Dear 4B Families,
Happy 4th Week of Lent. I hope you all had a nice weekend, despite the lost hour of sleep! The extra daylight hours are always nice, but the time change can throw off the sleep schedules a bit. We welcomed Fr. Oakland back last Friday with some special cards waiting for him in his office. It is nice to have him back.
Looking ahead…the always fun BINGO Bash will be on Friday, April 12th. There will be information to sign up for this fun evening of BINGO, pizza, prizes and dancing in the eFC this Thursday! Be on the lookout.
Advent/Outreach: Thank you for your continued support of our Lenten Outreach ministry to St. Martin de Porres shelter and the CRS Rice Bowl. On Friday the students can have free dress for a dollar as usual—we encourage them to wear green in honor of St. Patrick’s Day if they choose.
Friday. March 15th St. Martin de Porres Donations:
Last Names A-L: Men’s socks
Last Names M-Z: Brown Bag Lunches (perishable OK)
Thank you for your generosity as we take care of those in need.
Math: Corrected long division tests were passed out last week. If you have not seen them please check your child’s filer. This week we will continue work with Order of Operations then begin our next unit on Fractions. We will continue to spiral in review of addition, subtraction and multiplication of large numbers to keep our skills sharp. Fact mastery remains a HIGH PRIORITY! Those students that are not able to recall their facts automatically should continue with nightly, focused practice on Xtramath or with flashcards. Check your child’s filer for the most updated/scored fact tests from last week (on Monday).
Spelling: The spelling words for the week were passed out last Friday. This week’s words are all have prefixes un, re, or dis. The test will be on Friday the 15th.
Oral Biography: All students have their oral biography choices selected. Students should be reading, and rereading their biographies at home each night. As they read students are encouraged to use the sticky notes we will send home with them to mark pages and ideas that they would like to use in their biographies. We will provide tips and ideas each week along the way so that the students will be prepared for the presentations between April 25th and May 3rd.
Reading: Students will read the informational text, The Ever-Living Tree and the poetry selection, Towering Trees. They learn to use text and structure of graphic features to locate information. As we read, students monitor comprehension and ask questions to clarify. We review the prefixes pre-, inter- and ex- and enhance our vocabulary with the use of similes. We will also read the original Flat Stanley story to prep the students for their upcoming Flat Stanley journals.
Language Arts: The students will be starting a new writing project based on the Flat Stanley stories. This week we will introduce the project and the students will design their flat people. At school for the next two weeks we will begin the Flat Stanley journals. Our writing in these journals will give the students a chance to combine all of the writing skills they have been practicing this year into this final creative writing project. More specific information will be coming related to what the students will be expected to complete at home on this project prior to spring break. Students will be creating their own flat person that will travel with them on all sorts of adventures. They would love to join their families on any outings or trips over spring break especially.
Religion: After we finish up the last of our Sacrament work, we will begin a unit on The Ten Commandments. We will also continue to use our Bibles and look up Gospel readings related to Lent. Reminder, all students need to recite the Memorare by Wednesday March 27th.
Social Studies: The students all have a US River and Lake Map in their filer with the rivers and lakes we will be studying. The test will be on Friday, March 22nd. This practice site includes the required locations for the test. This second site includes both the required and extra credit locations. Students should focus on the required lakes and rivers, then add in extra credit if they like. All students have two separate study sheets in their filers. I have also added PDF’s of extra blank study sheets and one that is filled in with answers. Five minutes of nightly practice should be plenty to prepare for the test. You can find them in the links under Map Study Sheets.
Science: Students will be starting the last lesson in Unit 3: Brain, Nerves, and Information Processing. Students will be able to learn how our brain works and functions. Students explore the brain’s role in receiving information from the senses, processing that information, and controlling the muscles to enable movement. In the activity, Think Fast!, students test their reflexes with two very quick experiments and one more involved activity. They learn about how we process information in our brains and then respond to that information in different ways.
Have a wonderful week everyone.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day on Sunday