned the following week. Also Kamsi had her School Birthday today and the children made cards for Kamsi and enjoyed a cupcake snack and a Slushie during the lunch period. Today we enjoyed the Serra Catholic High School Band Perform in the Lourdes Center Gym. They did a great job! In math we practiced money using paper dollars. We also did some work with making change. Some children will need a lot more help with making change. Math Homework: Simple Solutions 88-89. Have a good evening. Sister Frances Tuesday May 1,2012 Our last full month of First Grade. Hard to believe. The year seems to be going so fast. Yesterday I was in a hurry and didn't have time to mention we had celebrated Jimmy Giannetta's Birthday. We shared homemade peanut butter cookies Jimmy brought to school. Yesterday I also neglected to mention we had reached our goal of 75 more people for the Gala so Sister Carol announced the whole school will have dress down days every Monday until the end of the year. You can imagine the cheer of the children to this news. We will not have Wednesday liturgy this week since we will be attending the First Friday Liturgy. Today we started our May Crownings. We also are praying one decade of the Rosary each day. Some children are also celebrating summer birthdays this month. Today Cherokee celebrated and she brought in some good brownies. Math Homework: Simple Solutions Lessons 86-87. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Monday April 30, 2012 Today we used our religion class time to prepare for our daily May Crowning of Mary starting tomorrow. The children took home a note with the day they selected to crown Mary. Some children will also be celebrating a summer school birthday that day. Children are invited to make a small crown for Mary but that is not necessary. I have extra crowns the children may use. Math Homework: Fact Families pages 321-322. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Friday April 27, 2012 Today we made a Giant Card for Father Tony. Sunday is Pastor Appreciation Day. Everyone signed it and we added the names of the absent children. We also made a visit to church and the children picked their own seat away from anyone else and just had a quiet visit with Jesus. I had intended to have the children write in their Prayer Journals when we got back to school but we needed to have our Math Lesson and ran out of time. The children also picked a day to Crown Mary for our May Crowning which starts next week. They took papers home today with the assigned date. Some children will be celebrating School Birthdays that day if their birthday falls in the summer. If you don't want to make a crown for Mary I have extras the children can use on their day. We will also be praying a decade of the Rosary each day during May. The children can bring in their rosary beads for this starting Tuesday May 1st. Have a good weekend, Sister Frances Wednesday April 25, 2012 Once again we had a lovely liturgy and I was so proud of how well the children are using the songbooks and following the words as they sing along. I'm always impressed with the answers our children give at liturgy. It shows they are really listening to Father Tony and understanding the concept he is sharing with them. We tore out the back pages in our Religion Book today and made the Mass Booklet and studied it. We also took time to write in our Prayer Journals today. In math we continue studying the related subtraction facts. Math Homework: Simple Solutions 80-81. There will not be any math homework tomorrow. The children begged not to have any on their early dismissal day and I agreed. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Tuesday April 24, 2012 Math Homework: Simple Solutions 82-83. In Religion we have been talking about Jesus visiting the apostles after He rose and preparing them for when Jesus goes back to heaven. We had a good review lesson on doubles in math today and we started the lessons on disability awareness. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Monday April 23, 2012 We had a wonderful Carnegie Science Center presentation about the Earth. The children actually got to go inside an 18 foot balloon which represented the earth. The continents were shown all around it as they look from space. After the presentation each child got to stamp an animal on the right continent. Your child should have brought this map paper home today. Children will need their gym clothes tomorrow also since it is our regular Tuesday gym day. Math Homework: Simple Solutions 76-77. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Friday April 20,2012 The children made my day so special with their Birthday Greetings and cute cards they made. In the afternoon our Homeroom Mom, Jen Cavanaugh, brought cupcakes for both First Grades so we had a large class birthday treat. The children were delighted! On Monday we are asking the First Grade and Kindergarten Students to wear their gym uniforms. We are having a program from the Carnegie Science Center - Earth Balloon: Introduction to Geography. Have a good weekend, Sister Frances Thursday April 19,2012 We finished the tests today! Yeah! The children have an important note for you to read and initial and return to school tomorrow if possible. It is as follows: Dear Parents, This letter is to inform you that we will not be collecting pledges for the Easter Seals of Western Pennsylvania Hop-N-ing. We are grateful one of the parents shared information that Easter Seals supports embryonic stem cell research. It will be necessary for you to return any pledges already collected. Although we are not doing the Hop-N-ing the children will still receive instruction in disabilities awareness. We will not be using the materials provided by Easter Seals. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you in returning pledges. Thank you for your cooperation, The First Grade Teaches Have a good evening, Sister Frances Wednesday April 18,2012 Tomorrow is the last day of testing for First Grade. The children may bring in a small snack like they did today. That worked out well. Still no homework. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Tuesday April 17, 2012 The testing went well today. I think it would be O.K. for the children to bring a small snack to eat when we take our morning break during testing. No drinks! Have a good evening, Sister Frances Monday April 16, 2012 No assigned homework this week because of the testing. Children should get a good rest each night and eat a good breakfast before coming to school. Tests begin on time each morning so students should not be rushing in at the last minute trying to get organized. Thank you for your cooperation, Sister Frances Sunday April 15, 2012 One quick note. The children will be attending liturgy tomorrow, Monday for the Feast of St. Bernadette. It will be a whole school mass and there will be a little skit about the life of St. Bernadette performed by a few older students during the homily time. This is not on the calendar and I know some of you do come to the school liturgies when you are available. We wiill not be gong on Wednesday because of the TerraNova Testing. Sister Frances Thursday April 12, 2012 Math Homework: Practice Pages 101-102 Estimating Time and using a Calendar. We reviewed a lot of the skills today and will continue tomorrow in preparation for the Terra Nova Tests which the children will take next week. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Wednesday April 11, 2012
We continued with our measuring lessons in Math Class. The children are enjoying going around and measuring things with their rulers. Math Homework: Simple Solutions again this evening. Sister Carol asked us to mention the following information about our upcoming Gala. ( May 12, 2012) * Tickets are on sale until April 24th. * It is a great way to meet other parents and socialize with members of the school and parish, especially if you are new to the school. * All the proceeds of the Gala will go towards either reducing or eliminating the fundraising budget for the families of St. Bernadette School. * You could win a lot of incredible prizes. * If we sell 75 additional tickets, Sister Carol will designate Mondays as dress down days. * You will have a chance to bid on our homeroom project which is a Hug Rug with each child's hand print. I'm looking forward to this event and hope to see you there, too. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Tuesday April 10, 2012 Math homework Simple Solutions Lessons 78-79 In Religion we studied about Easter and made Alleluia Butterflies to celebrate the New Life of Jesus. Tomorrow we have our School Easter Liturgy. Please join us if you are available. In Science we used the Weekly Reader to study a lesson about the Moon and in math we started estimationing and measuring length. The HopNing Materials were sent home today with the First Graders. This is our outreach project and something our First Graders can do themselves. We will be studying about disabilities and understanding how important it is to see abilities and not disabilities. Through this program we try to build an awareness of the ways we can respect and even help others. