Grade 1-2 News 12-15-14

Rejoice, rejoice, O Israel, to you shall come Emmanuel

Third week of Advent

December 15-19, 2014

Grade One/Two

It’s finally beginning to look a bit like Advent/Christmas! And I’m feeling that old familiar “December is a blur” teacher feeling; whew! Monday is a really special day in our class as we will try for another virtual field trip, this one to the Alaska Zoo for an event called “Santa’s Reindeer Tails.” This is a science experience and a live feed with our soon-to-be friend, Abby, who is the director of distance learning at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage. I’m not sure how many of us will ever physically get to Alaska, some will, I suppose, but here is a chance for us to visit with just an effective internet connection and lots of organization and preparation! I didn’t want to talk much about this until the time was very near; since the feed is outdoors, cancellation is always a possibility. Here’s hoping and praying.

Reading/language involves covering the wealth of information provided to prepare for the virtual trip. We will also try to read Tommie dePaola’s Country Angel Christmas. Several years ago, I had an opportunity to hear this wonderful Catholic children’s author speak at a conference I attended. He is a great author and understands children well. Our sounds are g that sounds like j; and the word chunks age and ay, both long a sounds.

Math finds us trying to solidify 7, 8, and 9 as sums and minuends, so we will talk about fact families. Seconds will review ordinal numbers and practice more on 2 digit addition.

Religion will, of course, focus on the birth of Jesus and activities regarding that. We will have some “service activities” (making gifts for parents! J)

Spelling words

age page cage way say may day

play angel 2^nd grade additionals: stage playground

The only homework this week is spelling on Monday. I suppose we all have enough to do. J

Christmas blessings to you all. The greatest gift you give me is one you share every day: your children. They are very special little people and I love each one dearly. Merry Christmas to your whole family!

School News 12-8-14

THIS WEEK

Monday: Choir sings and visits at Spring Wind.

Tuesday: Grades 5-6 at Soup Kitchen / Book Fair at 5:30 / Partners in Print Night 6:30-7:30

Wednesday: Art and PE Classes

Thursday: Mass at 8:30

Friday: Nutcracker Performance 10:00

PARTNERS IN PRINT NIGHT

Tomorrow (Tuesday, December 9), the school is holding a Partner’s in Print Night in the school. We will open the Book Fair at 5:30 that evening and keep it open the rest of the evening. At 6:30 there will be Pizza and Juice in the gym. After that there will be a couple of presentations on how to help your children with reading skills. The parents of younger students we will hear a short talk on Story Champs followed by a short talk for the older students’ parents on Independent Reading. I know this is a busy time for all of us, but please come if at all possible.

NUTCRACKER

The Nutcracker performance is this Friday! We have been contacting drivers to get us up to the A&S Auditorium. Kindergarten and Pre-Kindergarten will be taking the Gem City Bus. First through fourth are walking down Fourth Street to Ivinson Ave. Fifth and Sixth class is riding to Trinity Lutheran Church with parents and walking from there to the A&S. So make sure your child wears comfortable walking shoes on Friday, as they will be doing a lot of walking.

BOOK FAIR IS HERE

Just in time for your Christmas shopping! It’s the St. Laurence School Book Fair. We will be holding the Book Fair in Room 2 this year. We will start Wednesday and it will run all through next week. So come down to the room and browse before school at 7:30 till 8:00 and after school from 3:00 to 3:30. We will have a special Partner’s in Print night tomorrow December 9 with special giveaways.

SINGING AT THE PARADE

Thank you to all who made the effort to come and sang at the tree lighting downtown this past Friday. We had a great turnout and it was good publicity for the school from the activity.

TETON SCIENCE SCHOOL

The 50-50 Raffle sale is underway. The older students are selling the tickets to help pay for their January trip to Jackson. If any other parents want to buy a chance or two, stop by the offices when you’re at school, and we will find a student who would love to sell you some tickets.

Students are also selling World’s Finest Chocolate Bars for a dollar a piece with sales continuing through the holidays. Please support the students as they work to pay their way to the Teton Science Camp next month. If any parents would like to sell a box of chocolate to help support the trip, please come by my office to pick it up. They sell for a dollar and the school keeps $.40 on each bar sold.

ART SUPPLIES

Mrs. Howdeshell is in need of empty paper towel rolls and empty oatmeal cylinders for a Christmas Art Project. If you have any just drop them off at the office.

