Mrs. Dillon's Blog

WEEKLY NEWS FROM ROOM 114

THIS WEEKS NEWS
February 1 - 5, 2010
It was a pleasure seeing all of you who were able to attend Catholic Schools Week Open House last Sunday. As you can tell, we are a very busy room with all of your children doing their very best every day.

We will celebrate the 100th day of school on Feb. 5. It's a big accomplishment for us and we will be doing a variety of activities to celebrate. The children may come to school dressed like they are 100 years old! I will have many different stations set up in the room for the children to work on "100" things. Please return the "100 things" picture paper by Monday, Feb. 1.

NOTES AND REMINDERS
Clare did a great job as star of the week. Our new star of the week will be: Maeve. Please bring your pictures to school on Monday.

UPCOMING EVENTS
This Wed., Feb 3, is special lunch from Calabria. Check calendars to see if you ordered.
We want to wish Lucas a Happy Birthday on Feb. 4 and Claire a Happy Birthday on Feb. 5.
Just thinking ahead: Valentines Day- We will celebrate on Friday, Feb. 12. Children may bring Valentine cards to pass BUT DO NOT ADDRESS THEM TO INDIVIDUAL STUDENTS-CHILDREN SHOULD JUST SIGN THEIR NAME ON THE CARDS. We will make a bag to use as a mailbox for the cards. You may send a small candy treat if you would like for the class.
No school on Monday, Feb. 15 for President's Day.
Students will have no school on Monday, Feb. 22 due to the Professional Development Convention that all Archdiocese teachers will attend.

HOMEWORK
Please read "Rose and Grandma Make the Sun Shine" on Mon. and Tues. night. Read "Our Family Get-Together" on Wed. and Thurs. night. The vowel sound for this week is long /o/ and the sh and th sound at the beginning of words. Please encourage your child to find long /o/ words in the stories and in reading materials all around the house. Sight test and spelling test will be given on Thursday this week. Workbook pages used for assessment will be given on Friday.
We are back to math facts in chapter 6. We've added 2 new sets of facts to the bag. We will be making more this week too. Please keep practicing the math facts every night.
I encourage you to keep reviewing all the sight words we've covered. Another good idea is to have the children put their sight words and/or spelling words in sentences either orally to you or in writing. You can also ask your children to divide our words into nouns and verbs.

NEW SIGHT WORDS:
father
going
has
thank
very

NEW SPELLING WORDS:
rode
those
hope
home
joke
stone
has
very
shop
what

As always, contact me with any questions. Have a good week.
Mrs. Dillon

WEEKLY NEWS FROM ROOM 114

THIS WEEKS NEWS
February 8 - 12, 2010
I wrote this on Thursday before completing our 100th Day of School activities on Friday, Feb. 5. I'm looking forward to a great time at all the different centers involving 100. Thanks for participating in this fun day and for helping with the 100 "things" poster project. I hope you know what a great group of children I have in room 114. They are working so hard and they are such treasures. The end of the second trimester is only 2 weeks away. I can't believe how fast this year is going.

NOTES AND REMINDERS
Maeve did a great job as our star of the week. Our next star of the week is: Matthew . Please bring your pictures on Monday.
***Just an FYI for you: I've noticed when I pick the class up from lunch that whole sandwiches are being thrown away along with bananas, apples, bags of grapes etc. Time is a factor in this because they don't have a long lunch. Maybe you can ask your children how much they can eat in our lunch time. Possibly sending only half a sandwich with some fruit might be helpful. I hate to see all this good food being thrown out and I'm not sure if you realize how much they're not eating. The cookies are always eaten!!!!*****

UPCOMING EVENTS
We will celebrate Valentine's Day on Feb. 12. Children may bring valentine cards to share with the class. PLEASE do not address each valentine. Children should sign their name on the cards and leave the envelope blank. They will distribute them to everyone's "mailbag". You can send a small treat to share with the class.

Monday, Feb. 15, there is no school - President's Day.
February book report is due on Feb. 26. I encouraged the children to look for a book on a President.

HOMEWORK
Please read "The Rolling Rice Cake" on Mon. and Tues. night. Read "The Rat and The Cat" on Wed. and Thurs. night. The phonics skills for this week are the introduction to long/i/ and middle consonants such as the t in pretty. Sight test, spelling test and workbook pages used for assessment will be given on Friday. We are back to the addition and subtraction facts in Math in this chapter. This week we will cover fact families: for example: 3+2=5, 2+3=5, 5-3=2, 5-2=3. Our chapter 6 test will be this week and we will begin chapter 7 on numbers to 60.
Please keep practicing the math facts every night. Look for some worksheets in Phonics and Math for homework.
I encourage you to keep reviewing all the sight words we've covered.