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Monday April 2, 2012 No Math Homework tonight! We did a wonderful review of Holy Week today and covered many of the pages in the religion book. We had not used these books much last week. In science we did an overview of the lessons we have covered by using the overhead projector. Sister Carol again reminded the children to bring in their Lenten Folders/Banks for the poor of the world. At the beginning of Lent Father Tony had reminded us at one of the liturgies to try to do three things during Lent; pray more, sacrifice and help the poor. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Friday March 30, 2012 Today is our last Fish Fry in the Lourdes Center Dining Hall. It goes from 4:30 - 7:00 p.m. Hope to see some of you there. Reminder: The Lenten Folder where the children were collecting quarters for the Holy Childhood Association are due back next week. Also, we only have school on Monday and Tuesday next week. The teachers have an In-service on Wednesday. Children return on Easter Tuesday April 10th. Have a good weekend, Sister Frances Thursday March 29, 2012 Math Homework: Simple Solutions Lessons 72-73 Today we decorated a yellow ribbon with signs of spring which will be attached to a windsock circle and hung in the trees around the church on Easter Morning. They will remain there during the Easter season. The streamers on the windsocks represent the children of St. Bernadette School, the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and the CCD program. The children love looking for their class ribbon when they come to church during the Easter Season. Mrs.Kopper from the CCD organizes this project each year. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Wednesday March 28,2012 We made it to church before the rain but got caught coming back to school.Fortunately we were in the classroom with the blinds pulled down for the loud thunder and lightning. It sees we have at least one fellow who appeared scared. I've learned distraction is best in these situations. The children have worked so well these days since conferences. I forgot to mention yesterday there was no Tuesday Express because we didn't have anything that needed sent home. Math homework: page 364. Using a calendar to study about the moon. I was so proud of the way the children listened and participated in the liturgy today. Father Tony talked about Lent and also faith and trust. He does such a special job having homilies that the children can relate to. Reminder: Library tomorrow. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Tuesday March 27, 2012 Thanks to all our parents who came for conferences yesterday. What wonderful conversations I had with parents and how blessed the children are to have such caring parents. Math Homework: Simple Solutions 70 - 71. Our math lesson today was measuring time using clocks and calendars. We touched on many terms and the children did real well so we kept on moving. This week in health we are studying about the eye. Tomorrow is our regular day for attending liturgy at 9:30 and you are welcome to join us. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Thursday March 22, 2012 Well we might as well make it a whole week of NO MATH HOMEWORK except for the Study Sheet if your child didn't get 3 signed and heard this week. Enjoy the beautiful weather. Sister Frances Wednesday March 21, 2012 Another beautiful day. No homework except the study sheet. Some already have 3 10's for this week and really do not need to do the study sheet for the rest of this week. Today Room 204 worked on a religion project that ties in with Lent. Room 203 worked on math kites with doubles and then reviewed money as they finished their kites. Room 204 will start the kites tomorrow. Reminder that tomorrow is Library Day. I did adjust the times of conferences for those who sent in a note today requesting this. Look for the paper in your child's bookbag. Have a great evening, Sister Frances Tuesday March 20, 2012 Math Homework: Since it is the first day of spring the studysheet is the only math homework. Today in math we worked on doubles plus 1. In religion we made our Station Books. We will be attending Stations of the Cross on Friday. The 4th Graders will be our buddies for this. After lunch we made a short visit to our new St. Joseph Shrine. Since there were so many there on Monday all the children didn't get a good look at our new statue. Today it was just our class as part of Religion. The Tuesday Express went home as well as the parent conference reminder. Please check the time you asked for at the orientation back in August. I only meet with Room 204 parents this time. If you can not make the stated time let me know tomorrow so I can adjust the time. I have many openings. I ask that you sign the reminder note and return to school tomorrow so I know you saw it. I will send it right back home with your child. We are not going to liturgy tomorrow since we had the St. Joseph Mass on Monday. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Monday March 19,2012 We had a wonderful liturgy and then everyone in church was invited to process over to the new statue of St. Joseph on the hillside right past the garages and almost across from our classroom. Father Tony blessed the statue as we watched. At lunchtime the children had fun flying kites and I didn't see any tears or kites in the trees. Where wasn't any wind when we were out but the children seemed to enjoy themselves even though some of the kites didn't get up too high. Thanks to the parents who were able to come and help. No Math Homework tonight. Maybe the children can get out and fly kites again. Lastly, thank you for helping our class have such a special basket at Basket Bingo. It was the first one to go and was won by one of our students Gabby Trozzo who is in 5th Grade I think. She was so happy and she and her Mom, sister and Gram enjoyed opening each item that was wrapped. They did that in between watching their Bingo Cards. I also saw some of our Mom's working at Basket Bingo or there as Bingo Players. It was a fun afternoon! Have a good evening, Sister Frances Friday March 16, 2012 Fish Fry this evening 4:30 - 7:00 p.m. in the Lourdes Center Dining Hall. All are welcome. Sunday Basket Bingo also in the Lourdes Center Dining Hall. Our Class has a great basket. Our theme was Cake Boss from the T.V. Show. Jen Cavanaugh wrapped your donations and then stacked them up like a high cake. She did a wonderful job with it. Hope some of you are coming and can see her work of art. Maybe one of you will even be lucky enough to win our basket or one of the others. Monday is the Feast of St.Joseph and we will have a total school liturgy. No dress down passes please. Since Sister Carol and I are Sisters of St. Joseph it is a special day for us and we will be renewing our vows of poverty, chastity and obedience at that liturgy. Monday is also Kite Flying Day. Please come during our lunch hour and help with the kites if you are available. Children will probably be done lunch and going out by 11:40. And lastly we had 3 First Graders in the Talent Show last evening. Bella Cavanaugh and McKenna Heller did a dance routine together and Sarah Penrod played the violin. I was so proud of each of them as well as the other talented students in our school. Have a good weekend and Happy St. Patrick's Day, Sister Frances Thursday March 15, 2012 Math Homework: Simple Solutions 68-69 Some children used time at the end of the day to start this paper since they are coming to the Talent Show tonight at 6:30. All are welcome even if you are not in the Talent Show. Some children used the extra time to play the math learning paper or work on doubles. Sister Carol said children may wear Green Tops tomorrow but school pants. No money to do this. Mrs. Salemi said children need to bring sweat shirts until April on gym days. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Wednesday March 14, 2012 Math Homework: pages 133-134 A little more practice with fractions. We did our clock review today and our money review yesterday. We also have been working on the names of the months and knowing them in order. Some children are even getting pretty good at Spelling the names of the months. Reminder: Library tomorrow for Room 204. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Tuesday March 13, 2012 It turned out to be such a beautiful day we had a fire drill and were even allowed to stay out a few extra minutes to enjoy the beautiful weather. Math Homework: pages 247-248. Tomorrow is our weekly Wednesday Liturgy and we invite you to join us if you are free. Tuesday Express went home today. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Monday March 12, 2012 First I need to report that last Friday, with the help of Mrs. Campbell during our Art Class. Room 204 made our Gala Project. In the 25 years that I have taught First Grade here at St. Bernadette's, I have always had a HUG RUG in our classroom. It is kind of novel but also has helped some little folks who have been having a hard day and just needed a little hug to tide them over until they got home. Often when I meet former students they ask if I still have a HUG RUG. So I decided that might be a good project and one the children could help with. Each child did a hand print on a rug I bought and I also did my hand prints. It will be marked the HUG RUG and someone at the Gala might be interested in making a bid on it. I think some of the alumni will enjoy the idea. Math Homework: Practice pages 77-78. This is a review of money and we will be doing a review quiz on money sometime this week. In Religion today we studied about the Three Days. We will continue with this tomorrow. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Thursday March 8th Math Homework: 465-466 I did go over this with the children so they should be able to do it without much help with the reading. Our afternoon surprise was a wonderful entertainment by 4 of our diocesan seminarians. Their message was to talk about holiness in the framework of music. They were very entertaining and a wonderful experience for our children to see these young men who are searching for God's direction in their lives and how joyful they are and what fun they have together. Today in religion the children shared the stories about their parents when they were young. It was a lot of fun and the children enjoyed listening to each other. Tomorrow we finish up our lessons from the Columban Mission Awareness Program. Reminder: Please send in any donations you have for our Basket Bingo Project. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Wednesday March 7th We had a wonderful performance in the gym this afternoon. The PTG paid for us to see the Chinese Acrobats who were in town. They are amazing and very entertaining. We continue with fractions in math and talked about 2/2, 3/3 or 4/4 equaling a whole. We also had some practice with other fractions like 3/5 or 7/8. Math Homework: Practice with skip counting pages 241-242. We will be reviewing money soon. If your child had trouble with money when we worked on it earlier you may want to also do some reviewing at home. Reminder: Library tomorrow Have a good evening, Sister Frances Tuesday March 6, 2012 We continue with our Mission Awareness Religion Lessons and the children have the parent letter about that this evening. On the back of the parent letter the children wrote a note to remember to ask parents about what it was like when the parents were in First Grade. We are talking about our families and then connecting that with the global family. In math we reviewed telling time today. We also continued with our work with fractions. Math Homework: Practice pages 129-130. We have liturgy tomorrow and you are always welcome to join us. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Today our class started the Mission Awareness Religion Program which the school orders from the Columban Fathers. We will be using it all week. You will be receiving materials explaining some of the activities we are doing later in the week. In Math Class we started fractions and will work on them this week besides reviewing some of our other skills. In Science we are finishing animal habitats and moving on to the life cycles of some animals. Math Homework: Simple Solutions 66-67. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Thursday March 1, 2012 Math Homework: 227-228 Friday Friday Liturgy tomorrow. No dress down passes! Have a good evening, Sister Frances Wednesday February 29, 2012 Happy Leap Day! The first student into the classroom this morning wanted to know what we were doing special for Leap Day. Sooo... we listed animals that leap on the chalkboard, anyone who wanted to, had a chance to leap around the room and we wrote math story problems about some of the animals we had listed on the board. The children seemed to enjoy the special activities. Thanks for getting all the Tuesday Express Envelopes back right away. Math Homework: 231-232 ( I did not get to go over this homework paper with Room 203 so they may need a bit more parent help reading some of it.) I did hear all the studysheets from 203 but they were not returned. The children were busy working on the Leaping Animal Stories and the studysheets did not get passed out. Reminder: Library tomorrow Have a good evening, Sister Frances Tuesday Correction: We will not be attending liturgy tomorrow. I forgot that we have First Friday Liturgy this week. Sister Frances Tuesday February 28, 2012 Today in Religion we continued studying about Lent and had a guided meditation on the Last Supper. Most of the time we have Christian Meditation each day but I was delighted when one of the students asked for the Guided Meditation. In math class we did more work with tens and ones and used the Dienes Blocks for ones, tens and hundreds. Math Homework: pages 229-230. Tomorrow we have our weekly liturgy. You are most welcome to join us if you are available. Reminder: Please send in something to Mrs. Cavanaugh for our Basket Bingo Contribution. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Monday February 27,2012 So glad to have all the students in these days and on time for class. In Religion we continued our study of Lent using our Religion Books. We also study a special saint each day and more closely spend time with one of the Stations of the Cross. Today it was the 3rd Station. in math we used two new math vocabulary words: regrouping of tens and ones and estimating. Math Homework: Pg. 225-226. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Thursday February 23, 2012 Math Homework: Simple Solutions 64-65 I took the class over to church this afternoon to walk through the Stations of the Cross. Then we stopped in front of the picture of Jesus being nailed on the cross. We talked about the coins, dice,crown of thorns and other items around the picture. Finally the children went to the benches and we had our Christian Meditation in church today. I think it was a meaningful time for the children. Tomorrow we go to church for the Stations of the Cross with our 6th Grade Buddies. Please join us at 2 p.m. if you are available. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Ash Wednesday February 22, 2012 Was happy that a few families were able to make it to the Parish Mardi Gras. The children sure enjoyed the dancing. The children received the Lenten Folders today. The will be collected during Holy Week but can be sent in sooner if they are filled. I forgot to mention yesterday that our room(204) came in third place with the Gina Jugs. We had $203.47. I thought that was wonderful! The third grade (202) were the winners with $449. Amazing! Our whole school combined brought in over $2,000. I'm really proud of the way our students(and parents) respond to outreach projects. Thank You! Math Homework: Simple Solutions 62-63. Reminder:Library and gym tomorrow. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Tuesday February 21, 2012 Our First Graders had a wonderful time at the 5th Grade Mardi Gras this afternoon. The 5th Graders make their own games and then guide the students in playing them. The candy the children win is donated by the 5th Grade Students. I was really so proud to see how well our 5th Graders interacted with the 1st Graders. It was a fun time. Thanks to Cherokee who brought in Mardi Gras Beads for the whole Class. That was so thoughtful. Tonight is the Parish Mardi Grad in church at 6p.m. and then below the church for the food and games. Maybe one of our students will be picked as the King or Queen of Mardi Gras for this evening. We did a lot of preparation for Lent today and will be attending Liturgy and getting Ashes at the 9:30 Liturgy tomorrow. In math we studied about adding 3 numbers, first finding a double or finding two numbers that make a ten and then adding on the last addend. In science we studied about teeth and taking care of our teeth. I also read a cute story about the Tooth Fairy called "No Tooth, No Quarter. No dress down passes tomorrow since we will be attending liturgy. It is also an early dismissal day tomorrow. No Math Homework because of Mardi Gras. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Monday February 20, 2012 Just a few quick reminders: Gym day tomorrow. Bring change for the school Mardi Gras Games the Fifth Graders have made. There will be NO MATH HOMEWORK tomorrow so folks are free to go to the parish Mardi Gras which is always so much fun. Come for supper and enjoy the evening. I enjoy these 3 day weekends. It feels like a vacation day. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Thursday February 16, 2012 Today the children finished their Washington and Lincoln Booklets and hung them in the hall. In religion we started to talk about Lent to get prepared for Ash Wednesday. We also talked about Mardi Gras and our celebrations before Lent begins. Some of the children are sharing what they are planning to give up for Lent. That is fine but I also encourage them to think of something positive they also will try to do. Math Homework:Simple Solutions Lessons 60 - 61. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Wednesday February 15, 2012 Yesterday the children enjoyed passing Valentines, making a craft and playing a cute game using chop sticks to pick up little conversation hearts. They also had a drink and cookie. Thanks to Mrs. Cavanaugh for planning the fun activities. Today Sr. Carol announced the children were supposed to get two cookies for the party so we had a surprise treat today, also. Back to homework and more normal school days. Deacon Kelly had the homily today at our liturgy and spoke on the healing of the blind man. The children were attentive and volunteered answers that were mostly on target. In Social Studies we started little booklets about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Math Homework: Simple Solutions Lessons 58 -59. Reminder: Tomorrow is Library Day. Two 5th Graders came and talked to the class today about Mardi Gras which is next Tuesday: The Fifth Grade Classes make games and the children in the other grades bring their coins and get a time to visit the 5th grade and play games, win candy and help a worth while cause. The children also may bring beads to wear on Mardi Gras Day. If you have not signed up for the parish Mardi Gras that evening I encourage you to do so. it's really a lovely evening of fun for the whole family. Information went home last week. Have a good evening. Sister Frances Monday February 13, 2012 Reminder to bring Valentines and Valentine Boxes tomorrow. Children may wear Valentine Tops. $2 to wear jeans. We worked with the doubles facts today and the children have a concentration game of these. I am not assigning any Math Homework so children can finish off the Valentines. If there is time play the game. We made a little Valentine Fan for our Six Grade Buddies. We will deliver them tomorrow. We have a Valentine Treat tomorrow so no other treats may be brought in. