FIRST GRADE HOMEWORK SHEET

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 19, 2012

1.       There is no school on Monday, February 20.  Happy President’s Day!

2.      Please continue to have your child read for the Pizza Hut Book-It program.

3.      Our Math test over money will be early this week.  Some of the children are struggling with counting money.  Please work with your child on this concept over the weekend.

4.      We will go to Mass on Wednesday for the celebration of Ash Wednesday.  This will start the Lenten season.  Every Wednesday during Lent, we will have Silent Wednesdays in the cafeteria.  There will be no talking at all during our lunch period.  Also, if your child brings a cold lunch to school on Fridays during Lent, please be respectful of our Catholic faith and do not send meat in your child’s lunch.  Thanks.

5.      On Tuesday, I will be giving your child a cross for the bulletin board.  I will be asking each child to think of one thing he/she would like to give up during Lent, or something additional he/she would like to perform during Lent.  Some possible ideas might be:  give up snacks after school on Fridays, give up ice cream, pray one decade of the rosary each night, read a Saint story each night, etc.  You might, as a family, like to come up with something to do together.  This is a wonderful opportunity to help teach your child to act as Jesus did.

6.      I will also be starting another service project with the children during Lent.  Everyday I will be reading from a devotional book that relates the reading to third world countries.  The children will, on most days, be given a project: i.e., bring a penny for each bar of soap in your house, bring a nickel for each family member.  This project involves a lot of counting, it does involve money, but it also makes the children think about how much better off we are than a lot of other children in the world.  After collecting the money during Lent, we will purchase an animal from the Heifer Foundation to help a family in the third world. ( Please do not feel you have to participate every day.)  I will have the children write out every day what they are counting and it will be attached to their backpacks.  Just do what you can.  Thanks so much for your help and support.

I hope everyone has a great three-day weekend!

Mrs. Sharum

FIRST GRADE HOMEWORK SHEET

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 12, 2012

1.      Please send money for the Heart to Heart Pregnancy Center baby bottle campaign.  This will be the last week for collections.

2.      Beginning this week in the Friday folder, you will start to see Test Practice sheet(s).  Please go over these with your child to make sure he/she understands fully the concepts tested.  We go over them in class, but it doesn’t hurt to review them again.  The standardized test will be held in early April.

3.     Please have your child continue to read for the Pizza Hut Book-It program, as well as continuing to study Math addition and subtraction facts.

4.     The chapter test over money will be next week.  Some of the children are still having a difficult time counting money.  Please review this with your child over the next few days.

5.     Standardized Test Practice:  Work on oral riddles:

a.     It is a rectangle.  It has fifty stars.  (U.S. flag)

b.     You carry books in it.  You wear it on your back.  (backpack)

c.      It is part of your body.  You see with it.  (eyes)

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Mrs. Sharum

P.S.  Mid-quarter reports are to be found in the Friday folders this week.  Please sign and return.  Thanks.

FIRST GRADE HOMEWORK SHEET

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 5, 2012

1.      Please be so kind as to send in change with your child to help support the Heart to Heart Pregnancy Center.  Every dollar we can give them will help in big ways.

2.     Your child needs to continue reading for the Pizza Hut Book-It program.  Not many children completed their form for last month.  If your child is finished with the January form, please send it in.

3.     On the back of this sheet, you will find a list of the children in our class.  This list is for your child to use to address Valentine’s cards.  We will have a party on Tuesday, February 14, at 2p.m.  Your child may bring their Valentine’s that day, or on Monday.  We will pass out cards and have light snacks.

4.     Standardized Test Preparation:  Begin working on comprehension of stories.  Examples:  After you read a story to your child, close the book and ask your child 3 or 4 questions about the story:

a.     Who were the characters?

b.     What did _________ do in the story?

c.      Is this story fiction or nonfiction?

d.     What does __________ like to do?

e.     What word rhymes with _________?

f.       What is this story mostly about?

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Mrs. Sharum

FIRST GRADE HOMEWORK SHEET

WEEK OF JANUARY 29, 2012

1.     We have a very busy week next week.  Sunday, January 29, is the beginning of Catholic Schools Week.  We will start the week off with Mass at 10:30, followed by the German dinner in the parish hall immediately after Mass.

2.     Tuesday is free dress day, our field trip to Christ the King, and Chuck E. Cheese night.

3.     Friday is the “Rootin” Rodeo” BBQ meal and Science Stewardship Expo in the Parish Hall.  Please join us for the meal, and then come and look at the geodomes that we have been diligently making.  These are just one way to recycle paper into a neat project!

4.     One day next week, our class will be dusting the church and planting flowers in front of the church.  If you can send in dusting cloths and/or dusting spray, I would be very thankful.

5.     Friday is also pajama day, along with parent appreciation day.  Look for a special note of appreciation from your child.

