November 1, 2015
Dear Parent(s),
We were so happy to meet with you at conferences and report on your child’s progress so far this
school year. We encourage you to continue to discuss the goals your child set as we head into this second
quarter. Following you will find information for the month of November.
Religion
We spent part of October learning the Hail Mary and how to pray the rosary. The children were
very reverent as we prayed a decade at a time. We will discuss the Saints during the early part of
November and continue to work in our Religion books and study the Great Commandment, The Church
Year and Ordinary Time. Please note that Mrs. Burke’s class will prepare the liturgy on November 4th and
Mrs. Weig’s class will prepare the liturgy on November 11th. We hope you are able to join us.
Reading
We have finished our first hard cover book. The children will bring their books home to share the
stories they have read with you. Please return them when you are finished reading the stories. During
November we will continue to work on blending and segmenting sounds in words. We will also work on the
following phonics skills: short vowels a and i, plurals, double final consonants, verb endings –s, -ed, -ing,
possessives with ‘s, contractions with ‘s and clusters with r. We will also study these comprehension
strategies: identifying the topic, main idea and details of a story, summarizing a story, evaluating a story,
making predictions and inferences, categorize and classify, and questioning as they read a selection.
The children have been making steady progress with their sight word vocabulary recognition.
When practicing vocabulary at home, please start with six or eight words and add new words gradually,
spending about 10 minutes per night. Children should be able to read the word, understand its meaning
and use the word in an oral or written sentence. Students continue to read from leveled books during
reading time. They seem to enjoy reading from these books in addition to the weekly stories we read
together. To encourage reading at home, your child will continue to bring home a book in a bag. The
children will set new AR goals for the 2nd quarter. We encourage the children to choose ‘good-fit’ books for
good reading practice.
Handwriting
In school we work on the correct formation of D’Nealian letters, which allows for easier transition to
cursive writing in second grade. As you observe your child writing at home, please support the practice of
printing now. We also work on correct letter formation, letter size and alignment of letters. You may also
notice your child printing letters and/or numbers in reverse. This is developmental, but we do work to help
students become aware of correct number and letter formation. We have also been working on using a
functional pencil grip, as well as holding the paper with the non-writing hand to provide some stability.
Spelling
Each week you will see a list of spelling words coming home that we have worked on in class.
These words follow a certain spelling pattern. We will not be giving a formal test, but will practice these
words each week.
Math
We have started Chapter 3 and are working on addition strategies for facts through 18. Your child
has addition flashcards that were sent home at conferences. These are only the facts through 12. When
they have become fluent with these facts, they may begin to work on facts through 18. Look for subtraction
flashcards to be coming later in the month.
Science
Students have been investigating properties of leaves and other materials. They worked to sort
objects by different properties, such as size, shape and color. Students have been working on making
careful observations, good record keeping, and working together.
Fire Safety
October was Fire Prevention Month. Fire safety rules were reviewed and fire drills were practiced.
We had a visit from Mike McMahon, assistant fire marshal for Dubuque. He used Sparky’s Fire House to
talk to the children about fire hazards and fire safety in the home.
Other Information
 School apparel day is Nov. 2nd.
 Picture retakes are Nov. 5th.
 Book orders are due Nov. 9th.
 Splash Bash on Nov. 12th at 4:00.
 Out of Uniform on Nov. 20th.
 Show and Tell will be Nov. 25th.
 Please mark names on all clothing items including sweaters and sweatshirts.
 This is also a good time to check with your child on the condition of his/her supplies. Crayons may
need to be replaced.
We wish you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving!
Mrs. Burke
Mrs. Weig