Dear 4B Families,
I hope you all had a nice weekend. March has certainly come in like a lion. Hopefully spring will bring warmer, sunnier weather!
Lent: I have attached to the weekly email a copy and the students will have a hard copy of the 4th Grade Lenten Outreach plans as well. Also, because the upcoming weeks are so busy I am including a calendar of important dates at the bottom of this newsletter.
Religion: Lent and the Ten Commandments will remain our areas of focus this week. Our focus will be on how the Ten Commandments apply to our actions and choices today. The students will be tested on the Ten Commandments and Chapter 3 this Thursday, March 9th. The students will need to be able to correctly fill in the blanks of missing words in each commandment. If you need extra study sheets they can be found under the Religion content tab above. The Commandments will not be in the same order for the test.
Math: We will be continuing with long division. This week we will focus on interpreting remainders, checking our answers with multiplication and multi-step problems. Look for math homework on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Science: This week we are finishing up testing our anemometers. The students will also complete an evaluation reflecting 
on how successful their anemometer was and any changes that could have been made. Self reflection is an important step in the Engineering Design Process. We will also begin looking at how wind affects the world around us.
Social Studies: Corrected river and lake tests were sent home last Friday. I was do proud of how well the students prepared for this test. Knowledge of the rivers will be important as we move forward in our studies. We are wrapping up our study of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and moving into our Oregon Trail studies this week. The students all brought home three study sheets last week for the Lewis and Clark test which will take place Tuesday. One is a corrected quiz we took two weeks ago, the second is a handwritten study sheet of addional items the students need to know, the third is a sheet with descriptions of the trip around the Great Falls of the Missouri and the Rocky Mountains. The students will need to be able to describe the hardships of both of these portions of the journey.
Reading/LA: We continue our story Stormalong and Hoderi the Fisherman, both folk tales. Our target comprehension skill is “understanding characters.” Students learn to infer, predict and understand ‘point of view’ as they read. Our focus on character is important in both the oral biography project and our current classroom writing mini-bio project. We are also continuing to learn about figurative language. Students learn how hyperbole helps make tall tales like, Stormalong, interesting and humorous. Students also learn to identify and interpret examples of simile, personification and metaphor. We are focusing on building expression as students read aloud using an expressive, loud, clear voice. Also, a very important part of the upcoming oral biography presentations.
Oral Biography Projects: Students should be well into their reading and note taking at this point. The next step is to organize notes and plan out the talk. It is a good idea to have the talk organized into sections.
- Brilliant beginning that catches the audiences attention
- Childhood/family information
- Schooling/occupations
- Important accomplishments and how they were reached—be sure to included times of struggle and how challenges were overcome
- Later years
- Final thoughts when the student speaks in his or her own voice explaining what they most admire and how this person has positively impacted our world and what we can learn from this person.
Mrs. Harris will be teaching the students about the bibliography format and having them practice in library this week. I will also be sending out a Google Doc with dates and times to sign up for presentations. Early presentations will be on Thursday, March 23rd and Friday, March 24th. The rest of the presentations will take place the following week of March 27th.
Spelling: Lesson 3 words were passed out last Friday. The test will take place this Thursday since we do not have school on Friday due to the teacher inservice day.
Holy Rosary’s Drama Department Presents The Frog Princess! 
Mark your calendars for the evenings of March 8th and 9th, and plan on bringing the whole family to enjoy Holy Rosary Drama Department’s debut of The Frog Princess. Come indulge your imagination in an evening filled with fun, humor, whimsical entertainment, and community building!
- When: Wednesday, March 8th and Thursday, March 9th at 7:00 p.m.
- Where: Holy Rosary School, School Hall Main Entrance
- Cost: Donations warmly accepted at the door
Delicious treats and refreshments will be available from our concession stand!
Important Upcoming Dates
- March 7th: Lewis and Clark test
- March 9th: 4B will be attending the school performance of The Frog Princess, Spelling test for lesson 3, and 10 Commandments/Chapter 3 religion test
- March 10th: No school due to an Archdiocesan Inservice Day.
- March 13th: Introduction of the Flat Stanley Project
- March 15th: 4B will participate in the sacrament of reconciliation 11:20-12:20
- March 16th: All day special assembly for 3rd and 4th grade students on the NW Coast Native People called Of Cedar and Salmon.
- March 17th: All School Mass at 8:45. Report cards will come home
- March 20-22nd: Accreditation Site Visit. No free dress on these days please.
- March 23-30th: Oral Biography presentations.
- March 31st: Please join 4B for morning mass at 7:45 Half-day for auction preparations
- April 11th: All School Mass. Perfect uniform.
- April 13th: Outreach Day. Last day to send in items for St. Vincent de Paul and monetary collections.
- April 14th: Good Friday: Silent noon dismissal.
- April 14-23: Spring Break.
Have a great week!