6.     Standardized Test Preparation:  Continue to work on rhyming words, greater than/less than, telling time, counting money, contractions, and listening to your child read books.

Thanks for everything you do to support your child, me, and our school.  I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Mrs. Sharum

FIRST GRADE HOMEWORK SHEET

WEEK OF JANUARY 22, 2012

1.     The 100^th day of school is January 24 (Tuesday).  If your child would like to bring 100 items to tell about or share with the class, that is fine.  Suggestions would include pennies, cotton balls, soft candy, Legos, cereal, etc.  Your child needs to know if he/she is allowed to share the items with the class or if the items need to be returned home.

2.     We have started making the geodomes in the classroom this week.  I work with two children each morning since they need one-on-one help to make these.  I can’t wait for you to see them at the Science Stewardship Expo on Friday, February 3!!

3.     Next week starts the Baby Bottle kickoff for the Heart to Heart Center.  We will have a very large baby bottle in our classroom.  If you would like to send spare change with your child to help fill the bottle, that would be appreciated.  You might want to have your child consider “donating” their snack money on Fridays to this worthy organization.

4.     Your child is bringing home a new Reading book this weekend.  Please make sure it is covered by Monday.  Thanks for helping to protect our new Reading books.

5.     Standardized Test preparation:  Start working on telling time (to the hour and half hour) and counting money.  We have been telling time in our Math book for quite some time.  We have been writing the denominations of money, but have not yet started putting the amounts together to count them.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Mrs. Sharum

FIRST GRADE HOMEWORK SHEET

WEEK OF JANUARY 15, 2012

1. There is no school on Monday, January 16, in remembrance of Martin Luther King, Jr.

2. A huge thank you to Lupe Hernandez for stepping up to volunteer to make the geodome project at home.  She sent in a couple of samples for us to follow as we make these for our Science Stewardship Expo which will be held on Friday, February 3.  Everyone is invited to come that night to view our class projects!!  (A free dinner is included before the exposition!)

3. The achievement test is fast approaching.  This test will be in April.  As first graders, this will be the first time that the children will take a formal achievement test.  We have talked about this test all year, but soon we will start taking practice tests.  You should see these pages coming home in Friday folders within the next month.  I will start mentioning skills that you, as parents, can work on at home with your child to help prepare for the test:
1. rhyming words
2. counting syllables in words
3. contractions
4. compound words
5. adding and subtracting (Start working with your child on 2-digit +/- adding and subtracting.  No borrowing or carrying.  We haven’t gotten to this skill yet in our Math book, but we will start working on it even before we get to it in the book.)

We have already worked on skills a-d in the classroom, basically off and on all year.  All I’m doing is asking you do review these skills with your child.  Just a few minutes each day will help tremendously.

4.  Catholic Schools Week begins January 29.  That week our class will perform a service project on the school grounds:  we will dust the church and plant flowers in front of the church.  I am asking: 

            a.  If you can help with either project, please let me know;

            b.  If you can send in dusting cloths, please do so.  Thanks.

I hope everyone has a great three-day weekend!

Mrs. Sharum

FIRST GRADE HOMEWORK SHEET

WEEK OF JANUARY 8, 2012

1.     Your child is bringing home his/her report card today.  Please go over it, sign it, and return it next week.

2.     Please continue to have your child read for the Pizza Hut Book-It program.

3.     Please continue to work with your child on addition and subtraction Math facts.  I am trying to give daily timed Math tests.  Several children are close to passing on to the next level on the Math Facts in a Flash program.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Mrs. Sharum

FIRST GRADE HOMEWORK SHEET

WEEK OF JANUARY 3, 2012

1.     Happy New Year!!!  Welcome back to the new school year, 2012!  I am excited to be starting the second half of first grade.  This half of the year will go by as quickly as the first half did, so hang on.

2.     Your child is bringing home the Brain Booster homework for this week and also the Pizza Hut form for the month of January.  If your child has not returned his/her form for December, please do so promptly.

3.     Our class is in charge of a project in conjunction with the Science Stewardship Expo which will be held on Friday, February 3.  Our project involves making a geodome out of newspapers.  I have been collecting newspapers for the past month or so.  I need a couple of volunteers to help the kids assemble this project before the deadline.  It would help if someone would like to assemble one beforehand to see how it is put together before we actually do the project with the children.  Many, many thanks!

4.     This Friday is Razorback day.  The children may wear a Razorback t-shirt (or any red shirt) to school, along with uniform bottoms.

5.     There is no Spelling test this week!!!

Mrs. Sharum

FIRST GRADE HOMEWORK SHEET

DECEMBER 15, 2011

Parents,

I am not sending home homework over the holidays.  Nor am I sending home the Reading book or the Homework Folder.  Please look for new homework when your child returns to school on Tuesday, January 3, 2012.

I wish everyone a blessed Christmas season!

Mrs. Sharum