POSADA

We invite you to join in the Posada tradition held here at the school. It runs from December 13-21 at 7:00 PM on weekdays and 2:00 on Sundays. A wonderful Mexican Christmas tradition, las posadas literally translates in English as "the inns" or "the lodgings" and symbolizes the Biblical journey of Mary and Joseph as they searched for shelter in Bethlehem before the birth of Jesus.

HOME AND SCHOOL MEETING

The Home and School Meeting was last Thursday. The attendees discussed hosting the reception after the Christmas Program, teacher bonuses, and Catholic School’s Week on the last full week of January.

CANS FOR THE CAUSE

Do you have aluminum cans at your house? Bring them to St. Laurence School where we turn cans into cash. The money goes into a fund for a variety of worthy classroom projects from field trips to classroom rewards. Please place cans in the barrels on the south side back porch by the art room. No tin or aluminum cans please.

HELP THE SCHOOL WITH SAFEWAY CARDS

We have for sale Reloadable Safeway Gift Cards as well as $100 Gift Cards. The reloadable cards come with $10 pre-loaded on them so we sell them for $10. Then you can reload them as many times as you wish at the checkout and use them to buy groceries, gas, or prescriptions. The great thing is that you are giving 5% to the school every time you reload. If you’re a Safeway shopper, stop by and purchase your reloadable card or a $100 gift card. You can also call Gramma Mary Selzer for $100 Grocery Cards at 399-2566. It costs you nothing extra. The card will work at any Safeway throughout the West. Send one to Grandma and Grandpa who shop at Safeway in other towns and the school will still get the 5%.

DON’T FORGET YOUR DOLLARS FOR TAHIANA

We are a little short for this month’s installment for Tahiana from Madagascar. If you will recall we have to come up with $30 each month for our little boy from Madagascar. We did well in September and October but we are little light for November and now December. If every family just puts in $1 per month we can meet our goal. Thanks for your help on this project. There is a letter posted on the bulletin board from Tahiana’s mom. Check it out.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

December 8

The Immaculate Conception of Mary Mass at 8:30

December 9

Partners in Print Night: Book Fair opens at 5:30 with Pizza at 6:30 Program at 7:00

December 12

Nutcracker Performance 10:00

December 18

All School Christmas Program 6:30 at St. Laurence Church

December 19

All School Christmas Party after lunch. Please check with your child’s teacher for what to bring in the way of healthy refreshments for the party. Christmas movies will be showing for both the little and the bigs.

December 20 – January 4 Christmas Break

January 12-16 Grades 4-6 at Teton Science Camp

Grade 5-6 News 12-3-14

This week will be the last “normal” week for my students before Christmas break because of our work through K-kids and other scheduled activities. Please mark the events in my “Up-coming Events” section on your calendars! When we go to the Laramie Soup Kitchen I would like students to wear their St. Laurence t-shirts/sweatshirts. I am trying to schedule us for Tuesday, December 9th. Since it is on a Tuesday—our normal “spirit day” I hope it will be easy to remember having your child wear a St. Laurence t-shirt/sweatshirt. I am waiting to hear back from Josh at the Soup Kitchen for a final confirmation—but please just assume we are going unless you hear otherwise from me.

Question: Is anyone available to transport us to UW for The Nutcracker on Friday, December 12th if needed? I should have this covered between Mrs. Lyford and I—but I would appreciate having a back-up plan. Parking is apparently horrible and we cannot pay for parent tickets unfortunately—thus the students and I would just need to be dropped off and then picked back up after the performance. Please let me know if you can be our “back-up”.

Please keep encouraging your child to read for Book It. I will send home new reading logs today for the month of December. For more information go to: www.pizzahut.com/bookit

Up-coming Events

· *Friday, December 5^th @ 5pm: Go to Tutoring Club for Winter Parade

· Monday, December 8^{th @} 1:30pm: Students sing at Spring Wind

· (Not confirmed)Tuesday, December 9^th @ 10am-1pm: Students serve at the Laramie Soup Kitchen

· Tuesday, December 9^th @ 6-8pm: Partners in Print

· Friday, December 12^th @ 10am: Students attend a performance of The Nutcracker

· *Saturday, December 13^th: K-kids are invited to help ring bell @ Safeway for Salvation Army

· Tuesday, December 16^th: K-kids will help set-up and serve for the Special Needs Luncheon

