STAR Student

Alyssa was our STAR last week. Along with her parents, Alyssa has 2 older sisters she lives at home with. One of them is in 5th grade here at Loretto. Alyssa shared with us her own unique style of how she dresses. She loves being silly at home and brought in her microphone that she likes to sing with.

STAR Student

Garett V. was our STAR last week.  Garett shared with us that he is a triplet for his unique thing.  I actually think it's very unique that Garett is one of 6 children.  In addition to his other two triplet brothers, he has twin sisters and an older sister in college!  Garett enjoys playing soccer and he also brought in his skateboard to show us.  His favorite book is "Green Eggs and Ham".  We enjoyed reading the book together since most of us are so familiar with it.  

Scholastic Book Order

Order forms went home today for 5 different book clubs. Thank you Rhonda Hull for pulling from all of the different catalogs! Orders will be due to me by Friday, March 13. You can pay with one check when ordering from multipe catalogs. You may also submit orders online:
www.scholastic.com/parentordering

Username: msdowningsclass
Password: firstgrade

All purchases help earn books and other materials for our classroom. Thank you in advance for your purchase!

A few books of interest:

1. Both SeeSaw catalogs had a "Ready Freddy" book. This is a series introduced to them recently.

2. The Lucky Catalog has a Horrible Harry which is another series the kids enjoyed. Only $1!!

3. In April will be discussing Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. There are some Science books that hit on this theme in the Math and Science catalog.

4. The March SeeSaw catalog has 20 great book titles for only $15! If you're looking to build your home library, this is a great selection!

2nd Grade Expectations

1st and 2nd Grade teachers recently got together to discuss any issues they are seeing as the kids progress from 1st to 2nd.  One of the issues brought up was the children's lack of experience with time and money.  This is treated as a "life skill" in 1st grade.  It is touched upon during our calendar math time, homework, and periodically when I call attention to it.  This is something that can be easily practiced at home.  A parent one year would make her daughter count the change that she found around the house.  If she counted correctly, she could keep it.  Talk about an incentive to learn!  Point out the clock at home when you tell your child they have 30 minutes to play their game.  See if they can identify where the "big hand" is headed or where it is at during that moment.  We've discussed hour and half hour, but I don't feel that is rooted in many of them as we move on to discuss 15 minutes.

In addition to the time/money issue, handwriting and capitalization and punctuation were addressed.  This is yet another thing that needs to be reinforced as you were one-on-one with your child.  I encourage you to go over their work for the week.  Praise them for the wonderful job they do and make them re-do things they have done incorrectly.  I set aside time at the end of the week to have children correct and finish work, but sometimes it needs to go beyond this.  Many of the kids are STILL forgetting capitals and periods at the end of something simple like their spelling sentence.  The more it is addressed and practiced, the more en-grained it will be.  

As always, continue to have your child read nightly to increase fluency and comprehension.

Resource Schedule

If you look on your child's calendar you will see that there are no resources for the next two weeks printed. Our computer teacher, Mrs. Smith, is in charge of scheduling and she has come up with a special schedule during FCAT testing. Our resources are:

• 3/9 Art
• 3/16 Music
• 3/19 PE

Please have your child dress accordingly on those days.

STAR Student

Paul was our STAR this week. Paul has five people in his family including two older brothers that go to Loretto. We saw many pictures from all the different places Paul has been to including San Fransisco, Belgium, and Chile! Paul loves to play soccer and showed us one of his trophies. All the traveling Paul has done would make him plenty unique, but he also speaks English, Spanish, and is learning Chinese. He brought in coin collection from all different countries. Paul's favorite books is Anansi the Spider. We have already read one Anansi story this year. He also brought in his favorite magnetic toy to show us and built us a little project.

Reading Log

I'm happy to see most children still coming in with about 5 books written down per week. I see a few of the reading logs slowing down. Please make sure you are writing your child's books down or having them do it on their own. We are at a point in the year where the children need to start building and practicing their independence. They can identify title and author, so it surely wouldn't hurt to have them write down 1 out of 5 books so they can get into the routine. 2nd grade holds high expectations and I want to make sure they are prepared.
In addition we are at the point where the kids should be reading most of their books independently. I think it is WONDERFUL if you read from a higher level chapter book, but books in their reading log should ONLY be books that THEY read from here on out. They are rewarded for every 10 books they read and I think it's only fair that now they are rewarded for books they read. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding in this.

February Student of the Month

The February character trait was respect and tolerance. The children are extremely respectful when I'm speaking to them and for the most part they are respectful towards each other. Garett V. really stood out to me. He never quarrels with any of the other children and he is so attentive to what I say. He's always willing to help out another student and he never judges based on personality. Garett is is our character student for February. Congratulations Garett!

FCAT

Each primary classroom is paired with an upper classroom during FCAT testing week. Each class is responsible to encourage the older students during the testing week. We are paired with Mrs. Laney's 5th grade class which is so exciting because we have been buddy reading with them periodically throughout the year.
The kids are going to work on cards, notes, and bookmarks but we are in need of a few other donations. If you would like to be responsible for one or more of the following items, please click on "comments" to let everyone know that item is taken care of. If you think of something additional you would like to donate, please let me know!
**Items in red have already been "claimed"

1. 22 chocolate gold coins

2. 22 "fun" pencils that 5th graders might enjoy

3. 22 packages of smarties

4. 22 cookies to go with theme: "you're a smart cookie"

5. approximately 48 Popsicles (this can be split between two people, but I would like for the Popsicles to be the same (give or take flavor)). We will enjoy at least one treat with our buddies.

Spring Pictures

We will be taking Spring Pictures at school this Friday, March 6. Our class is scheduled to go around 10:15. Order forms went home on Friday. Pictures can be paid for in advance or previewed afterward. Dress your best!

Field Trip

We had so much fun on our recent field trip to MOSH. We listened to a presentation about habitats. Merissa and Garrett T. got to go up front as volunteers and hold some stuffed animals. The children took turns guessing which habitat they would fit into best. They got to see a real live box turtle and they also got to gently pet a Screech Owl! I think that was a favorite for some of the kids. We were then allowed to explore in small groups. We were able to see pictures and facts about ocean life as well as how the human body works. Upstairs was a hands-on area the kids REALLY enjoyed. Lunch was at Friendship park where we were able to snap a class picture in front of the fountain. Check out the pictures from the trip!

STAR Student

Max was our STAR this week. Max has an older brother at Loretto in 3rd grade and lives with his mom, dad, dog (Lulu), and 2 fish. Max is a HUGE Star Wars fan. His hobby is playing Star Wars and he loves to read Star Wars books and play Star Wars video games. Max worked with his Grandpa to come up with 100 different Jell-o combinations. He shared a picture with us for his unique thing about himself. He also shared a clock he made from a potato!