Dear Parents,

Happy Sunday!  As we begin a new week (which I believe is the LAST full week of school…..WHAT?!?!), I wanted to share a few items from last week.

First of all, THANK YOU so much for all the gifts, cards, hugs, and encouragement that you all gave to me and the other teachers last week.  I know that I appreciate it very much and it was a great boost! Your kindness and thoughtfulness was wonderful.

On Friday, the 7^th and 8^th graders had to “teach” the 1^st and 2^nd graders something that they have learned about Washington D.C.  Each class was split into groups and each group spent about 5 minutes with a different 7^th or 8^th grader.  Did your firstie tell you about their experience? It was interesting!  I hope that all the students were able to glean something from this lesson (I heard that a few of the 7^th and 8^th graders were complaining that the 1^st and 2^nd graders just WOULD NOT listen…..hahahah!).  

The story that we read last week "the dot", was all about art and artists.  So we made our own "dots".  What do you think?  

 

This last chapter in Math was all about information gathering and reporting (different graphs…bar graph, tally charts, picture graphs, etc….).  Here is a picture of some “information gathering”!  

I think that they enjoyed this chapter and the next one will be about geometry. 

Because our technology issues, we were not able to do our NWEA testing last week.  So that means that we have to get that done this week.  If at all possible, please try to not have your firstie miss any school this week.  I understand that things come up, but if missed time could be avoided, that would be most helpful.  Thank you for making sure that your firstie gets a good night’s sleep and has a healthy, brain-boosting breakfast, so that they are able to do their best. 

The firsties will not be getting their take home story bags until Tuesday and please note that there are 13 spelling words this week!  

I will not be in school tomorrow, but Mrs. Pickleman will be subbing.  If you need anything, I will be available via Fast Direct. 

Blessings on your week!

Miss Gallagher

“Following the Signs”

Dear Parents,

With all of the troubles that we have had lately with technology, Mr. John Mrozinski has been doing a FANTASTIC job at solving all of our issues. If you see him, please give him a high-five, or a pat on the back (which I know will make him TOTALLY uncomfortable) as a thank you! He is awesome!  

The Pen Pal letters arrived at the other end (Fort Wayne, IN) and here are the firsties of Mrs. Scott’s class, checking out what OUR firsties wrote! 

So FUN!  I hope that with the remaining weeks that we have, we are able to communicate one or two more times.  

We have been working in pairs or groups more lately so that they can continue to practice our social skills!  (Sometimes being social is HARD!)  Don’t forget to remind them about SuperFlex and how we don’t want the Unthinkables (Rock Brain, Mean Jean, Topic Twister Mister, and Glassman) to get in the way of our learning and interacting with others!  

Did I tell you that I have Cardinal’s nest right outside my kitchen window?  It is like having the Nature Channel on all the time!  It is SO NEAT! There are babies (I think two) and both the mom and the dad have been helping to feed them.  Hopefully as the babies grow, I will be able to see them better and snap a picture! 

This week the spelling words are a little different adding ed and ing to words.  We talked about it today but as a reminder, if the word ends with an e, and you need to add ed, you will drop the first e, before you add the ed.  If the word ends in an e and you need to add ing, the e gets dropped.  If the word ends with a consonant and you need to add ed, the final consonant gets doubled before you add the ed.  Same thing when adding the ing. Whew!  I hope that makes sense! (First grade grammer….ugh….!)

Blessings your week my friends,

Miss Gallagher

“Following the Signs”

Dear Parents,

One of my favorite Christian bands is Mercy Me.  Their newest song, called “Even If”, is a song that I heard last week and it has just stuck with me. 

I don’t know what you are going through, or even IF you are going through something, but I hope that  you will take a few minutes to listen to what God has to say through the music.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6fA35Ved-Y

God is good.  All the time.

I pray for you.  Being a parent in times like these can’t be easy or for the faint of heart.  I continue to ask Him for guidance for us ALL as we are entrusted with His children.

Sorry for all the emails… but with the internet being up and down all day, I wanted to make sure that you receive all the information that is needed for this week!

Spelling this week will be concentrating on words that have the sound “ow” in them, spelled with ow and ou.  Please note that there are 15 spelling words this week (I only upped their normal list by one… they ARE getting closer to being big ol’ second graders…!), and our spelling practice test will be on Wednesday and our regular test on Friday.  

No other tests this week other than the memory test on Friday. I will send home their May/June memory calendar tomorrow. 

Blessings on your week!

Miss Gallagher