· January 12- 16^th: Teton Science School

This Week’s Spelling List

Test 12/04/14 Retest 12/05/14

Unit 10 Vocabulary

1. weapon

2. struggle

3. frighten

4. horror

5. mental

6. channel

7. sample

8. moral

9. litter

10. soldier

11. kitchen

12. gallon

13. stumble

14. linen

15. panel

16. error

17. rural

18. quarrel

19. bundle

20. cancel

21. loyal

22. matter

23. novel

24. major

25. dozen

26. corporal

27. colonel

28. agricultural

29. valor

30. maneuver

*Words 26-30 are extra credit words

Next 2 Week’s Spelling List

Test 12/17/14 Retest 12/18/14

Unit 11 Vocabulary

1. lawyer

2. dentist

3. author

4. system

5. custom

6. method

7. standard

8. admit

9. supply

10. whisper

11. tennis

12. instant

13. burden

14. rescue

15. banquet

16. bullet

17. surface

18. journey

19. laundry

20. campus

21. actor

22. surgeon

23. merchant

24. employ

25. effort

26. aspire

27. intern

28. enhance

29. structure

30. astute

*Words 26-30 are extra credit words

*Note: Spelling words have become more challenging!! Please ensure your child is practicing all week for each spelling test!! I have been sending home study aid materials.

Groups are finishing final projects over their novel. We will begin our new novels on Monday! I am very excited about our selections. Your child chose their novel with their individual reading group. As you can see above, we have quite a variety!

*K-kid additional activities your child is encouraged to attend

Grade 1-2 News 12-8-14

O Come Emmanuel

Second Week of Advent, December 8-12, 2014

Grade One/Two

Happy week two of a very holy season! This week we continue to celebrate Advent and learn many other things, as well!

In reading/language, we will read informational books about stars as we wrap up that science unit. Our sound is “bossy r” with a, with the sounds ar and ark. We will have activities about informational text. We will finish our very cool constellation display in the hallway by our classroom.

Math finds us reviewing nifty 9, learning about 8 as an addend and minuend, and 7 added.

In religion we will think about the commandments, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and the legends of Las Posadas and the Poinsettia.

We have a busy week with two school Masses (today for the holy day Immaculate Conception and regular Mass on Thursday), and the Nutcracker on Friday! Whew!

We have had lots of problems with unkind words, pushing, not so nice secrets, etc. in our classroom recently. Please talk with your cherub about the importance of kindness, respect, and love of others through Christ. Thanks for your support. J

Spelling words

far car tar jar star

dark bark mark park hark 2^nd grade word: spark

Homework

Monday: spelling sort

Tuesday: math

Wednesday: religion journal, please talk about the faith of Juan Diego and how he shared that and the importance of Mary appearing to a poor Indian man

Thursday: unsure

Have a wonderful week!

School News 12-1-14

THIS WEEK

Monday: Please make plans to pay your Dec. tuition.

Tuesday: Music classes with Mrs. Lyford preparing for Christmas

Wednesday: Art and PE Classes

Thursday: Mass at 8:30 / Home and School Meeting 3:10

Friday: Bring Instruments and books grades 3-6 / Choir rehearsal 3:10-4:45 with caroling to follow downtown.

THANKSGIVING FEAST

Thanks to all who came to attend our Thanksgiving Feast last week. We had a great turnout and it means so much to your children that you take the time to attend school function. It was nice to see so many of you. Thanks to our cook, Letiticia Millan and her right hand man, Chris, for the delicious food. Thanks to Ms. Anita for organizing the whole thing from start to finish. Thanks to all who donated turkeys for the meal. Thanks to Mrs. Lyford and the choir for entertaining us. One final thanks goes to Ms. James’ class for being our set up crew and wait staff. We certainly have a lot to be thankful for. We now turn our attention to the Christmas Pageant that will be held in the church on the evening of December 18^th at 6:30.

SINGING AT 5:30 MASS

Thanks to the families who attended and brought their children to sing at the 5:30 Mass Sunday. Thanks to Tai, Mindoe, Winter, Mackinzie, Makayla, Donavin, Melody, Audra, and Jas for singing. Thanks to our altar servers: Mateusz, Antoni, and Harmony.

TETON SCIENCE SCHOOL

The 50-50 Raffle tickets sale is underway. The older students are selling the tickets to help pay for their January trip to Jackson. If any other parents want to buy a chance or two, stop by the offices when you’re at school, and we will find a student who would love to sell you some tickets.

They will also be selling World’s Finest Chocolate Bars for a dollar a piece starting Thursday and continuing through the holidays. Please support the students as they work to pay their way to go to the Teton Science Camp next month.

