The Eagle Eye Parent Newsletter Volumn 6, Issue 2 - Spring 2009

1st Grade News: Mrs. Harris - Room 204

Our First Graders have enjoyed working on some special projects these past months. In January, they helped their Kindergarten buddies create a special booklet about snowy days. They wrote stories about snowmen and penguins. Then busy February arrived. They made predictions for Groundhog's Day. They celebrated the 100th Day of School with many activities involving the number 100. The children viewed video clips from United Streaming about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. They celebrated Valentine's Day both in the classroom and reaching out to the community. The Fifth Graders helped them make valentines for senior citizens. This program was sponsored by Catholic Charities. The First Graders focused on reading during the month of March. At the beginning of the month, they spent a week celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday. Parent volunteers took turns reading their favorite Seuss stories to the class. The children rhymed like Seuss with their own versions of Green Eggs and Ham. They tried writing like Seuss with their own stories based on Horton Hatches an Egg. The final activity involved creating Cat in the Hat ice cream treats. As a final reading activity for the month, each First Grader chose a book to read to Ms. Kowalski. After reading to our principal in her office, the children received a ribbon that said "I read to the principal today".

April and May continued to be busy. Just before Easter, the class received a visit from the Reading Bunny (Ms. Kowalski). The children enjoyed a story and received some treats. Science activities involved building mazes and moving table tennis balls through the maze using a straw and not their hands. The students used Scitt Kits science activities to study magnets and sounds. The children enjoyed watching five caterpillars grow and change into Painted Lady Butterflies in our classroom butterfly garden. Our final special reading activity was The Teddy Bear Sleepover. This activity involved the story Ira Sleeps Over. The children enjoyed many special writing activities based on this great story. As you can see, our First Graders were involved in many exciting activities. They have just begun to explore the world around them. Look out Second Grade - here they come!

2nd Grade News: Mrs. Biancalana - Room 206

Second graders have been preparing to receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist. They went to Confession on Friday, May 1st. Many parents attended at Church. In the afternoon, they celebrated with a pizza party.

On Friday, May 8 the children had a pre-Communion retreat where they made bread, decorated the altar cloth to be used at Communion Mass, wrote petitions, and completed many other activities. On Saturday, May 9 they received their First Holy Communion. On May 13 they will attend Mass with the third graders at 8:15 a.m. followed by a celebration breakfast at school. In Science they are studying the properties of matter and energy. They used "Skitt Kits" to create their own constellations. Their handwriting is beautiful and the second graders have almost finished the art of writing all the capital letters in cursive. In Social Studies they are studying land forms, consumers and producers. Our classroom is filled with bright butterflies made with hangers and construction paper.