Dear Parents, and Readers,

The first quarter of school has passed by so quickly. We have already learned so much; reviewed addition facts, read so many great stories, become fabulous spellers and grammarians and even greater fiends of God. On the closet doors in our classroom, we have posters filled with our signatures proclaiming we are: Stewards of God, good friends, polite folk, quiet workers, custodians of our school, sharing people, neat writers, and regular church goers !

Our school theme is to "Let our light shine for all the world to see!" and that is exactly what the first grade class has been working on, to let our school community know, that we care! As the children go to Sunday Mass, work quietly, share their snack, or clean up the bathroom after we've been there; they come back to the closets and sign their name to the poster that matches their action. We are looking for 1000 points of light by the end of the school year. (Borrowed from George Bush, Sr.) Each signature indicates a good deed done. We are well on our way to achieving our goal!

In the past two months, we have been so busy. We have entertained our grandparents on Grandparents Day at school. They came to Church with us, had breakfast with us, and played Bingo with us. There are a few pictures on our website of the festivities.

The first grade always takes a day to honor Johnny Appleseed with a few apple tasty treats and a sharing of the literature that made him so famous.

Late in September, we had a school Walk-a-thon, another day of fun and frolic! The children all collected pledges for our school to pay for all the many extra activities we take part in. The PTO provides us with field trips and other programs. This year they took on an even more daunting challenge of helping to pay for some of the new air conditioned classrooms. ( One of the more delightful additions to our teaching day, COOL AIR, when it is sizzling outside.) So the walk-a-thon helps our school in so many ways. The PTO provided a funfilled day and God provided a beautiful sunny day of near normal temperatures. See the website pictures of Walk-a-thon.

In October, we have enjoyed St.Francis' feast day with a pet blessing. Arf! We took time to learn a little about Christopher Columbus. We read about his adventures and made a little "craft" in his honor.

On October 24, the first and third grade visited the Cincinnati Nature Center to learn about the animals and plants indigenous to the KY and Ohio countryside.

The children visited the pond, the field and the forest at Rowe Woods. It was a little rainy, but rain is what the area has needed for weeks.

This past week we enjoyed going to the Taft Theatre for Children's Theatre. They presented High School Musical and everyone absolutely enjoyed it.

The Halloween party was held on Wed. Oct.31 and we had a wonderfully exciting party. Our special thanks to all of our parents and the PTO for providing all of the ingredients for a very magically perfect party.

Looking ahead into November, we'll be exploring some of the cultures of Native American tribes around the United States through literature and then we'll take a look at the Pilgrims and the trials they endured to make their voyage to America. We'll culminate with a feast similar to the First Thanksgiving and share it with our Indian buddies in the seventh grade.

Advent will bring another newsletter to fill you in on Christmas in the first grade

Sincerely,

Cathy Cline