NEW SIGHT WORDS:
be
friend
pretty
soon
your

NEW SPELLING WORDS:
like
ride
nice
white
time
five
your
friend
never
rabbit

As always, contact me with any questions. Have a good week!
Mrs. Dillon

WEEKLY NEWS FROM ROOM 114

THIS WEEKS NEWS
February 15 - 19, 2010
Lent begins this week and the preparation for Easter will be underway. I will be talking to the children about doing something to get ready for Easter Sunday whether it be giving up something or doing something on a daily basis.

NOTES AND REMINDERS
Matthew did a great job as star of the week. Our new "star" will be: Nellie. Please bring in your pictures on Tuesday because we don't have school on Monday.

UPCOMING EVENTS
We want to wish Maeve a Happy Birthday on Saturday, Feb. 20.

Ash Wednesday is Feb 17. We will be receiving ashes that day.

Friday, Feb 19, is the due date for the Great America reading sheets. Six hours of reading should be noted on the sheet.

Please return the weekly tally sheet every Friday for the Olympic Reading Contest that Mrs. Funk is sponsoring.
Nightly reading of the stories can count for pages read on the tally sheet.

Feb. 19 is also the end of the second trimester. Report cards will be distributed on Feb. 24.

The February book report is due Feb. 26.

We will be talking about some important Black Americans and the contributions they've made. Also, we will conclude the month with some work on good dental care for Dental Health Month.

HOMEWORK
Please read "June and the Mule" on Tues. night. Read "Slim, Luke, and the Mules" on Wed. and Thurs. night. The phonics skills for this week are the long /u/ vowel sound and final digraphs th, ch, sh, tch and consonants ng, and nk. Sight test, spelling test and workbook pages used for assessment will be given on Friday.
We will be making more flash cards. Please encourage your children to keep advancing in memorizing the facts. I would expect that by now all facts to 10, both addition and subtraction, and all the doubles up to 10+10 can be recited as quickly as they say their name.

I encourage you to keep reviewing all the sight words we've covered. Please read the stories we've covered in the reading book every night. Repetition is a great learning tool.

NEW SIGHT WORDS:
four
funny
long
watch
were

NEW SPELLING WORDS:
fish
that
long
the
such
with
four
were
cute
use

As always, contact me with any questions. Have a good week.
Mrs. Dillon

WEEKLY NEWS
FROM ROOM 114

THIS WEEKS NEWS
February Feb. 22 - 26, 2010
This short week just flew by! I can't believe how the time is going by so quickly. Your children are like sponges - soaking everything up. They are really a great group! I hope you can see how their reading is improving daily. I took the class in church so we could have a closer look at the Tabernacle. They were very interested in the outside of the tabernacle and the holiness surrounding it. Ask them about their impressions of this most holy place in church.
NOTES AND REMINDERS
Nellie did a great job as star of the week.
Our next star of the week is: Declan . Please bring your pictures on Tuesday (no school on Monday).
PLEASE SAVE ALL CARDBOARD EGG CARTONS YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON. EVERY CHILD NEEDS 3!!
Send them to school when you have them. Please remember to cut the top half off - just send the part where the eggs sit. We will be making an Easter project with them.

UPCOMING EVENTS
No school on Monday, Feb. 22, due to the in-service for the teachers.
We will work on a Stations of the Cross Book so we can remember what happened to Jesus during the season of Lent.
Report cards will be going home on Wednesday, Feb. 24.
The February Book Report is due on Friday, Feb. 26. Please try to help your child look for a book on a President.

Don't forget to tally the total pages read at home during the week and return the Olympic tally sheet on Friday.

HOMEWORK
Please read "Riddle-dee Fiddle-dee-dee" on Tues. night. Read "The Riddles" on Wed. and Thurs. night. The phonics skills for the week are long /e/ and compound words.
Sight test, spelling test and workbook pages used for assessment will be given on Friday.
Please keep practicing the math facts every night. We are going to cover estimation and problem solving on graphs this week in Math.

I encourage you to keep reviewing all the sight words we've covered. This will be our last week in the 1.4 reading book. There will be a complete sight word list sent home next week for practice and a complete sight test on 1.4 words during the week of March 1.

NEW SIGHT WORDS:
about
any
ask
kind
over

NEW SPELLING WORDS:
we
he
she
see
me
green
any
kind
anything
inside

As always, contact me with any questions. Have a good week.
Mrs. Dillon