Growing in God's Love: February 2019

February has been a wild-n-crazy ride this year with the polar vortex swinging into 52 degrees Fahrenheit then plummeting again, bringing lots of illness to school! The good news: March arrives this Friday! Here's a recap of what we have learned in February, along with some fun photos of our Valentine's Day activities. A BIG THANK YOU to all the parents who helped organize and run our combined first grade Valentine's Day party! It was so well-organized and packed full of a variety of super-fun activities. We are so thankful for all the hard work and loved that was poured into our celebraion.
In Guided Reading our circles continue to change as the students grow and change. Some groups meet more often than others with me, and I hope your child is able to articulate what their RED folder responsibilities are as not all groups receive a new book every day. If not, please feel free to contact me or ask any questions you may have. I am super proud of their progress so far, and we will continue to work hard these next few months in preparation for second grade. As a group we read Cam Jansen: The Valentine Baby Mystery. We are able to sustain attention very well for read-aloud chapter books and are able to discuss characters, setting, details, and sequencing as we nosh at snack time. Our next read-aloud chapter book during snack time is The World According to Humphrey. It's great to explore different authors and book series as we grow as readers and immerse ourselves in the world of chapter books! During the month of March, we will do an author study, so stay tuned...

Religion has been extra fun with the involvement of our Mass Mates. The 7th graders read the Scripture passages on the Sermon on the Mount (Luke Ch.6:20-26) as well as The Golden Rule, then helped their first grade buddy color and cut out "Keys to the Kingdom." Each key contained a beatitude on one side and a friendly definition of the meaning on the reverse side. We bound the keys together with a brad fastener, and the students were supposed to bring them home and read them to their family. I hope your child was excited to show you their hard work! Saints we learned about this month include St. Elizabeth of Hungary, a princess who devoted her life to Jesus and the poor. We also read the book Saint Valentine, one of my favorite books on the saint as it is accompanied by Robert Shabuda's dramatic mosaics evoking the time period in which the story takes place. We learned how St. Valentine was a man whose goodness and faith brought about a miracle, and whose name lives on today in one of our most celebrated holidays. We also watched the short children's cartoon on the Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima, where the children were introduced to Saints Fransisco and Jacinta Marto.

Honest Abe and General George have been our focus in social studies. We read non-fiction books about both presidents and completed a writing project on President Lincoln that is now hanging in the hallway. Since February is always Dental Health month, we read the story George Washington's Teeth and completed a Scholastic News about taking care of our teeth! In science we had a blast completing experiments using candy hearts. Using water, soda, and vinegar we predicted then observed what happened when we dropped candy hearts into each liquid: Sink or Float: When an object is more dense than the liquid, it sinks. Also, the amount of air found inside the candy or liquid will determine if it floats to the top or sinks to the bottom. The more air, the bigger the possibility the candy has of floating. For example, since soda has air bubbles, you will notice some candy floating to the top. Dissolving candy: The type of liquid matters when dissolving candy. Vinegar is the best at dissolving the candy hearts because it is an acidic liquid. Since vinegar is acidic, it dissolved the candy faster than the soda (a sugary drink) and water.

In math, we will take our Unit 6 assessment this week since we were not quite ready for it last week. Our next Unit will be all about geometry and attributes.

We have filled our behavior jar with virtuous behavior, showing respect, responsibility, love, and courage! The students voted on a pizza party and movie for this Wednesday, February 27th. If you are interested in helping defray the cost of the cheese pizzas, please send in a few dollars in an envelope marked "class pizza party." If you are NOT okay with your child watching the movie How To Train a Dragon (rated PG), please let me know right away. This is the movie the kids wanted, but I want to make sure all parents find it an acceptable movie. Odds are we will not make it through the entire movie.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS for our upcoming first grade St. Joseph/St. Patrick Mass on Tuesday, March 19th at 8:20AM. Students lead the Mass with readings, petitions, carrying gifts, or dressing up as saints for this special Mass. Mrs. Blomeke will prepare the entire first grade with their liturgical music selections, and first grade will be the choir for Mass that day. We hope you can join us that morning.

This week is very busy. I'm sure you've received an SMS email blast with details, but here's a recap:

Tuesday 2/26 - Spirit Wear, FSO Dance Mini-Marathon Fundraiser, Electronics Day declared by Principal for the Day

Friday 3/1 - Mass at 8:30, celebrating end of 2nd Trimester with Honor Roll and Virtue of the Month; 2019-2020 Tuition contracts due

Enjoy the Valentine's Day photos below!

Sorting and Graphing with Candy Hearts

Valentine's Day Party FUN!!

We were finally able to wrap-up Catholic Schools Week last week, the students especially appreciated no math homework on Monday in honor of Student Appreciation Day. :) I hope you all enjoyed your special thank you letter your child wrote in honor of Parent Appreciation Day. Thank you, parents, for your support of Catholic education. You are truly giving your child a gift to last a lifetime.

Our 100th-Day celebrations last Tuesday were woven throughout our school day. The students wore their t-shirts and showed their friends their creative designs. The children wrote about their #100 art projects, and these are on display in the hallway. Since we have 3 specials on Tuesday, the specials teachers also incorporated the #100 theme. In Technology, Mr. Henschle used a special app to show the kids what they would look like when they are 100 years old. In music, Mrs. Blomeke wrote a 10-note phrase that they sang 10 times to make 100 notes! In STEAM, Mrs. Blakeslee had the students estimate then conduct how high 100 drops of water would fill a cup. We learned a 100th-day poem, made 100th-day glasses, and joined Mrs. Weaver's class at the end of the day to complete different exercise activities 100 times. It was a fun-filled day! Photos are below.