The students have been learning the following concepts in each of the
academic areas:
Language Arts/Reading
We have been working on our Animal unit in the Treasures program. The
children have been learning about different animals and their habitats. They
chose an animal from either the Rainforest, Artic/Antartica, and the Savannah
to learn about. They researched their animal and painted it for our "Animal
Habitat" mural. During journal writing, the children will be writing facts
about their animal over the next few weeks. We are reading fictional and non-
fictional stories about animals in circle time and during guided reading.
The letters we have focused on so far (letter formation and letter sounds)
are: Mm, Aa, Ss, Pp, Ii, Tt, Oo, Nn, Cc, Jj, Uu,Ff,and Ww. The sight words
the children have learned in the Treasures program are the following: I, can,
we, the, like, a, see, go, to, have, is & play. I would recommend that you
put the words on small index cards. You or an older sibling could easily use
the flash cards to play the games such as "Go Fish" or "Bingo" with your
child to help reinforce each of the new sight words.
We will continue working on new word families over the next few weeks. The
students will play interactive games, puzzles, sing songs, and listen to
stories to learn about new word families. The children are learning about
action words(verbs),naming words(nouns)and describing words(adjectives)during
our language arts lessons.
Math
We are working on addition and numbers from 1-100 in our math workbooks.
The children are learning these concepts using puzzles, games, manipulatives,
and a variety of art materials. The children have also been working on
addition in our math lessons. They will be learning how to use a number line
to find different ways to get to each sum.
The children are continuing to learn about money. We reviewed the value of
the penny/nickel and introduced the dime. We have opened a pet store to
integrate our math unit on money. The children are shopping for pets and
supplies with coins to reinforce the concept of coin value and fair trade
value. They are really good shoppers and enjoy going to the pet store. I
would like to thank Mrs. Devilbiss for running the pet store!
Social Studies
We have been exploring the globe and different maps to learn about animals on
different continents. We have also been talking about pets and how to take
care of them. We graphed their favorite pets and the students wrote in their
journal three ways that they can care for a pet.
We will be reading stories about Dr. Martin Luther King. The children will
write about what they dream of being when they grow up and how they can help
others. To prepare for the patriotic sing-a-along for Catholic Schools Week,
the children will be learning patriotic songs over the next few weeks. I
encourage you to ask for a preview!
Science
We are integrating lessons on animals to learn more about how animals move,
classificaiton of animals (mammals, birds,insects, reptiles, amphibians)
animal features(scales, fur, feathers)and what animals need to survive. The
students played "animal charades" and had fun guessing the different animals.
They have also been watching "Discovery Channel" videos to learn about
different animals and their habitats.
Religion
The children celebrated "Three Kings Day" (Epiphany) by decorating crown
cookies for their family. We are thankful to Mrs. Manley for making
crown cookies for the entire class. The children had fun decorating their
cookies with the colorful sprinkles and candy! I am not sure how much candy
they ate as they decorated! I took a lot of adorable photographs of them
eating their extra cookie at school - (thanks to Jack for the extra special
snack)
We are preparing for Catholic Schools Week which will be January 29th (Open
House) - February 3rd. We will celebrate Student Appreciation Day on Tuesday
with a free tag day and the students will be treated to a "Day at the Movies"
with their friends at the "Annex Movie Theater".
Thanks for all of your support.
Mrs. Caruso