Spring Break, Here We Come!

It has been a whirlwind start to the school year -  MY school year!! 

As you know, my first day in first grade was Mon., Mar. 2 and I already feel at home thanks to all of the smiles, hugs, and kind words from Ms. O’Connor and your children (even many of you!).  It feels so good to have been welcomed to First Grade like an old friend.

If we haven’t already met, please feel free to pop in any time.  I believe strongly that children are more successful when the parents, teachers, and student all work together.

I am sincerely yours, Beth Herbers

Language Arts Block
This week, we continued our thematic unit with Australia themed centers and worked on controlled vowel sounds- focusing on "ar" and "er".  In guided groups, we finished up our Australian Animal Research!  We will finish presenting the oral reports next week. 

Coral Reef Jumbo Puzzle

"ar"/"er" phonics pages

Noun and Verb jar sentences

Australian Sticker Story!

Make-Your-Own Spelling Word Search

Writing Australian Word Sentences

Starfall.com, controlled vowel practice

National Geographic Kids!

Australian Animal Research

Math
We continued our study of place value, and, wow, they have improved!!  After Spring Break, we will be starting our unit of measurement. 

Social Studies

Mrs. Herbers brought back actual coral from her trip to florida!  We learned about different Australian animals and highlighted the important facts about them.  Then we made a book of Australian Animals! 

Hands-on-Science

We learned all about the earth's rotation and what makes day and night.  Then we went outside and traced our shadows in the morning and again in the afternoon to show the earth's movement. 

Computer Lab

We used the iPads to make a puppet show on the puppetpals app recording facts about our Australian animals! What a great app!

International Festival!

What a fun day in 1st grade! Your children represented 1st grade very well!  Take a look at our pictures:

We were also lucky enough to go see the Middle School's Production of High School Musical!  They did a fabulous job!

Reminders:

-See below for some fun opportunities from the St. Paul's Community Learning Center

-Have a wonderful spring break!! We will return to school Tuesday, March 24h.

 

Spelling Words- Week #19 March 23-27, 2015

Phonics Skills: controlled vowel- “ir” and “ur”

1.       shirt

2.       girl

3.       first

4.       circle

5.       dirt

6.       curve

7.       sure

8.       turn

9.       hurt

10.    burn

Challenge Words

11. shamrock

12. flower

13.hundred

14.mammal

“Surprise the Teacher Word”

15. ???

We will miss all of you!

Maeve and Beth

St. Paul's Community Learning Center is offering a variety of opportunities for you to join us and learn and explore. You can learn more and register for each event through SignUp Genius or with Mrs. Van Lvan@speds.org at the ECC office.  Fliers are also available with more information on the ECC Community News bulletin board. Come Join Us! 

Middle, Lower, and ECC Parents:

Meditation Workshop 

RSVP: ( http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0944a8aa2c7-stpauls )

Tuesday, March 31st 4:00pm - 5:00pm

Adults, being in charge, make rules and guidelines for the well-being of the children. But what about the well-being of the adult? What about yourself? Meditation is a very simple and helpful practice, an adult time out, if you will. 
This workshop will include the following regarding practice of meditation:

• Introduction and overview
• Effects regarding health, i.e., stress reduction, improved blood pressure, etc.
• Change of focus from outer chaos to feeling of inner peace
• Improved concentration
• Easy accessibility -- can be done anytime, anywhere
• Different ways of meditating
• Guided meditation of five minutes, to demonstrate the benefit of even a short period of practice

Lower School and ECC Parents:

Becoming a Love and Logic Parent (Wednesday Nights 4-6PM) 

RSVP: ( http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0944a8aa2c7-stpauls1 )

Open to anyone interested.
ECC (grades T-K) parents - 4:00-5:40PM
Lower School (grades 1-3) parents - 4:20-6:00PM

$125 / 6 Modules or $25 per individual modules

Childcare available

• March 25th - Module 1 - Four steps to responsibility and preparing children for the real world
• April 1st - Module 2 - Sharing control, opportunities for thinking and decision-making; empathy and consequences
• April 8th - Module 3 - Sharing control through choices, choices you can live with, and parent/child patterns
• April 15th - Module 4 - Parenting styles and guiding children to solve their own problems
• April 29th - Module 5 - Setting limits, thinking words vs. fighting words, and setting enforceable limits
• May 6th - Module 6 - Consequences vs. punishments, using empathy, and constructing logical consequences

Becoming a Love and Logic Parent (Saturday 9-5)
RSVP: ( http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0944a8aa2c7-stpauls4 )
Open to anyone interested.

Saturday, April 11th 9:00am-5:00pm 

$100 / 6 Modules covered in 1 day class

See Wednesday classes description above for more details.

Teaching Empathy Through Reading with Your Child 
RSVP: ( http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0944a8aa2c7-teaching )

Tuesday, April 21st
Two classes available:
     11:45am - 12:15pm
     4:00pm - 4:30pm 
We read to our children almost every day. Would you like to learn how to use that time to help your child learn empathy? Recognize feelings in others? Express their feelings in an appropriate way? 

Your child will see it as a fun story time, you will walk out with a new, easy to use parenting skill! 

ECC Parents:
ECC Health Fair

TO VOLUNTEER: ( http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0944a8aa2c7-stpauls2 )

Thursday, March 26th 7:30am-1:00pm
Displays will be child friendly, interactive, and will include pamphlets and ideas for you to take with you. 

Come and walk through our ECC Commons and learn more about young children and these subjects: Nutrition, Dental, Exercise, Sun Safety, Lice, and Car Seat Safety and Laws.