BOOK FAIR IS COMING

Just in time for your Christmas shopping! It’s the St. Laurence School Book Fair. We will be holding the Book Fair in Room 2 this year. We will start Wednesday and it will run all through next week. So come down to the room and browse before school at 7:30 till 8:00 and after school from 3:00 to 3:30 in Room 2. We will have a special Partner’s in Print night next Tuesday, December 9 with special giveaways.

PARTNERS IN PRINT NIGHT

Next Tuesday the school is holding a Partner’s in Print Night in the school. We will open the Book Fair at 5:30 that evening and keep it open the rest of the evening. At 6:30 there will be Pizza and Juice in the gym. After that there will be a couple of presentations. For the parents of younger students we will hear a short talk on Story Champs followed by a short talk for the older students’ parents on Independent Reading. I know this is a busy time for all of us, but please come if at all possible.

HOME AND SCHOOL MEETING

The Home and School meets this Thursday at 3:10 in the Art Room off the gym. Please make plans now to attend. We will be discussing the upcoming Christmas activities as well as Catholic School’s Week in January.

CANS FOR THE CAUSE

Do you have aluminum cans at your house? Bring them to St. Laurence School where we turn cans into cash. The money goes into a fund for a variety of worthy classroom projects from field trips to classroom rewards. Please place cans in the barrels on the south side back porch by the art room.

HELP THE SCHOOL WITH SAFEWAY CARDS

We have for sale Reloadable Safeway Gift Cards as well as $100 Gift Cards. The reloadable cards come with $10 pre-loaded on them so we sell them for $10. Then you can reload them as many times as you wish at the checkout and use them to buy groceries, gas, or prescriptions. The great thing is that you are giving 5% to the school every time you reload. If you’re a Safeway shopper, stop by and purchase your reloadable card or a $100 gift card. It costs you nothing extra. The card will work at any Safeway throughout the West. Send one to Grandma and Grandpa who shop at Safeway in other towns and the school will still get the 5%.

DON’T FORGET YOUR DOLLARS FOR TAHIANA

We are a little short for this month’s installment for Tahiana from Madagascar. If you will recall we have to come up with $30 each month for our little boy from Madagascar. We did well in September and October but we are little light for November. If every family just puts in $1 per month we can meet our goal. Thanks for your help on this project. There is a letter posted on the bulletin board from Tahiana’s mom. Check it out.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

December 5

Grades 3-6 singing at the 1st and Grand Plaza for the Downtown Christmas Parade 5:15 (Younger students are welcome to join in as well.)

December 6

Happy Holidays, Laramie! Joint St. Laurence/Snowy Range Academy Choirs Sing at the UW Art Museum. Meet in the basement at 12:00 for warmup. Sing at 12:30

December 8

The Immaculate Conception of Mary Mass at 8:30

December 9

Partners in Print Night 6:00 at School

Book Fair

December 12

Nutcracker Performance 10:00

December 18

All School Christmas Program 6:30 at St. Laurence Church

December 20 – January 4 Christmas Break

Grade 1-2 News 12-1-14

Come, Lord Jesus, Come

Grade One/Two December 1-5, 2014

Oh my, how can it be December?! But here we are, in the blessed season of Advent. I have lots of fun and Advent activities to help us celebrate this holy time. If all goes, well, we will make Advent wreaths this first day back. I will also send home a blessing prayer for your new Advent wreath. We will work on the 10 Commandments in religion, emphasizing that they are more than rules, but ways to strengthen our relationship with the Body of Christ. Saturday is the feast day of St. Nicholas, so we’ll celebrate this special saint, as well. Whew!

In reading/language, we will read the story of the Gingerbread Man. Bless Mrs. Boyer’s heart, she is sharing the Gingerbread Girl with us; the seconds will focus on that story. It’s fun! Our skills are long a with final e, ed endings on verbs, and real/fantasy in stories.

We are moving along well in math. This week we’ll do lots of review after our break and then move into 10 as a subtrahend and 9 as an addend.

We will still consider the stars in science, and begin a study of constellations. Our virtual field trip to NASA last Monday was wonderful! I hope your child shared some thoughts with you. There are more virtual field trips in the future. No drivers, how convenient! However, this Thursday we will walk to the UW Planetarium for a show there. Please join me in praying for pleasant weather!

Spelling words

ate late gate make bake take gave

save

Additional second grade words: plate brave quake

Homework

Monday: spelling sort as usual

Tuesday: math

Wednesday: please journal about how your family plans to celebrate Advent this year.

Thursday: reading