Dear 4B Families,

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. The students are invited to a “Wearin’ O the Green on Wednesday this week.  Because it is a Mass day we ask the students refrain from going overboard, no face paint or hair dye.  

Report cards will be sent home this Friday via email. We will not be sending hard copies of the report cards until the end of the year.  

Advent/Outreach:  Thank you for your generous support of our Advent collections for our Ugandan students and the Rice Bowl. Our class has impressively surpassed our goal of $300. Wow! Your generosity is so much appreciated!

Pi Day: Happy Pi Day on Sunday! The students will all be participating in a friendly competition on Monday. All students were asked to memorize at least 10 digits (after the decimal) of pi. 3.1415926535. Students were also challenged to memorize as many digits as they can. The winner in each homeroom will receive a $40 gift card to A la Mode Pies in West Seattle! That’s enough for a whole pie and an extra special slice for the winner. With this competition, the whole family wins!

Language Arts/Spelling: Lesson 18.  There will be a spelling test on Thursday.  We will work through activities in class to learn the words, and students should also include a little practice time each night. In class the students will be finishing up their mini-bio writing assignments.  The students will get in a little practice speaking to the class when they do a short presentation of their writing in the voice of the person they reported on.  Beginning the week of the 22nd we will focus on the Oral Biography Project during our LA time.   The students should be reading, and possibly re-reading their biography books at home.

Reading:  This week the students will be reading a fun story called Hercules’ Quest. They will learn about the Hero’s Journey and see how the themes of the Hero’s Journey apply to so many stories and movies the students are familiar with.  

Religion:  Our class work this week will focus on looking up Gospel readings in their Bibles, and there will be an introduction to our Ten Commandment unit.  The Memorare needs to be recited by April 1st at the latest. 

Social Studies:  The students should be reviewing the major Rivers and Lakes of the United States.  The test will be March 30th. All students have been given a study sheet, and they have access to an online practice site and additional study sheets on the website in the Map Study Sheet tab. We will continue our study of the Oregon Trail, which will lead us to the early settlers of Washington State. 

Math: This week, we are finishing up our chapter on long division. The test will be on Wednesday, March 17th. I’m so proud of the progress that each student has made! Next up is a chapter on fractions! Please continue to support your child’s math fact mastery. Division and multiplication facts will become especially important when we discuss common denominators and equivalent fractions. There is no math homework this week.

Science: We are continuing our study of rocks! Last week, we did a field study of root wedging, and the students were amazed at how many cracks and displaced concrete they found around Holy Rosary. Ask your child to tell you about it and show you the pic collage they made in class. This week, we will be doing an experiment that emulates erosion. Zoomer families, your child should have received supplies in the pickup last week (sugar cubes, etc.). 

Have a wonderful week everyone.  Happy St. Patrick’s Day on Wednesday.