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Thursday February 9.2012 As promised there is NO MATH HOMEWORK TONIGHT. I hope to see some of you at the Max & Erma Fund Raiser this evening. If you happen to forget your pink paper or need one for someone else, look for Sr. Carol or I. We take extras with us. In math we reviewed tens and ones, clocks and math facts. We also had a fun game learning about position and force. The children took this paper home. In religion we are talking about being a follower of Jesus. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Wednesday February 8,2012 Once again Father Tony had a wonderful homily at our Children's Liturgy today. He explained how in the time of Jesus there were some rules about foods and washing of dishes etc. Father talked about how it is important to keep our homes clean and also ourselves. We need to be careful about the kind of TV we watch, the games we play and also how we feed our bodies spiritually. He mentioned reconciliation, praying and Holy Communion. In math we continued to work on interpreting bar graphs. Children also surveyed 10 classmates and recorded the data on a tally chart. Math Homework: Pg. 237 - 238 Comparing numbers to 100. We needed a review of greater than, less than and equal to. Tomorrow is a Max and Erma night and I will not be giving homework. Maybe that will give some families extra time to come and support this fund raiser. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Tuesday February 7,2012 Today we worked on Bar graphs in math. Math Homework: pg.195-196 Reading a Bar Graph. The Tuesday Express went home. Please notice the Max & Erma's ticket. This Thursday our school receives 20% of the sales of those who use the paper. Pass them out to others you know who may be going. The pink paper was also enclosed in the bulletin and we have extras in the school office. Another paper that went home invites you to Mardi Gras. That is a fun evening for the whole family and a good way to celebrate before we start Lent. I won't give homework on that evening. The back of that paper talks about the Fish Fry. This is another way to support St. Bernadette Parish and enjoy a meal out with other families. We also need volunteers if anyone can help out. Our weekly Wednesday liturgy is tomorrow. Please join us if you are available. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Monday February 6, 2012 How good to get back to a normal schedule and everyone in 204 was in today. Yeah! Sent home a small packet of papers. Some have notes that need work finished or fixed and returned. Some were homework papers that were not signed and the children did not follow the directions correctly. The children also took home a Valentine Letter and list of names for the cards. We continued to work with money today in math. Math Homework: pg. 277-278 In social studies we were learning about Mount Rushmore and the presidents carved there. In religion we studied about the Good Samaritan. Have a good evening, Sister Frances . Friday February 3rd The last day of a special week! I can't remember us having so many activities and many of them were new this year. Our Catholic Schools Week Committee did a great job coming up with ideas this year. We started today with our First Friday Liturgy and Father Tony and Deacon Kelly blessed throats after mass since today is the feast of St. Blaise. Then back to the classrooms to don the slippers and crazy hats and about an hour of school work before lunch. Mrs. Cavanaugh ( our homeroom Mom) came at 11:30 and stayed with our class while I went to the Teacher Appreciation Luncheon. Mrs. Bernacki treated the whole school to an ice cream treat after lunch. Then the children played the games they brought from home. I heard "Twister" was very popular in our classroom. The teachers enjoyed a super luncheon with a Dr. Seuss theme. Heather Dawn Cooper and Gina Banks organized the luncheon and had several others helping. Too many good choices and we enjoyed every bit of it. Thank you for the donation you sent in toward this luncheon. It made us feel very appreciated. Then at 1:15 this afternoon we all went to the gym for some organized sports games with the faculty vs. the students. Mrs. Salemi had organized that part of our activities and did a great job with it. She even gave us an opportunity to order a special teacher team T-shirt which is bright pink. It has been a special week with many fun activities as we celebrate our Catholic School. It will also be good to get back to regular school after a weekend to wind down. For some children who need structure this was also a more challenging week for them. Also wanted to mention the PTG payed for the children to go bowling yesterday. We are fortunate to have a bowling alley so close. Have a good weekend and thanks for all your support this out of the ordinary week, Sister Frances Thursday February 2nd What a Fun Day! We started off with bowling and ended with a Ground Hog Cupcake from our Six Grade Buddies. They also gave each child a story they had written. Tomorrow is Teacher Appreciation Day. The children eat in the classrooms and the teachers eat in the Lourdes Center. Children may bring slippers and crazy hats and also a board game to play in the classroom after lunch. The children will not be going out for recess tomorrow. Please join us for our First Friday Liturgy if you are free. Today we had fun math. The children took home a game paper that will review the math skills. It is not homework and does not need returned. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Wednesday February 1st Lots of fun today at the inflatable Party. What a special week we are having. I did give homework tonight but will not tomorrow just to make it a bit more special. Homework:pages 281-282. Must have permission slip to go bowling tomorrow. Children wear favorite team sweatshirt and gym bottoms and gym shoes. Also need the pizza order and money tomorrow so that can all be sorted out for Friday. Tomorrow is our Library Day and we have children's books we are selling for 25 cents each. There are some really nice books. Children may buy as many as they like. We have a lot. Some children have started to bring in non-perishable food donations for the Varsity Girls' Service Project. Please help out with something if you are able. A paper about his went home in the Tuesday Express. Thanks for all your cooperation with special clothes etc. this week of Catholic Schools week. The children are enjoying the extra activities. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Tuesday January 31st Tuesday of Catholic Schools Week and the children are enjoying the "Get up and move music" that is turned on at different times this afternoon. The children have a Pizza Order Form for those who would like to order pizza for Friday. Please have these orders in by Thursday. Remember children will be eating in the classrooms and are to pack a lunch or order pizza. The children will be receiving an ice cream treat. There is also a permission form to go Bowling on Thursday. Tomorrow is the Inflatable Party. Children may wear sweat suits to school with sports shoes. Math Homework 281-282. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Monday January 30th Today is Junior Achievement Day and Mrs. Cavanaugh is doing a wonderful job of teaching the class. In this program the students better understand what a family is by studying a poster. They discover how people in a family are alike and different and how they work together to make the place where they live a good place. Then they move on to talk about wants and needs, family jobs, family wants and needs and paying for family wants and needs.There are many fun activities and the children get opportunities to share, draw and color. I think it is a great opportunity for the children to experience another teacher for the day. Thanks Mrs. Cavanaugh. Tomorrow is Crazy Socks Day and Get Up And Move Day. Our Belief statement for tomorrow is: We believe in the gifts God has bestowed on us. I'm sure the children will have some interesting stories when they come home tomorrow. No Homework tonight Sunday January 29th Thank you for coming to our Catholic Schools Liturgy and Open House today. I was so proud of our First Graders and how reverently they carried up the Offertory Gifts and Candles. They did a great job! Reminder: No hot lunch tomorrow, Monday. The children must pack a lunch but milk will be sold as usual. Tomorrow is Patriotic Day so children may wear red, white and blue. $2 to wear jeans. Money goes to J.A. