St. Joan of Arc School

The first snow has fallen, the trees are bare, we have celebrated our first Sunday of Advent. These are all signs that Christmas is quickly approaching. This month, we will be getting ready to celebrate the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. We will count our blessings for all the gifts the Lord has bestowed upon us during the year. Here are some of the other activities we will be working on during the Advent Season.

Religion
On December 16, the first graders of the Saint Joan of Arc Parish will celebrate together at the 10:00 Mass. We hope that you will be able to attend this special event with your family.

We have memorized a poem about Mary, our Blessed Mother. Ask us to recite it at home!

Language Arts

Phonics and Spelling - We are studying blended sounds such as cr, dr, tr, bl, cl, gl, pl, tw,ch, wh, and nk. We will also begin long vowel sounds made by adding a silent e to the end of a word as in tape.

Vocabulary - We will introduce possessives and contractions.

Grammar - Complete proper nouns and introduce verbs, present and past tense.
Comprehension - Compare and contrast, review character, plot, setting and make inferences.

Study Skills- Read diagrams.

Writing - Use capital letters to begin a sentence and end a sentence with a special mark. We will write a description of Santa. We will journal using our senses to tell us what we like to smell, hear, feel, taste, see during this Christmas Season.

Math

We have completed addition strategies to 10. We are working on subtraction strategies from 10. Please study doubles facts to the sum of 20. (6+6, 8+8). Continue to study and memorize addition facts. Make sure your child can count by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s. This will help when we study counting money. As you bake cookies for the holiday, let your child help measure the ingredients. This is a great practical lesson in math and it tastes good too!

Science

We are completing a packet about Weather that covers vocabulary words that describe weather conditions, thermometer readings, season analysis, and the water cycle. We will be having a science test the week of December 10. Look for a study packet to come home.

Noteworthy Items

Joy Dooley will discuss appropriate and inappropriate touching.

We will go outside at recess unless the temperature is below 25 degrees or the weather is wet. Therefore, please have your child dress accordingly with hat, gloves, and boots, if necessary. Also, you may want to send children with a sweatshirt or sweater for in class use.

Please discourage your child from bringing personal items to school that might get lost.
The exception is if an item is related to a topic that we are currently studying.

We will have a Christmas party the week of December 17.