"Hail Mary Full of Grace"

We will continue to pray to Mary this week and learn that choosing what pleases God brings joy. Taking responsibility for choices will be stressed. We will continue praying the Hail Mary. Your child will receive a prayer card to take home and practice.

We'll discuss how we grow and change as we read Little Quack. We'll write about things we could not do when we were little and what we can do now. We'll vote on whether we'd like to be older, younger, or the same age. (What would you choose?) We'll talk about responsibilities that we have both at home and at school.

Initial letter sounds, word blends, high frequency words, and word families are reviewed daily.

The children are enjoying Mr. Popper's Penguins and learning many facts about these birds that don't fly.

We'll be exploring numbers to 30 and working with ten frames. Please review this at home. We'll work with the concept of before and after on a number line.

A rep from Chilton Memorial Hospital will visit the classroom and talk about germs, stressing proper hand washing.

Our buddies will guide us in exploring magnets and things that can be attracted to them. They will also share their hobbies with us as will several parent/grandparent volunteers.

Homework: In your child's folder - number writing to 50

• Our goal is 100 cans of soup for our "Souper Bowl" soup drive in anticipation of our 100th day of school.
• Half & Half Day on Thursday - no uniform
• Starbands and Read Aloud due Monday, January 31st
• Have you sent back your "Star" sheet?
• Enjoy the week!

"We imitate Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, by saying yes to God."

Luke 1:36-38

The children will learn that God chose Mary to be the mother of Jesus. They will be reminded to think before they choose and to imitate Mary's "yes" to God by their kind words and actions. They will learn the Hail Mary and celebrate all wonderful moms with stories and a special project. You are asked to complete a paper in your child's folder and return it with a picture of yourself and your child (or children).

Our reading selection is Little Quack, an animal fantasy. There will be discussion on what new things the children can do as they grow and change. We will discuss plot; Rr /r/; verbs; HF Words: me, with, she; -in Word Family: bin, fin, kin, pin, sin, tin, win. It is imperative that you write these words on index cards and review them with your child along with the end of the unit sentences. We review word families and HF words daily.

We are working on equal parts and symmetry. We'll graph who wore mittens or gloves to school. We'll celebrate "Half & Half Day" on Thursday, January 27th. Info will follow.

We'll locate cold spots in the world as we read Mr. Popper's Penguins and see a video on polar animals in the Arctic and Antarctic. We'll observe how long it takes for different size snowballs to melt. (Have you put one in your freezer til the first day of spring?)

Just about every Gingerbread Baby has returned to IHM. It's been fun seeing whose arrived in the afternoon mail and finding the location on the map.

Good News! I am thrilled to have received a $500.00 Target Field Trip Grant. We will visit the Newark Museum in the spring.

Community Service Project: "Souper Bowl" Our goal is to collect 100 cans of soup before the 100th day of school. (We're at the 83rd day of school and have 15 cans.)

For Review: counting by 5's and 10's

Homework: Check your child's folder

Reminders

• Library books are due back on Monday.
• Starbands are due Monday, January 31st
• Last call for Jingle Bell Jog pledges and hobby sharers
• Does anyone have Julia's IHM sweater?
• Might I borrow a 4 slice toaster?
• Sponsors for the Birthday Bash on February 3rd would be most welcome
• Consider snow tubing on Family Night. You'll have a good time.

Have a wonderful week.