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Saturday January 28th The children who offered to be in the Offertory Procession tomorrow for our Opening of Catholic Schools Week took home a note Friday telling you what they are asked to wear and the time to be there. Children should meet in the bench they were assigned on Friday at 11:40 a.m. They can give their coats to parents. The children are asked to wear their gym sweatshirt over the school uniform. No jeans or tennis shoes please. Even if you can not make it to church please try to stop in for the Open House. The children have been working on special projects this week and are proud of their work. Also be sure to see the bulletin board across from the office. We have some really cute pictures of the First Graders there. The children are invited to show off their room and also visit other classrooms especially the second grade rooms. Remember to invite a friend if possible. We are trying to build up our enrollment so we can continue to have two classrooms of each grade. Cookies and a drink will be served outside the Music Room. Also would you consider making a donation to our Gina Jug while you are here. This is the last week we will be collecting for this outreach. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. Sister Frances Thursday January 26, 2012 Math Homework:43-44 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wednesday January 25, 2012 Today we had liturgy and worked on social studies and science projects. Some children got started on a math project. I did not hear any studysheets and there is NO HOMEWORK. Reminder: Library tomorrow Have a good evening, Sister Frances Tuesday January 24, 2012 Today the Tuesday Express went home. It has the activities that are planned for Catholic Schools Week which starts on Sunday. There are chances to wear different clothes on certain days and lots of Fun Activities. Please try to make it to our special Liturgy on Sunday followed by Open house in our school from 1 - 3 p.m. Math Homework: 275-276. Some of this was done in school today. Today we finished up our Heroes Project and you can see the various Heroes hanging in the hall. Sister Carol visited our classroom today for a Guided Meditation Religion Lesson. Please join us for our weekly Wednesday Liturgy tomorrow if you are available. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Monday January 23, 2012 Thank you for coming to the conferences. It is good to have your valuable input as we share how we see the children coming along. Reminder: Tomorrow is a Gym Day for First Grade. Thursday January 19, 2012 Today the children took home a paper that needs to be signed and returned letting us know if your child would like to be part of the Offertory Procession for our Catholic School Liturgy on Sunday January 29th. We started quarters in math today. Math Homework: p. 273- 274 Today is Cade's Birthday. He shared the cutest mini cupcakes his Mom had made. The children really seemed to enjoy them. Sister Carol announced they will sell the extra cookies tomorrow if anyone wants to buy more cookies. 25 cents each Have a good evening, Sister Francs Wednesday January 18, 2012 THANK YOU FOR THE COOKIES TODAY. There were more than enough for the whole school. We even have some leftovers to be sold at a later date. Conference reminder notes went home today. Please initial the paper and send it back to school tomorrow so we know you are aware of your scheduled time. Please let us know if you can not keep this time. The only homework I gave was to continue with the studysheet. If your child didn't get the studysheet heard today they may go ahead to the next row and I'll try to hear both tomorrow. Once again we had a special liturgy with Father Tony. He really prepares well to give a good message and also involve the children in the sharing. Today we had the story of David and Goliath. Father talked to the children about the BIG EVIL GIANT in the world today which is the devil. He spoke of ways Mary told us to use so we can be protected or say no to the devil: prayer, fasting, the Bible, confession(Reconciliation) and the Eucharist(Holy Communion). Father has such a good way of drawing these answers from the children. Reminder:Library Books tomorrow. Thank you for getting the Tuesday Express envelopes in today. Yesterday I forgot our big news. Tristan Reedy's Mom had the baby. So the three Reedy boys now have a little sister, Rita Ann. The children all signed a cute card and I got a little outfit to send home with Tristan today from all the class. We have been mentioning this new baby in our prayers since school started so it was a special event for all of us. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Tuesday January 17, 2012 Today we continued our lessons on money. We will be adding the quarter this week and also the dollar. Homework : 271-272 we did some of 271 in class today. We are also working in class on a Social Studies Project about Heroes. A reminder about cookies for tomorrow for the Cookie Sale went home also. Thank you! Parent conference reminders will go home tomorrow. If you can not keep the assigned time that you signed up for in August, let me know by Thursday. Early dismissal at noon tomorrow. Have a good evening, Sister Frances ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Monday January 16,2012 Reminder: Gym clothes tomorrow. It is time for the First And Sixth Graders to bring in cookies Wednesday for the cookie sale. Sr. Carol said a dozen or a dozen and a half from each child should be enough. Also Wednesday is an early dismissal day. Sister Frances Thursday January 12, 2012 We reviewed Clocks for hour and half hour and continued to work on our money skills. In religion we studied about the blind men Jesus healed and asked God to also help us to use our eyes to see people who may need our help. Homework: SS Lessons 56 - 57. It is O.K. to help your child read the sentences in the Math Simple Solutions. Our First Grade reading vocabulary does not include all the words used in SS. Some children are getting better on the Study sheets. By now the children should be able to memorize and say quickly the addition and subtraction facts for 10 and lower. We continue to work on the facts for 11 and 12 in the classroom and some children are already doing the studysheet with these facts. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Wednesday January 11,2012 We had another special liturgy with Father Tony today. We are back in Ordinary Time on the church calendar and so Father was wearing green vestments. His overall message was to try to be like Christ. We can try to make people feel better, give good example so people can see how Jesus acted and make sure we take time to pray. This all tied in with the readings we had today. We are talking about heroes in Social Studies. We are connecting this with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Math Homework: pages 41-42 The children took home a few papers about money that we did recently. Would you review these with your child and send the papers back with your initials in the sign circle. I want to make sure you are aware of how your child is doing with money. Some children need extra help at home with this concept. Thank you! Have a good evening, Sister Frances Tuesday January 10, 2012 The Tuesday Express went home today. We also invite anyone who is available to join us for liturgy tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. We continue to work on our money concepts. Math Homework: Problem Solving 265-266. Have a good evening, Sister Frances
Monday January 9,2012 Today a packet of papers went home that should be reviewed and corrected where necessary. This gives you an idea of how your child is coming along with the written work in school and also some homework papers. We continued working with money and today we tried some story problems. We will be learning to trade coins to make change for story problems as well as counting up amounts. Math Homework: Simple Solutions 52-53. Last week we studied about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and today we studied about Rosa Parks. Later this week we will learn about Ruby Bridges. Ask your child to share what has been studied. Today is the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus and so we did a Guided Meditation on this topic. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Thursday January 5, 2012 Math Homework: 75-76 We continue to study money. Reminder: If you didn't send in a canned good today and you can spare one for the Food Pantry would you send it in for our Christmas Liturgy tomorrow. The children are also invited to bring in something they would like to share with the class tomorrow. They brought a little note home earlier in the week about this. This afternoon I took Room 204 over to my house (the convent) to see our Christmas Decorations. They seemed to be amazed at all the mangers we have in the various rooms. We do have a chapel with the Blessed Sacrament in our tabernacle. The children had a little quiet time there and also sang their In A Manger Song in front of our chapel manger. I like to take the First Graders over to see where the Sisters live. Tomorrow I will take Room 203 over when I have them for class. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Wednesday January 4,2012 Another cold day so the children were in at lunch. Our class is really well behaved at that time. They all have Coloring/Activity Books to use and the rule is to stay in their desks. It just makes it easier for the Lunch Moms to watch them and safer, also. We have liturgy this week on Friday and it is our floor's turn to bring in items for the Food Pantry. A canned good or box of jello etc. would be great. We also started the Gina Jugs today with the "jeans money". Many children brought in more than the $2. I even suggested the children might think of ways to earn money by doing extra jobs at home etc. Some children have mentioned they have their own money. I tried to make it clear that parents need to be aware of any money the children bring in. Math Homework: Money Pages 73-74 Have a good evening, Sister Frances ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` Tuesday January 3rd It felt good to be back in school today and I think the children were also happy. Once again everyone was in. Tommy Kalkstein celebrated his birthday and shared a small cupcake treat with everyone. We will be working on money concepts this week. MATH HOMEWORK: PAGES 263 AND 364 We will be attending liturgy on Friday this week. The children took home a paper today saying they may bring in something to share on Friday. They will also have some free time that day. Tomorrow the children may wear jeans for $2. This will be the beginning of our collecting for the Gina Jug. I told the children a little about Gina Mohan who had been a student here at St. Bernadettes. Ask your child to share with you about her. Also the Tuesday Express Envelopes went home today. Have a good evening, Sister Frances ************************************************** Sunday January 1,2012 Happy New Year! Just got in from church and decided I would like to wish each of you a wonderful year filled with many joys and blessings. Remember: No School Monday Children return on Tuesday and it is a gym day for our First Graders. Enjoy the last 2 days of the Christmas Break. I look forward to seeing the children on Tuesday and hearing about their holidays. On Friday the children in Room 204 may bring in something from Christmas that they would like to share. We will have some time to tell about the item and then there will be free time to play with items or use our classroom activities. Sister Frances
Thursday December 22nd Our Christmas Break has begun. So glad we had no one absent in our classroom all week. It was a week of special projects which began with us sharing a card with our Advent Prayer Person. We made a few other things that have gone home and we spent a lot of time talking about the Meaning of Christmas. If at all possible think about taking your child to the 4 p.m. liturgy on Christmas Eve. Father Tony asks that the children bring a bell. I hear there are also going to be some drums. I know he plans to make it extra special for the children. Today the children went to the gym with their 6st Grade Buddies and Mrs. Salemi had a dance for them. Our turn was for 30 minutes. Then they had a Charlie Brown movie in Mrs. Scarpino's Room with their First Grade Friends for about another 30 minutes. Next it was time for Mrs. Cavanaugh to share some Christmas Games and the children had their treat. Santa and Mrs. Claus stopped in and every child had a turn to sit on Santa's Lap and tell what they wanted for Christmas and each received a bag of treasures from Santa. I was presented with a wonderful class Christmas Gift. The cover on the card reads: The Lord has Blessed Me because of You. Genesis 30:27 I echo that same message back to each of you and your children. The inside message: So thankful for the many beautiful ways the love of God shines through you. Merry Christmas With lots of Love from your 1st Grade Class! What a beautiful card. It means a lot to me. But then I couldn't believe the gifts that went with it. * A $50 Gift Card to Olive Garden, * A $20 donation to the Sisters of St. Joseph in honor of "Sr. Frances Hurley - from her students" * And a pair of Rosary Beads from Ireland. Some of you may know that I celebrated my Golden Jubilee as a Sister of St. Joseph in 2010 and through gift money from my family I was able to take a trip to Ireland. This was a long time dream of mine but I really didn't think it would happen. So Ireland is dear to my heart and I did not have a pair of Rosary Beads from Ireland. Thank you for all these generous gifts. The children will receive individual notes of Thanks when they return in January. No school until January 3rd. Have a wonderful Christmas and a Healthy and Happy New Year, Sister Frances ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wednesday December 21st I was so proud of the children last night. They did a great job and sat there so well while the other grades did their parts ( as you know, being still is not easy for little ones). Thank you for coming and enjoying the children and getting them there on time. We are so grateful to have Mrs. Groba who prepares the children and organizes the whole show. Since there was a funeral in the church this morning, we had our Wednesday liturgy downstairs. Father Tom Dansic talked about God's great love and how we continue to grow in love. He is very good with the children. Tonight is the Cantor Choir Performance. Perhaps some of you will be back this evening. It is always such a beautiful and enjoyable Performance. Mrs. Prestogeorge does an excellent job with our childrens choir. Tomorrow is a half day and Mrs. Cavanaugh will be in to help with the party. The PTG provides the treat so no other treats are to be sent in. Children may wear Christmas tops. Jeans may be worn for $2 and that money is to be used for the Homeless Childrens Fund. Have a Blessed Christmas, Sister Frances ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Monday December 19th Our last few days before the Christmas Break. Tomorrow, Tuesday Evening is our Christmas Show in Church at 7 p.m. The children need to report to Biedenbach Hall no later than 6:45 p.m. They are to leave their coats with parents. After the show you are asked to come to where your child is sitting before they will be dismissed. It will be evening and we don't want the little ones running around in church trying to find you. The First Graders will be sitting on the choir side in the first few benches on the side aisle. Children are to wear Christmas tops ( or school shirts of red or white ) with school bottoms and school shoes. The program is usually less than an hour in length. Math Homework: There will not be any more written math homework until after Christmas. Study the Math Studysheet if you have time. I know these can be busy days before Christmas. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Thursday December 15th Today we started our 12's in math class. We spent a lot of time on them and even sang some of the combinations to the tune of Jingle Bells. The children seemed to enjoy the singing. Let's hope it helps with remembering the facts. No written Math Homework tonight. Keep working on the studysheets. I think I forgot to mention earlier in the week that we have an Elf on the Shelf in our classroom. The children look each day to see where Jake has decided to sit and some have even left notes for Jake to take to Santa when he visits Santa each evening. The wonder and imagination of children is awesome. Working in this grade level provides so many opportunities to enjoy this in the class. We joined Mrs.Sarpino's Class for a short movie on the Nativity this afternoon. Earlier we had done a Guided Mediatation on being in Bethlehem with Mary and Joseph when Jesus was born so this little movie was perfect. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Wednesday December 14th Our liturgy experience was a little different today. Because we are having work done on the sound system in church and are hoping it will be finished this week, we had our weekly liturgy downstairs in Biedenbach Hall. We had no music since the piano is not tuned and so Father Tony started us on O Come O Come Emmanuel just the first verse for an entrance and final song. With no books we were a little forgetful with some of the new responses but all worked out well. Then this afternoon we were treated to the final practice of our Band for tonights Band Concert. It's amazing how much the children learn on these instruments. Math Homework: Pages 37 and 38. I didn't get to hear all the studysheets today but will try to get to the ones I missed, tomorrow. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Tuesday December 13th Today we studied about St. Lucia in Religion. We are also taking our turns to lead the Advent Prayers in the hall. The children are reading loud enough to be heard and are doing a great job. I'm proud of them. Everyone in the class has a part in this Advent Service. Tomorrow we go to Liturgy. No dress down passes! In math we started Chapter 9 which does more with counting on a numberline and introduces facts for 11 and 12. Mrs. Giannetta, Jimmy's Mom, came to class today and read 2 cute Christmas Stories. She's a wonderful reader! Lots of expression and a real talent interacting with the children. Math Homework: Pages 145-146 using the number line. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Monday December 12th We started addition facts for 11. We spent a lot of time with it using manipulatives and trying to start memorizing them. The children seemed to be doing very well telling me what went with a number to make 11. I told them to review it along with their other math homework. Homework: Pages 35 and 36 and also the math studysheet. We continue with our winter holidays in Social Studies. In religion we had a read along book put out by the Knights of Columbus. It's very nicely done and the children will be taking it home before Christmas. Some children have chapped lips. Send in a chapstick if you would like your child to get some help with this during the day. It's always good to mark it first or tell your child to ask me to put a name on it. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Friday December 9th Today our sixth grade buddies in Mrs. Konesky's room came to our room and helped the First Graders make a cute little candy cane craft. They also had a little note about the candy cane. Our buddies are so thoughtful with the younger students. Wanted to remind parents that the "Singin' and Swingin' with Santa" Pajama Party is this evening at 7 p.m. in the Lourdes Center Dining Hall. It's always cute to see the children in their p.j.'s etc. Have a good weekend. Sister Frances Thursday December 8th We had a special holy day liturgy which was also attended by many of the adult members of the parish. As I was leaving church a woman mentioned how good is was to be there with the children. As always the Children's Cantor Choir added much to our celebration of the liturgy. In math be studied how it is possible to check subtraction by adding. This is also what the homework paper practices. Math Homework: Pages 123-124 In Social Studies we are using the Weekly Reader to study about some Winter Holidays. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Wednesday December 7th In preparation for tomorrow's feast of Mary we talked about Mary's title of the Immaculate Conception and also talked about the words in the song Immaculate Mary. Some children remember the song from church. If you are not taking your child to church on the weekend please consider starting to do that. In math the children enjoyed doing a fact family paper that looks like a present. It was a fun project and a way to review fact families. Math Homework: Pages 129-130 Reminder: Library and Gym tomorrow. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Tuesday December 6st Yesterday our students traced their shoe on art paper and today they put the shoes out in the hall after we returned from lunch. When we opened the door to go to gym we found a surprise treat from St. Nicholas. You can imagine the shouts of delight! How magical to see that sparkle of excitement in the eyes of the children. Mr. Land had class with our students today and they worked on a Secret Message Paper with Mr.Land. Be sure to look for the paper in your child's folder this evening. We reviewed our subtraction facts on a special Christmas Paper that is now hanging in the hall. Most children did very well although I see many are still using fingers to get the answers. Hopefully we will be able to get some of these facts memorized this year. We will be having a raffle in our class each day from now to Christmas. Each child gets a ticket each day. If the child still has the ticket at the end of the day it is entered into a basket and one name is drawn. Today Kamsi was the lucky student. Everyone gets a chance to be in the raffle each day. However if someone doesn't have their homework because they didn't bring home their folder the night before they lose the ticket for that day. Tickets can also be taken from a student for misbehavior or not listening and following directions. All in an effort to help the children try to be on task during these exciting days leading up to Christmas. Math Homework: Practice pages 31 and 32. We will be going to church on Thursday this week for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. So no dress down passes on Thursday this week. No church tomorrow. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Monday December 5th Today we watched a movie about St. Nicholas. In some countries children leave their shoes outside their bedroom this evening and find a surprise in the morning. There is NO MATH HOMEWORK this evening as a thank you for all the donations of baked goods, money donations and customers to buy the baked goods this weekend. The First Graders and many other really came through. Thank You! We shopped this morning. If anyone forgot money and wanted to get something I can still send them down tomorrow. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Sunday December 4th THANK YOU! Our Bake Sale for the Sisters of St. Joseph was a wonderful success thanks to all of you. I saw many parents dropping off the baked goods and many, many grandparents, parents and children coming to buy goodies. We sold everything by the end of the noon mass today and made over $1,000. The Vendors Sale had lots of extras that they passed on to us after their affair was over on Saturday and that helped the profits. The Auxiliary to the Sisters of St.Joseph, Sister Carol and I are so grateful to all of you. REMINDER: Tomorrow Room 204 has their turn to shop at the Santa Shop at 10 a.m. Have a good evening, Sister Frances ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thursday December 1st Math Homework: Simple Solutions Lessons 50 and 51 We worked on half hour in studying clocks today. We will be continuing with this tomorrow. Reminder that we go to church tomorrow so NO Dress Down Passes are to be used tomorrow. In religion we continue our study of Advent. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Wednesday November 30th Math Homework: Math study sheet and Simple Solutions Lessons 48 and 49. Reminder: We are attending Liturgy this Friday and First Grade has a turn to carry up the gifts. 2 children from each classroom. Another reminder: Please help out with some Baked Goods or a donation for The Auxiliary to the Sisters of St. Joseph this weekend. Donations can be dropped off at the school door near the church on Saturday after 4 p.m.(We sell after the 5 p.m. mass) or before masses on Sunday. You could also send in donations on Friday with the school children if that is easier for you. Thank You! Have a good evening, Sister Frances Tuesday November 29th It's good to be back in school although I did enjoy sleeping in a bit over the break. I hope your Thanksgiving was filled with many blessings and a time to visit with family and friends. Now we are in the Season of Advent. Each day one of the classes leads a short Advent Prayer in our hall and we all end with our Come Lord Jesus Song with motions. Our class will have a turn the 3rd week of Advent. During our Religion Class today the children selected a secret Advent Prayer Person. All during Advent we are going to try to remember to pray for our very own Advent Prayer Person. Then right before Christmas we will take time to make a card for our person and one by one give the cards and reveal who we were praying for. In math we practiced writing Subtraction Story Problems. The children seemed to enjoy this. No mass tomorrow for the children. We will be attending church on Friday for First Friday this week. Math homework: Simple Solutions Lessons 46 - 47. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Tuesday November 22nd Even with the NO Homework Pass yesterday many of the children chose to do the Math Study sheet. Children get a star if they know the row quickly. No second guessing! The facts are pretty easy now but a few children are still using the fingers. They need to be memorized and NO fingers. The Tuesday Express went home today. Try to get it returned tomorrow so it will be here and ready to be filled for next Tuesday when the children return to school after Thanksgiving. Thanks! A BIG REQUEST! In the Tuesday Express there is a request from the Auxiliary to the Sisters of St. Joseph for Baked Goods for our Annual Christmas Bake Sale. Since I am the only Sister teaching in the school I am counting on the help of the First Graders in both classes to bring in Baked Goods or a donation. We depend on the money made at this Bake Sale. I realize it is also the week of the Vendors Fair. So maybe you could help both groups. Since we are having our Thanksgiving Liturgy tomorrow no one should be using a dress down pass. Once again NO MATH HOMEWORK tonight. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Monday November 21th Bella's Birthday! We enjoyed a special brownie treat. Bella's Mom had each brownie in a baggie so no one had to touch the food and some children ate some and took some home. So easy! Monica give each child in Room 204 a little present from her recent trip to India. The children were delighted. No Math Homework tonight. If the children want to do another row on the Math Study Sheet that is fine. It is not necessary. One little girl in Room 204 got a Treasure Box Pass today for standing so quietly in the hall while the class was taking bathroom turns. ( The children were a bit wound up today and very chatty.) in Religion we talked about gifts and tied it in with the Bible Story of the two men in the temple offering their gifts. The children have a good sense of what are really important gifts like life and love and family and friends and God. Toys are wants but not really the important things. Plan ahead to join us on Wednesday for the Total School Thanksgiving Liturgy at 9:30. That is also an early dismissal day and no lunch is being served. