Dear 4A Families,
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Hard to imagine we are already in the last days of February! Our reconciliation service was very nice on Friday. The students did so well, and were so respectful and focused. Thank you for your support on the last minute prep work on Thursday.
Last Wednesday we begin the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday. Lent is a time when we are compelled to ask forgiveness for our sins and change our lives for the better. The ashes we receive are a sign that we are ready to change our lives. We will be focusing on three types of sacrifice and practices during Lent that will help us grow in
our faith: prayer, fasting from excess and unkind actions, and good works or almsgiving. During Lent the students will be reading special Lenten prayers and Bible readings for the season. In class last week the students reflected on their plans for Lent. It is important that families are also involved so you can support one another. One way we will be incorporating prayer will be in the memorizing of the Memorare . We are reciting the prayer daily at school, and each student has several copies in their filer. The one with the vocabulary on the back should remain in their filer, but please take out the others to use for practice. This is a nice prayer to keep by your bedside and recite each night. As a school we will be participating in several service related activities to share our gifts with those less fortunate. Each family will receive a rice bowl. Please read below for information on the Brown Bag Lunch collections for St. Martin de Porres
BROWN BAG FRIDAYS FOR ST. MARTIN de PORRES SHELTER
This year we will once again be able to include our Lenten outreach of providing lunches for the St. Martin de Porres shelter. Students are asked to help pack and bring a lunch along with an additional item on designated Fridays during Lent.
These lunches can be kept cold, so perishable food is fine.
**If you are interested in driving a few students to deliver the lunches one Friday in Lent, please contact Kristin Bentler in the school office.
Please note the collection dates below. It is most helpful if the additional items are kept separate from the lunches.
Friday March 3rd:
Last Names A-L: Disposable razors and shaving cream (travel size)
Last Names M-Z: Brown Bag Lunches (perishable OK)
Friday March 17th:
Last Names A-L: Brown Bag Lunches (perishable OK)
Last Names M-Z: Men’s socks
Friday March 24th:
Last Names A-L: Men’s deodorant (regular or travel sized), toothbrushes, toothpaste (travel size toothpaste)
Last Names M-Z: Brown Bag Lunches (perishable OK)
Friday March 31st
Last Names A-L: Brown Bag Lunches (perishable OK) and/or reading glasses
Last Names M-Z: Brown Bag Lunches (perishable OK) and/or reading glasses
Religion: This week we began a new religion unit on the Seven Sacraments. The students will be required to memorize the names and categories of each of the Sacraments for an upcoming test on March 8th. In class the students will be learning about each sacrament in depth.
Reading: In response to our story selection, students take on the role of Sacagawea as part of the Corps of Discovery. Students compose a journal entry detailing the trials of the summer of 1805 from Sacagawea’s point of view. We practice fluency as students read and record this journal entry aloud, focusing on adding emotion and expression that are appropriate for the content. Our next story is fun an always fun series, The World According to Humphrey.
Language Arts: The students are finishing up their mini bio projects this week. When they present this mini biography in class the students will get practice speaking in front of their classmates as a famous person like they will during their big oral bio project. We will also learn about PVLEGS to support oral presentation skills.
Oral Biographies: This week the students will start to think about and look for the person they would like to research and portray for their oral biography presentations that will take place in the end of April and early May. The person they select should have made positive contributions to society and are good role models that show perseverance, overcome challenges, and always strive to continually grow and learn. It is good to have a couple of choices as we prefer not to have duplicates. There are so many wonderful subjects. It is important that students can find a book that they can read independently and is appropriate. I have a large selection in my classroom and Mrs. Wallace is also pulling biographies for the students to choose from. All students should have a person and book selected and approved by March 10th. The full directions for the project will be sent home Monday the 6th.
Spelling: The spelling words for Unit 17 were passed out last Friday. The test will take place this Friday as usual.
Math: We will be wrapping up our long division chapter with a test planned for this Thursday the 2nd. Tuesday/Wednesday night homework will be a test review to help the students prepare. The students have worked hard on learning this challenging algorithm as well as problem solving and understanding remainders. Your support from home makes a real difference as well.
Science: We will be moving on to Lesson 2: Light, Eyes, and Vision. Students will discover the basics about how our eyes work. We will also figure out the causes of vision problems. Students will create a model of the human eye. They will be using a magnifying lens as a model of the cornea to explore how the structure of the lens is related to the function of our eyes. There will also be a quiz on labeling parts of the eye and answering questions about why some people have vision problems.
Social Studies: The students did well on the 50 State test. All tests were returned last week, so if you have not yet seen it please check your child’s filer. We are wrapping up our study of Lewis and Clark, and we will then move on to our study of the Oregon Trail. We will also be learning the locations of some of the major rivers in our country.