January 5-8

            Happy New Year!  I hope all the families enjoyed their  vacation.  At the end of the year, the class had fun making costumes for their Christmas Concert production of the Friendly Beast, working on their parent's gift 2010 Calendar, and decorating the Parent's Club Christmas trees with gingerbread houses similar to ones in Jan Brett's Gingerbread Baby book.

     Our calendar monthly theme was:

    January - snowmen                     July - 4th of July

    February - Valentine's Day         August -  Andy Warhol

    March - Georgia O'Keefe            September - Alaskan

                                                                Button Blanket

    April - Spiders (+poems)            October - Pablo Picasso

    May - The Big Fish book              November - Day of the

                                                                 Dead

    June - Their own favorite           December - Gingerbread

            folktale illustration                        House

     The class won 1st place in the Christmas Tree contest and will decide how to celbrate their victory in January. The Parent's Club is generously giving us a treat.

      This week we are jumping back to our schedule.  Our Reading Specialist, Mrs. Smetko will come in Tuesday.. We have computer Tuesday, Music on Thursday, Spanish on Tuesday and Thursday, and gym on Thursday and Friday.

     In Reading, we're continuing our theme of Be Creative with a story about a Grandmother who makes a memory quilt that becomes a family treasure. Our focus is identifying inference - using our experiences, the author's text and illustrations -  to determine what the author is telling us about the characters and their thoughts.  We'll describe how we save our memories in a web diagram and use persuasive writing skills telling why it is important for young and older people should work together.

     In Spelling, we are on Lesson 23. In Grammar , I'm introducing present tense and how to have the subject and verb agree in sentences. 

     In Math , we are reviewing measurement using centimeters for length and grams for weight.  I will reintroduce division using cubes. It is important that they  master their multiplication tables and continue to practice.

     In Religion, we will be reading about the Epiphany in our Good News magazine. Our activity includes planning and taking a trip just like the Wisemen. In our book we will distinguish how the leaders of each area as Vatican, Diocese, and Parish  work together to help us get closer to God.

      In Science, the food pyramids are due by Wednesday.  With this information we will focus on meeting our body's needs.  There are two activities that will help us learn about our needs and find out where different foods come from.  Then we will continue to identify  many different habitats,  their food webs, competition, and adaptations.

    We are still collecting Caprisun pouches and used batteries to recycle.  I have about 13 pounds of batteries ad will recycle them in Febraury.  

     January's Reading Calendars went home today.  Please remember. to have your child read out loud daily.  It really makes a difference in fluency and comprehension skills.

     If you have any questions, please feel free to call the Office, email me, or write a note.   Thank you for your support.

                                          Ms Judy Meehan

                                           jmeehanms@comcast.net