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Friday November 18th Good to see some of you at Max & Erma's last night. That's a good fund raiser for the school. Thank You! Today we finished our rosary. We did all the mysteries and so the children got to take the rosaries home to keep. I bought that kind of rosary since I thought the children would enjoy seeing them glow a little when they turn off the light at home. In religion we spent a long time studying about the Church Year. This Sunday is the last Sunday of the Church Year. It is the Feast of Christ the King. See if your child remembers this feast on Sunday. I also reminded the children to ask if their family would be willing to light the Advent Wreath in church some Sunday in Advent. There was a note about this in the e-mail from the office yesterday. What a beautiful witness for the children to see that you consider this something special to do at church during Advent. There is NO HOMEWORK in First Grade over the weekend. However, some children are trying to move ahead with the Math Studysheets so if they ask to do it that's great! Several started the subtraction one today since they know the beginning fact very well. Have a good weekend, Sister Frances Thursday November 17th Just a reminder that this is our Max & Emma Fund Raiser Night. We get 20% of the bill so that is a wonderful help for the school. I'll be there. Hope you can also make it. Remember your coupon or look for Sister Carol. She usually has some extras. MATH HOMEWORK: Simple Solutions 42-43 and math study sheet. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Wednesday November 16th So many of you were at the Breakfast today. I tried to get to all the tables. Hope I didn't miss anyone. How blessed we are to have Father Tony for liturgy on Wednesdays. He just seems to know how to reach the children as he shares the homily. Today he talked about using our gifts. The first reading was very long and as I was praying over it before mass I was wondering if the children would be able to sit still and really listen. They did a great job! I think maybe because they are used to our 6 minutes of meditation each day, they are able to be still in church. The children were inside for playtime at lunch because of the rain and the lunch Mom in our room complimented them for their good behavior. So good to get compliments and let the children know when we really appreciate their cooperation. MATH HOMEWORK: Simple Solutions Lessons 40-41 and the Math Studysheet. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Tuesday November 15th It was good to see some of you at the Family Breakfast this morning. If you did not make it today do try to come tomorrow. It starts at 7:50 and goes until 8:40. The children go right to their classrooms after that. We also have our regular Wednesday Liturgy tomorrow for grades 1-4. Join us if you are free. In religion we are talking about ways Jesus shared God's Love while He was on earth. Today we had the story of Zacchaeus. Yesterday we also started back on our Rosary Prayers. We are praying the Sorrowful Mysteries this week and then we will have completed 4 rosaries and all the Mysteries of the Rosary. We had taken a break from the rosary with days missed for conferences etc. and I was pleased when one of the little boys asked if we were going to get back to saying our mystery of the rosary again. The Tuesday Express went home today and also the school pictures that were taken back in September. The children really look good in their pictures. Math Homework: Studysheet and Practice Pages 19 - 20. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Monday November 14th A big day in First Grade Room 204! Monica returned from India and the children were so happy to see her. Monica brought some paper money which she shared with the class. Our new student Nicalas Griffin also started today. Nicalas had attended St. Bedes Catholic School in Point Breeze. He seems to fit in really well. On Friday we made posters to welcome both Monica and Nichalas. Today is also the start of our Math Studysheets. THE CHILDREN ARE NOT TO WRITE IN THE ANSWERS. I want to see if the facts are being memorized. This first sheet will be easy for some and they will move ahead while the children who need more time to get the facts memorized will work at a slower pace. MATH HOMEWORK: Practice sheets 27 -28. The children are not taking the connecting cubes home and should use some other type of counter from home to do page 28. Tomorrow starts this year's Family Breakfasts in the Lourdes Center Dining Hall. Please try to come tomorrow or Wednesday at 8 a.m.. Younger brothers and sisters are also welcome. It's a unique way for the children to enjoy something special with their families at school. Hope to see you there, Sister Frances Thursday November 10th, Today we used the calculators in Math Class and the children were in their glory. We don't use them much but it is another tool to learn about. The children are taking today's math paper home to play the game which is a good way to practice some math facts. The game stays at home and can be reviewed often. MATH HOMEWORK: Simple Solutions 38 - 39. In science we used the Weekly Reader and studied about germs and getting colds. I wish there was some magic way to help the children remember to keep there fingers out of their mouths and noses. Each group also watched a cute clip of hand washing. I have a request. If your child packs a lunch they are responsible for bringing their own napkin . Some children make a habit of going up and getting one from the buyers table. I also like the children to put a napkin or paper towel down first before they set any of their food on the table. It helps with cleanup but it also seems more sanitary even if the tables are wiped daily. Also, any child who wants may bring a small hand sanitizer or wipe in with their lunch. In religion we continue to study about the Holy Family. After this mornings reading on the announcements we talked once again about The Kingdom of God and how we can make this earth a better place. The children are real receptive. I hope if carries over to the home also. Have a good day, Sister Frances Wednesday November 9th, The children tried to use the church books today at liturgy and did pretty well. I was so proud of the way the children had listened before we went over to church and knew what Father Tony was talking about. ( I do try to read the scripture that will be used at mass before we go over. It seems to help the children follow along and listen better when we are in church. ) Father talked about the church being the House of God and how we need to respect that holy place. He also talked about each of us also having God's Holy Spirit in us because of our Baptism. Just like we keep our church clean, we also need to be sure we keep our souls clean by getting rid of jealousy, and meanness, etc. When the children are in second grade they will make their Reconciliation and then have the help of that sacrament to keep their souls clean. We did a review of math facts today and most children had the answers correct but are dependent on fingers for the answers. It is time to start using flashcards at home to help your child get the facts up to 10 memorized. If your child has a hard time maybe just have flash cards with answers up to 7 and practice with them. Then add the next level of 8's and so on until all the facts are known quickly. We used some fun math cards to do Memory Math Games for a few minutes today and the children really enjoyed them. Ask your child about them if you are willing to make some and provide extra practice at home. MATH HOMEWORK: Simple Solutions 36 - 37. I'm sorry for the double note about schoolnotes last evening. I'll try to just send one this evening. Have a good evening, Sister Frances Thank you for coming to the conferences yesterday. I already saw some changes so I know parents shared comments with their children. I also enjoy getting to know the parents and better appreciate all that you do on your end to help the children do their best. We really have a wonderful group of First Graders. I enjoy both classes and look forward to meeting the parents in Room 203 at the next conferences. HOMEWORK: Math Simple Solutions Lessons 34 - 35. We did go to the Book Fair this afternoon. If you forgot and want your child to get a book we can work him/her in tomorrow. Mr. Land had his class today about Weird Willy. Today we talked about stealing. The Tuesday Express went home today. (You are very good about returning it the next day.) Thank You! It is our turn to carry the gifts up at the 9:30 Liturgy tomorrow. We had a random drawing and Zack, Tommy, Bella and Lexi were the lucky ones to be picked. We will take turns doing this each time it is our turn to present the gifts. Please join us tomorrow if you are free. Have a god evening, Sister Frances Thursday November 3rd, Math Homework: Practice pages 21-22. I know the notes went through blank last night. It seems the School Notes program is saying it is a new look and all my past information seems to have disappeared. We are working on a Religion Paper for the hall and getting ready for the conferences. I was so happy with our trip to Woodhaven on Monday and Mrs. Cavanaugh had a special party for us. Please join us for First Friday Liturgy if you are free tomorrow. Have a good evening, Sister Frances |
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