News From Room 254           May 20, 2010

 

Monday – The Indian Trails librarians presented their summer reading program along with the many events planned at the library during the summer.  Children were all excited and seemed very eager to participate.  Check out the flyer next time you visit the library.  We read the first reading and the Gospel the children heard at Mass on Sunday… both written by Luke.  These two readings focused on the final good-bye Jesus spoke to his apostles and His promise of sending the Holy Spirit to them prior to His Ascension into Heaven.  We said a decade of the rosary and completed an activity in our Rosary booklet.  We wrote in our Journals.  We went over this week’s Spelling words identifying both the base word and the ending added to it.  We reviewed skills learned last week when working with nouns that end in s, ss, x, ch, and sh and adding es to name more than one and working with nouns that end in y… change y to an i and add es.  We re-read the story New Friend.  We completed a comprehension check of this story.  Additional skills completed were: identifying synonyms, using was/were correctly in sentences, and adding either a naming or action part to complete a sentence.  We learned about story structure and how it can help us in re-telling a story.  The points needed would be: identifying the characters, setting, problem, how the problem was solved and the outcome.  In math, we practiced finding the value of a group of coins consisting of quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies.

Tuesday – We started our day with an all-school liturgy.  We wrote ten of our own Spelling sentences.  We took a preview of our next anthology story, The Surprise Family.  I’m sure this will be another of our favorite stories read.  In this story, a chick mistakes a boy for its mother and one thing leads to another.  I’m sure your child will be eager to share this story.  Besides working with finding the value of groups of coins we solved problems by using the Guess and Test strategy.  We continue to work on our Seasons Booklets too.  We are enjoying sharing our Patchwork Quilt Book Reports.

Wednesday – We attended an all-school assembly featuring students from the University of Illinois (Champagne-Urbana) presenting their program of singing and dancing.  It was even more special because one of the singers was a graduate from Saint Mary.  We put our Spelling words in ABC Order and wrote some sentences reviewing concepts learned in various grammar activities.  We read The Surprise Family after reviewing the story vocabulary and words to master.  Our skill had us working with the vowel pairs: oi, oy, aw, au.  We continue to show understanding of adding 2-digit numbers.  We completed some problem solving by choosing a strategy to best solve the problem.  We identified different ways to make a dollar including a half dollar.

Thursday – Once again, we attended an all-school assembly as our 4^th grade students presented their Parade of States.  A spelling and dictation test was taken.  We completed our Seasons booklet by writing about the last season of our choice.  We re-read The Surprise Family.  We again worked with the vowel pairs aw, au, oi, oy.  The term suffix was introduced.  We worked with the endings ful, ly, and y.  Another skill covered was comparing/contrasting a paragraph read.  We prayed a decade of the Rosary as we prepare to celebrate the feast of Pentecost on Sunday.  We even read Sunday’s Gospel.  In math, we completed a progress check on adding tens and ones with no regrouping and with regrouping.  We practiced solving problems by interpreting data on a graph.  We continue to reinforce our ability to find the value of a group of coins.

Friday – No school.  Teacher in-service.

 

Spelling words

soccer  sunny  pool  baseball  park  camp  friends  sunglasses  summer  beach 

Bonus Word: picnic  Challenge Word: popsicles  Super Challenge words: vacation

Next reading story:  Two Greedy Bears

Story words:  appetite  argued  bigger  equal  hungrier  journey  larger  stomachache

Words to master:  began  laugh  sure  head  divide  second  break  thirsty  thirstier  burst  turning  more  morning  her  other  water  better

 

Reminders:

·       Needed:  Parent helpers for our Massmates Field Day Event on Friday, June 4^th.  Children participate in various games and go from station to station.  Start up time 12:15 until 2:40.  Please let me know if you can help by Wednesday, June 2^nd.  Thank you in advance for assisting us with this end-of-the-year activity.

·       Mass, Thursday, May 27^th:  recognition of 25 years of teaching for Mrs. Barb Haravon and Mrs. Ellen Singsank, and thirty-five years of service for Mr. Richard Case as Band Director and Mr. Thomas Healy as Facilities Manager here at Saint Mary.

·       Final Book Report:  A True Story due on May 28^th.  Remember neatness a must.

Mrs. Stehling