May 1, 2016
Dear Parent(s),
It’s really unbelievable that we are in the last few weeks of school! We are keeping busy and still have
many things to cover before our last day. It is so gratifying to see how far the children have come since the
beginning of the year. Thank you for all the support you have given to us this year.
Following are concepts that will be covered this month.
Religion
During May we will discuss the role of Mary in the Church and in our lives. We will also talk about
celebrating Mass and caring for God’s Creation. Formal prayers have also been an important part of the Religion
program. The children have learned The Morning Prayer, The Sign of the Cross, Hail Mary, Our Father, Glory Be,
The Guardian Angel Prayer and the Prayers Before and After Meals. We include these as we pray daily, in
addition to spontaneous prayer. We ask that you encourage your child to use these prayers at home also.
May Crowning will be held during mass on the 4th at 8:50. We will celebrate Liturgy at 8:50 on the 11th,
prepared by the first grade. We will also celebrate with our parish pen pals on the 18th, and also celebrate mass
on the 25th. We hope you will be able to join us!
Reading
We will finish the year with Theme 10. During this last month we will continue to build on what has
previously been taught. We will cover several phonics skills, including r-controlled vowels or, ore, er, ir, ur, ar and
base words with endings -er and -est. We will also work on the following comprehension strategies: making
predictions, sequence of events, summarizing and cause and effect. We will also continue to add to our list of
high-frequency words as well as work on prefixes dis- and re-.
We will continue to send home books in plastic bags until mid-May, and then we will need to begin
checking them all back in. We are really hoping that all the children will reach their AR goal this last quarter. You
can check the AR Home Connect website located on the St. Columbkille Google Docs Page to check your child’s
progress.
Writing
We continue to work on writing sentences correctly. We have been working on proofreading sentences to
make sure they are complete, checking for necessary capital letters, correct ending marks and correct spelling.
Each morning the children begin their day by helping to proofread a sentence from the board making the
necessary corrections. We have been very pleased with the quality of sentences and stories that the children
have been writing.
Handwriting
We will continue to practice the proper formation of all letters, but concentrate on capital letters. Attention
will also be given to a functional grip, proper spacing between words in sentences and especially to neatness in
daily work. We are noticing that some students are eager to attempt writing in cursive. We discourage this now,
as they will learn proper formation in second grade. Good printing skills in first grade will be beneficial to them as
they transition to cursive writing in second grade.
Math
This Month we will cover two-dimensional shapes and fractions. We continue to practice addition and
subtraction facts through 20. We strongly encourage you to practice these facts often with your child, working
toward memorization of both addition and subtraction facts. Learning these now will make for a much easier
transition to second grade work. Our goal is for them to finish a fact every 4-5 seconds.
Social studies
Both classes have been fortunate to participate in the J.A. Program during the months of April and May.
We are very thankful to have had Ms. Richter as a volunteer in Mrs. Weig’s room and Mr. Tomecek as a volunteer
in Mrs. Burke’s room The children found the lessons to be very engaging.
Science
We have started our study of animals and their needs focusing on goldfish.
Other
 We have been very pleased to see how serious many of the children have been about doing their
homework. We have really seen responsibility developing in the children. We encourage your child to
spend 10-15 minutes per night, choosing from the areas on the homework sheet. Thank you for all the
help and encouragement you have given your child with this.
 May 11th, first grade Liturgy
 We invite you to join us on May 12th for our Open House event. You will get the chance to see some of
the things your child has worked on this year.
 May 26th, field trip to Swiss Valley Nature Center
 May 27th, Show and Tell
 June 1st, Spirit Day, students dress in their Spirit Group theme/color
 June 2nd, Prayer Service, last day of school, Talent Show
As you can see, even as the school year winds down, we still have many things left to do. We hope you
are as proud of your children as we are. We are always amazed each year at the many accomplishments the
children make during their year in first grade! Thank you for all of your help and support this year. Have a safe
and wonderful summer filled with lots of family time.
Mrs. Burke and Mrs. Weig