Hello! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Ben and I really really enjoyed the wonderful Spring Concert! Everyone sounded and looked SO good! Great job to all the kiddos and a special thanks to Ms. Betzold for all of her hard work in coordinating and teaching all of the music students at OLL! She does a fabulous job with the kids!!!
We also spent the weekend hanging out with my sister. Ben and I had fun swimming with her on Saturday at Splashland!
Sunday brought rainy weather but a WONDERFUL First Communion Mass for the 2nd graders! Congratulations to all!!
Hard to believe the weekend is ending so quickly, but Monday is just around the corner again...
Here's what we're up to this week:
Language Arts:
We'll be learning our last consonant Alphafriend: Jumping Jill! We'll be exploring the sound of 'Jj' and practice writing it in words we can think of with this letter!
We'll be starting our final section in our Language Arts series "A World of Animals". We will hear stories this week about various animals and make a list of animals we can think of that we see in our area. We will use this list in our journal writing during small group time!
Our reading strategy focus will be on asking questions before and during our reading of the stories. Our comprehension strategy focus will be on thinking about and identifying the beginning, middle and end of the story.
Math:
We will start our chapter on measurement! This week we will explore concepts of longer/shorter; longest/shortest; capacity and weight. We will have time to explore these concepts using a variety of manipulatives and with a small group center on capacity.
Religion:
We will talk about forgiving others. We have talked a lot about God's forgiveness for us, and now we will discuss God's desire for us to be forgiving. We will talk about friendships and how, at times, they can get damaged and discuss ways that we can repair this damage by being forgiving, as Jesus asks of us. Saying "I'm sorry" is a difficult thing for some, but if we are to live the life that God wants us too, it is something we have to do at times.
Science:
Our National Geographic for Young Explorers has a section on Family Life, not from a human perspective, but from that of an elephant. (This fits in well this week as our main story from Lang. Arts is about a baby elephant.) We will read this article and talk about what the baby elephant learns from his parents and then discuss what we, as humans, learn from our parents. We will compare these lists to see how they are different and how some aspects are the same.
We will also learn about the different 'tools' that the elephant has on his body to help him with day to day tasks. We will then identify 'tools' that we use each day that make it easier for us.
Social Studies:
We will review past cultures that we have explored throughout the year. We will talk about how they have been the same and different. Some of the differences in these cultures have to do with the area of the world that they live in (e.g. eskimos live in igloos made of ice). We will talk about Africa and what it would be like to live there (differences from the other cultures) and then ready the National Geographic for Young Explorers section on the Maasai tribe from Africa.
Important Upcoming Dates:
May 18th ~ Field Trip to the Duluth Zoo **please get in permission slips and money!
May 24th ~ Moments with Moms from 2 PM to 3 PM (can be mom or another friend...just not dad!)
May 28th ~ No School - Happy Memorial Day!!
May 30th ~ Kindergarten & 1st Grade Liturgy - 9 AM to 10 AM
June 8th ~ LAST DAY!!! - half day of school!
